KINGFIELD — Dawnyalia “Dee” Menear is an avid outdoorswoman and enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking and snowmobiling among other activities. She also likes “discovering nature’s hidden secrets” and sharing those experiences with others.

Menear, a journalist, came to Maine in 1997 with a friend for a weekend of snowmobiling. After spending her life moving around with her family, she knew “immediately that western Maine” was where she belonged.

“By the next spring, I had made the decision to move here — and I did. I like to say I came here to snowmobile and never really left!” she said.

Menear was born and raised for the most part in Germany. Her father was a career military man who retired in Massachusetts.

She is a staff writer for The Franklin Journal. She also writes the column “Wandering” about her outdoors experiences, which appears every two weeks in the western Maine weekly papers.

How did you become an outdoors woman? I was picked to participate in a Casting for Recovery retreat in 2013. Casting for Recovery is an international program that allows women with a breast cancer diagnosis the chance to participate in an all-expenses-paid fly fishing retreat. I first learned about the program in 2007, when I was in treatment. I had no idea about fly fishing and wasn’t even sure I wanted to know. I applied because I was curious about how other women were coping with the disease. Mostly, I was looking forward to a weekend away. That weekend opened my eyes to more than fly fishing. I credit Casting for Recovery and Bonnie Holding, coordinator for the Maine program, for helping me discover a passion for the outdoors. After the retreat, I immersed myself in the outdoors and learned all I could. It was challenging at first because, as a woman, I perceived a strong disconnect from male-dominated activities such as hunting and fishing. Turns out, that is all it was, perception on two parts. First, there is a very strong – and growing — community of women who enjoy the outdoors. Second, a true outdoorsman or woman looks for mentoring opportunities. There is nothing they want more than to pass along the knowledge that has been passed on to them.

Did you learn to hunt and fish as a child? My dad used to take me fishing when I was younger. He taught me to bait a hook and gut a fish. It was fun but it wasn’t something we did all the time. I imagine my lack of patience as a child had something to do with that! Hunting wasn’t something anyone in my family ever did. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I developed an interest in hunting.

What is your favorite part of being outside? My favorite part is observing the world around me and discovering nature’s hidden secrets. It doesn’t matter the season or the activity, there is always something new to learn. For instance, last fall, I found some odd-looking seedpods growing on a tree and learned they were hazelnuts. I had no idea they grew in Maine! That discovery made me want to learn more about foraging.

Are there other outside activities you enjoy? Besides hunting and all forms of fishing, I enjoy hiking, camping, geocaching, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and kayaking. I am exploring options to learn about winter camping, archery, foraging and mushrooming.

What is the feeling you get when you are surrounded by nature? It’s a feeling of absolute belonging, a oneness. It is a chance to disconnect and shed the stresses of day-to-day life. For me, it is a reminder of the importance of simplicity. It doesn’t matter if I am five minutes off the main road or a half-day hike into the back country, nature nurtures me.

Is there one experience that you would rate as number one while you were in the woods, on top of a mountain or on the shores of a water body? It is hard to nail down a single experience. I could tell you it was the first time I caught a brook trout on a fly I tied; hiking Bald Mountain in Washington Township, the first mountain I climbed; or the first time I tracked an animal through the woods. In actuality, my number one experience has nothing to do with me. It has to do with being part of someone else’s first outdoor experience. I had the opportunity this summer to take a youngster geocaching. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to teach them how to navigate using my compass and GPS. Not only did we find a few caches, but we also found some tracks and a few insects that captured our interest. Having a hand in that child’s curiosity and discovery process is indescribable.