“I was always very active, ate well, etc. I never thought I'd experience challenges and setbacks regarding my health. However, in 2013, I had my first, major intracerebral hemorrhage. It was caused by a CVA (cavernous amgioma) or CVM (cavernous malformation). A CVA is a cluster of blood vessels that leak through their own walls. Mine was located deep within my brain, in an area my neurosurgeon called "high real estate". Surgery was too risky. We hoped that this would be a one time event. Unfortunately, I had several more bleeds and another major hemorrhage in 2016. To save my life, they had to operate. I am extremely fortunate to be alive despite my cognitive and physical deficits. I'm in pain continually. But nature is my therapy, and I get out as much as I can. My advice? Accept help. Much love to all misfit hikers out there!—Dana, (@mrs.hangle).
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Pronouns: She/Her
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Dana would like to give a shout-out: I am not affiliated with a group, but one thing I feel strongly about is the appropriation of Indigenous traditions and ceremonies in ecotherapy. I would just encourage people to refrain from partaking in cultural activities, which are not their own. Don't be taken financially and emotionally by people claiming to be able to use Indigenous events in nature if they are not Indigenous themselves. In kindness, Dana

“I've always loved the outdoors. As a child my family would take a few camping trips every summer. It wasn't until I was much older when I found my passion for hiking. The very first time hiking was actually on a date. I am a bigger girl so I was concerned that I wasn't going to be able to keep up or that I would be huffing and puffing and just have a miserable time. I was wrong! We did a pretty short hike but it was still challenging enough. I was huffing and puffing a bit lol, but honestly I didn't care because I was having so much fun. On that day not only did I find my passion for hiking but it also jumpstarted my passion for photography. Nothing ever ended up evolving with the guy I went on a date with, but I am grateful I went and that he introduced me to a hidden passion. – Angelica (@thethickhiker)
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Pronouns: She/Hers
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Tag #misfithikers to be showcased!
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[Image Description: Angelica stands on a snow-covered path with pines in the distance, wearing a red long-sleeved shirt, black tights with green at the bottom, and a black patterned buff across her face.  Her brown hair hangs long and loose.  She's holding skis/trekking poles and wearing snowshoes. ] 

“I am overweight. I have had 13 surgeries in the past 15 years. I struggle with bipolar, borderline personality disorder and social anxiety. The trails have saved me from myself, they have brought me closer to my husband and pups, and I’m starting to be more comfortable being in social situations. I still take meds, but less of them thanks to nature. And I’m not ashamed of that. I am a misfit hiker who has been saved by the trails and the trees.” – Nicole (@cardinalroots)
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Pronouns: She/Hers
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📣Nicole would like to give a shout-out to: Hiker Babes Central Oregon! (@hiker_babes_oregon, #hikerbabesoregon)
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Click here to be showcased!
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[Image Description:  Pic 1 – Nicole, smiling in a black long-sleeved v neck shirt with a black string necklace and medallion, stands looking towards the sky with puffy white and golden clouds behind her, mountains in the distance.  The sun gleams in the right corner. Pic 2: Nicole grins at the camera, wearing a white t-shirt and black-strapped backpack, in a sepia/black and pic, shot on a wooden-railed bridge, with water below in a canyon, trees and shrubs all around.] 

​*MISFIT HIKER SHOWCASE*

“I found myself lost living in a new state and needing another change in life in 2016. I came across the 52 Hike Challenge and that was the beginning of my hiking lifestyle. My first thoughts were there's no way I can complete 52 hikes in a year; one hike a week. Funny part was that I found myself hiking more than that per week. I found myself seeing Arizona like no regular people would see it. Hiking has taught me to be more calm and to challenge myself physically and mentally. Finding myself pregnant at 43, wondering how was I going to continue hiking with a child, has been the best experience ever. Teaching and raising my daughter to love the outdoors has brought me more close to nature. Before moving to Arizona, I wasn't a hiker -now I'm glad hiking has become the most important part of my lifestyle.” — Michelle, (@hikerocknroll).
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Pronouns: She/Hers
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Michelle is an ambassador for the Phoenix Hikerbabes Chapter in Arizona. She runs the chapters facebook page and started an Instagram page to share the Phoenix ladies photos from their adventures. Her goal is to encourage other like-minded women to get outdoors.
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Tag #misfithikers to be showcased!
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[Image Description: A woman with tats, wearing a pink brimmed ballcap, black shorts, and glasses, walks on a dirt path in the desert.  She has on a backpack with blueish straps.  She is smiling down at a toddler wearing a pink t-short and short.  The toddler is carrying a babydoll wearing a blue/green outfit.  Mountains rise in the background, and scraggly brush and rocks dot either side of the trail.] 

