Leaders at Wanderland Outdoors, a new Black-owned Colorado excursion organization, curate nature experiences in a personalized way to promote fun and inclusion.

When guests reserve a spot on a tour, Angel Massie and her husband ask what’s important to the participant such as if they prefer special meals related to their culture or ethnicity or if they need special accommodations because they have a disability.

“We’re not targeting a specific demographic,” said Angel Massie, who co-founded the organization with her husband, Bobby Massie, a former Denver Broncos offensive lineman who spent 10 seasons in the NFL. “What we want to do is uplift Black and brown, and all people, differently-abled people and folks who identify across different sexualities. We believe nature can be the great unifier, and that is really important to us.”

Wanderland Outdoors, which began offering outdoor excursions to families, individuals and corporate groups in May, focuses — for now — on leading fly fishing, yoga, mindful hiking, horseback trail rides and culinary experiences. By the end of this summer, the outdoor outfitter may begin hosting Fly Fishing 101 clinics in Vail, Angel Massie said.

“We’ve been embraced by folks who want to experience the outdoors, who are experts, and folks who have entrusted us with their first experiences on the water or on horses as well,” she said.

Demographics are changing quickly in America but the outdoor recreation market has lagged behind — failing to reflect those changes. 

New and young participants, women, people of color and seniors are driving growth and diversity in the outdoor recreation sector, and engaging diverse and casual recreationists more frequently is a key way to promote equitable access to the outdoors and maintain longevity in the industry, according to the 2024 Outdoor Participation Trends Report compiled by the Outdoor Foundation and the Outdoor Industry Association.

In 2023, the outdoor recreation participant base grew 4.1% to a record 175.8 million people, the report says. That same year, 7.7 million Americans tried one or more outdoor recreation activities for the first time.

Outdoor recreating became more racially and ethnically diverse in 2023, but not by much, the report says.

The percentage of Black outdoor participants increased to 10.3% in 2023, up from 9.4% in 2022. 

The percentage of Latino people participating in the outdoors increased to 13.4% in 2023 compared with 12.6% in 2022. 

In 2023, the percentage of white participants decreased to 69.7% in 2023, from 71.2% in 2022. 

Members of the LGBTQ community comprise 11.3% of the outdoor participant population, or 19.9 million people, and continue to be the most active adult demographic in the outdoors, according to the report.

And for the first time ever, more than half of all American women are participating in outdoor recreation, according to the report.

“Nature — including everything from national parks to pools — has historically not been welcoming to people of color,” Angel Massie said. “There were official and unofficial laws on the books that barred us from being in those spaces, and they did become spaces that were unfamiliar to us because of us being excluded. It’s important for us to use nature as a catharsis.”

Wanderland Outdoors was founded not only because the Massies are longtime lovers of the outdoors but also because the couple had several experiences on outdoor excursions in years past that didn’t offer a sense of welcoming or accommodation, Angel Massie said. “We didn’t feel the guide was interested in creating a good experience.”

On Juneteenth — the day Americans commemorate when the last enslaved people found out they were free in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation — Wanderland Outdoors guides hosted morning hiking and fly fishing excursions followed by a “Fish and Fry” lunch prepared by Bobby Massie at Abell River Ranch in Lake George.

The Massies observe Juneteenth each year and wanted to celebrate their organization’s inaugural year by hosting a media event that included Wanderland guides and others who have supported the business, Angel Massie said.

See yourself in the guides and in the outdoors

Wanderland Outdoors has 12 guides, including some who are Black, Native American and Tongan. The organization elevates guides of color and encourages participants of all kinds to venture into some of Colorado’s most beautiful settings.

Each voyage begins with a land acknowledgement and often includes historical information about the Native Americans who lived on the territories where the organization’s tours take place now.

“We are able to talk about the history of the land with people and make sure they know why we’re able to enjoy the spaces we’re in,” said Keegan Seeman, a mindful-hiking guide, who is white. “A lot of people don’t know that, literally, this entire state was once inhabited by millions of Native Americans who had their own language and culture and songs. I feel it’s important, when I take people out, to give them that information because it helps people connect to the land more and be able to sense the energy that is around them.”

Seeman led a hiking tour and breathing exercise at Eleven Mile State Park for the group that gathered for the Wanderland event on Juneteenth.

Hikers were receptive to the land acknowledgement, breathing exercise and pace of the walk, Seeman said. “I think it went great. I had a really great time,” he said.

On the hike, he encouraged participants to use all of their senses.

“That’s one thing I feel like a lot of people are missing when they come outdoors,” he said. “They’re not leaving as much of their daily life stress behind and focusing on what’s in front of them. What I hope people get out of it is more of a connectivity to the land — that they know they can sit down in silence and listen to all the sounds of nature and take those benefits and skills anywhere with them.”

Wanderland Outdoors is planning to expand in 2025 to include hunting on its list of guided activities. Organization leaders are in the process of acquiring land and a few guides are working on getting certified to begin offering the activity soon, Bobby Massie said.

“And we also want to add off-roading as an excursion,” he said. “Each year, we want to add a little bit more of everything this great state provides. The outdoors is for everybody.” 

As the organization grows, the Massies said they hope to expand to other locations such as Florida, Wyoming and Alaska to increase their number of offerings to people in other regions.

The first tour offered by Wanderland occurred in May with a 60-person corporate group that participated in fly fishing, mindful movement and hiking. 

The first individualized tour occurred the following weekend with a family of three who went fly fishing at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Since then, Angel Massie said, Wanderland Outdoors has stayed busy offering tours to clients frequently.

“We have a good number of participants every weekend,” she said. “We’re rocking and rolling.”