For people of color, hiking isn’t always an escape
By Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette-Journal
Earlier this summer Jenna Yokoyama set out to plan a backpacking trip to northern Idaho.
But before committing she wanted to know if non-white hikers would be safe in a region known as a hotbed for white supremacists.
It was an important question for Yokoyama, 34, a Japanese-American and avid hiker who said several years earlier she was a target of racial taunting in Lone Pine while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.
She posted invitations in Facebook groups for the Pacific Crest, John Muir and Appalachian trails.
Almost immediately the posts generated dozens of comments, many supportive but others accused her of everything from promoting separate trails for white people and non-white people, seeking to form exclusive cliques and even warning her to stay off the trail because she wasn’t worthy of search and rescue help should she get in trouble.
Moderators of the various trail groups sought to prevent hateful and ignorant comments, but the damage was done.