rock climbing might be a new tool for conserving the public land that bolsters michigan’s annual $20 billion tourism industry.

the sport is gaining traction as outdoor enthusiasts look to experience nature differently, especially after indoor climbing gyms closed during the pandemic.

already, there are 7 million climbers in america, and the sport’s popularity is growing.

for the first time, sport climbing appeared in the august 2021 tokyo olympics. the word “climbing” peaked in popularity on google during that event.

“the nature of the outdoors user continues to evolve over time,” said brad garmon, the director of michigan’s office of outdoor recreation industry.

“we shouldn’t get stuck in certain ways, where certain activities are legitimized and others not. let’s figure out what people want to be doing in the outdoors and how we can support it,” garmon said.

rock climbing isn’t widely recognized in michigan and the rest of the midwest because most people don’t expect to find exceptional rock climbing here, garmon said. that’s one thing that makes rock climbing so exciting: it can reshape how people perceive the state’s outdoor recreation opportunities.

michigan’s outdoor recreation industry is responsible for 110,000 jobs and $5 billion in wages and salaries annually, according to the agency.

“the outdoors is part of michigan’s heritage. it’s part of our economy and our communities. we’re an outdoorsy state,” garmon said.

michigan’s first climber-owned “crag”: slugg’s bluff

just this year, slugg’s bluff in the upper peninsula became the first climber-owned area in the state.

the popular crag – lingo for a climbable rock face – is about 20 minutes southwest of marquette.

people have been climbing there since the 1970s, said bill thompson, a board member of the upper peninsula climbing coalition, a nonprofit group protecting sustainable climbing.

the arbelius family, who had long owned the 10 acres that is slugg’s bluff, recognized that climbers maintained the land and donated it to them, thompson said.

climbers as environmental stewards

climbers clean up the trash – anything from broken bottles to fridges – that local nonclimbers toss off the ledge.

craig kasmer, a park interpreter at michigan’s department of natural resources and a former rock climber, said the heightened awareness that climbing demands lends itself to a deeper connection with nature. that means climbers can play a key role in conserving an area.

“climbers are aware of their surroundings. with, say, a cyclist, it’s exercise. you need to go from point a to point b and you’re passing by trees and you’re not even looking at them.

“the slower the activity, the better. you have to be slow and meticulous when you’re rock climbing. and so you have time to stop and look at things, to be involved with the nature around you.”

as climbers ascend a wall of rock or ice, their focus is on finding the route. they must be extremely present in the search for different holds, whether with their hands exploring the rock or an ice tool testing the ice.

the michigan ice fest

it’s this awareness and connection to nature that has led organizers of the popular michigan ice fest to set a goal of net zero emissions over the next three years.

the event is held in munising and initially had 10 climbers in 1991.  now, it attracts over 1,000 people from around the world.

“our passion relies on consistently cold weather, and that’s being threatened by climate change,“ said matt abbotts, a co-organizer of the ice fest. “if winters are milder or shorter, that means less ice climbing.”

the festival takes place an hour east of slugg’s bluff, and ice climbers of all levels have come for the past 30 years to climb on the banks of lake superior.

“climbers might not be the biggest community, but it’s a group of strong-willed, passionate individuals who are never afraid of doing the hard work,” abbotts said.

rock climbing in michigan

the upper peninsula has the most climbing opportunities in michigan, with over 300 documented roped routes and a myriad of boulder problems –  unroped climbing at lower heights. but the lower peninsula is home to some crags, too.

in grand ledge, about 10 miles outside of lansing, climbers try to protect one of the only crags in the lower peninsula. the part of the park that allows climbing – oak park – is city-owned, and officials aren’t good about managing the area, said ben poulson, a grand ledge climber.

there are competing demands for public dollars, so city management at the ledges has fallen onto the back burner, said bruce bright, a member of the grand ledge parks & recreation commission.

“in some respects, i would characterize the management of oak park as being one of benign neglect,” bright said.

so, who maintains it? climbers.

rock climbers upkeeping crags

“climbers are the best stewards,” poulson said. “if you ban climbing, you’re banning the best environmental stewards from that area.

