National parks have room for all races

His book is next on my reading list. That might be soon, this physics book I'm reading is very slow going, too slow.

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Dave
That might be soon, this physics book I'm reading is very slow going, too slow.

What book is that?

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

The book isn't all that bad. Kind of quirky with a lot of history.

I remember last year a similar article appeared in the SFGate website. It got really nasty in their comment section, with some people blatantly arguing that they didn't want to see certain minority groups in our national parks. A few comments even said that Shelton Johnson should either be fired or sent off to some remote location for making such a suggestion.

Park ranger asks: Where are the black visitors?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/09/MNF31926R7.DTL

I read Gloryland when were staying in Camp Curry back in Feb. It's a really lovely book.

I've noticed there aren't many people of color on the trails. I would love to see more people out there enjoying the beauty.

I did see an Asian family in Tuolumne Meadows campsites this summer, but I didn't ask where they were from. I just liked seeing them eating noodles they cooked over the fire. I remember saying, "See, people camp differently, but they all camp."

After watching Oprah, I would love to see her hiking to the top of Yosemite Falls too.

This statement by Sheldon perplexes me:
"The rejection of the natural world by the black community, he said, is a scar left over from slavery."

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eeek
As the only African American permanent ranger in Yosemite National Park in California, I often lament that I'm more likely to meet visitors from Japan or France than I am to see an African-American family from nearby Sacramento or Oakland.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-29/opinion/shelton.johnson.yosemite_1_african-american-national-parks-park-boundaries?_s=PM:OPINION

Just spent the weekend staying at Curry, and there was no shortage of Koreans visiting the park.

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tanngrisnir3
Just spent the weekend staying at Curry,

Did you go up El Cap Gully?

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chick-on

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tanngrisnir3
Just spent the weekend staying at Curry,

Did you go up El Cap Gully?

I went up to it, but it was quite wet, and I had no partner, so I decided that it was reasonable not to try it this time. Kicked around below the gunsight a wee bit, and it looks a lot more dicey in person than it does in some pics I've seen posted. As in, waaaaay more straight up, so to speak.

I commented in Oprah thread about this. Hoping others would chime in...

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,29474

Other thing I wonder is how many AM Scouts are out there.
Any kid needs to be exposed to things and encouraged in order
to do them.

I think most of it has to do with culture.

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I do not wish to step on any toes on this subject but believe the primary reason most blacks don't visit places like Yosemite is that most with the means to do so tend to be very urban in their upbringing. I've know many black folks who absolutely shun anything to do with being out in the woods, let alone true wilderness. This may be accompanied by imagined fears of sleeping outdoors in the dark, wild animals, reptiles, etc. Anything that suggests getting off the beaten path is not associated with enjoyment and therefore has no appeal.

One can get into a lot of trouble sterotyping like this but that has been my observation.

I agree that fear of the outdoors is what holds a lot of people back from hiking or camping. Have you read anything by Richard Louv? He is aiming more at getting kids outside regularly, and his Child and Nature Network is working to help communities create more opportunities for kids and families to get outside. I just watched a piece in my ECE class today about a program in Virginia that sets up nature hikes for young children and their parents.

I did not grow up in an outdoorsy family. My parents believe that nature is best viewed through a glass pane, and preferably the one on the front of the television. But I spent a lot of time at my Granny's house, and she made sure we spent as much time outside as possible, exploring, walking, poking things, and running around. I never went on a nature hike until I moved to California 15 years ago. And as much hiking and camping I've done in the last seven years, I still don't think I'm anything more than a newbie at it.

I'd like to see more urban-nature opportunities, to help reconnect people to nature, even in cities. I think that's the first step.