Updated 11:15 a.m. Wednesday
The Bay Area is blessed with a whole range of outdoor groups that celebrate queer community all year round.
But with San Francisco’s iconic Pride parade and festival just around the corner on June 28 and 29, several of these groups are offering a whole host of outings, events and meet-ups to mark Pride month.
From birding to surfing to hiking, every one of these groups is open to all, especially beginners or those who may not always feel welcome in the outdoors.
Most of all, they welcome people from all parts of the queer community and their friends, family and allies. Keep reading for more about how to join the outdoor celebrations this Pride month.
Even if you’ve never gone birding in your life, this group might just turn you on to the hobby.
At Queer Birders Bay Area, which welcomes people of all experience levels and ages, nerdy bird puns — and fun outfits — are the norm. Consequently, this group’s outings are “really easy to spot,” said Alyssa Winn, who co-leads the group with Paige Pritchard.
The group’s goal is to make each outing feel as accessible as possible by planning transit-accessible trips or setting up carpools. The group provides free binoculars and books to borrow, and encourages its more experienced birders not to yell out identifications they’re making — so everyone can get a chance to learn how to ID different birds for themselves.
“Birding is a very welcoming hobby, but there can still sometimes be a concern about joining spaces and having to constantly not know who’s in the group with you and if it’s going to be a safe space,” Winn said. “Historically, queer spaces were hidden — they were underground. We had the idea: why not be out and out?”
Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland and Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley are some of Queer Birders Bay Area’s regular spots, as is San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in fall and winter during “weird duck season,” Winn said, when ducks are reproducing and have their finest plumage on display.
Winn’s one piece of advice for newbies? “Show up ready to take things slow,” they said. ”A lot of birding is the journey and not the end point.”
Want to meet up with Queer Birders Bay Area to celebrate Pride month?
Queer Birders Bay Area is heading to Corona Heights Park in San Francisco on June 22 (was previously June 14) at 10 a.m. to birdwatch, followed by an outing to the Randall Museum. Then, the group plans to walk down to the Castro District to Fabulosa Books to donate or purchase books in support of its “Books Not Bans” campaign, which helps expand access to queer literature.
Now in its third year, Queer Surf recently hosted its annual “Switch: An Exhibition of Queer Surfing” — a free surfing event at Pacifica State Beach that aims to break down the gender binary in surfing to celebrate all members of the sport.
“It’s an opportunity to elevate and showcase queer, nonbinary and trans wave riding talent,” co-director Nic Brisebois said. “It’s a chance for us to celebrate the year, come together from the north and south, and build a coastal mycelial connection with each other — and have queer public art and expression and joy and play.”
The event even included a heat to specifically showcase the talents of trans surfers, and in doing so “uplift surfers of all genders, including gender expansiveness,” Brisebois said.
While part of Queer Surf’s mission statement is “to expand the surf culture,” Brisebois said, they also acknowledged that the existing systems “may not be ready for that” yet. “So we’ve just decided to carve out a space for ourselves,” they said.
But last weekend’s Switch event is by no means the only way to get involved with queer surf culture in the Bay Area. Queer Surf offers lessons at Linda Mar Beach each month and is even hosting a summer series where participants can “learn to surf in community every week,” Brisebois said.
The group isn’t limited to surfing, either often hosting movie nights, snorkeling and kayaking, in addition to a group chat where queer, trans and nonbinary surfers can coordinate paddle-outs. Brisebois said the group strives to offer a wide range of activities for a variety of interests and abilities. “Once we realized surfing wasn’t everyone’s goal, we expanded,” they said.
“The key piece is just come have fun and be yourself at the beach, which is maybe not something that queer folks have [always] been able to do.”
Want to meet up with Queer Surf to celebrate Pride month?
Queer Surf is hosting a tide pooling event on June 14 from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. in Pescadero organized with the California Academy of Sciences. Information about carpools and what to bring is on the event registration page.
Since 1986, this Bay Area-based group of the Sierra Club has offered regular hikes, bike rides and other outdoor activities specifically for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people — plus their friends and allies.
Today, the Rainbow Sierrans organize group outings every week, which are led by official Sierra Club leaders trained in first aid and outdoor leadership.
An outing might take place “anywhere from Mount Tam in Marin County to one of the regional parks, Mount Diablo or beyond,” said Ann Lehr, Rainbow Sierran’s outings chair.
The group also hosts a handful of overnight camping trips each year across California, usually on long weekends. Most of their outings are published on their website and on Meetup.com.
But if you plan to RSVP to an outing, make sure to “read the description of the outing carefully,” Lehr said — because they can really vary in difficulty.
While being a member of the Rainbow Sierrans isn’t required to attend day activities, it’s encouraged for other events like their annual picnic.
