A Nonprofit is Born

On our last backpacking trip, I managed to convince a friend to join us with her kids in the Rocky Mountains.  Just moms and their elementary-age babes.  No dad’s this round, cause ladies: We got this! 

Her kids are friends to my 1st and 3rd graders, and hadn’t yet experienced backpacking themselves.  All of the newness was super exciting, yet daunting! Between the preparation, the packing in of supplies, hiking the longer-than-usual distance, setting up camp, fetching and treating water, and making dinner without a campfire—this could have been reason alone to dissuade some! But they LOVED IT (probably partially attributed to us adults carrying their packs half the time)!  

Although this friend had backpacked in college (10+ years ago) she needed a refresher on the needs, and to fork over some money to secure the new provisions for her kids.  Welllllll…nearly a $1000 later, they were set.  

Walking her through some of the prep reminded me of when I too first started getting into backpacking.  I was known to grill knowledgable friends for advice and study all the blogs/All Trails App for necessities.  Heck, if I was gonna get lost in the wilderness, I would at least be prepared!  Somehow preparation also equated a boatload of money.  This happens to be the other, less talked about, dissuasion for people getting outdoors.

As I rudimentarily tallied my spending over the years, I realized multiple thousands had been spent on gear and “proper” attire for backpacking/hiking for myself and family (which this doesn’t even account for the expense of our favorite winter activity: snowboarding).  And disclaimer here, I’m pretty low-key, not needing all the latest-and-greatest outdoor equipment or attire.  I’ll take any and all hand-me-downs (thank you very much), and scour Craigslist and OfferUp without shame. Yet even as a bargain shopper, it’s a challenge to get geared-up without the hassle and high dollar spending.

So, it left me reflecting:
If it’s a struggle for us, how do families who maybe aren’t in as optimal of a financial situation doing it?  The answer is, many aren’t.  They don’t go camping, backpacking, or hiking.  Many of them have never even been into the Rocky Mountains, despite them being in their own respective “backyard”, as several of my former students attested when I was a teacher.  Their families lacked the resources of time and money.  But more specifically, the following list details the widely experienced barriers to the Great Outdoors for many in our community:

-appropriate gear
-fuel costs 
-parking fees
-fees for National, State, &/ Regional Parks
-wilderness permits
-adequate transportation
-expendable income
-free time
-the proper knowledge/confidence 

I figured surely there’s something we could do about this on both a personal and community level.  Hence TRADING FOR TRAILS was born.  Our number one goal is to provide necessary hiking/backpacking gear through a free rental program to those who may not have the funds to purchase the proper equipment on their own.   

We also love encouraging people to get outside and connected with nature, because there’s nothing more grounding and soul-nourishing than God’s beautiful and expansive creation!