“if you allow climbing, you’re allowing people who very much care about that area to be there and to police it,” he said.

bright said members of the climbing community put down wood chips and topsoil and even installed makeshift wooden rails to prevent erosion.

people who spend time outdoors feel a shared responsibility to protect it. that’s why it’s so important to get people outside, said chris winter, the executive director of the access fund, a land trust protecting and preserving crags across america and based in boulder, colorado.

“when you connect to the larger landscape, you start really caring about conservation and stewardship,” winter said.

liability concerns with rock climbing

still, some landowners with crags on their property resist climbing.

a section in michigan’s natural resources and environmental protection act protects landowners from liability for those injured on their land if they were there without paying and for recreational purposes. it mentions activities like hiking, hunting, fishing and camping but groups remaining outdoor activities as “any other outdoor recreational use.”

the vague language fails to mention rock climbing, thus raising questions of liability.

the climbing coalition’s thompson said rock climbing is often perceived as dangerous.

but it’s one of the few activities that has never seen injury or death in presque isle, one of marquette’s most visited parks. other allowed activities – scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking – all had injuries and deaths at the park, thompson said.

even devil’s lake state park in baraboo, wisconsin, which has what some climbers consider the best climbing in the midwest, isn’t maintained for climbing.

it has over 1,600 climbing routes and 1,500 boulder problems detailed in numerous guidebooks.

despite that kind of exposure, officials neither permit nor punish climbing in the park.

climbers maintain the crags there, too.

the local wisconsin climbers association partners with the access fund to ensure access to climbing spaces. they keep the crags free of graffiti and trash, in addition to implementing erosion control.

in michigan, the grand ledge climbers coalition and the upper peninsula climbing coalition both partner with the access fund to conserve local climbing crags.

the access fund’s winter said, “it’s not only the specific places we like to spend time as climbers, but also the larger landscapes around those places. it’s those larger landscapes that are so inspiring.”

like any outdoor activity, climbing can adversely impact an area. but instead of banning an activity, we ought to bolster management efforts to accommodate it, bright said. after all, resources have long been exploited in the name of economic development.

“sometimes i think people are overly critical of our visitors. if the rock is damaged by overuse, is that really such a crime compared to what’s taken place over the last 100 years?” bright said.

winter said that climbers have always played an integral role in protecting the lands that all people – climbers and non-climbers – love and enjoy.

“as we look to the future, in the bigger picture of conservation, we have to be tackling these big environmental challenges of our time,” winter said.

“we have to do that both to protect outdoor climbing but also to protect the environment more broadly.”

reporter cameryn cass has climbed at grand ledge in michigan, devil’s lake state park in wisconsin and the red river gorge in kentucky.

“without the spiciness, the tomato doesn’t really have flavor, so they combine really well,” said balcazar, in spanish, according to sergio ruiz, one of the garden’s organizers. 

run by the little village environmental justice organization (lvejo), the community garden doubled its typical production during a slow, pandemic summer last year, indicating a local affinity for gardening.

“this just means that they love growing, they love harvesting, and they need access to the land,” said edith tovar, lvejo’s just transition community organizer. 

those not tending to their garden beds gathered around long tables under the central pavilion, chatting and playing mexican bingo. 

“we come here to destress. it’s therapeutic to weed and be with nature,” said little village resident gloria jimenez in spanish, according to ruiz.

as the covid-19 pandemic increased the nationwide prevalence of common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, and chicagoans turned to community gardening to counteract the symptoms. 

common mental health conditions during covid-19

studies conducted across the nation over the last year show an overall decline in mental health due to the pandemic’s restrictions. 

one in three people experienced psychological distress during the pandemic according to a study released this august led by elvira solji and a group of researchers in australia. 

solji and her team focused on the age-related differences in mental health impacts of covid-19 lockdown restrictions. they surveyed americans from april 20 to june 8, 2020, asking questions about nervousness, anxiety, depression, loneliness and more to gauge participants’ experiences of moderate mental distress. 

the study found that over half of 18- to 24-year-olds reported experiencing moderate mental distress, and that adults up to 44-years-old were most heavily impacted. 

in younger adults, moderate mental distress was associated with restrictions to public transit, restaurants, and international travel, while working from home lowered distress rates. moderate distress in older adults was related to the ban on gatherings of over 50 people and workplace closures. 

