Charlotte hiking group empowers Black women to embrace the outdoors, reclaim their space
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As a frown rippled across her forehead, Malika White could not believe what she was watching.
Scrolling through her phone she spotted a TikTok video that went beyond being offensive. It wasn’t even true.
A content creator with nearly 70,000 followers posted a video called “White people hiking versus Black people hiking.” One video clip rolled with the caption “White people hiking” and showed a white guy carefully ambling over a sloped rocky mountainside, maybe in the desert, complaining about the intense heat.
But, in a second video clip immediately following, the caption read “Black people hiking” – with no one in the frame. All the viewer sees is a deserted mountain side. Cue the classic sound effect of a lonely howling coyote. Along with the post, the content creator poses the question: Is this true? And the LOL emoji.
What’s that supposed to mean, White wondered to herself?
Is he suggesting Black people don’t hike? Don’t go outdoors? Don’t like the outdoors?
Confused by the video, but not discouraged, White knew none of that was true. It reaffirmed what she has been doing for the past few years, leading a group called “Black Girls Do Hike.” Originally a Charlotte-based meet-up that began as a way to exercise and connect with nature, the group has grown to be much more.
“I literally just created the group for it ... (it) was maybe five of us at the time, about five years ago, and we would just, you know, go hiking. We started at Crowders Mountain,” White told the Charlotte Observer. “The first hike we went on, we got lost, so we ended up doing about 10 miles, which is crazy, especially to be the first hike. But on average, I say maybe three miles.”
In addition to the physical benefits, such as weight loss and improving cardiovascular health — which is especially poor among Black women, according to multiple studies, — White later realized that being outdoors offered other gains.
“Just being out in nature, it gives you a sense of peace. It’s more of a mindful thing,” she said. “It’s something that the trees give off that calms you down. It helps with ... blood pressure, mental anxiety, depression, you know. I just literally love just sitting in the middle of the woods. I’ll just sit there and probably even meditate.”
But then the pandemic started and that first group disbanded. Later White created another one — and that’s when things took off.
What started as a holistic activity for White has evolved into a community organization likely to become a business. She has amassed a healthy social media membership of 1,200+ and roughly 10 to 15 women who regularly join her on periodic hikes through Charlotte’s wooded trails — and a few adventurous treks up Crowders Mountain.
One of the women reaching out to join connected with White with a greater purpose — and that really inspired White.
The outdoor industry
White, 42, a single mother from Concord, wasn’t planning to create a business of any kind, but decided to after attracting the attention of at least one investor.
That’s Jessica Newton, who runs an incubator program called Vibe Tribe Adventures where she empowers fledgling community groups to learn how to create outdoor-themed small businesses. She offers a BIPOC outdoor leadership program to equip Black and brown adventure companies with tools to be better business owners and to successfully operate in the outdoor industry.
“Our focus is outdoor education and educating our communities on how to be in the outdoors, mental health and wellness adventures. Sometimes we do grief hikes,” Newton said, adding she also teaches them “grant management (and) financial literacy. How to do bookkeeping, how to deal with your taxes, how to file an LLC or an escrow or a nonprofit, how to plan out your adventure events, how to manage your membership, how to build community relationships. How to increase your network in the outreach.”
Newton works as a project manager in the aerospace industry and has had her nonprofit since 2022. Based in Colorado, she grew up with parents serving in the military who met at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
She shepherds business development for several groups, some based in North Carolina, such as Minority Mountain Bikers, which host events around the state. The business mentor helps them with their financials and other operations until the groups are able to become independent businesses.
For Newton, while encouraging health, outdoor activities and well being for Black Americans are always paramount, it goes beyond health needs. It’s a matter of reclaiming that space.
Reclaiming the outdoor space
Black people don’t always feel safe in outdoor spaces and that has historical ties, Newton says. An example she shared is the term picnic. From an etymological perspective, the word has French roots and does not have racial origins.
However, for many in the Black community, the term is triggering and associated with public lynching events in which white attendees simultaneously held an outdoor picnic, brought families and posed for photos.
