Born and raised Washington DC, Tyrhee Moore is on a mission to connect more people of color with the outdoors. To help achieve this, he’s founded Soul Trak, a nonprofit that’s focused on creating more inclusion and diversity in outdoor spaces.
Summer Camp
Tyrhee's love of the outdoors began in seventh grade when he visited Jackson Hole, WY, during summer camp through the City Kids Wilderness Project. It was his first taste of outdoor adventures.
“At this point I’m 12 years old from Washington DC,” Tyrhee recalls. “Everyone around me was also 12 years old from Washington DC. They looked like me— they were Black. During those very early stages I had truly believed that was my outdoor experience: being around my friends, being around people who looked like me.”
However, Tyrhee gradually learned that, unfortunately, people of color are often underrepresented in outdoor spaces. “I started to realize that was not the reality of what the outdoors looked like,” he says.
Soul Trak Outdoors
By 26, it was clear to Tyrhee there was a need for an inclusive outdoor space that would make nature accessible to more people of color. In response, he founded Soul Trak Outdoors, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that connects communities of color to outdoor spaces while also building a coalition of diverse outdoor leaders. Soul Trak provides hands-on, experiential programming.
“It lets me create a space that feels very natural, very organic, for people of color in DC to enter into,” he says. “Everybody can come as they are. I want everyone to feel like— whether you’ve never been climbing or never been hiking or whether you’ve done it all your life— this is a space where you can meet other people who are like-minded.”
The RV Advantage
Traveling in an RV makes it possible to reach outdoor destinations with a larger group. For Tyrhee, this is especially useful when traveling with several members of Soul Trak to outdoor destinations such as New River Gorge, WV. This helps larger numbers of Soul Trak members access activities such as rock climbing and hiking.
Additionally, the RV provides accommodations after a long day of outdoor adventures. “For a lot of them, this is a very new experience,” he adds. “It’s cool to share that and then end the days in an RV to hang out and have a good time.”
Tyrhee adds that an additional highlight of RV travel is the ability to share meals together at the end of the day: “It’s a pleasant way to end the day after you put in a lot of hard work.”
An Open Door
Ultimately, Tyrhee strives to create a more inclusive outdoor experience for people of color and help foster a strong sense of community. “There’s so many physical benefits and so many mental benefits to being outdoors that so many people in my community are missing out on,” Tyrhee says. “For me, the main goal is to be there as an open door and say ‘there’s a community here of people in DC that want to be outside. There’s a home here for you.’”