“the results imply that different approaches are needed both in the handling of mental health and restrictions for different age groups,” solji said in an email. 

insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety were the top four mental health conditions seen during the pandemic according to a study released in november. this conclusion resulted from the meta-analysis of 55 peer-reviewed journals conducted by the research team. 

a study conducted march to april 2020 also identified an increase in acute stress and depressive symptoms in the united states, and found that people with preexisting mental and physical health diagnoses experienced these symptoms more than those without.  

bronzeville-based psychologist lasonda a. wilkins-hines made similar observations of the chicagoans she treated. wilkins-hines said she most often diagnosed patients with clinical anxiety and clinical depression. she held appointments via telehealth and did not take on new patients during the pandemic. 

wilkins-hines, whose patients are predominantly african american, said she saw anxiety and depression peaked with the police brutality protests last summer. 

“that’s when things really made a heavy turn in my practice,” wilkins-hines said. “what i was seeing was a lot of people feeling uncertain, unsafe, confused, angry, feeling that hopelessness and helplessness.”

gardens that blossomed

community gardens across the city reported increased participation during the last two summers. 

sarah dugan, program facilitator for the city’s community gardens in the parks program, said in an email, “anecdotally, there was a big increase in inquiries for garden plots during spring and summer 2020, which seems to have tapered off to more typical levels this year.”

prior to last summer, the maxwell street garden in the near west side typically had a waitlist of five people, according to tess kearns, a board member and gardener there. 

“last year, we had a waitlist of 30 people and we had 15 plots available,” kearns said. apartments in the area with pool decks or community outdoor space closed those amenities last summer to prevent the spread of covid-19, she said. 

“there were a lot of people who didn’t get plots, but were desperate for the ability to be outdoors,” kearns said. “this year, our waiting list was 47 people.” 

to manage the increased interest, kearns said they adopted a friends of the garden program during the pandemic to invite volunteers to work on the community plots and take home some produce in return.   

the maxwell street garden became a place for participants to “clear their heads,” kearns said. “a lot of the stories [from last summer] revolve around just wanting to be outside after the mayor shut the lakefront down. last year was really hard.” 

mayor lori e. lightfoot closed chicago’s lakefront beaches from labor day weekend of 2019 through memorial day weekend of 2021 to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, according to a press release. the lakefront trail opened for exercise and transit with limited access and strict oversight june 2020; the status of the riverwalk and 606 was similar, according to block club chicago and nbc chicago articles. 

“we were like, ‘we’re going to the garden because it’s the one place you know you can be safe,’” kearns said. 

at the el paseo garden in pilsen, volunteer coordinator paula acevedo said they increased programming in response to “a spike in attendance.” 

“the space has been well-used during the pandemic,” acevedo said. “a lot of people were really dedicated to the garden. … people were saying the space kept them sane.” 

“it takes a village. it’s beautiful to be that conduit and platform for the community,” she said. 

health benefits of spending time in nature

a growing body of research illustrates the positive impact of spending time in nature on mental health. 

a study released january 2020 identified that spending two hours in nature per week created significant health benefits across age, gender, and geographic differences. the study broadly defined nature and emphasized that the two hours was a cumulative tally.

richard louv coined the term “nature-deficit disorder” in 2005 and has since authored several books on the health benefits of nature. 

“any green space will provide benefit to mental and physical wellbeing, so it mainly depends on individual preference,” louv said in an email. “more importantly is the frequency of those experiences. connection to nature should be an everyday occurrence.”

a 2017 study offered a list of the top impacts of spending time in nature based on an extensive review of existing research: reduced stress, better sleep, reduced depression and anxiety, greater happiness, and reduced aggression. 

different nature-based activities can impact the body in various ways. wilkins-hines shares her nature-based advice with patients based on the mental disorders being treated. in her practice, she focuses on clinical anxiety and depression, stress reduction and relaxation, and reiki, where she said she “manipulates energy to foster healing.”  

for patients with depression, “the [activities] that are most impactful are ones where you’re getting the sun because that’s going to improve your mood,” wilkins-hines said. she said the sun provides vitamin d that boosts serotonin, the “happy hormone.” 

“if you’re feeling suicidal and you’re feeling like you don’t belong, i encourage grounding techniques: to walk barefoot, to plant flowers, to plant vegetables – anything where you’re in the dirt and you’re bringing life to something,” wilkins-hines said. “you cannot change your way of thinking about the beauty of life [in a better way than] watching something grow into something, being responsible for the life of something.”

wilkins-hines said the impact of gardening extends beyond a specific physiological response in the body. 