Want to meet up with the Rainbow Sierrans to celebrate Pride month?
Consult their calendar for details of the Rainbow Sierrans’ next outing: a Marin Headlands Hike on June 14 at 10 a.m.
For ecologist Tyler Feld, being queer in the outdoors hasn’t always been easy. Hearing people call queerness “unnatural” is one part of it, he said. So is the lack of safety he feels when being out in some rural areas.
“Queer people historically haven’t always been the most welcomed in nature,” he said. “I remember being a kid and feeling weird for being a queer person who wanted to go hang out by a river instead of going to the clubs.”
But as founder of Branching Out Adventures leading outdoors trips across the Bay Area, Feld said he’s found community and grounding in bringing queer people together outside.
“Everybody belongs in nature,” he said, “and queerness exists everywhere that you look.”
His nonprofit is aimed at creating spaces for all identities in the queer community through hiking, wildlife viewing, camping and other outdoors excursions. All events are free and open to everyone of all experience levels, but RSVPs are encouraged, Feld said. The group partners with organizations like the Midpeninsula Open Space District and the state parks department to make sure these hikes, which include overnight trips like their upcoming July 10–13 camping trip in Sierra City — are as accessible as possible, “so that people can get their toes in the water before committing to doing something really big.”.
And if you can’t make it to their Pride events? Know that “we’re definitely around,” Feld said. “If people have things that they’re excited to do or want to do, reach out to us — because we want to provide activities that people are excited about.”
Want to meet up with Branching Out Adventures to celebrate Pride month?
To celebrate Pride, the group is hosting a whole weekend of events across the Bay Area, including a sunset hike at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve and Queer Yoga at Westlake Park in Santa Cruz.
Speaking of birding and puns: Megan Nguyen said that when they first started their LGBTQ+ birding group Queers of a Feather, “people started flocking to the event.”
Nguyen is the community events manager for the conservation nonprofit Peninsula Open Space Trust, on whose lands Queers of Feather now hosts up to six outings per year These events are co-hosted with the Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (which, incidentally, hosts its own Pride events and the annual Queer Belonging Backpacking Adventure) and the Golden Gate Bird Alliance.
“We connect people to nature, but that also means nature to people,” Nguyen said. “It’s for anyone who’s just excited to be outside, be with other community members and learn.”
Many birders have what they call a “spark bird”: the bird that got them into the hobby in the first place — and Nguyen’s is a chicken. “I came in knowing nothing about birds. I was born in the Year of the Rooster, and I just like chickens,” they said.” Now I can confidently identify a lot more birds than chickens.”
Each Queers of a Feather event is free to attend, but requires reservations due to a group size limit of about 35 people. All are welcome, especially newcomers, and each event features knowledgeable facilitators to help answer questions, Nguyen said. Event managers send out a logistics email ahead of time, reminding people to bring layers, sun protection, water and comfortable shoes to walk in and can make accommodations for those who request them. They’ll also provide snacks, binoculars and pocket bird guides — but you’re likely to walk away with something extra as well, Nguyen said.
“Everyone leaves with smiles and swag,” they said.
Want to meet up with Queers of a Feather to celebrate Pride month?
The next Queers of a Feather outing is June 14 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Wavecrest Open Space in Half Moon Bay, a hotspot for birding on the coastside that POST has helped protect from development.
Started in 1983, the San Francisco Hiking Club was born out of necessity, the club’s vice president, Sam Kaufman, said.
“Back in those days, pre-internet, it was harder to find folks in the LGBT community who shared similar interests — much harder than now, certainly,” he said. ”And I think they found a really good niche, because it kept going.”
The San Francisco Hiking Club is fairly informal, Kaufman said, and you can just show up for their weekly hikes for your first few times before they’ll ask you to pay the $20 annual membership fee. Their hikes range from entry-level to strenuous, but the group also plans more unconventional outings like weekday climbs up Telegraph Hill or Colma cemetery strolls, Kaufman said. And since each trip leader chooses the hike, “it’s really a little bit of everything,” Kaufman said.
The group’s membership has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning “almost every hike there’s some new folks,” Kaufman said. When he’s leading a hike, Kaufman said he tries to plan for places the group hasn’t been to in a while.
“Being in this area, I feel really blessed,” he said. “If you’re into the outdoors, you just can’t ever run out of somewhere new to discover.”
Want to meet up with the San Francisco Hiking Club to celebrate Pride month?
Kaufman is guiding a 10-mile hike in Butano State Park, which was burned in the 2020 CZU August Lightning Complex Fire, on June 21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are carpool options available from the East Bay and San Francisco.
“We haven’t been there as a club since the fire shut most of [Butano] down,” Kaufman said. “So I’m really curious to see what it looks like.”
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Branching Out Adventures founder Tyler Feld’s name.
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