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Category: Vamos Outdoors

Am I Running Out of Time?

por Richard “Flaco” Flores

My doctor looked at me and said: “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go on this trip.”

It was 2023. I had spent months planning the Walker’s Haute Route (WHR), a 130-mile hike from Chamonix to Zermatt through the Swiss Alps. I’d booked the huts, mapped the route, trained for it. And just like that, I had to cancel everything. You can’t plan for when health issues may pop up. It was devastating. And it planted a question in my head that wouldn’t go away: Am I running out of time for the big adventures?

I came to hiking late. I grew up in Los Angeles and the outdoors wasn’t exactly part of the world I grew up in. It wasn’t until I moved to Portland, Oregon that nature became part of my life. And once it did, I was drawn immediately to the mountains. The big views. The hikes that make you feel like you earned something hard. The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) in 2021 opened a door and the WHR was waiting on the other side.

It took three years of mental and physical work to get back on track. In 2026, even though it was five years after I had set my sights on the WHR, I felt ready.

My start was amazing. Great weather, good views, and the anticipation and excitement carried me through. On Day 3, I stood at the top of the Fenêtre d’Arpette, a pass I’d skipped on the TMB and had been waiting years to do. The views were endless. I felt elated in a way I had not in a while. This was also one of the hardest passes on the entire route, so my confidence was back on high again.

But then on Day 5, my ankle and foot started acting up. The big pass and the endless views were not totally free. Out of nowhere, mid-morning, a pain I couldn’t ignore. The questions and doubts came back louder: Can I still do this?

But from my experience on the trail, when the body struggles, nature steps in. I pulled energy from the mountains, the wildflowers, the streams, and I pushed. You put your head down. You walk. You learn to listen to your body and also learn when to pull. You rest when you need to. You learn to take the easier path without guilt. You meet others, some even older than you, still out there. Quiet support alongside you, cheering each other on, waiting for you with a cold beer in hand at the hut.

That’s how it goes on the trail. A series of highs and lows. And in this journey, you always come out ahead.

On Day 13, I stopped at a waterfall. It wasn’t the biggest or most dramatic, but it was loud. The kind of loud that fills your chest. The water came all the way down from a glacier above, and I could see the whole thing, from the ice at the top to where it crashed below me. I just stood there. Sunblock and tears. I thought about 2023. The doctor’s appointment. The cancellation. Now here I was, standing next to this roaring waterfall, one day from the finish. I couldn’t believe it.

I walked into Zermatt fourteen days after leaving Chamonix. Exhausted. Proud in a way I rarely let myself feel. It took a day or two to sink in, that I had done the thing I had to cancel three years earlier. That I had answered my own question: “I am stronger than what I give myself credit for”

The WHR taught me to push and pull. When to rest and when to go. When to take the easier path and when to dig deeper. To enjoy the highs, and to learn from the lows. To reset mentally every day, and soak in how lucky I was to be there, to have enjoyed those views, to still be standing.

Because we are stronger than what we give ourselves credit for.

Go. It will be good for you.

¡Vamos!

Richard “Flaco” Flores is a Latino hiker based in Portland, Oregon. He grew up in Los Angeles with no access to the outdoors and discovered hiking as an adult, and eventually as a lifeline. He documents his hikes on YouTube and Instagram at @AndarConElFlaco, creating content for the Latino outdoor community. This summer he completed the Walker’s Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt through the Swiss Alps and is always looking forward to the next adventure.

Raíces, Ruedas y Comunidad / Roots, Wheels and Community

Por Gabriela Hydle

There are weeks that remind you exactly why you started. The past few weeks have been exactly that a beautiful, unexpected, overflowing reminder of why Bici Libre exists and what community truly looks like when it is built with love, intention, and a whole lot of cumbia.


Hay semanas que te recuerdan exactamente por qué empezaste. Las últimas semanas han sido exactamente eso un hermoso, inesperado y desbordante recordatorio de por qué existe Bici Libre y cómo se ve la comunidad cuando se construye con amor, intención y mucha cumbia.

