Breaking Down Barriers to Getting Outside

The history and current reality of racism have created barriers for many people getting outside to enjoy the benefits of nature. WTA has been supporting the hiking community since our founding, but in the past decade we have been more intentionally focused on lowering barriers to access the outdoors and making our community more welcoming to all.

The history and current reality of racism have created barriers for many people getting outside to enjoy the benefits of nature. When you consider the uneven distribution of funding, information, green spaces and other resources, it is clear that many Washingtonians aren't able to benefit from or deepen connections to nature.

Trails for Everyone is building off of work WTA has been doing for years to make experiences on trail accessible and rewarding for everyone. We’ve been supporting the hiking community since our founding, but in the past decade we have been more intentionally focused on lowering barriers to accessing the outdoors and making our community more welcoming to all. We're doing that in a few ways.

Reducing Barriers to Getting Outside

We want to make it easy for hikers to find the information they need to get outside. We do that in a lot of ways — through our Hiking Guide and by sharing basic hiking skills in our Trail Smarts series, for instance. Our website is full of good information — and thanks to the support of our members, it has always been free.

We’re also doing hands-on work to help people gain new skills and get outside. One way is through our Outdoor Leadership Training program, which in the 10 years since it was founded, has trained more than 400 leaders. Those leaders have taken more than 19,000 people on outdoor excursions.

Creating Safe Spaces

WTA began offering shared-identity trail work parties more than 10 years ago to provide a safe space for volunteers from similar backgrounds and communities, including women and the LGBTQ+ community. This approach expands our volunteer base and helps more people gain skills in trail stewardship and access opportunities in the outdoor industry. Volunteers who have joined us on these trips have said that, while they had considered volunteering in the past, it was this community opportunity that encouraged them to finally sign up.

We've also built successful weeklong Latinx trail crew experiences in partnership with Latino Outdoors, in addition to work parties with other community-based organizations. And we created a New to Trail Work series to lower barriers for folks to try trail stewardship for the first time.

Our leaders are trained how to foster a welcoming environment, how to recognize bias and how to step in as needed to ensure everyone feels safe and supported while volunteering their time for trails.

We're also helping diverse individuals, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color, gain skills and experience while exploring career paths in the natural resources and outdoor recreation sectors.

building Partnerships — the Cornerstone of Trails for Everyone

None of the work we are doing to create trails for everyone is done alone. Partner organizations are key to making this vision a reality. We are constantly learning from one another and finding new ways to collaborate and grow. Together, we can all get more done.

Read about our work in action

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.

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

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.