Nature stewardship is intrinsic to my model of queerness. Being a good steward is caring for my surroundings and for the environment through direct action; it upends the “man conquers nature” narrative. My desire to raise a rainbow flag at the top of a mountain is not to show I “own” a mountain but to show that queer folks and other marginalized people who get left out of “outdoor rec” can summit a mountain, too. The mountain is queer, the forest is queer, and everything the light touches is queer, too, because nature is queer. (And your single-stall bathrooms at trailheads need to be gender-neutral @washdnr.) 🏳️🌈 Also, for the love, PACK IT OUT. The forest isn’t your personal compost bin for your banana peels, bro. 🌲 Special thanks to the #trailheaddirect bus for getting us to North Bend for the cost of a regular Seattle metro ride and for making hiking more accessible for city-dwellers. 🚌 . . . . #natureisqueer #unlikelyhikers #queerhikers #nonbinaryhikers #mtsi #mountsi #trailheaddirect #queernature #outdoorrec #hiking #naturestewardship #packitout #queerhiking #queerhikingcouples (at Mount Si Summit) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByDsX3zgXh-/?igshid=oz8vm9lobk2r