A Spanish Yoga Class / Una Clase de Yoga en Español

It started with breath. We gathered for a Spanish-language yoga class and watched something magical happen beautiful people joining us for the first time, and others who have been coming to our events and keep coming back. Together we moved through poses, settled into stillness, and ended in savasana breathing together, resting together, while enjoying a sound bath. The room held people from across the Americas, and in that silence, every single one of us belonged.


Todo empezó con el aliento. Nos reunimos para una clase de yoga en español y vimos algo mágico suceder personas hermosas uniéndose por primera vez, y otras que han estado viniendo a nuestros eventos y siguen regresando. Juntos nos movimos, encontramos la quietud y terminamos en savasana respirando juntos, descansando juntos, cuándo disfrutábamos de un baño sonoro. El espacio reunió personas de toda América, y en ese silencio, cada uno de nosotros pertenecía.

Taking the Stage at Denver Bike Fest / En el Escenario del Denver Bike Fest

Then came one of our proudest moments yet we took the stage at Denver Bike Fest to teach a basic bike mechanic class entirely in Spanish. Two incredible teachers shared with the community how to check your bike before a ride and how to change a tire on the trail because we never want anyone to feel discouraged and give up. We want to empower every rider to keep going.


Luego llegó uno de nuestros momentos más orgullosos subimos al escenario del Denver Bike Fest para enseñar una clase básica de mecánica de bicicleta completamente en español. Dos increíbles maestras compartieron con la comunidad cómo revisar tu bici antes de una rodada y cómo cambiar una llanta en el camino — porque nunca queremos que nadie se desanime y se rinda. Queremos empoderar a cada ciclista para que siga adelante.


And then the music started.


Y entonces comenzó la música.


El Salvaje took over and the rhythms of cumbia, salsa, and cha cha cha filled the air and people came. Like bees to honey, they were drawn to our space. And gathered around us were voices and stories from Panama 🇵🇦, Mexico 🇲🇽, Peru 🇵🇪, Colombia 🇨🇴, Guatemala 🇬🇹, Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 and beyond each person speaking their own beautiful words, their own expressions, their own flavor of our shared language, it was a tapestry.


El Salvaje tomó el escenario y los ritmos de la cumbia, la salsa y el cha cha cha llenaron el aire y la gente llegó. Como miel para las abejas, fueron atraídos a nuestro espacio. Y reunidos alrededor de nosotros había voces e historias de Panamá 🇵🇦, México 🇲🇽, Perú 🇵🇪, Colombia 🇨🇴, Guatemala 🇬🇹, Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 y más, cada persona hablando con sus propias palabras hermosas, sus propias expresiones, su propio sabor de nuestro idioma compartido, era un tapiz.

The Weekend of Wheels / El Fin de Semana de las Ruedas


And then this weekend arrived with its own kind of magic. 18 riders. Two routes 10 and 26 miles. Two incredible leaders. Two amazing sweepers. And a community that showed up for each other in every possible way.


Y luego llegó este fin de semana con su propia magia. 18 ciclistas. Dos rutas 10 y 26 millas. Dos líderes increíbles. Dos sweepers maravillosos. Y una comunidad que se apoyó mutuamente en cada manera posible.


People shared snacks. People shared words of encouragement. People shouted ¡Vamos! when someone needed it most. Nobody was left behind. Nobody rode alone. And the next morning I got many messages of how people felt welcome, felt seen, and felt like they belonged.


La gente compartió snacks. La gente compartió palabras de aliento. La gente gritó ¡Vamos! cuando alguien más lo necesitaba. Nadie se quedó atrás. Nadie rodó solo. Y a la mañana siguiente recibí mensajes de cómo cada persona en esa rodada se sintió bienvenida, se sintió vista y se sintió parte de algo.

What All of This Means / Lo que Todo Esto Significa


Bici Libre It is a space that says you are here, you matter, and this was always yours.


