{"id":23483,"date":"2018-03-08T09:40:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T17:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=23483"},"modified":"2022-04-13T11:29:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T18:29:11","slug":"rahawa-haile-defining-the-outdoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/social\/rahawa-haile-defining-the-outdoors","title":{"rendered":"Rahawa Haile: Defining the Outdoors"},"content":{"rendered":"

For our 82nd anniversary, we\u2019re highlighting 82 of your outdoor stories. Share your favorite story on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with a photo or video and tag #REImember.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The world outside our walls and windows is vast and broad. From a backyard to the backcountry, city parks to national forests across the nation, there is no single definition for the \u201coutdoors.\u201d REI Co-op member Rahawa Haile, a writer and 2016 Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hiker currently living in Oakland, California, knows that as well as anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it really does depend on the person\u2026 Hiking the AT is great. I am just as impressed with someone who goes to their local park and spends an hour walking three miles every single day,\u201d she says after we finish an hour-long hike atop Slacker Ridge just outside San Francisco. Looking down and across the bay, as the morning sun peeks out behind glass buildings and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, we\u2019re surprised at how close we are to the city still sleeping below. And how far away we feel.<\/p>\n

\"Rahawa

Photo Credit: Carina Skrobecki @caskro<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cRight now, when you see many outdoor catalogs, you have people who are rock climbing, paddling white water or tackling some very complicated hiking route,\u201d she says. That can be incredibly intimidating for someone who\u2019s interested in the outdoors but not sure where to start. But since those sorts of places aren\u2019t in everyone\u2019s backyard, there are opportunities a lot closer to home. However, she says, \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve done a good enough job saying here are all the places that are nearby, that are just as spectacular, and here\u2019s how easy it is to get to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up in Miami, Rahawa often spent timing walking in the city with her grandmother. Together, they found magic in the simple feeling of fresh air on their faces. As an adult, she lived in Brooklyn, and to this day remembers how easy the trip to Breakneck Ridge seemed on the Metro North train. As a result, and from an early age, she found a way to enjoy the outdoors, safely, which to her cannot be overstated. Safety for newcomers in the outdoors is paramount\u2014specifically for less talked about things like Lyme Disease. \u201cThere are people who don\u2019t know how to remove a tick. There are people who don\u2019t know how to look for ticks. We need to educate people who didn\u2019t grow up in the outdoors about how to be in the outdoors safely,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"Rahawa

Photo Credit: Carina Skrobecki @caskro<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

When asked how someone in a major metropolitan area can get outside and stay safe, she stops, thinks, then says, \u201cthere\u2019s no one answer.\u201d And she\u2019s right. Every city is different. Every person is too. A study by University of Chicago assistant professor Marc G. Berman found 50 minutes spent walking in an arboretum improved memory and attention. But not every city has an arboretum. \u201cBiking as little as one hour a week helps prevent heart disease,\u201d according to research in the American Heart Association Journal. But not everyone has a bike.<\/p>\n

Although Rahawa is currently considering another thru-hike, she makes time when possible to get outside in other ways. \u201cDay hikes are wonderful, but I find peace just walking the 45 minutes to get to work. It\u2019s so good for my mind, and I love getting to know the people in my community.\u201d When you travel places on foot, it\u2019s amazing what you\u2019ll notice. When the world isn\u2019t framed by a window or blocked by a wall, everything in it can feel closer and more familiar.<\/p>\n

Even though that works for her, she acknowledges it\u2019s not applicable or available to everyone. \u201cIf the sun sets at 4:30pm in Chicago and you can\u2019t walk until you get off of work, then it\u2019s just not an option.\u201d But rather than accept that universally, she spends time helping friends combat and overcome the barriers she faced early on.<\/p>\n

\"Rahawa

Photo Credit: Carina Skrobecki @caskro<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Whether that\u2019s knowledge and confidence, gear or just getting to the right trail, she takes time to educate and encourage anyone and everyone she can. She recalls how, \u201cmany people take that knowledge for granted because they grew up with it. Almost every hiker I ask, \u2018how did you get into the outdoors, on the AT,\u2019 they say, \u2018my family took me camping.\u2019 But if you didn\u2019t have that I think it\u2019s hard to jump into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She credits organizations like Outdoor Afro<\/a>, Fat Girls Hiking<\/a> and many others at helping connect new and more diverse communities to the outdoors. \u201cGirlTrek<\/a> is dedicated to getting black women to walk for at least 30 minutes a day, and I think we need to champion efforts like that. Because they make it accessible,\u201d she says. When it comes to gear, she leaned on fellow and former thru-hikers \u2014 the first being @walkingwithwired. In addition, she says, \u201cI found a woman named ‘Chardonnay<\/a>,’ and at the time she completed the PCT and had a website about it. Just to see that another black woman had completed the trail was massive for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear from the warmth in her voice that these groups and role models helped her before, during and after her 2,000+ miles on the AT. \u201cPerhaps what you need to do is hear a thru-hiker say you can do it.\u201d While she says she may be among the last people anyone expects to be on a thru-hike, she certainly sounds like a thru-hiker. Encouraging, empowering and able to tell you the individual weight of her base layer from memory.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For our 82nd anniversary, we\u2019re highlighting 82 of your outdoor stories. Share your favorite story on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with a photo or video and tag #REImember. The world outside our walls and windows is vast and broad. From a backyard to the backcountry, city parks to national forests across the nation, there is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":24660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[387,242],"tags":[160,707,552,650],"internal-tag":[1678,1587],"class_list":["post-23483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hike","category-social","tag-california","tag-hiking","tag-rei-members","tag-thru-hiking","internal-tag-pre-redirect-hiking","internal-tag-scenic-trails-features"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/social\/rahawa-haile-defining-the-outdoors","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Rahawa Haile: Defining the Outdoors","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/social\/rahawa-haile-defining-the-outdoors","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/social\/rahawa-haile-defining-the-outdoors"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/03\/Skrobecki_171130_0497_Hero.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/03\/Skrobecki_171130_0497_Hero.jpg?fit=3000%2C1400"},"articleSection":"Hike","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aer Parris-Hoshour"}],"creator":["Aer Parris-Hoshour"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["california","hiking","rei members","thru-hiking"],"dateCreated":"2018-03-08T17:40:54Z","datePublished":"2018-03-08T17:40:54Z","dateModified":"2022-04-13T18:29:11Z"},"rendered":"