A Nerd Girl’s Adventure with Outdoor Afro

Last Saturday, after another one of those weeks where I was reminded of the constant threats to Black life in America, I was done. Exhausted. Emotionally dented. Wondering if spending the next several weeks drunk was a legit coping strategy. That’s when I came across an invitation to a Healing Hike with Outdoor Afro. I love hiking, but I’m not exactly an outdoors woman. I went anyway, and I am so glad I did. What’s Outdoor Afro? It is an organization, headquartered in Oakland, CA, with volunteers all over the country, that leads outdoor excursions for Black people. It is a social club, a hiking group, a network of Black folks encouraging and supporting each other to get outside and experience nature as a way of taking better care of ourselves, our communities, and our planet. There are local groups in many major cities, with events monthly, if not more often, each planned and lead by a volunteer leader. That’s me and my Outdoor Afro hike leader, Monifa. (She’s the tall one.) [divider type=”space_thin”] For the healing hike, we did an urban excursion, hiking through some of the open space still available in San Francisco, of which there is a surprising amount. There were a lot of hills. A LOT. But there were also plenty of pauses for water and snacks (BYOS: bring your own snacks, is a basic tenet of my life). There were about a dozen of us walking, ranging in age from mid-twenties up to early-sixties and across all kinds of physical fitness levels. One of the Outdoor Afro volu…