Bici Libre es un espacio que dice estás aquí, importas, y esto siempre fue tuyo.


Yoga. Mechanic classes. Cumbia. Miles on the trail. Snacks shared between strangers who became friends. This is what we are building one breath, one pedal stroke, one ¡Vamos! at a time.


Yoga. Clases de mecánica. Cumbia. Millas en el sendero. Snacks compartidas entre extraños que se convirtieron en amigos. Esto es lo que estamos construyendo un aliento, una pedalada, un ¡Vamos! a la vez.

Gabriela Hydle is a coach and ambassador for VNTR Birds, an ambassador for POW, Women of Colorado, a volunteer with LO, COMBA, and Mile High 360, a member of the Coalition for Everyone Outdoors Colorado. A Regional Community Stewards Program with Bikepacking Roots. A Waldorf Early Childhood and Spanish teacher.

Public Lands Belong to All of Us

From the U.S. Capital to Public Lands Across the Nation

Por Latino Outdoors

This summer, Latino Outdoors traveled to Washington, D.C., joining GreenLatinos and partners for a Congressional Hispanic Caucus briefing honoring America’s 250th anniversary. The gathering offered an opportunity to celebrate Latino contributions to our nation’s parks and public lands, while confronting the challenges shaping their future.

Public lands are lands and waters managed by federal, state, and local governments for the public, including many of the national parks, monuments, forests, wildlife refuges, and other outdoor spaces. These places hold stories of celebration and loss, including slavery, migration, genocide, stewardship, familia, leadership, cultura, recreation, opportunity, and belonging. The people, ecosystems, wildlife, origin stories, native plants, and histories connected to these landscapes all contribute to their meaning.

The Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., USA.

For Latino communities, access to the outdoors also means seeing our gente reflected in the places we visit and in the stories our country chooses to tell. What is happening in communities across the United States, including on our public lands, raises concerns about whitewashing, manipulated power, and attempts at erasure, or rewriting parts of our shared history. We recognize there is privilege in being able to speak up and speak out, but many of us can hold a united front to protect others and hold public servants accountable. Policies and enforcement should not be controlled by the few at the cost of the many. The connection between place, people, and belonging remains especially important as changes unfold across our public spaces.

In Washington, D.C., changes to nationally significant places, such as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, have raised questions about how historic public spaces are altered without public input, clear funding sources, or transparent management practices. But the concerns extend beyond physical infrastructure to what people can learn while visiting public lands. The Center for American Progress analysis documented efforts affecting the interpretation and representation of Black history, Indigenous history, immigration, women, labor, LGBTQ+ history, and science. When signs, images, language, exhibits, and interpretation are removed or rewritten, communities can lose opportunities to see themselves represented in places that belong to all of us.

Protecting these places also requires defending the laws that make conservation possible. The Antiquities Act of 1906 has long been one of the nation’s most important tools for safeguarding places of cultural, historical, ecological, and scientific significance. For 120 years, presidents from both parties have used the Act to establish national monuments and protect significant federal lands. Defending the Antiquities Act is about more than policy in Washington; it is about ensuring that significant landscapes, histories, and cultures endure for future generations.

The urgency is clear at Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah, where efforts to reduce protections threaten much more than acreage on a map. Bears Ears is a living cultural landscape shaped by generations of Indigenous stewardship, with sacred places, cultural resources, and histories deeply connected to Tribal Nations today. Grand Staircase-Escalante likewise protects significant cultural, ecological, paleontological, and scientific resources. Latino Outdoors recently joined more than 300 Tribal and Indigenous entities, organizations, businesses, faith communities, veterans, scientists, and conservation partners in opposing reductions through the Monuments for All effort. Standing with Tribal Nations and communities reflects our shared commitment to protecting these landscapes and the cultural connections they carry.