“i think these community gardens afford people that opportunity to come together and share stories and to build interpersonal relationships, to network and to just give a sense of family, give a sense of connectedness. and all of that is beneficial for mental health,” wilkins-hines said.

the impact of nature and gardening on mental health has been known to many for years and prior to the pandemic.

kearns said she started to garden around the time she and her husband began the process of separation. 

“this is my happy place,” kearns said. “this was the place that i could just go and kind of forget about it. … i feel like it’s nourishment for your soul.”  

gardening can also help seniors and veterans, according to acevedo, who said seniors are el paseo garden’s largest demographic. 

while the pandemic may have intensified certain health conditions for seniors, acevedo said gardening helped their exercise, mental health and, for those who spent time gardening in earlier years, memory loss. 

acevedo also said the garden helped seniors feel less isolated, something the pandemic exacerbated.

“even their own families were afraid to go see them. they didn’t see their children and grandkids,” acevedo said. the garden added most of its new programming to benefit seniors, she said. 

acevedo said an afghanistan war veteran joined the garden from naperville, a 40-minute drive away, to volunteer his construction skills. 

“he said, ‘i’m on disability. i don’t work. i need to keep busy, or i’ll lose my mind,’” acevedo said. 

kearns said she thinks younger people have an easier time talking about mental health than older people. “everybody may be just as anxious, but nobody’s talking about it,” she said.  

louv advocates for children and families to spend more time in nature through his nonprofit organization, children nature network, to benefit all aspects of health within and beyond the context of the pandemic. 

“ironically, the coronavirus pandemic, as tragic as it is, has dramatically increased public awareness of the deep human need for nature connection –– and is adding greater sense of urgency to the movement to connect children, families and communities to nature,” louv said. 

“today, nature connection can be one way to heal psychological trauma of the pandemic. not a panacea, but one way,” he said.

it’s four in the morning on an early-march day, and 22-year-old jacob “valhalla” myers awakes in a hammock next to a group of people he has just met. a storm is set to move in, so they’re getting an early start on tackling blood mountain, the highest peak on the georgia section of the appalachian trail. 

“we’re walking up the mountain, in pairs essentially,” said myers, a sapphire, north carolina, native and employee at a concierge business. “the entire world is asleep right now, and you can just see people marching single-file, in a line, their headlamps bouncing off in the distance, illuminating the sides of these mountains. it was the first moment of ‘what the hell are we doing?’ it’s too magical for me to properly describe.” 

that trek up and over blood mountain is just a miniscule, if mystical, portion of the roughly 2,200 mile-long appalachian trail, stretching across the eastern united states from georgia to maine, and thought to be the longest hiking-only trail in the world. 

each year, according to the appalachian trail conservancy (atc), thousands attempt to thru-hike the entire trail. about 1 in 4 makes it the whole way. 

and making it the whole way was myers’ mission, after preparing for about a year and a half for his thru-hike. but when covid-19 first struck the globe early this year, halting the daily activities of, well, everyone– appalachian trail thru-hikers exited the trail and left behind their dreams of conquering it. at least for now.

in early march, sandra marra, president and ceo of the appalachian trail conservancy, asked registered thru-hikers to leave the trail in an email. later, marra issued a public statement about the importance of this recommendation.

so, on march 16, after 17 days and over 200 miles of hiking, myers exited at newfound gap on the north carolina-tennessee border, in what he describes as a “morbid, soul-crushing heartbreak.”

“they (the atc) told us all, ‘we need you to be considerate of these very sensitive and fragile trail towns with no hospitals and retirement-age folks,’” myers said. “and i could relate to that because that’s the kind of place i grew up in…i knew i was getting off for a morally sound reason.” 

still, myers’ rich tales from his short time on trail speak to the magnificence of such a journey. in past seasons, hikers fortunate and skilled enough to successfully complete an appalachian trail thru-hike, such as 24-year-old kyle “narnar” o’grady, got to experience this magnificence in its entirety.

growing up in burlington, vermont, o’grady became interested in hiking and backpacking in high school, which is when he first learned about the appalachian trail. by the time he was 22 and fresh out of college, o’grady felt “compelled” to pursue his long-time goal of thru-hiking it.

preparing for a thru-hike

it took o’grady about four and a half months to complete the over 2,000 miles of the appalachian trail, but he was no novice. the atc estimates that an average thru-hiker takes five to seven months to finish the trail. regardless, a thru-hike does not happen without some preparation.  

