The Joy Trip Project is excited to announce the 4th recipient of the Matthew Henson Scholarship. In partnership with Polar Explorers, an Illinois-based guiding company, we are proud to award Zorbari Nwidor free tuition to attend a five-day winter travel training course in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area of Northern Minnesota. Zobari will be joined by last year’s scholarship awardee Carla-Paz Moran Sanchez, to help guide and mentor her journey through the world of cold weather overland expeditions. She is now part of a growing community of...

22 January, 2025 /

There is such a thing as coincidence. But it is only when overlapping events are put into their proper context that we can draw substantive meaning from otherwise random occurrences that happen simultaneously. I was recently asked to give a lecture on the campus of the Bay View Association in Petoskey, Michigan. Under an endowment established in the memory of Donald B. Loyd, a 4th generation resident of this resort community just south of the Upper Peninsula, I was invited to share my work on making outdoor recreation...

31 July, 2023 /

Having served in the United States Army through the Iraq War, Will “Akuna” Robinson suffered from severe bodily injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. When he returned home in 2003 after a tour of duty in Al Asda near the Syrian border, he found civilian life challenging and was full of despair. As he struggled through physical and occupational therapy, trying to manage chronic pain, he self-medicated with drugs and alcohol to make it through each day. Thankfully, he found support where he was raised in Southeastern Louisiana near...

26 June, 2023 /

On April 3, 2023, the National Park Service formally announced two groundbreaking reports that detail the history and progress of equitable access to public land from 1916 to 1965. Spanning the time from the creation of the NPS through the height of the Civil Rights movement, these studies offer great insight into the “tragedy and resilience of Black recreation”. As I’m pouring though these remarkable documents on this beautiful Easter Sunday Morning, I was reminded by historian Christina Pronenza Coles that on this day, April 9, 1939, contralto Marian...

10 April, 2023 /

Few things in life are easier than preparing a meal of left-overs. Or so you might think. When we gathered a group of environmental activists to share a summertime retreat on the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I’m sure that I went far above and beyond in cooking dinner on the two previous evenings of our three-night stay. We had more than we needed to eat. Long experience as a camp chef has made me a bit paranoid when it comes to having...

12 September, 2022 /