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Wow! That is one of the toughest questions that I've seen on here. My first thoughts was the standard outdoor city triumvirate: Denver, Portland, and Seattle. You'd be in a sea of color, if you count bone, eggshell, ecru, and light peach . (I do realize there are black populations in all of those, but they are in the single digit percentages).
What about Oakland? (I'm serious) Within a sort drive of plenty of hiking and boating, or no some Urban hiking? Also NYC area could work, some of the border towns near Westchester like Mt. Vernon. West Orange, NJ?
lmao! i can't stop laughing at the sea of color thing hahaha.
I hate to generalize but honestly, it seems that most of the outdoors activities of Blacks are limited to some fishing and hunting in rural areas, particularly in the South. I myself need to broaden my parameters on outdoors activity, but it seems that your best bet might be cities that have a large population of educated Blacks, so you'll get the usual suspects (Atlanta, DC, NYC, Houston, Chicago, etc.). However, I wonder if a city like Denver, known for outdoor activities and has a decent-sized Black population, might be an option?
I absolutely loved living in Colorado! For anything outdoors, its definitely the place to be, there's so much to do. However, the black population here is very very small lol, decent-sized is a stretch especially if you live outside the metro where all the outdoor activities are. I personally found that even in Colorado, not too many of the black people were into the outdoor activities, not sure why. I hate to generalize but this was my personal experience. If you simply want to enjoy a phenomenal city with lots of great outdoor activities, then Colorado is a great way to go but in regards to the black population, the state is not very diverse.
Look into Birmingham. Despite the negatives (it is a "large" city so to speak), there are great areas for outdoor activities. It has one of the largest urban parks in the nation and has small mountains, hills, creeks, rivers, nature, etc. in the immediate areas. The area is also 28%-30% black.
Very true.
Red Mountain Park and Ruffner Mountain are both 10-20 mins or less from downtown, its an urban wooded oasis for the those who love the outdoors.
Oak Mountain State Park is 20-25 mins south of downtown is another great area.
My wife and I are birdwatchers, and often visit places that are ell-known for that activity. We've met hundreds of other birders in various places following similar pursuits, but I can't recall single black birdwatcher among our many encounters. Reflecting on that, I might also be reluctant to wander around in a remote area. if I were black, especially looking at my surroundings through binoculars.
Even as a white person, I have had more than a few incidents of suspicion. We often, when traveling cross country, pull off on a side road and get out and walk a half a mile or so just to check out the birdlife, walking on the shoulder of public roads. People shout at us from their porch, demanding to know what we are doing on "their" road. Or they drive out in their car to ask us what we are doing there. A few have even called the police to have us checked out, and we were stopped miles down the highway after leaving the scene. I can only imagine what these people would have done if they saw a couple of black people walking down their road looking into the countryside with binoculars.
So, I think the answer to the OP's question is that an awful lot of blacks in America are simply afraid to leave the security of their familiar neighborhoods and venture unprotected out into "white man's land", where they are a conspicuous and not always welcome presence.
I don't know how to post videos but there was a funny piece on Conan recently about Copper Mountain Ski Area. A local was saying "there were a lot of blacks at Copper and they were a lot of fun, but they would really beat you up and they are all over the mountain". For course he was talking about Black Diamond ski runs.
Several years ago I skied Vail during Black Ski Week and and the usually lily white mountain was very colorful.
Lots of good skiers and great parties.
The old saying "cast down your buckets where you are" might apply here, No matter where I am when I travel I find a trail to walk on. Sure sometimes people take a second at me in some places but I probably would too.
Sometimes people will offer you a ride if they are not use to seeing black people out walking, even if you are comfortably dressed and wearing running shoes, but then I lived in and area that was less than 1% black for about 100 square miles
I understand where the OP is coming from. I hike frequently in the ET Smokies and rarely encounter black hikers. That has changed a bit in the last few years bit not much. I don't think it's much different in NC. Seriously, I have encountered far more black bears than black people.
I second the LA reccomendation. On a recent trip my seatmate (young AA) was giving me great hiking reccommendations.
My wife and I are birdwatchers, and often visit places that are ell-known for that activity. We've met hundreds of other birders in various places following similar pursuits, but I can't recall single black birdwatcher among our many encounters. Reflecting on that, I might also be reluctant to wander around in a remote area. if I were black, especially looking at my surroundings through binoculars.
Even as a white person, I have had more than a few incidents of suspicion. We often, when traveling cross country, pull off on a side road and get out and walk a half a mile or so just to check out the birdlife, walking on the shoulder of public roads. People shout at us from their porch, demanding to know what we are doing on "their" road. Or they drive out in their car to ask us what we are doing there. A few have even called the police to have us checked out, and we were stopped miles down the highway after leaving the scene. I can only imagine what these people would have done if they saw a couple of black people walking down their road looking into the countryside with binoculars.
So, I think the answer to the OP's question is that an awful lot of blacks in America are simply afraid to leave the security of their familiar neighborhoods and venture unprotected out into "white man's land", where they are a conspicuous and not always welcome presence.
you captured my sentiment perfectly. you described exactly how i feel about it. thanks for feedback, it was a perfect post
P.S. I have never done birdwatching( they creep my out lol), but a friend of mine did invite me one time(and only once,lol) to go hunting for bow in eastern wisconsin. hunting is not my thing, so i basically just went to watch, so i found myself "hiding" in the trees with the birds the whole time lol. every time a bird would fly away, i'd jump like it was going fly straight at me and peck me lol. hey, i might like the outdoors, but in no way am i some warrior tough girl, lol, i cry when i get bit, and i am afraid of my own shadow and the shadow of bow, geese and anything that crawls ahahaahahaah
Last edited by j3235; 02-02-2013 at 01:32 PM..
Reason: spell check
Don't know where they're based, but maybe you could get some info.
Everybody should feel free to enjoy the great outdoors! Get this going!
Cheers!
thanks for the info!
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My first thoughts was the standard outdoor city triumvirate: Denver, Portland, and Seattle. You'd be in a sea of color, if you count bone, eggshell, ecru, and light peach 
. (I do realize there are black populations in all of those, but they are in the single digit percentages).
Hmmm...
