Originally posted on Oakland Local
Welcome Outdoor Afro guest blogger CB Smith, who shares her personal connection to natural spaces, and why it’s important to support Balanced Rock, who provides the unique chance for women of color to connect with the outdoors on their own terms.
In this blog post, I am encouraging you to support a retreat for Women of Color…even if you are not a Woman of Color yourself. First, I need to tell you a little bit about what this kind of experience can mean and why it’s important.
CB Hiking in …

For Ray Burks, outdoor adventures in college forever transformed her relationship with nature.
Here is her contribution to Outdoor Afro in words and in pictures.
As an ubanite born and raised in a concrete jungle, trips to the real wilderness were few and far between.  Going out in nature just felt very unnatural.  That all changed when I went to the University of Northern Iowa and graduate school in the midwest.  The “norm” was outdoor activities if the temperature was above 30 F and nothing was falling from the sky.  I discovered camping …

Our newest Outdoor Afro contributor, Justice Fergie, recalls fondly her years at camp, and what it means for her own children today.

My Girl Guide troop at sleepaway camp.
That’s me in the bottom left-hand corner.

Don’t laugh!
Ok, go ahead.

Remember sleep-away camp? Some of my best childhood memories are from spending summers making friends, singing campfire songs, and making friendship bracelets at sleep-away camp.  My Girl Guide troop (the Canadian version of Girl Scouts), was very active and one summer we had the opportunity to camp at a site owned by a Hungarian couple out in the …

Calling all Citizen Scientists!
By Outdoor Afro Contributor,  Donna Long

Beginning today,  I am participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It runs through Monday, February 21, 2011.  It is the first time I have submitted data for this citizen science project. I don’t think it will be much different from Project Feederwatch, that I participate in.
The Great Backyard Bird Count, like Project Feederwatch, monitors the abundance, distribution and winter bird movement of birds in North America.
I think it is important to count and submit data on urban birds. An article, last year, in the scientific journal …

The First African-American Woman on Record to Reach North and South Poles!

Outdoor Afro fans learned about Barbara Hillary back in 2009, she not only survived lung cancer, but also took on a trek hardly imaginable to most to the North Pole on skis at age 75!
Here is our Talk Tuesday Blog Talk Radio interview with Hillary from July, 2009 where she humorously shared how it is possible and necessary to live up to ones potential:

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Not willing to remain still, this month the venerable Hillary …

Zoe of the San Francisco Bay Area (CA) wrote in to Outdoor Afro today to share a glimpse of her outdoor adventures this winter. She told us she began cross country skiing just two years ago, and fell in love with the sport!

She writes, “I am an attorney in the [San Francisco] Bay. I moved to the Bay from New York City two years ago because the parks and outdoor spaces are more accessible than in NYC and it was easier to have a work life balance and eat great healthy …

In a recent Outdoor Afro Facebook discussion about African-Americans in the outdoor retail industry, a comment from Angela Medlin especially caught my eye when she mentioned her role as a clothing designer for The North Face. As much as I love sharing the many Outdoor Afro adventures in the field, I also think it is important to shed light on the brown faces behind the scenes who make a big impact on the gear we depend on, and also learn what inspires them. Here is my interview with Angela, who …

It sure has been a great week to love the outdoors and be African American! Last Friday and today, as I tuned in to Oprah and Gayle to see their adventure in Yosemite National Park, I was completely enamored. Beyond the expected funny quips and comical equipment mishaps, I experienced (as if for the first time) a magical moment: moving images of people who looked like me enjoying a National Park.
The show theme was prompted by Outdoor Afro friend Shelton Johnson by a letter he wrote a couple of years …

Submitted by Outdoor Afro Contributor, Terri Davis-Merchant, of the fun blog: Try Anything Once
Faux hiking? Oh yeah! I’m not really into outdoorsy stuff. Perhaps you’ve noticed that. I mean I guess I’m not really destined for it. Having grown up in a Black working class neighborhood in New York City in the 80′s and 90′s, sleeping in a tent in the cold with no bathroom wasn’t exactly what many considered a vacation. Just sayin’. Even Oprah noticed the lack o’ folks o’ color during her recent trip to Yosemite. (By …

A memo from National Parks Director Jonathan B. Jarvis shares:

“On October 29 and November 1, Oprah Winfrey will devote two entire shows to her overnight camping trip in Yosemite National Park earlier this month. Ms. Winfrey’s visit originated with a letter of invitation from Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. While in the park, Shelton shared his Buffalo Soldierpersona – Elizy Bowman – at an evening campfire chat with Ms. Winfrey and others staying at the Lower Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley.
While the shows highlight Ms. Winfrey’s visit to the Mariposa …