We got to this campsite after backpacking in about four miles last night.

Had a lovely time.

We all slept really, really hard afterwards, and now we’re gonna spend the rest of the day, really getting to spend time with this land.

Spend some time dancing in nature.

with Gichigame and kind of learning what the land has to teach us.

And so we’ll see what happens.

We’re gonna spend some time having some meals, hanging out, exploring the area around us, and I hope that you’ll come along for the journey.

About a year and a half ago, I teamed up with James Edward Mills from the Joy Trip Project to work on this initiative called Isle Royale for All Isle Royal is a national park that is in Michigan, but it is not easy to get to.

So we had to take a van to get to a seaplane.

It took us several days to get here, and there can be a lot of barriers for folks to access this park.

So, for Isle Royale, for all, we’re really working to remove some of those barriers and help elevate the opportunities for there to be more representation in folks who can come and visit this park, bring their own communities, families, groups to this park.

that’s what we’re working on here.

Isle Royale National Park, or Minong, attracts visitors for many reasons.

Some come for the scenic hiking trails or to fish, others come for birding or even to scuba dive the shipwrecks in the island’s surrounding waters.

Right there?

Okay, yeah, that’s good.

All right.

Ready?

One, two, three, four, five.

Is this better, can you hear me clearer now?

Just trying to keep it.

Yeah.

We all do it.

No, yeah.

You got to join in, Grant.

Yeah, if it going water... Got to join in, so we can, like, satellite.

Don’t lead back too far.

All right.

Okay.

Being in a place that hasn’t always been easy to get to, and feeling this kind of abundance in every sense of the word, like every, like, there are abundant plant medicines here.

and being able to show things to people and hear how excited they are, like, the abundance that comes from that, like, and that’s a model that I’m trying to fit into my life, that we are collectively already abundant.

and what can grow from here.

So I think this has been a really, I feel like it’s really filled up my spirit in a good way.

Yeah.

During the summer months, Minong offers so many goodies for foragers, from apples, mushrooms, berries, and nuts.

And as for the fauna, you’d be hard pressed not to spot any of the island’s permanent animal residents while you’re there.

Whether it be a river otter, a fox, or some of the larger locals.

And thanks to the relocation project facilitated in 2018 by the National Park Service, you may even spot a wolf.

It’s a really cool gift to be able to share some of the culture of the land, even if I don’t know this Aki exactly.

I can.

share little pieces of the beings here, and the, like, spirit world when people are interested, and everyone has been interested, and excited to know about, and try and integrate the culture of the land.

Even the way we’ve been, like, moving between using Isle Royale and Minong to talk about these different ways that we make sense of the world, I think has been really special.

One of the most important things I’ve been taught is that land has a culture.

Everywhere I go that isn’t home.

I’m a visitor.

And one of my responsibilities is to, at the very least, be a good visitor.

Like you would for anyone hosting you in their home.

You know, at least try and pick up on other things they prefer, like, bring a nice gift, talk about things that let them shine.

do the games and activities that they can share with you that you might not play or do anywhere else?

For many Native Americans, relationships to national parks can be complicated.

While they might be able to visit these lands along with the rest of the public, the protected status of national parks can often mean that indigenous people are restricted from engaging in traditional practices, their people have had for 100s, if not 1000s of years.

There’s this sort of created pristine wilderness.

especially thinking about Minong and sleeping bear, and a ton of other national parks, pictured rocks.

They have never not known indigenous people.

And so there’s, like, a conspicuous absence.

Knowing that Grand Portage Band people, are increasingly getting a say.

On naming, and on some uses.

But not when it comes to overall control of the land and the ability to live here full time and make comprehensive decisions about what the land is asking for.

as the people that have spent the most time with her, and have the best ear to hear her.

So there’s, like, a funny feeling in your gut that comes up of, like, This place is so special and... We’re really lucky that Grand Porters people are... So open to and excited about people feeling how beautiful this place is.

There’s that history and an ongoing history there, you got a hold in your stomach.

And I don’t think it has to stop this experience being joyful, but I think it is something... That it reminds me to live more kindly, everywhere I go, like, everywhere I visit.

In a way that feels hard, but good.

People have been coming to Minong long before it was designated as a national park.

