This intersectional ladies’s outdoor group goals to get extra Black, Indigenous and ladies of colour outdoors to take pleasure in, reconnect with and discover therapeutic in nature.
Evelynn Escobar is aware of firsthand how onerous it may be to really feel like an outsider within the outdoor. Despite the fact that she’d spent a pair years mountain climbing native trails in Los Angeles, she did not go to a nationwide park till age 23—and on that journey to Zion, she discovered herself standing out as the one Black particular person among the many crowd.
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After that journey she was decided to proceed discovering methods to be in nature, and likewise to verify different Black and Indigenous ladies and ladies of colour had been in a position and felt snug to do the identical. In 2017, she based Hike Clerba nonprofit group and intersectional ladies’s out of doors membership that seeks to deliver extra variety to the paths, parks and camps all through the USA.
“Understanding how quintessential a observe of going outdoor was to my very own therapeutic journey and my very own psychological well being, I noticed that I actually wanted to assist get different Black and brown ladies on the market, in order that they’ll expertise what it means to only be in nature,” Escobar not too long ago advised “Wild Concepts Value Dwelling” podcast host Shelby Stanger.
Escobar’s group places on group hikes and different adventures frequently, primarily in Los Angeles and New York Metropolis. Extra not too long ago, Hike Clerb has expanded into different cities, corresponding to Toronto. On this movie, we meet Escobar and a Hike Clerb crew for a trek in New Mexico.
Hike Clerb is meant to be a secure house, each actually and figuratively: The organized occasions are supposed to create security for girls hikers, particularly in additional distant areas, in addition to to supply an emotionally and socially secure house “to deliver your entire genuine self and never maintain again,” Escobar explains. “Take up house.”
To study extra about Hike Clerb, be part of or begin a neighborhood chapter, or donate to learn the group, go to hikeclerb.com.