Why mainly only caucasian backpackers?

[wildhiker]

I have definitely seen an increase in hikers-of-color in the Sierra in recent years. Most of them have been day-hikers on trails. That's a start - in fact, it's how I started. Just this June at the top of Yosemite Falls, we saw lots of Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans who had hiked up from Yosemite Valley. I really think that the paucity in the backcountry is just due to unfamiliarity, with economics also being a constraint for many, and eventually we will reach a critical mass that encourages more minorities to venture out.

I know that we old white guys can be a positive influence in this process. I talk about my hiking trips and put up photos in my office. One Asian-American coworker (born in Hong Kong and came here at age 12) has gotten really interested in camping and even talks about eventually going backpacking with his boys. Another Mexican-American co-worker has expressed "I'd like to do that" when I've talked about some of my adventures. If he keeps working with me, he may end up in the backcountry!

By the way, someone in the earlier incarnation of this thread mentioned Mission Peak here in the Bay Area. Based on our recent hikes to Mission Peak, the hike to the top has become a magnet for Hispanic teens - many of whom live right below it in east San Jose. In this case, there appears to be a social media connection - some hikers posted photos of themselves at the top, and that encouraged their friends to do it. Here, they have the opportunity as well since it is just a few miles away.

-Phil

[Fly Guy Dave]

An interesting topic. Here's something I saw in this morning's Sacramento Bee: http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/liv ... 11392.html

[SSSdave]

One thing that has been lost in the discussion by media coming out with these stories is the racial make up of California has vastly changed in just a few decades and the younger demographic is much more so versus the below statistics. Also immigrants are MUCH more heavily weighted in the urban demographic so it has taken time for many of them to venture out of the cities. Thus people wondering about racial imbalances in outdoor actitivities haven't considered that there are a lot of younger non caucasians that have only recently become adults and most are slowly increasingly exploring out of urban areas.

In California:
1980
67% white
19% hispanic
8% black
4% other

2010
40% white
38% hispanic
6% black
13% Asian
1% other

In 1980 the state population was 23.6m and in 2010 37.2m
The white population was 15.7m in 1980 and has decreased to 14.9m today.
In 1980 the Asian population was just 55k. In 1990 that jumped to 2.7m and 2010 4.7m
The hispanic population was 4.5m in 1980 and was 14.0m in 2010. Thus most of the population growth since 1980 has been hispanics and much of that was not legal though many have assimilated to legal status without going through legal processes.

http://censusscope.org/2010Census/state ... California

While it is true factors members have suggested like culture etc figure into the the current imbalance, to this person, media types whining about the situation that are probably millenials, also have a myopic view of California racial demographic history.

[frozenintime]

i don't live in california. the demographics of your beautiful state are very interesting, but the issue is a national one.

as a white person, i think the best thing one can do is just listen to, respect, and absorb the experiences relayed to us by non-white hikers.

[giantbrookie]

In the "front country" I have certainly had some scary encounters in small towns and backroads, including one that prompted two of my Caucasian friends in the car to say afterwards "Whoa, that was like something out of Roots". To make a long story short a store owner initially refused to let me buy gas, served others who arrived after me, and continually intimidated me (he was in fact armed).

C'mon just say it with me.. Bridgeport.. I have no clue how they get that way, but it must be just like in "High Plains Drifter."

The above story took place in Chinese Camp along 120; I recall the year was 1979. In fact I would not have stopped there had I not planned poorly and nearly run out of gas. I have not had any issues in E. Side towns, including Bridgeport.

[rlown]

wasn't picking on you, GB. I've heard from others about the tone in Bridgeport. I'll just stick to JollyCone from now on. Still as you point out, it's out there. My point of view, if you want to hike, we hike. I know about Manzanar https://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm. It was stupid to go down that path and at the same time, the powers that were in charge did, but latest attacks say we need better controls for immigrants. Those who want to be legal, and well, those who don't.

[Wandering Daisy]

I think Yosemite Valley is not representative for this discussion because it always has been, since it became so well known for rock climbing, very international. On day-hikes I would say over half the people are speaking a different language, many from other countries, lots of non-whites. I have regularly picked up hitch hikers in Yosemite, and all have been foreign climbers.

The new trend seems to be busloads of tourists from China or India or wherever. We ran across them in the national parks in Canada last year too. They do a lot of day-hiking but not much backpacking. Yosemite is on a lot of international "bucket lists".

I have run into more non-Caucasian backpackers on the JMT vs other trails. Again, this is a "big name trail" with bragging rights. This of course is typical- about the same thing I did - hit the more well known trails first. Now I am into obscure nooks and crannies.

You could also ask the question, why the lack of white folks in basketball and football?

I think the bigger question is will young people of any color be backpacking in 50 years? My grandchildren have to be pried off their electronic devices. What will happen when you can go backpacking via virtual reality? Will anyone still want to put in the sweat and tears.

[Eiprahs]

I have read this thread with interest, but am a bit puzzled.

The undertone of the LA Times article is that somehow American Society has failed since the ethnicity of back packers doesn't mirror that of the population at large. I'm not sure that should ever be true for implicitly this requires the melting away of our cultural pasts, the homogenization of our experiences, so that we, all of us, forget where we came from and look in one direction, one way to a common melting pot future.

I haven't worried much about back packer ethnicity, although I have met people from many countries on trail. What has struck me as odd, tho, is how seldom I have met descendants of the peoples who traditionally lived on these 'wild lands'. If anyone should be 'out there' these are the folks. But they aren't.

[Wandering Daisy]

Our view and definition of "wilderness" is really a western European cultural idea, not exactly the same as that of the Native Americans. One area where the native Americans are using the wilderness, ON THIR TERMS, is on the Wind River Indian Reservation. There now has been a multi-year program between NOLS and the tribes. NOLS offers a few courses specifically and exclusively for tribal members. It has been a slow process. The Reservation is plagued with rampant alcoholism, drug use and many social ills and poverty (in spite of more money than most tribes).

"Leave no trace" is not a Native American norm. After all, they LIVED in the wilderness and we drove them out. Why would they just want to "visit"? There are established structures in the Roadless Area (the equivalent of our wilderness). There is no hunting season - tribal members can hunt any time. Most prefer to use horses. Light and fast is not in their vocabulary. More like slow and reverent. Tepee poles. Fires.

In general when I run into a Native American in the Roadless Area, they do not engage or acknowledge my presence. The outfitters are semi-friendly. The young people, though, are quite friendly. I was invited by a young boy to eat breakfast with his family who had cooked too much food. He was surprised but also delighted that I, an older woman, was on my own. He told me his grandmother used to hunt out here alone all the time.

They revere bears and do not hunt them. Almost all the bear encounters I have had in the Wind Rivers has been on the reservation. So I have been "blessed" multiple times!

[AlmostThere]

A backpacking fanatic of my acquaintance who has hiked solo all over the trailless alpine of the Sierra is of Japanese descent. I met her because she joined my hiking group as she was getting "too old for solo" (her words) and wanted company. A fishing fanatic. She made her own backpack, tore the frame out of an old one and used ultralight material with a special cylindrical compartment on the bottom for her Bearikade Expedition.

Her husband is African -- they fly back to his village every year, in Africa, to be with his family -- and he does not hike with her. They go out in the wilds to hunt, in Africa. He can't hunt here so he sees no reason to hike. He has never understood her backpacking habit....