​*MISFIT HIKERS SHOWCASE*
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“Growing up in a city and the youngest of 4 kids in the 1960s, I always felt a little out of the mainstream, a misfit. Most of my friends and family were city people but I was drawn to nature from my earliest memories. My favorite TV shows were about nature and I took every opportunity to get out of the city and go walking in the woods.
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As I grew older, I also increasingly became aware of another unusual feeling. You see, I was assigned male at birth based upon my genitilia like everyone is. But they couldn't see my heart, soul and mind. At this time there was no Internet, no support groups, no words to describe my feelings. So I followed the path that was given to me. It wasn't my path but it was my only choice.
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By the early 1970s I began to understand that I wasn't alone. But the information was still sparse and erroneous. So I struggled with this civil war in my soul, seeking help through counseling and reading anything I could get my hands on.
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But I didn't fit neatly into a box or label...I was a true misfit. This lasted for over 40 years cycling episodes of depression and confusion with episodes of certainty that I wasn't Transgender. But I was.
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Finally in 2008 I began my journey to myself and came out publicly in 2016. I couldn't be happier (other than losing some "friends and family"). And all through this my love of hiking has sustained me. Before my transition (gender revelation, not transition), I hiked to run away from myself by taking on the personna of a rugged "mountain man". Now that I've shed my lies, I hike as the woman I've always been without pretension and unafraid to show my full self as a Tomboy kind of woman, being a badass hiker chick! And I finally love my life!” – Stephanie (@Trans_zen_hiker_nhsteph)
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Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
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Tag #misfithikers to be showcased!
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[Image Description:  Stephanie stands smiling as she pulls a grey glove from her hand.  She is wearing a blue skirt, black leggings, black long-sleeved shirt and a blue buff.  Her cheeks are rosy and her blond hair tied in a pony tail.  Tall, snow-covered pine trees line both sides of a snow covered path.  Orange hiking poles stand crossed, off to one side.] 

​*MISFIT SHOWCASE!*

“Hi. My name is Shaun. I’m a misfit all around. I believe boxes are best for cats not for humans so I am myself 100% of the time. I struggle with drug resistant severe depression and anxiety. I try to find the positive and the humor in everything. When I’m not working (I manage a Tea bar where the workers lovingly refer to me as “dad”) you can definitely find me outside. It’s where I feel most happy, free, and at peace. I hike, skateboard, trail run, and explore (both solo and with friends) and have for as long as I can remember. My philosophy in outdoors and life is “you do you!”—Shaun, (@Dykesonhikes)
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Pronouns: she/her or they/them
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📍 Chico, California – This land was originally held in stewardship by the Mechoopda Maidu peoples and others.  
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Tag #misfithikers to be showcased!
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[Image Description: Smiling in sunglasses and a black t-shirt with a white “Unlikely Hikers” t-shirt, Shaun stands clasping a grey and black backpack shoulder straps.  Behind her is a vista of scrub brush, and tall pines and mountains can be seen in the background.] 

Did you know that Thanksgiving is also the National Day of Mourning? 

For most, it's a day to give thanks, to be with family, and to take a minute amid the hustle and bustle.  Kids in grade schools dress up as Native Americans and Puritans, sitting down to a "feast" at their school, celebrating the coexistence of Native Americans or how they "saved" their white English buddies. 

But that's not how it is for everyone, and it doesn't hurt to recognize revisionist, Eurocentric history presented to us in grade school and acknowledge the history behind the day.   

For many Native Americans, it's the National Day of Mourning....a day to "reflect on the spirituality of their people and to remember those who were persecuted and murdered. It is also a day to protest the oppression and racism that Native American peoples continue to experience to this very day."

In fact, it was to give thanks at the murder in 1637 of nearly a 1000 Pequot Native Americans during the Pequot uprising in New England.  

Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony declared: “A day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they had eliminated over 700 men, women and children.” It was signed into law that, “This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots.” 

To the people that say get over it, move on, it was a long time ago.  Be quiet and eat your turkey leg.  Let me throw this out there - think of some of the other large-scale attacks in American history.  Now picture if history remembered it as fact that terrorist/shooter/etc. x and their victims not only helped one another, but were friends.  That the event didn't happen as you remember it.  How it *should* be remembered.  

