Ice Age Trail

#BlackLivesMatter, Banff, Black Lives Matter, Charitable Giving, Diversity, Ice Age Trail, The Arctic, Through-Hiking, Winter / 13.12.2021

In partnership with Polar Explorers, an Illinois-based guiding company, the Joy Trip Project is proud to announce the first recipients of the Matthew Henson Scholarship! Emily Ford and Stephen Scott have been awarded free tuition to attend a five-day introduction to a winter travel training course in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area of Northern Minnesota. To honor the legacy of the great innovator of Arctic exploration and winter adventure, this program aims to inspire people of color - in particular, emerging outdoor guides or people with current or...

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#BlackLivesMatter, Banff, Black Lives Matter, Diversity, Environmental Justice, Film preview, Film Review, Ice Age Trail, Madison, Nelson Institute, Wisconsin / 10.12.2021

As Midwesterners huddled safely in their homes to avoid the frigid chill of a Wisconsin winter and the devastating trauma of a world-wide pandemic, Emily Ford set out on a long walk with a borrowed sled dog named Diggins. Well acquainted with the hazardous weather of the upper Midwest, this professional gardener from Duluth, Minnesota aimed to traverse the length of the Ice Age National Scenic Hiking Trail (IAT), a distance of more than 1,200 miles through some of the coldest temperatures in recorded history. The new film,...

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#BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter, Diversity, Ice Age Trail, Magazines, National Parks, Sierra Club, Winter, Wisconsin / 07.03.2021

In and of itself, the journey across Wisconsin’s Ice Age National Scenic Hiking Trail is a monumental undertaking. But the 1,200-mile walk from Potawatomi State Park, on the shores of Lake Michigan, to the St. Croix River at the Minnesota border is made all the more daunting by the deep snow and frigid temperatures of a Wisconsin winter. Despite the hazards posed by prolonged exposure, thru-hiker Emily Ford, who set out from the eastern terminus in January, remains determined to complete the almost-three-month-long trek. If she completes her journey,...

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Adventure Activism, Black Lives Matter, Diversity, Environmental Protection, Ice Age Trail, Madison, National Forests, Podcast, Public Land, ReThinkOutside, Wisconsin / 13.01.2021

The Black Men Northwoods Retreat Hey everybody. Happy New Year! I know things seem to be getting off to a rocky start. How’s that for an understatement. But I sincerely believe that by working together we can get past our differences and move forward toward a brighter future. We just need to come up with creative solutions to our many extremely complicated problems. For example, in the spring of 2020 I was asked by the National Forest Foundation to create a storytelling project.  They asked me to create a series...

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Commentary, Diversity, Everyone In A Park, Hiking, Ice Age Trail, National Forests, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation, Public Land, ReThinkOutside, The Adventure Gap, Wisconsin / 21.09.2020

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Immediately after breakfast, our little group sat discussing what would happen next. A steady rain had been falling since late the night before and the prospects of the hike we had planned appeared grim. Holding up my iPad I showed everyone an image of the local weather radar map. “As can see there’s a bit of window opening up,” I said pointing to a clear spot in a mass of swirling colors ranging from yellow/orange to deep red. “If we start now,...

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