Brooke Whipple (Girl in the Woods)

Brooke Whipple is an outdoorswoman, adventurer, and a popular YouTuber.

She has more than 560K subscribers on her YouTube channel, ‘Girl in the Woods.’

Brooke also appeared in a few television shows and is also an author, outdoor educator and motivational speaker and was a singer and a songwriter.

Introduction-

Brookelyn Bellinger (Brooke Whipple) was born in 1971.

She grew up in rural Michigan, United States.

Brooke grew up as a Christian and has been a Christian.

Her father was a police officer and an outdoorsman, and she was heavily influenced by him to lead an outdoor life.

Brooke grew up as a tomboy, hunting, trapping and fishing in rural Michigan and at a young age, she fell in love with being outdoors and nature.

She has a brother.

Backpacking & skiing-

Brooke did her schooling from Central Montcalm High School in Michigan.

While studying in high school, she was a member of the ‘Wilderness Adventure Club’ and one summer, she along with the fellow club members backpacked the Isle Royale National Park end to end.

Brooke also joined the Ski Club in high school and learnt downhill skiing.

Adventures in the wild-

After finishing high school, Brooke joined a local community college, but she was very uninspired by the college and used to play a lot of ping-pong and skip the classes.

One day, she stumbled upon a job advertisement for Yellowstone National Park on the campus and as she already was a nature lover and wasn’t interested in college, she decided to travel to Yellowstone National Park.

So, in 1992, Brooke along with her friend packed the car and travelled to the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and started searching for a summer job there.

Brooke secured the job of a Cafe Supervisor and Waitstaff at ‘Old Faithful Inn.’

She also enjoyed camping, hiking, rock climbing and fishing in backcountry lakes amongst bison, bears and elks in the Yellowstone National Park.

Then, in 1993, Brooke travelled to Vail, Colorado and secured a winter job of a Lift Operator at Vail Resorts.

Here, she got a free ski pass and thanks to this, she skied her heart out.

Then, Brooke headed off to Alaska with just a tent, backpack and $200.

After landing in Anchorage, Alaska as she neither had a place to live nor a job, she slept in the airport and then started living in a Bed & Breakfast in Homer.

Within a couple of days, Brooke made a deal with the owner of the Bed & Breakfast to allow her to camp in her tent in the nights on the property and in return she would help her clean the place for free.

And within a week, she secured a second job at The Sport Shed in Kachemak.

Brooke spent all her summer working these jobs and going on hiking, fishing and biking.

College-

In 1994, Brooke joined Ferris State University to study for a Bachelor’s of Science in Outdoor and Adventure Recreation Management and graduated in 1997.

In 1995, she worked as a Wildland Firefighter at Grayback Forestry, Missoula, Montana.

Here, her job involved fighting wildfires and Brooke also travelled and worked in Oregon, California.

In 1997, she did an internship by working as a Recreation Assistant at U.S. Forest Service, Sitka, Alaska.

During that time, Brooke also volunteered at the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka and once while working there, she met Barbara Walters who had come to adopt a bird.

She enjoyed hiking and sea kayaking in Sitka.

From 1998 to 1999, Brooke was an Outdoor Educator and School Program Director at Outdoor Skills Center, Plymouth, Wisconsin.

Meeting David Whipple & getting married-

While studying at the Ferris State University, Brooke was the lead singer of a rock band, ‘Dive.’

David Whipple was a member of another rock band, and his lead singer introduced him to her.

They fell in love and got married on 12 October 1998 on a beach in Jamaica.

David is also a popular YouTuber and outdoorsman.

This couple has a son, Mickey, and a daughter, Belle, and much like their parents, they too love the outdoors.

Moving to Alaska & Aleutian Islands-

In 1999, Brooke and David moved to Alaska to become caretakers at the Starrigavan Campground in Sitka, Alaska.

Here, they enjoyed fishing, especially fly fishing.