“We don’t say picnics ... we say gatherings, we say cookouts. There’s a fear that comes along with the outdoors,” Newton said. “When we’re by trees, there’s a DNA historical fear inside of us. That is ingrained that our body and our minds and our spirit remembers. We’ve got to push past the trauma, and we’ve got to get back to healing.
“We have to reconnect with nature again to find a way to heal so that the next generation doesn’t have those same traumatic bonds with nature.”
Stereotyping, such as what was done in the TikTok video also is wrong, but Black people as a community seldom go to places where they don’t see themselves. For example, Newton notes many of local soil conservation boards, or park rangers, or other park leaders lack diversity, in her experience.
“You walk down the hallways of those that run and operate our local parks or state parks ... all the pictures are white men,” Newton said. “(There’s) not even any pictures of Native American people. Not a person of color, not an Asian person, not an East Indian..”
Reclaiming outdoor space can be a lucrative business, Newton notes, as the outdoor recreation economy accounted for 2.2% or $563.7 billion of current‐dollar gross domestic product for the U.S. in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Some reports peg that figure as already exceeding $1 trillion.
“How do I help Black women become healthier, more knowledgeable of the outdoors and then create a community to do it so that we feel safe while adventuring?” Newton said. “... and really capitalize on that, how to close wealth gaps, within our communities.”
White almost made a response video to the content creator — with video of her group hiking. She decided the benefits of her group, especially the opportunity to talk about personal topics not often discussed, such as menopause,exceed dignifying internet trolls, she said.
“I love it when you, when you get around these women, they’re all like-minded women, meaning, oh, we’re plant moms now, and we want to take pictures of every flower we see,” White said. “(We) talk about meditating and natural medicine, medicine, you know, natural remedies.”
Autumn is a good time to hike
Hurricane Helene derailed many excursions and shut down some trails, but the “Black Girls Do Hike” group did last meet in September at Reedy Creek for a 3-mile trek.
About 20 women arrived that Saturday morning, ready with knapsacks, water, headphones.
“My whole thing is trying to keep my health, stay in good health, and keep moving,” said Tina McCorkle, 50, who ventured from York County and has three grown sons. “I don’t want to be a person that would be a burden for my kids.”
While most hailed from Charlotte, some were visiting, and said they really liked the region because North Carolina, while in the South, has much cooler weather and is greener than other states.
“Nobody wants to hike in 100 degrees,“ says Karen Jordan, a traveling nurse originally from San Antonio on the climate in Texas. “I like nature, I’ve always loved nature.”
The conversation was as free and organic as the flora around them. There was no shortage of things to bond over.
Colorful discussions ebbed and flowed about parenting, workouts, mental health, being with like-minded people, designer glasses, tracking trek miles on a smart watch, and even about the birthplace of hip-hop — Bronx, New York.
Murmurs and higher voice inflections competed with the forest’s sounds: random chirps and buzzes, the crunch of dirt, leaves and branches beneath one’s treads.
“I like to get out and hike,” Tai Harper, 31, said. “I enjoy the peace and tranquility.”
Rain drizzle started to fall on the tepid day. In this space, women peeled off into groups of two and three as they walked along dirt trails. They felt safe to speak, to breathe, to be.
“I think just ... getting back in touch with nature,” said Kendra Cooper. “... where you can meditate, where you can recharge.”
Naya Davis, 24, who moved to Charlotte because of her work, says while stereotypes sometimes linger, it’s important to stay focused on good health.
“It’s very strange, because, you know, we kind of perpetuated it ourselves. There are a lot of people that say, ‘Oh, I’m not doing that. That’s white people stuff,’ “ Davis said. “But there are, especially ... people that understand the value of exercise and fresh air... and the added aspects of community.”
The next excursion for Black Girls Do Hike is set for Saturday, Nov. 16, at Latta Plantation Nature Preserve in Huntersville and is especially for beginners.
White is building her nonprofit. Information about how to donate to it is available at this link and then by choosing “Black Girls Do Hike.”