“i had never done a hike this long…but i’d backpacked for a number of years,” o’grady said. “i had kind of been preparing ever since i started hiking…i always had this goal in the back of my mind.”

o’grady never set out on a particular plan to prepare himself for the trail, unlike myers. having set his thru-hike start-date of feb. 29, 2020 — eight months in advance — myers trained extensively. each morning of last summer, he ran 2.5 miles of hills, rain or shine. on the weekends, myers would try to get in an extra-long day of training.

“i would go to a place i had never been in the woods and just hike, and that worked really well. the variety that the at offered was exactly like what i had done, going to these foreign places,” he said.

collecting just the right durable, lightweight, weatherproof gear for a thru-hike is a challenge in itself — and one that does not come without cost. the total retail price of everything on myers’ gear list, itemized on thetrek.com, comes to a whopping $2,731.74. 

stories from the trail

alone, but not really 

according to those who know the trail best, thru-hiking often starts as a solo venture but rarely ends as such. apart from the communities of people common to their ‘normal’ lifestyles, thru-hikers find that human connection thrives even in the backcountry. 

hikers who begin the trail around the same time and keep a similar pace end up sharing plenty of nights at camp together. 

“it’s the best of both worlds. people would just do their own thing during the day… so you can go as fast or as slow as you want,” o’grady said. “and then at the end of the day, at camp, you can still get that camaraderie and kind of reflect on the day.”

myers knew before ever stepping foot on the trail that it “was going to suck,” but ultimately found solace in the communal suffering of his fellow tired, hungry, unshowered thru-hikers. the support of those he met also helped him cope with the decision to leave the trail.

however, when 25-year-old audrey aug embarked on the trail, her close friend, hannie glenn, was by her side. after a venomous spider bite forced aug to leave the trail on a prior attempt, she met glenn while they worked at the same starbucks. though glenn had no prior backpacking experience, she wanted in on the action for aug’s second attempt. the pair successfully completed their thru-hike in september of 2019.

“we’re all the more friends for it… being able to start and finish together means that we’ll always have the inside jokes and so many things to relate to,” aug said.

meeting other people on the trail was one of the aspects of thru-hiking that sydney king was looking forward to most. after three years of preparation, the 26-year-old native of fort smith, arkansas, had planned to start an appalachian trail thru-hike on april 15 of this year, having worked several aspects of her life around the trip. she ultimately decided to cancel her hike given the atc’s recommendations surrounding covid-19. 

“imagine you’re with thousands of people that are doing the exact same thing you’re doing,” king said. “i feel like there’s a lot of camaraderie in that aspect… i was excited.”

‘valhalla or bust’

thru-hikers embrace a new way of life during their time on the trail, even altering their monikers. in a trend not unique to those on the appalachian trail, hikers adopt special “trail names,” sometimes chosen by themselves and sometimes awarded to them by other hikers. the names can be as odd as “spreadsheet” and as valiant as “sherpa.” but the common thread running through all of them is a story.

myers chose “valhalla” for himself, a glorious afterlife for warriors in norse mythology.

“i have a brother who’s deployed to kuwait, and we always say ‘valhalla or bust’ no matter what happens…,” he said. “valhalla is an afterlife you have to earn. you can be a good person, you can think the right things, but you actually have to go out into life and take life for everything that it is worth to enter into the halls of valhalla.” 

perhaps more serendipitously, aug was officially deemed “rooster” after other thru-hikers took notice of her red hair and the fact that she was always first to awake at camp in the morning.

meanwhile, king still awaits the opportunity to get her trail name. before pursuing her career goal of working for the federal bureau of investigation, she is hoping for that chance in the 2021 thru-hiking season. 

katahdin

standing 5,269 feet tall in the middle of maine is mount katahdin, but for thru-hikers traveling northbound, it is no ordinary mountain. katahdin marks the northern terminus of the appalachian trail, signifying the accomplishment of a lifetime and the end of a 2,200-mile journey for every thru-hiker who has stepped foot on its peak. 

