Although there were a few organizations that excluded women, almost all hiking clubs in America welcomed females. There were even a handful that were founded by women, such as the Inkowa Club of New York City in 1915.
The Inkowas probably had the most bizarre and stringent criteria for joining any hiking club. Among its many requirements, prospective members had to be at least 18 years of age, be gainfully employed, must have walked 40 miles in four consecutive weeks, had to be able to identify 10 trees, 10 wildflowers, 10 birds, 2 planets and 3 constellations, and must have slept with wide open windows for at least two months between the months of October and May. Obviously, some of these requirements had to be accepted on good faith. After all, Grace Parker, the founder of the Inkowas, named the group for a Sioux Indian word that means “trustworthiness.”
You can read more about the early hiking clubs in
Ramble On: A History of Hiking.
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