Minong and the waters immediately surrounding the archipelago are a significant part of the Anishinaabe’s traditional cultural history, and were part of the Grand Portage band of Lake Superior Chippewas ancestral lands For the Grand Portage Band It is a traditional cultural property where they connect and practice their traditional heritage that is included hunting and trapping, maple sugaring, fishing, plant gathering, and spiritual practice.

Thinking about how For black people, folks of the diaspora, who are indigenous to somewhere, but it’s a lot harder for folks of the diaspora to know exactly where they’re indigenous to outside of just an area in a continent.

you know, we’re here, are there, the descendants of enslaved Africans are here.

And we’re also here on land that has been stolen from indigenous folks to the folks who are indigenous to this land.

And so as... Folks who are descended from the African diaspora are working to restore severed ties to nature, are building a relationship to nature, learning how to be in right relationship with nature.

It’s really important for us to continue exploring what Afro indigenous solidarity looks like so that we can support each other and learn from each other.

I think it’s so important to make sure that we’re weaving indigenity into how we are building our relationships to nature, how we are stewarding environmental justice and conservation work.

Really, like, I will always talk about how our liberation is rooted in nature.

We got to freedom, when nature, we were in nature, before, you know, we were oppressed, and we will... you know, find it again in nature, uh, in some ways.

And so... Even if it’s in our backyard having a cookout, that’s liberation out in nature.

Recognizing, I think it’s been really beautiful to feel and see and integrate the teachings that our black neighbors bring us on ways to live kindly, especially in, like, disruptive soil in urban areas.

Like, I don’t know what the future is, but it is fundamentally black and indigenous.

Yeah, absolutely.

And yeah, just ways that we are able to be our full authentic selves out here.

You know, you were saying before, we’re not having to compartmentalize be aspects of being, you know, I’m bi or queer.

Either definition works for me.

not having to put that part of me in a box or being multiracial black in this box over here or being.

A lover of nature and outdoorsy in its own separate box, these things are all, are all intertwined and beautifully braided together.

That’s been, I think, another really moving part for me and very healing part for me on the work that I get to do, the trips I get to do, and especially this trip, with y’all, and so many other folks on this group, who are bringing their full selves, and, you know, particularly bringing their queerness into their experience here, as well.

My queerness is so rooted in nature.

and say with my blackness.

Like, I, I, I know myself because I know nature and I, the more I know nature, the more I know myself.

When I really remembered or did research again on, um, like the seahorse and how the seahorse mail is like, yeah, I’m gonna have some babies.

I was like, me, you know, as someone that wants to be a birthing body.

I’m like, but also I present masculine, and I, you know, I do if I identify with masculinity or, you know, manhood, I guess in some fashions, I don’t... need to be in the cisman, you know, identifying category, but masculinity feels a little bit more, um, closer to me.

I don’t know.

I lost my I did lose my thought.

You know what I’m saying?

Yeah, it’s good.

Yeah, listen, nature’s Nature’s queer.

Nature is queer.

Yeah, I love that.

And also, like, I’m... If you lost your train of thought, it’s a pro and a con because you had me about to tear up on camera.

I work with some really cool kids in my neighborhood, and they have different levels of, like, cultural support, like, community and family support, and that gets more intense, uh, when you have... Like, queer stuff coming up, and parents that aren’t as familiar with what that looks like.

But the thing, I’m always able to come back to telling them is that the land already knows who you are.

You don’t need to explain anything to her.

She already knows you belong with her.

Like the one place you can be.

No masks.

No performance, no code switching.

Just you.

That’s all she wants.

I think there’s other threat of like... binarism and like the the assertion of a binary onto a lot of different countries.

When in reality, you look at almost every culture that we know of has always had some level of complexity when it comes to gender.

In Anishinaabe tradition, and in the language, like, Ikwe and Inini, like, woman and man are part of a larger system.

Like, you don’t just define womanhood by manhood, like in opposition.

Like, when you’re missing all of the genders between and beyond, you lose contacts for what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be a man, and what it means to be, you know, 2 spirit in any of the many ways that exist.

And what it means to be trans and queer and bisexual.

Like all of them, like.

I feel like I can be my, like, bring my blackness, my transness, my queerness, and be in nature.

I don’t have to, like, separate the two worlds.

Part of the conversations that we get to have, you know, as we’re sitting in groups is, you know, like, how do we get to do this after we leave here?