“it was a wild feeling going up, thinking that this is the last time i’m going to have to hike up a mountain for a long time,” aug said. “there’s this overwhelming feeling of relief, and sadness…it’s bittersweet.”

reaching the peak was “surreal” for o’grady. he was able to summit katahdin with a couple of other thru-hikers he had met and camped alongside for long sections of the trail.

“i’m not really even an emotional person but…it still kind of makes me choke up a little bit when i think about it,” he said.

readjusting

on the other side of katahdin comes the reality for thru-hikers of adjusting back to life before the trail. following the completion of his thru-hike, o’grady had just two weeks before starting his first job out of college in software development. 

“i was just hiking for so long, and now i’m, like, in a cubicle,” he said. “that was not great at first.”

lessons from the trail

even amid the uncertainty surrounding the covid-19 pandemic, the spirit of appalachian trail thru-hikers and thru-hiker-hopefuls is alive and well. those from years past cherish their memories from the wilderness, while 2020-hopefuls have now become 2021-hopefuls. 

though he spent just 17 days on it, myers left the appalachian trail with plenty of inspiration. on one particularly chilling night at camp, a kind gesture later became a symbol of something more. 

“before we even make introductions, this fella…made me a cup of hot chocolate. he just goes, ‘you look like you could use this.’ even in that harsh environment… you can still find some of the epitome of human decency in those moments,” he said.

myers added, “that’s (one thing) i’m so happy to be seeing out of covid. because everyone is suffering together, everyone can pick each other up, and that’s very akin to the trail community at large.”

while her words were flattering, i can’t help but wonder how critical i am to young lyvi’s life. as the executive director of the jackson hole kayak club, a small non-profit dedicated to the growth of whitewater kayaking, my primary job is to ensure her wellbeing and safety on the water. in a safe environment, i can coach and teach lyvi about the movements of the river, the varying features and hazards, and how much fun spending time outside on rivers can be. but, at the end of the day, i am a young man who shares little in common with a 12-year-old girl. i can’t help but wonder how a female coach could have provided a more rich experience for lyvi that day on the water.

the disconnect between lyvi and myself reflects a larger issue in outdoor recreation. across kayaking, skiing, climbing, mountain biking and other outdoor adventure sports, the majority of coaches, athletes and participants are white men. deeply embedded social structures and gender politics cause the gender gap in outdoor recreation, resulting in an outdoor culture where everyone looks, acts and thinks similarly. this “boys club” attitude of the outdoors can create invisible yet impassable boundaries that alienate women and people of color from interacting with the outdoors and participating in the activities that i enjoy the most. but, this is old news.

outdoor recreation has been immersed in white american culture since the 1800s. colonial influences shaped our perception of the outdoors and how we interact with nature, including driving through national parks and participating in extreme outdoor activities. these influences, paired with the traditional masculine influences of domination and conquest, frame the outdoors as a space for macho white males. though the recreation industry has a flawed history, playing outside is a critical step for young people to care about their environment.

according to the u.s. forest service, outdoor recreation introduces people to the outdoors and stimulates public interest in varying environmental issues, generating support for the preservation of air, water and wildlife. as climate change becomes an increasingly important issue, the importance of outdoor recreation thus also grows. and, while we seek various solutions to the complex problem of climate change, we must rely on fresh and different perspectives from various people to tackle such a problem. outdoor recreation opportunities must be open to everyone.

at a young age, outdoor recreation (kayaking and skiing specifically) inspired me to protect the spaces i love to play in, and find thoughtful solutions to various environmental issues. but, my passion for the environment did not drive my return to skiing and kayaking; my coaches did.

i fell in love with my ski and kayak coaches over the years. i looked up to their demeanor, their high level of skill in the sports i was beginning to enjoy, and at their own passion for the outdoors. i wanted to be like my coaches, and felt i strongly that i could grow up to be just like them. every single one of them was white and male. i only ever had one female ski coach, and she was a substitute.

in order to expand the range of people participating in outdoor recreation, we must create the space for a wider range of coaches and role models for the young people wanting to play outside.  a female coach for lyvi has the power to transform a scary situation into a light hearted one. her leadership and demeanor are both traits for lyvi to follow. and, finally, a female coach’s interaction with nature and the outdoors can pave the way for lyvi to develop her own passion and care for the environment, cultivating new ideas and passion necessary to combat global climate change.