Then, Brooke and David moved to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and became Remote Caretakers of a remote homestead for a period of seven months.

Off-the-grid-

With the money that Brooke and David saved by flipping properties, they bought a cheap piece of land in Alaska.

As they weren’t well off, they started building their first cabin, a 12 by 12 cabin with the logs on the property.

Initially, the cabin neither had running water nor electricity and Brooke and David lived in a tent while building the cabin.

They preferred off-the-grid because at that time, they weren’t able to afford anything else out of their pocket and preferred to remain debt free.

Later, Brooke and David built another log house in Delta Junction, Alaska and lived here for many years, they later sold this property.

They started investing their money in real estate and thanks to this, they were able to purchase properties in Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Brooke and David built a total of six off-grid cabins.

Working on the Yukon River-

In 2000, Brooke met Neil Eklund who hired her as a Fishing Guide on his 40 by 70-foot log raft on the Yukon River.

There, she also worked as a cook and entertainer.

From 2001 to 2003, Brooke worked as a Recreation Director at Chena Hot Springs Resort in Fairbanks, Alaska.

In 2007, she produced a documentary titled “The Mount Marathon Experience” about the extreme mountain race of Alaska. In 2010, this was aired on AlaskaOne TV and won a $5,000 grant from the Rasmuson Foundation.

From 2010 to 2012, Brooke worked as a Recreation Director in the United States Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Division.

Since February 2019, she is working as a Contract Survival Instructor for Imagine Exhibitions, Inc.

Brooke occasionally conducts wilderness workshops and teaches outdoor survival and shelter building.

Since 2016, she has been self-employed.

Her books-

In 2007, Brooke published a book, ‘The Frozen Toe Guide to Real Alaskan Livin’: Learn How to Survive Moose Attacks, Endless Winters & Life Without Indoor Plumbing.’

In 2012, she published her second book, ‘Alaska Did This to Me.’

From 2005 to 2011, Brooke was a Columnist for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper.

From 2009 to 2010, she was a Columnist for the Delta Wind newspaper and in 2010, she was a judge for the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition.

Earlier as Brooke was into music, she released a CD of pop and folk originals.

Her TV shows-

In 2014, thanks to Neil Eklund, Brooke got an opportunity to appear on ‘Yukon River Run’ on National Geographic Channel.

This show was aired in 2015.

Later, in 2016, Brooke participated in the Alone season 4 on History television network.

As a part of the show, she along with David competed in the Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, they lasted 49 days but didn’t win.

In 2017, Brooke participated in the Alone season 5 in Mongolia and lasted 28 days but wasn’t able to win.

‘Girl in the Woods’-

Brooke started her YouTube channel, ‘Girl in the Woods‘ on 9 December 2009.

In 2021, she was chosen for “The US of YouTube” campaign by YouTube, and she represented Alaska in the YouTube creator economy.

As of December 2023, Brooke has 561K subscribers on her YouTube channel.

She earns from a variety of sources like advertisements on her YouTube videos, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, merchandise; she also accepts donations on PayPal.

Brooke has a website.

Her favourites-

Marmot is Brooke’s favourite sleeping bag especially in winters.

Her other favourites while outdoors are Helinox chairs especially Helinox Chair Zero, an insulated coffee mug and a tiny backpacking grill.

Some of her favourite books are ‘A Wolf Called Romeo,’ ‘Walking the Amazon: 860 Days. One Step at a Time’ and ‘A Mary Oliver Collection: A Thousand Mornings, Dog Songs, Blue Horses, and Felicity.’

Brooke carries firearms and/or bear spray for her safety.

She is 5`4 tall and got featured on the Girl Camper Magazine.

In 2021, Brooke built her first solo off-grid cabin, and it took her 23 days.

She loves birds, birdwatching, cooking, blueberries, the mountains of Alaska and DIY and is a gourmet.

So, how are you inspired by the success story of Brooke Whipple?

Share with me in the comment section below.