Being a Part of TVOP's Five Year Journey

In August of 2014, I moved from Southern Indiana to Western Massachusetts. I had lived in Indiana my entire life. It was all I had ever known. Coming out and being queer in the Midwest was hard. It took me a long time to find and build community, especially when it was the kind of community where we were all just hoping to get out and hoping our friends could get out, even if it meant we’d no longer be together. When I moved to Massachusetts with my partner, I was so glad to make it out of a place where I always felt scared and alone, but I quickly realized that I felt scared and alone in a whole new way. I was starting over with no other friends, family, or community to speak of.

I made two plans once I got to Massachusetts: make new queer friends and get outside, because WOW was it beautiful here. So I joined every LGBTQ group I could find and stared at mountains every day. I wasn’t having much luck with either of my goals, until someone posted an event in one of the Facebook groups I had joined – a queer snowshoe hike. I had never been snowshoeing in my life, but this event combined the two things I kept saying I wanted, so I signed up. On March 1, 2015, I showed up to an empty, abandoned Moose Lodge parking lot in the snow. I sat in my car and waited as more cars slowly rolled in, getting nervous and excited. When I saw a pickup truck pull in, loaded full of snowshoes, I finally got out of my car and joined the 15-20 people gathering. I met Perry for the first time, as we all signed waivers and started gearing up with our borrowed snowshoes. Perry told us all that it was a special day, that exactly one year prior, he had decided to quit his corporate job and work with queers in the woods. He welcomed us to the FIRST EVER Venture Out Project hike.

Learning to read maps on TVOP’s first backpacking trip, July 2015

My first time snowshoeing was a magical experience. I felt so comfortable in the woods, and to be surrounded by other queer folks just made me feel more at home. As The Venture Out Project started having more hikes, I joined every chance I could. When the summer started, so did the first ever round of Thursday Night Hikes, and I was there for every one. In July of 2015, TVOP took me backpacking for my very first time. The Venture Out Project helped me feel more comfortable outside, and I started hiking on my own as well, finding new trails nearby and constantly searching for new summits and waterfalls. By the summer of 2016 I joined on the experienced backpacking trip to the White Mountains and I was volunteering for TVOP and leading my own hikes. In June of 2017, I finally co-led my first TVOP Classic Backpacking Trip. It was so amazing to watch a group of inexperienced, backpacking queers and know exactly the kind of impact that I and The Venture Out Project were having on them, because I had felt that same impact.

For the past few years, I’ve been leading TVOP’s Thursday Night Hiking series in Western Mass, running the Western Mass Queer Climbing Nights, and doing anything and everything I can to help out because I love this organization. The Venture Out Project has changed my life in so many ways. TVOP taught me how to read maps, hang bear bags, and light a camp stove. It taught me to snowshoe, snowboard, and cross country ski. It has made me feel comfortable in the outdoors and allowed me the freedom to explore and to adventure. Leading hikes has made feel more confident and outgoing and like I can really have an impact on other queer folks who have felt unwelcome or inexperienced in the wilderness.

Group shot from a TVOP Vermont ski trip, January 2017

Over the years, I’ve found myself on another adventure with someone I previously went on a TVOP hike with, or a backpacking or ski trip, and it feels like we never left. I feel a bond with these people, and every time I see them, it feels like I’m coming home. I have met so many people and made so many friends through this organization. I truly feel like I am part of a family here.

As The Venture Out Project celebrates its 5 year anniversary, I am proud to say that I was on that very first hike, and I am elated to see where things go from here and how I can help Venture Out to continue to grow.

On top of Pony Mountain in Ashfield, MA on a Thursday Night Hike, September 2019