in my role at the kayak club, i find myself in a unique situation where i can fix this systemic issue of exclusivity in outdoor recreation. i want to be more thoughtful in who i hire as coaches, who participates in our programs, and making my favorite sport accessible to anyone interested. these sports, along with the coaches and role models in my life, were critical in helping me find my voice and passions, and i hope to create the same opportunities for everyone and anyone interested in playing outside.

while i might have saved lyvi’s life that day on the water, with the right role models in her life she might be able to save our world.

before the sun begins the morning stretch over the mountain ridge that sprawls across central panama, a group of 20-somethings departs into the jungle. in search of a new place to swim, the young hikers cross a burbling stream that threatens to fill their boots with water. beyond the river and a steep incline, they skirt a pack of cattle struggling to keep their footing on the narrow trail. they nod to the farmer who looks bemused at their continual walks and they proceed. after an hour, the voyagers reach a swimming hole, just as someone back at their camp promised. they leap into the water and rinse the 80-degree heat from their skin as the sun begins to crest over the hills.

when the eco-town of kalu yala entered the panamanian landscape about 10 years ago, it brought an abundance of new life and innovation to the relatively undeveloped land surrounding the chagres national park. the small campus housed internship programs, new start-up businesses and open, roofed, rancho-style platforms for camping. innovative technology attracted lots of young americans and interns from other parts of the world hoping to make advances in the worldwide push for sustainability. but it also brought a phenomena that many panamanian locals had never seen before: hiking.

while residents of san miguel, the closest town to kalu yala, may not understand the hype of carrying heavy-duty hiking packs up a hill for seemingly no reason, interns and staff at kalu yala have adopted the western tradition as a part of their culture.

clay springer, the current director of the outdoor recreation department, first arrived in panama a few months ago and panamanians would watch him hiking up the steep kalu yala access road, and the final steep hill, fondly deemed “suicide hill.”

“oftentimes they’ll look at us and wonder what we’re doing out there,” springer said. “and i’ve been offered a ride by people, by panamanian farmers when i’m walking out in the countryside. i say, ‘no, i’m doing this intentionally, i want to walk…’ and they’re like, ‘gringo loco, no entiendo!’”

this example highlights what many kalu yalans consider a cultural divide between themselves and their neighbors. while many programs are working to engage more with the community so near their village, this often comes with challenges.

aside from language barriers, which make it tough for interns to interact with young neighbors, many of the canadians and americans find it difficult to relate to the many challenges panamanian students from san miguel face. angela jones, the director of education, said she sees a level of apathy toward education in the town but it’s often due to limited means that constrains access to schools.

“there’s no high school here,” jones said. “so the kids, once they graduate from primary school, then they have to go to la mesa, which is about 20, 30 minutes away to go to middle school or high school.”

many students decide against this daily commute and the costs of school. they stay at home or hope to find work elsewhere.

“i talked to a kid just the other day who was 13, i think,” jones said. “and he was just hanging out on the patio. i asked him ‘what do you do?’ and (he said) ‘i don’t go to school.’”  

jones said parents are generally in support of this because it means their children can seek employment at factories in nearby towns, and parents won’t have to pay for bus fares or notebooks. it saves them money, and many students have a desire to leave the valley.

hiking is another apparent divide and, of course, there’s a considerable gap even among americans who are interested in hiking. in 2013, the outdoor participation report found that 70 percent of americans participating in outdoor recreation were white. racial minorities represented only one in five visitors to the national parks, according to a 2011 poll. as in panama, these disparities can be linked to the wealth gap between white americans and minorities.

springer attributes the relative lack of interest in hiking among panamanians living in rural areas to a desire to escape from their current lifestyle, which requires a lot of walking and outdoor labor for everyday chores and errands.

“there is a cultural disconnect there,” springer said. “i think a lot of panamanians living in the interiors have worked really really hard to get to a point where they can leave the interior and go to the cities. so looking at hiking as a recreational activity is confusing to them.”

taylor gray, an outdoor recreation intern from winnipeg, in manitoba, canada, has spent her semester developing maps of surrounding hiking trails with other interns. she feels that most of the work they’ve done in the past has served residents of kalu yala but hopes to encourage more participation for neighbors in san miguel and beyond.

chloe chow, an intern from montreal, said even kalu yalans see hiking as a “luxury,” and thinks that many locals “don’t know about the trails we have here.”

springer thinks that hiking hasn’t been something that panamanians have thought about as an asset in the past. however, with the building of a new canal through nicaragua, which could take business away from the country’s main source of income at the panama canal, hiking might be an important place to turn. because the new canal would not be owned by panama, trade may migrate out of their country. people previously employed at the panama canal will need to look elsewhere to work, and springer said outdoor rec is a good next step.

