Amplifying Voices Across Our Community

Everyone deserves access to trails. We're supporting community partners and breaking down barriers, so that the trails of the future belong to everyone. And by amplifying voices from across the trail community and sharing stories, we can help people know we all belong in the outdoors.

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5 WTA partner organizations to support this GivingTuesday

Dec 02, 2025

Washington Trails Association believes that trails are for everyone, forever. We seek to create a community of avid outdoor enthusiasts. This year for GivingTuesday, we are highlighting five WTA partner groups. Please consider sharing your generosity with these organizations.

Warm hands, happy feet: WTA’s gear library and Outdoor Research’s gear help kids get outside

Nov 19, 2025

WTA’s Outdoor Leadership Training program has been helping youth get outside for more than a decade. But getting outdoors often requires gear, which can be spendy. Support from partners like Outdoor Research, who donates winter gear, helps keep kids warm and dry when they get outside.

How pack llamas are helping hikers with Parkinson's return to trail

When a lifelong hiker was diagnosed with the disease, he found a way to keep getting outside. And he helped others do the same. By Chloe Ferrone

Creating a Path for Outdoor Leaders

WTA celebrates 5 years of helping build a better future for trails through the Emerging Leaders Program | By MJ Mahan and Krista Dooley.

From fear to safety

Hiking isn't fun or beneficial when you face discrimination on trail. Here's how one researcher is shaping a more welcoming outdoors for BIPOC recreators. By Linnea Johnson

Many hands make light work — how one Trailblazer troop gives back by cleaning tents and more

Sep 29, 2025

The members of Girl Scout Trailblazer troop 4389 regularly help out at WTA’s Seattle gear library to ensure that the gear is clean, in good working condition and ready to lend out to other youth programs. Their dedication helps ensure that more than 3,100 pieces of gear in the Seattle gear library are regularly maintained and ready for use.

Trip reports for the soul: How writing trip reports shifted my entire perspective

I made a goal to write 100 trip reports in a year. I didn’t expect it to change the way I thought about hiking. | By Tiffany Chou

Returning to the trail after a big change — one parent's story

I discovered hiking as an adult and fell in love. But I lost track of that passion after parenthood. Here’s how I found it again — and how I’m getting out more than ever. By Sarah Nordstrom

Public lands are places of belonging. We cannot stand to lose them

In a time of disconnection, national public lands connect us — back to ourselves, to our loved ones, to the natural world and to everyone with whom we share these places. By Linnea Johnson.

Post 84 helps hundreds of high schoolers get outside every year

Jun 11, 2025

Post 84, a partner with WTA’s Outdoor Leadership Training program since 2018, helps teenaged campers from the Puget Sound area get outside by offering more than a dozen camping trips a year. WTA's gear library makes it possible for even more teens to attend the trips.

Building connections to nature

Woodland Park Zoo is a leading expert in wildlife conservation and empathy-based curriculum in their education programs. The Wonder in Nature photography camp, a part of their Community Collaborative, partners with WTA through our gear lending library-- ensuring youth are comfortable outside by lending backpacks, rain gear, warm layers and hiking boots. By Erin McQuin

How youth are fighting climate grief with action

Apr 14, 2025

Time outside helps the youth with Climate Action Families in their work to advance climate justice. By Emory Ranes

Urban forestry and why it matters

Spending time amid trees boosts the enjoyment of time spent in nature. But trees do a lot more than that — they sequester carbon, help create the air we breathe, provide shade, mitigate heat, absorb stormwater and create habitat. But the benefits of those trees are not distributed equally among neighborhoods.

Miles, smiles and community with Miles Hike Club

Mar 17, 2025

Miles Hike Club gets out on trail with hikers of all ages — and WTA helped them get there. By Joseph Gonzalez

Nosotros En Naturaleza is building community on trail

Mar 05, 2025

Nosotros en Naturaleza, a partner of WTA's Outdoor Leadership Training program, is helping young adults in the Latinx community connect to each other and to the outdoors.

How WTA is building trails for a changing world

Washington needs resilient trail systems — WTA is helping to build a trail system that can stand up to the test of climate change. | By Andrea Waite

How learning the ways of the crosscut saw helped one hiker foster joy outdoors

Crystal Hudelson is a climber, volunteer and BIPOC community leader. Here's how learning how to use and refurbish crosscut saws brought her closer to community. By Joseph Gonzalez

12 Women and 4 Horses Fix a Trail

WTA and Back Country Horsemen of Washington team up for their first all-women volunteer trip. By Victoria Obermeyer.

5 WTA partner organizations to support this Giving Tuesday

Dec 02, 2024

Washington Trails Association believes that trails are for everyone, forever. This year for Giving Tuesday, we are highlighting five WTA partner groups that are making sure everyone has access to experience nature in meaningful ways. Please consider sharing your generosity with these organizations.

Checking in with Emerging Leader Alums

Past participants of WTA's Emerging Leaders Program chat about what they're up to now and how their time in the program has helped inform their careers so far.