‘It almost seems radical’: Sacramento Black women hiking group finds health, community

Amy Fletcher has been an avid hiker since she moved to Sacramento about six years ago.

But around late 2018, she found herself yearning not only for more opportunities to get out, but also for “some explicitly Black-only spaces.”

“That was something when settling in Sacramento that I found really missing,” Fletcher said. “Just having a space to say things that you might not be able to say or not have to give background. There’s an implicit understanding.”

That’s when she joined the Black Women Hike Sacramento meet-up group. Since its founding in early 2018, the outdoor club has been an inclusive space for novice day hikers and experienced backpackers alike to explore the mountains of the Sierra and the hills of the Sacramento region. After a brief hiatus this spring and summer, the group is starting up again with hikes planned roughly every month.

Initially set up as a spur-of-the-moment meet-up for adventurous (and adventure-curious) Black women, the group has since gone camping near French Meadows Reservoir, done nature walks around Effie Yeaw Nature Center and even snowshoed around Donner Lake. Fletcher called Black Women Hike Sacramento “a reclamation of Black bodies being outside.”

“Nature doesn’t belong to anyone, she’s just for everyone to enjoy and respect and know about her,” said group founder Maureen Kinyua. “That shouldn’t be about the color of your skin, it should be a human right to enjoy.”

Fletcher knows there is a perception that hiking, and experiencing the outdoors, is a pastime marketed largely to privileged white people. In 2018, only 6% of visitors to national parks were Black, compared to 77% white, according to a survey by the National Park Service. Just 23% of visitors to the parks were people of color. Part of the purpose of Black Women Hike Sacramento is to change that narrative.

“I have never once felt represented looking at an REI ad,” said Fletcher, who began helping organize trips for the group, “but I think that conversation is changing.”

Some women joined to be healthier, and exercise the body and mind, Kinyua said. But for many at jobs where they’re the only Black woman in the office, they looked forward to the hikes as a chance to be surrounded by other Black women.

“One person said that this was their church,” Kinyua said.

‘Reclamation of Black bodies being outside’

Kinyua grew up exploring nature with her family, hiking around Mount Kenya on Sundays and occasionally running into elephants and ostriches. “The joke,” she said, “is if you’re not going down you’re going up because it’s so hilly everywhere.”

She lost touch with her love for hiking when she moved to the states, but when she arrived in Sacramento almost six years ago, she noticed how similar the area was to the place where she grew up — the mountains out in Tahoe, the lush hills of Placer County.

“There’s a hike on the way to Tahoe ... it’s a pretty steep climb depending on how you take the loop,” said Kinyua, who declined to name the trail for fear it’d get too popular. “But you get to this place on the mountains and it’s pure silence, and you can see lake, the hills, the mountains with snow and just sit there. Yeah, that’s a good hike.”

She decided to “get back out there.” Being new in town, Kinyua also wanted to make friends. So she set up a MeetUp group online in early 2018 and went to sleep thinking maybe 10 people would sign up. Fifty people joined overnight. At the group’s peak, about a dozen women were heading out for monthly camping and hiking trips, and more about 300 people had signed up to be notified of events.

That demand said something, Kinyua said. Dozens of Black women in Sacramento were ready and eager to enjoy both the tranquility and exhilaration Northern California’s natural terrain had to offer — many just never had the chance to do so in an inclusive and encouraging space.

Some had never camped before, and “we had to provide a ton of information like what do you need to bring, where do you get it (and) ‘here are videos to watch on how to camp,’“ Kinyua said. Others were nervous to be without cell service, or got scared when confronted by a turkey.

There are other fears they have to overcome, too, Fletcher said. She recalled the group chatting during one trip about an incident they heard about in Colorado, where a group of Black women hikers had sheriff’s deputies called on them by a group of white horseback riders.

“There is a lot of trauma around being Black in the outdoors, a history of violence that happens and still happens,” Fletcher said. “Being with a group that understands that is something unique that you can’t really explain, and it’s nice when you don’t have to.”

When stay-at-home orders were issued and going outdoors became one of the few safe solaces of the pandemic, Fletcher and Kinyua saw a massive growth in interest in Black Women Hike Sacramento. But by the spring of 2021, Fletcher and Kinyua were getting overwhelmed.

They loved the community they had built, but scheduling even just one hike a month — taking into account people’s different comfort and experience levels, organizing carpools and getting gear for everyone — became unwieldy, and they decided to take a break from organizing hiking trips.

The break, however, didn’t last long. Fletcher said she missed the monthly ventures and fun conversations, and started organizing group hikes again this fall.

“I always feel a little bit proud, and that I’m pushing back against something when hiking with a large group of Black women,” Fletcher said. “We rarely see other groups of people of color, it almost seems radical to be doing it.”

Black Women Hike Sacramento’s next group hike is planned for Dec. 18. Interested hikers can keep up to date on upcoming trips by following the group’s Instagram page.

This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.