“(there) is an initiative going on with a company called ‘caminando de panama,’ which means ‘walking panama,’” springer said. “(the) objective is to train locals to have a durable vested interest in conserving their land by turning them into wilderness guides so when they do that, it gives them a new source of income, it gives them a reason to protect their wilderness and instills a new passion for the outdoors in their local communities, which i think is incredible.”

kalu yala and groups such as the kuna yala tribe on the san blas islands have tapped into the growing demand of tourists to travel to panama, but panamanians haven’t taken this opportunity yet. gray said that by training locals to be guides, they will become more invested in the conservation of their land while benefiting from a steady income.

“i think it’s a great opportunity for them to make money, to turn that lifestyle toward hiking,” gray said. “i agree with the statement the more people love something, the more they want to protect it.”

of course, looking at missions like these aren’t always practical in the 10-week semesters that the kalu yala institute provides for its interns. for now, interns in the outdoor recreation program focus their efforts on members of their community and projects they feel they can accomplish. gray’s project comes from a desire to have her peers experience nature more deeply.

“we live here, we should experience the wilderness,” gray said. “so many people come here and are like, ‘yeah, i live in the jungle.’ but then never leave this little community and i think it’s super important to experience 100 percent of the area you’re in, so doing cultural activities, going hiking, doing overnight trips in the woods, cause then you can actually say you experienced the jungle and you lived in the jungle.”

the outdoor recreation program does a good job promoting trail maintenance and hiking within their community, but sometimes it feels a bit isolated even within itself. the interns plan activities with hopes of involving interns from other programs, but without interest it’s hard to hope for longevity.

right now, gray feels that kalu yala is at something of a standstill in terms of growing as a community and increasing its local involvement. while each program and the institute as a whole has goals of expanding into the local community, a lot of these aren’t entirely practical due to time, cultural and budgetary restraints.

“(kalu yala tells interns to) ‘get creative, do your own thing, if you’re passionate about it, do it,’ instead of saying ‘take something from kalu yala, make it better,’” gray said. “i think they should definitely emphasize that more. because i mean, it sounds bad, but there’s so many good ideas, but implemented in shitty ways in kalu yala that could just be implemented so much better.”

for instance, gray hopes her maps will serve as a guide for future hikers. but, to some extent, interns have to hope someone else will pick up on their project. one past intern once created a skee ball court, which has since fallen into disrepair.

for many, there’s a layer of tension between what kalu yala is today, and what it can or even should become in the future with growth. on a more macro level, gray worries about kalu yala growing at all.

“right now it’s just a little plot of land that 150 people can enjoy and can one day be (totally) sustainable at this size,” gray said. “the bigger it gets, the harder it is to stay sustainable. that does worry me a little bit, i think it worries a lot of people.”

people have big dreams for the outdoor recreation department and kalu yala as a whole. as the town gets older, residents are growing more and more aware that many of these changes will be much harder to implement than they envisioned.

“we think very startup-y in the way that we say ‘can this scale? can we have more people living like this?’” said esteban gast, the former president of the kalu yala institute. “and we know that not everyone’s going to live like this.” gast left his position recently to take a job in media in los angeles.

springer, gray and chow think a lot about how to bring san miguel residents into the conversation of outdoor recreation and other opportunities at kalu yala. tuition, paid by the international interns, is waived for any resident of san miguel.

“right now my audience just includes my interns which is a group of six students,” springer said. “but the projects we’re working on is for the benefit of the whole kalu yala community and then eventually hopefully the panamanian community.”

in the end, it’s a matter of time before anyone – within or without kalu yala – will be able to predict the future of what many hope will become a model for sustainable towns around the globe. 

“right now, i don’t think there’s anything wrong with what kalu yala is doing,” gray said. “everyone here has the right mindset, they have the right goals. the bigger it gets, the more it just turns into another town so that is definitely worrisome.”