Big Bend National Park. Photo Credit: Jeanette M. Honermann

More than a thousand miles away, the fight to Protect Big Bend National Park shows why these issues matter beyond any one region. Latino Outdoors has supported efforts to prevent physical barriers and construction from disrupting Big Bend National Park and access to the Rio Grande. The Latino Outdoors short documentary Yo Cuento: Entre Ríos y Desiertos explores this borderland and its connections to ecology, binational history, migration, people, and culture.

“Big Bend isn’t just a place we visit, it’s a place that holds our history. For Latino communities across Texas and beyond, these lands carry the stories of our families, our ancestors, and the generations who called this borderland home long before it was a national park. When we protect Big Bend, we’re protecting more than desert and river and mountain, we’re protecting a sense of belonging. Every child who gets to stand under that big Chihuahuan sky and feel like it’s theirs too, that’s the work. That’s what Latino Outdoors is here for.”

Jeanette M. Honermann, Latino Outdoors Board Member and Texas resident

Big Bend National Park feat. Jeanette M. Honermann

Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Big Bend may be separated by state lines, but the challenges facing them are connected. Weakened monument protections in Utah, physical barriers through a culturally significant landscape in Texas, reductions in the public lands workforce, and the removal of history from national parks all raise a larger question about what we choose to protect and pass on. Latino Outdoors’ commitment to our comunidades and the outdoors stretches across the country. Public lands should remain protected, accessible, and reflective of the people and histories that make up this country.

Now is the time to turn that connection into action.

Take Action:

  1. Contact the U.S. Congress.
    1. Ask your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators to defend the Antiquities Act, protect national monuments, and support H.R. 8523, the Public Lands Workforce Stability Act.
    2. Find your representative, find your senators, or call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
  2. Stand with communities protecting national monuments. Take action through Monuments for All and learn more from the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and Grand Staircase Escalante Partners.
  3. Help protect Big Bend. Visit Protect Big Bend to learn about threats facing Big Bend and the Rio Grande and how you can speak up, no matter where you live.
  4. Share your story. Our stories build belonging and show the many ways our comunidades connect with the outdoors. Share your experiences and relationship with public lands through Latino Outdoors’ Yo Cuento blog.

A call, an email, an action, or a story can make a difference. Protecting our public lands, their stories, and the people who steward them takes us all.

Resources:

  • Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. (n.d.). Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. Bears Ears Coalition
  • Center for American Progress. (2026). Censored: Erasing 250 years of American history on public lands. Center for American Progress
  • Center for Western Priorities. (2026, August). Doug Burgum’s Reflecting Pool lies lead to an Oval Office showdown. Center for Western Priorities
  • Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (n.d.). Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Congressional Hispanic Caucus
  • Congress.gov. (2026). H.R. 8523, Public Lands Workforce Stability Act, 119th Congress. H.R. 8523
  • Earthjustice. (2026). Trump administration works to erase Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. Earthjustice
  • Grand Staircase Escalante Partners. (n.d.). Grand Staircase Escalante Partners. Grand Staircase Escalante Partners
  • GreenLatinos. (n.d.). GreenLatinos. GreenLatinos
  • Latino Outdoors. (n.d.). A guide to writing your Yo Cuento blog post. Yo Cuento submission guide
  • Monuments for All. (2026). Over 330 Tribal entities, businesses, faith communities, veterans, science and conservation organizations speak out against evisceration of protections for Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. Monuments for All
  • Mr. Beat. (2026, July 17). All the “woke” history that Trump is trying to erase [Video]. YouTube. YouTube video 
  • National Park Service. (n.d.). Antiquities Act of 1906. U.S. Department of the Interior. Antiquities Act
  • National Park Service. (n.d.). Big Bend National Park. U.S. Department of the Interior. Big Bend National Park
  • National Park Service. (n.d.). Rio Grande. Big Bend National Park, U.S. Department of the Interior. Rio Grande
  • PBS NewsHour. (2026). Crews are draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool again as part of Trump’s troubled revamp. PBS NewsHour
  • Protect Big Bend. (n.d.). Protect Big Bend. Protect Big Bend
  • U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). America’s public lands explained. U.S. Department of the Interior