Say Yes to the Adventure: Chris Smith on Queer Travel, Outdoor Community, and Pride Adventure Travel

Quick question.When's the last time you saw a queer person in an outdoor adventure ad?Not a Pride Month Instagram post from a gear company. An actual ad. For an actual trip. With an actual queer person doing the thing.Yeah. Chris Smith noticed that too.So he built Pride Adventure Travel — and spent years proving something the outdoor industry apparently needed proof of: that queer people belong on mountains, on trails, in the water, and everywhere else the adventure world used to pretend we didn't exist.In this episode, Chris gets into the outdoor industry's complicated (and honestly, pretty embarrassing) relationship with diversity…What it actually feels like to show up at a trailhead as a visibly queer person…And why group adventure travel does something for queer people that solo trips can't — it builds a community that holds you while you push yourself.We also cover the practical stuff. How to find queer-friendly outdoor adventures. What to look for in a guide or operator. Red flags. Green flags.And the thing Chris keeps coming back to: the best trips of your life will probably be the ones that scare you a little first.If you've ever stood at the edge of something — a mountain, a decision, a new chapter — and wondered whether you were allowed to go…Chris Smith's answer is yes.Full stop. Always yes.