MILWAUKEE (CN) — On Saturday morning, the sky was overcast and the temperature dropped below 40 degrees near the lake. Some would call these suboptimal conditions for a 3-mile, surprisingly high-impact walk with 60 near strangers and four dogs, but the Girls Who Walk group won’t be deterred even by the harsh winter conditions that are coming.
As people wandered over from their cars in pairs of two or three to meet at the mouth of the South Shore stretch of Milwaukee’s beloved Oak Leaf Trail, Samantha Schulte passed around name tags while some regulars chatted with those they had met on previous walks.
Schulte started the walking group in the spring of 2023. She was visiting a friend in Chicago who told her about a girls walking group there, and on the Hiawatha train back to Milwaukee, she began Instagramming.
“I thought the concept was so cool, and I looked online for something like it at home, but nothing seemed geared towards young, working people,” Schulte said.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources hosts group hikes, hunting classes and crafting workshops on public land. But Schulte didn’t know these events existed, she said, and she isn’t alone: The department reports that 20% of people say they don’t enjoy Wisconsin’s natural world because they don’t know where to go.
On Nov. 20, the department released its quinquennial Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan — the first edition since the pandemic rocked the country. Using survey data from thousands of Wisconsinites, the department sheds light on the motivations and barriers different groups of people experience.
The report indicates that participation in outdoor activities of all kinds has fallen slightly in the last year, but still sits significantly above their pre-pandemic levels; pickleball is the fastest growing activity in the state; and most people say they simply don’t have the free time to go outside.
In just over a year, Girls Who Walk MKE has grown from an average of 30 participants to more like 70 walkers. They are mostly 24- to 30-year-old work-from-home professionals, and transplants who say they want to make friends and find a safe space to get a workout in.
“The loneliness epidemic is real, but I was like, ‘OK, I need some friends.’ I didn’t know how to do that in my mid-20’s before these walks,” Abbey Osborn, a high school teacher who recently moved to Milwaukee, said while climbing a formidable hill on last Saturday’s walk.
Group activities as a motivator
The Wisconsin Department Natural Resources identified a clear trend when breaking down the survey data by age group: 41% of those in their twenties and thirties said they didn’t get outside because they do not have anyone to go with.
According to the report, this disproportionately affects women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and people with mobility issues. More than half of the same age demographic said they would be more likely to participate in the activity of their choice if they had a group in the community to do it with.
“I work from home and it’s terrible, so I came to the group looking to make new connections and get my steps in. It’s also much safer than walking by yourself, and a walking group is the most approachable,” said Emily Ball, a marketing director who comes to the walks with her friend.
Girls Who Walk participants largely said they badly wanted to get out from behind their computer screen. So why do Wisconsin officials report state park and trail attendance declined by nearly 1.2 million people since the pandemic peak of 2021, when it climbed by 3.8 million?
Schulte thinks if the department tapped into what her group has, maybe the numbers would look different.
“So many people in the group have told me they don’t feel comfortable walking by themselves, whether that’s because of physical safety concerns or social anxiety,” Schulte said. “I’m not trying to plug my group, but as a 27-year-old myself, the DNR can feel kind of crusty and outdated.”
The paramount goals laid out in the report are to create equitable opportunities to participate in outdoor recreation regardless of ethnicity, gender, income or age, and to expand sustainability of those opportunities by ensuring they are well-funded and responsive to participant’s feedback.
To achieve this, the Department Natural Resources says it will improve affordability and access to information about events and programs and provide needed facilities upgrades.
That’s not just about pickleball and walking paths: As global temperatures rise, outdoor recreation in Wisconsin is facing changes. The department is preparing for economic consequences across a state which relies on winter sports for much of its tourism.
The Girls Who Walk will do just that all through the winter, whatever that winter looks like.