If we wanted to, even in Grand Rapids, or on Lake Michigan, go and sit on the beach late, late at night, some of the places they close the park.

Some of the places to be there, it is not on a bus route.

And if we’re talking about people from the neighborhoods I’m from, And we were talking about my mom, if we’re talking about my sisters who don’t drive that rely on public transit.

who rely on, you know, goodwill and, you know, places like that.

A lot of the resources that they have in order to connect back in nature are stunted.

Thank you so much.

Like I said, I’m, I’m trying not to, I’m trying not to cry on camera.

But thank you.

Thank you for sharing, and teaching, and learning from and with one another.

Um, it’s just, I can’t tell you how much of a gift it is, so... Very, very mutual.

Yeah.

Appreciate y’all.

My conversation with Grant and Chief has helped me process some of what I’ve been feeling ever since we landed here in Minong.

I think back about the first time that I heard of Isle Royale National Park, which was probably almost 20 years ago, and having some friends who had come here, and hearing about all of the... hearing about the terrain, and hearing about all of the skills, the outdoor skills that they needed to get here, let alone the resources, but just the knowledge on how to come here.

And not only did visiting Isle Royale or Minong feel impossible, it felt like it would have been intolerable, or it felt, like it would, it just felt off putting to me, because I didn’t believe that I had, I would ever have the outdoors knowledge, the knowledge of backpacking, the knowledge of the gear, I would need, the physical and mental stamina it would take to spend time here.

And so being here now, I mean, I’m certainly I’m proud of myself, and I’m just... Even more encouraged by some of, by this project, and by some of the work that we’re doing with color out here, because if not for the support and gear and resources, that the Joy Trip project is brought, that the Go Bus has brought, the skills that I’ve learned with friends and community over the years, who I felt safe learning those things, those skills with, I would never have imagined myself here, or if I did imagine myself here, I would have imagined myself being miserable and woefully unprepared.

I’m especially grateful for how I’ve learned to feel like I’m worthy of being here.

Sorry, I’m gonna cry.

Again.

And I’ve learned so much.

about this land from this land, and, uh, from the amazing people who have brought their full authentic selves.

Yeah.

So, like I said, language, like words such as gratitude.

Um, Just don’t do it justice.

It’s clear that the way Minong has held us these past few days has been transformational for me and for our group.

It’s our last night on Minong, and while I’ll admit that I am looking forward to a shower.

It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to the island and to these people who I’ve built community with over this past week.

But we have a long track back to the seaplane tomorrow, so it’s time we all get settled in and get some rest.

Oh, you’re gonna have to get even lower.

Wait, please just... Please wait.

I’m sorry.

I should be helping you being more supportive.

I can only do this.

Hello.

Oh, there it is.

Yeah, I see.

All right.

It’s all about the little stuff.

It’s gonna be really hard to leave this place.

It’s just, it’s been so magical.

It won’t be the last time I’m here, so... For our very last night together, our group is staying in Marquette, Michigan, so we can grab a shower, get some rest, and have a nice meal that hasn’t been dehydrated before we embark on the last leg of our journey home tomorrow morning.

I’m just so grateful to y’all because these trips really don’t, these, these trips are made special because of the people that come and the community that we built together and the way that we came together to support each other.

So I just want to thank y’all so much for everything.

Thank you, Alice Thank you.

And for, you know, my new trail name and all the laughs and all the support.

So yeah, cheers.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Since we’ve gotten back to Marquette and returned from Minong, a number of people have reached out to me on the phone, via text, just to ask me how my experience has been, and I still don’t know if I have the words.

The experience was so incredible.

The land was unbelievably breathtaking, and what I think really made this experience so special are the people who came on it, the way that we became a community, and such a short period of time.

The way that we were taking care of each other, just working to support folks who weren’t always feeling great, making sure everybody was fed, sheltered, comfortable, safe.

It was a really beautiful thing to see grow out of this experience.

I’m just so grateful to partnerships with the Joy Trip project, with the Go Bus, that helped make this as accessible as possible.

Isle Royale or Minong may never be easy to get to, but it is absolutely worth it.

And having opportunities to go there, experience that land, and connect with the people you go with, is beyond worth the adventure that it takes to get up there.

Because what they say about Minong is really true.

It is absolutely the good place.