So give thanks and enjoy the day with your family, but don't do it under the guise of something it's not.  You can be thankful and enjoy your family, but you don't need the fake-ass story or "injun" paraphernalia (coloring books, cut-out "indian headdresses," the Native American salt & pepper shakers, etc.) to do it.  

And if you have kids, look at it as the chance to change the way you talk to them about history and correct misunderstandings about history/Thanksgiving in general.  American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) has some recommendations on age-appropriate books from the Native American perspective that can be found here.  Highly recommend the list. 

Most of all, though, be respectful of the fact that not everyone is going to be celebrating.  Because it's not over for indigenous peoples - they are still marginalized, their voices unheard, and treaties ignored.  Just look at the Keystone Oil Spill. 

It's not about being perfect, but it's about recognizing injustices for what they are and not ignoring them because it's inconvenient.
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For my own part going forward, whenever I post pics of an area I hiked, I'm going to try and include what Native American tribes were the original stewards of the land.  

Because people, and their stories, matter.  And that we remember matters. 

What will you incorporate or change going forward?  Comment below or email me here. 

I'm sure many of you have seen the viral video of Amy Cooper calling the police on Christian Cooper, an African American bird-watcher who was enjoying the Bramble in New York earlier this week.  She called the police because he asked her to put her dog on a leash (park rules).  She says in the video, "I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life."  She tried to use this man's race as a weapon against him. 

The outdoors is political, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

When I first googled top 25 hiking blogs of 2019, I was really surprised.  The first several sites that listed blogs included very few women and I didn’t visually identify (or see in the descriptions) any minorities. Or people with disabilities. Or Pride Pack members.  Or fat people.  Everyone looked very, very white. 

I taught Diversity in America for quite a few years at several local colleges.  I don't know why I was surprised at the lack of diversity in the online presence for outdoor adventures in the U.S., since there's a definitive lack of representation on trails. 

When my friend told some co-workers he was going backpacking for the weekend, his African-American buddy responded along the lines of, “Only in America would white people go in to the woods and pretend to be homeless.” 
 
It bothered me on a level that was difficult for me to define, because I view the outdoors as such an important part of who I am.  It's a privilege.  And privilege and access is a big part of the problem - because it isn't that way for everyone. 

The Outdoor Foundation, who conducted a survey in 2013, found that 73% of participants in outdoor activities were white, and 47% had an income above $75K (You can read the entire report on their website here.).

And when whites in the U.S., on average, are the ones making that higher income, it's indicative of a problem and not just in relation to getting folks in to the great outdoors. 

Who's involved matters, too - from how outdoor events and activities are marketed to who runs the parks programs, you'll see primarily white people.  The Green 2.0 Report demonstrates a clear lack of diversity in the government agencies, foundations, and NGOs that oversee outdoors recreation and upkeep: 

The world is a changing place, and it’s time for more outdoor activities, and the folks that are already involved in those activities, to change with it.
 
Race and ethnic minorities made up 40% of the U.S. population in 2016, and those numbers continue to increase.  Consider the words of Teresa Baker, a contributor for The Bold Italic, when she wrote “The climate is changing, and so are the demographics of our country. What will happen when, in two to three decades, our new, non-white majority in the US doesn’t care about the environment due to a lack of involvement now?”
 
While I fit the definition of a Misfit Hiker & Adventurer for a number of reasons, I am, in fact, white.  So I come at this, clearly, from a very different perspective.  I'd like to note that I am not here to define for anyone else what experiences they should have in the outdoor world or how they should feel about those experiences and/or interactions.

However, what I can do, is try to make those outdoor spaces more welcoming.  I can conduct and relate research in to different issues.  And I can showcase others opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.  

Misfit Hikers is about inclusion and representation, and you're going to find a lot of emphasis on how people access (or don't access) the outside world of adventuring.  And what actions can be taken to address identified issues. 

As a former teacher, I'm a big fan of education and considering other viewpoints - it forges a connection and helps shape how we view the world (and others). 

My very small first action is to start gathering resources on different topics regarding inclusion and representation in the outdoors.  You can find the start of my efforts here. 

If you know of an article, website, Instagram, etc. that you'd like to see included, please comment! Or feel free to email me.

What happened to Christian Cooper shouldn't ever happen.  As stewards of the outdoors we need to - have to - do better.