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The Joy Trip Project

The Joy Trip Project

The Joy Trip Project

Reporting on the Business, Art and Culture of the Active Lifestyle

The Unhidden Minute

The Joy Trip Project

The Joy Trip Project

Reporting on the Business, Art and Culture of the Active Lifestyle

by James Edward Mills

Parks Paid Forward

Parks Paid Forward

Black Waters

Everest Gateway

Creatives of Color

JTP VW Images 001

Sponsored by Volkswagen of America

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Hiking, Ice Age Trail, Madison / 01.04.2019

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time at home. Most weekends you can find me exploring the Ice Age National Scenic Trail at a variety of different access points, some less than a 20 minute drive from my house in Madison, Wisconsin. Tracing the pathway of a receding glacier from the Pleistocene Epoch, which ended about 11,000 years ago, the IAT spans more than 1,200 miles. It passes through dozens of communities, large and small, across the state of Wisconsin and connects our people with a common...

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Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Children In Nature Initiative, Essays, Kids in Nature, Madison / 24.03.2019

When did your love of the outdoors first begin? If you’re anything like me, you don’t remember. Even having grown up in a big city like Los Angeles, California, spending time outside was such a big part of my life that I can’t really say exactly when it all started. My parents made it a priority for me to have regular access to nature through hikes in local parks and camping trips to nearby wilderness areas. From a very young age my life included many opportunities for me...

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#BlackLivesMatter, Commentary, Diversity, Outdoors For All, Television / 07.03.2019

This morning I woke up feeling a bit depleted. With a lengthy reporting project turned in yesterday for first round editing and a presentation last night at our local climbing gym I couldn’t seem to shed the weight of heavy thoughts. When you spend your days trying to parse out the disparities of social justice and to engage an emerging population of black and brown folks on the values of environmental conservation it can get to be little overwhelming.  At 5AM with temperatures hovering just a few degrees above...

4 Likes
Alaska, Diversity, Film Review, Native Culture, Natives Outdoors, The Arctic / 27.02.2019

In 2017 the Trump administration opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The development of this fragile ecosystem for energy extraction puts at risk the culture and livelihood of a community that has called the Alaskan wilderness home for millennia. The Gwitch’in People, who rely upon the unimpeded migration of the porcupine caribou herd, will likely witness not only the destruction of the habitat from which they derive a critical source of food, but also the natural environment that defines their ancestral heritage. Much like efforts...

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Interview, LGBTQ, Podcast / 13.02.2019

Just a few days before the 2019 Outdoor Retailer Snow Show in Denver I got my reporting assignments. Among the various topics I was tasked to report on was a human interest profile on a young man attending OR for the first time. Wyn Wiley is a professional photographer from Lincoln, Nebraska. He's also known as the drag queen Pattie Gonia. Photo courtesy Wyn Wiley I’ll be honest I’ve  never interviewed a drag queen before and I have to say that I was a little nervous. I was more than...

3 Likes
Commentary, Diversity, Essays / 05.02.2019

Thank you to the many people who read, shared and commented on my recent reporting piece for SNEWS on the CEO Outdoor Equity Pledge. I felt compelled to write it and I am sincerely grateful for the support of my editor-in-chief Kristin Hostetter. She really held my feet to the fire, insisting that despite my personal biases and emotions I remain objective and write this story with the balance it demands. As I have received several complements from both sides of this issue I take great pride in...

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