More Americans Are Getting Outdoors
A new report shines a light on who's getting outside, and their motivations for doing so.
More Americans are participating in outdoor recreation, including more women and seniors, according to a participation trends report by the Outdoor Industry Association, the trade group that advocates for the outdoor industry. Among them are new “casual” participants drawn to “accessible activities” such as hiking, biking, running, and fishing.
As a writer who focuses on local outings, I wanted to give my perspective on four key findings from the report in the hope that you’ll use them to get outside:
Finding #1: More Americans are participating in outdoor recreation. “At a 57.1% participation rate, a larger share of all Americans participate in outdoor recreation than see a movie in a theater (43%), possess at least an associate degree (52.5%), or eat breakfast daily (35%),” according to the report. “Outdoor recreation can shoot for participation rates as high as the percentage who follow professional and/or college sports (62%), are on social media (68%), or drink coffee every day (73%).”
More people want to get outside. You can see it in the popularity of local outings run at parks, nature preserves, public gardens, arboretums, farms, and other outdoor spaces. If it’s green or blue, we want to walk, hike, kayak, and bike in it. That’s why, too, these seemingly simple short organized outings require registration and fill up so fast.
Take a recent outing I came across. Duke Farms is a 2,700-acre former estate turned environmental stewardship center. It recently listed on its events page a Dec. 20 event called Orchids After Dark. Participants walk from the orientation center to its historic greenhouse where they go inside to view the orchids. The guide discusses the plants’ diversity of color and form, and evolutionary stories. As I contemplated whether or not to register, the event sold out.
Finding #2: While more Americans are participating in outdoor recreation, they’re doing it less frequently.
Time and cost are big constraints to getting outside. It seems that today, people who are willing to make the time to get outside want activities that are fun, laid back, and less costly as opposed to those that require a high degree of expertise and specialized gear.
Finding #3: For the first time, more than half of American women are participating in outdoor recreation.
I see it everywhere. More women on local birding field trips, the popularity of women’s hiking groups, and women’s outdoor weekends designed to help women develop outdoor skills. I’ve gone from seeing articles such as Why Aren’t More Women Outdoors? published five years ago, to Wild Women: The Rise of All-Female Outdoor Activity Groups.
A friend and I recently went on a full-moon hike to a distillery. Organized by Kittatinny Valley State Park and led by one of its naturalists, our group set off at 4:30 p.m. beneath a bright sky and walked along the park’s Sussex Branch rail trail to Milk Street Distillery where we enjoyed a cocktail and BYO food before heading back in the dark beneath a full beaver supermoon. Not only were there more women than men on that outing, I met a woman who came alone. Over cocktails with names such as Let’s Get Saucy, The Autumn Reaper, and Poison Apple, she said she had some time to kill before meeting up with friends later, and decided to attend the outing. Funny enough, my friend was initially unsure she would be able to make the outing, and so I too would’ve gone solo. Check out the hike on my Instagram, The Great Local Outdoors:
Finding #4: The participation rates for Americans aged 55-64 increased. But the biggest increase came from Americans aged 65+.
You see this trend in the growth of casual low-risk activities such as walking, easy hiking, and birding. Older Americans might be unable to ski downhill or thru-hike. But they still want to get outside, and casual activities fit the bill.
Finding #5: The growth of “casual” outdoor recreation participants. “The typical participant in this new casual group might hike or fish while they’re camping over a weekend, then go for a few bike rides with friends over the course of a year,” according to the report. “We know they are not out there perfecting turns on their skis, through-hiking the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail), or setting the fastest time running the Grand Canyon rim to rim.”
This finding follows Finding #4. More people want to get outdoors. But they’re not looking to go on a mountaineering adventure. They do things like hike in local parks, bike ride on organized outings, and go birding. Note, too, that the groups running these outings are filled with members and volunteers glad to lend you equipment and teach you the necessary skills.
I think that for these people, it’s less about becoming expert in a particular activity by practicing it several times a week, and buying the latest gear. It’s more about getting outside in nature and having fun. Sure, along the way, you develop and fine-tune your outdoor skills, and slowly immerse yourself in a specific activity. But you’re open to several activities, and do it for the enjoyment and to spend time outside.
I’m Writing a Book About These ‘Casual’ Participants
I’ve seen over the past few years an increasing demand for casual outdoor recreation. It’s local, social, and dirt-cheap, and I’m working on a book on where to find these outings regardless of where you live. It’s tentatively titled The Great Local Outdoors: A Field Guide to an Outdoorsy Close-to-Home Life for Casual Outdoorists, Budding Conservationists, and Social Butterflies. (I know, it’s a lengthy title, but it’s a work in progress.)
Interestingly, when I started writing it a couple years ago, no publisher was interested in it. Fortunately, today you don’t need a publisher to put out a book. So I plan to self-publish it. My plan is to release it next year. Still, with the topic becoming more relevant, would a publisher be interested.
If You Like the Local Outdoors, You’re in Luck
If you’re one of those casual outdoorists looking to get out more, the local outdoors is filled with outings— mushroom forays, running outings, plein air painting at public gardens, bike rides along rail trails, volunteer cleanups along waterways followed by a bonfire and s’mores with a talk by a biologist on the returning marine life, backyard native plant garden tours hosted by a town’s environmental commission, and the list goes on.
Search for nearby parks and preserves, sign up for their newsletters, and register for their outings before they fill up (and they will).
If you’re a freelance writer looking to expand into outdoor recreation, consider covering local outings for local media outlets. I broke in at New Jersey Monthly magazine where the editor accepted my pitch on full-moon hikes throughout the state. The result: 7 Eye-Opening Full-Moon Hikes.
I’ll leave you with this photo of an 1873 railroad station in Piermont, N.Y., I hiked to along a rail trail with some friends. The Piermont Historical Society opens it on certain Sundays. On this particular Sunday, it was decked out for the holidays.
