As a 36-year-old, white, biological female, I haven’t dealt with much discrimination on the trail. Though I consider myself a part of the queer community, I blend in pretty well. I present as straight. I’m not very eccentric. And there is a sort of safety in that, really.
During a recent trip to Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rainforest with a group of my queer friends, I begin to notice things I never had before. “It isn’t always safe out here,” I heard one of my friends say on our climb. I could tell that they meant they were only comfortable because of the size of our group. Alone, when harassment is more likely, things feel different.
That comment made me think. I started to wonder: What resources were there to support and empower queer hikers to stay on the trails, and to educate other recreationists on how to better share them?
Here are six LGBTQ-safe hiking groups specifically created to do just that. Over the last few decades, these organizations have helped thousands of queer hikers explore—and heal.
The Venture Out Project
“As queer and trans folks, we’re often on the receiving end of help,” said Peter Cohen, the founder of The Venture Out Project, in a previous interview with Outside. “It’s really empowering when one of us gets to be the helper.”
Cohen, who came out as trans at age 38, started Venture Out in 2014, driven by a desire to connect folks in the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC spaces to outdoor job opportunities. The organization still remains a launching pad for entrepreneurs, but it also hosts backpacking and wilderness trips for queer and transgender folks and their families.
Venture Out is active mostly along the East Coast, but offers day-length events all over the country. You can volunteer to lead a group, browse the organization’s job listings, or check out other upcoming events.
Wild Diversity
Wild Diversity is a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon on a mission to help BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities connect to nature and each other. The organization equips young people as well as adults, offering summer programs to connect isolated teens to new peer groups.
Some of Wild Diversity’s offerings include:
- Single and multi-day backpacking and camping trips on the West Coast
- Environmental education workshops that teach topics on sustainable living
- Annual BIPOC Youth Adventure Media Summer Programs, which focus on documenting nature
- Nine–Week BIPOC & LGBTQ2S+ Youth Summer Camp Program that helps teens develop outdoor skills
Out There Adventures
Elyse Rylander spent a decade as an outdoor teacher and guide before she realized that the queer youth she worked were having a very different experience than other kids in her programs. Ultimately, that need for outreach and inclusion felt too great to ignore, so she went on to found Out There Adventures, in 2015. Elyse has chatted with Outside a few times about her passion for helping LGBTQ+ youth who feel ostracized in their current peer groups and environments. “There is this need to connect and to find a community,” she shared.
But that’s not the only way Rylander helps youth get outdoors. From her current role as the director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Outward Bound, Rylander runs day-length and short multi-day events for LGTBQ+ youth all over the country.
Queer Mountaineers
Queer Mountaineers is a Washington–and Oregon-based rock– and ice–climbing club for LGBTQ+ folks. The organization has three core goals: to provide opportunities for queer people to connect, to offer technical training and discounts on gear, and to train up LGBTQ+ outdoor industry leaders.
Queer Mountaineers is known for being a hub for activists and artists, and it stands out as an organization that focuses on skill development for everyone—from beginners to experts. You can browse Queer Mountaineers’ upcoming events or offer up your expertise by volunteering to be a guide.
Gays of National Parks
Gays of National Parks was introduced to me by Mikah Meyer, an incredible human being whose recent award-winning documentary Canyon Chorus illuminates the reality of what it’s like to to grow up gay, and how intense the internal fight can be over whether or not to be visible in the world. Meyer spent three years visiting all 419 National Parks, driven by a hope that his presence alone would make the outdoor space more inclusive. “There were so many people out there who needed to see an openly gay outdoorsman to help them be that person and enjoy the outdoors,” Meyer shared on the Outside Podcast. “This park’s journey taught me my life’s vocation, which is being that role model that I never saw.”
According to Meyer, Gays of National Parks is a great place to start for other LGBTQ folks who share a love for the outdoors, who want to share their stories, and strive to boost queer visibility. GoNP conducts trips all over the country (and in other countries). What started as an Instagram page has now grown to 20,000-plus queer folks enjoying community, and combating isolation and loneliness by getting outside.
LGBTQ+ Outdoors
LGBTQ+ Outdoors is a massive network of inclusive outdoor spaces that all have the same central tenets: safety, connection, and belonging. The organization has community-based chapters in 23 states and is looking to expand into the other 27. It offers “adventure trips” open to all, like a rep to the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska this summer and a hiking tour through Glacier National Park in Montana.
Check the events calendar to find an outing near you. If you don’t see anything close, consider signing up to be an LGBTQ+ Outdoor Ambassador. I’ve just applied to start a chapter here in Spokane. The commitment is one year and is mostly community building and advocacy work with the option to act as a guide for simple day trips.
My life hasn’t been easy. Getting outside has brought me so much healing. I want that for others. I want that for my friends. But not everyone is comfortable doing it alone as I have. I’m looking forward to receiving training on how to create community outdoors, so that there is support for all of us to heal and develop outdoor skills.
