A few months ago, while scrolling online, I came across Latino Outdoors. What I found stopped me in my tracks. The intention, the care, and the deep understanding of our community felt both inspiring and overdue. As a platform rooted in community wellness and connection, Latinos of CT recognized the importance of this work from the outset. I reached out and soon connected with Liz Hurtado, an outings leader for Latino Outdoors Connecticut.
When Liz talks about the outdoors, she doesn’t call it a hobby. She calls it a return, a reconnection to the land.
“I was born in Lima, Peru, and moved to the U.S. when I was about six,” Liz says.
Her childhood memories are filled with family road trips throughout Peru. Her mother, who traveled extensively for work, made sure her children experienced the country’s rich diversity. Costa. Sierra. Selva. “My mom always tried to get us out there,” Liz says. “There’s so much to explore.”
The more she talks, the clearer it becomes that the outdoors shaped her sense of self and of belonging. “We’re not separate from the land,” she says. “We come from it.”
Like so many immigrant stories, hers starts with transition: moving, adapting, and learning a new world. But what stayed constant was her connection to nature. When Liz became a mother in her early twenties, she carried that connection forward quite literally. “I’d put my kids in a child carrier and take them hiking,” she laughs. “That’s just how I lived.”
Today, Liz is raising a family of six in Connecticut, doing what she’s always done, finding her way back outside and bringing her community with her.
When the World Feels Heavy, Nature Helps Us Breathe Again
Liz’s path to Latino Outdoors will feel familiar to a lot of us. It’s what happens when you find something that speaks straight to your spirit. She first heard about Latino Outdoors while living in Virginia Beach. At the time, there wasn’t a local chapter.
“I was devastated,” she recalls. “I remember thinking, where are my people?”
Later, after moving to Connecticut, she discovered that a chapter had been founded four years earlier. Liz reached out immediately. When she learned the chapter had slowed down due to life’s demands, she did what community-centered people do. She stepped in.
I asked Liz how the outdoors supports emotional and mental wellness in our community and how Latino Outdoors lives out its guiding principle of being community first and organization second.
“Nature is healing,” she says. “Being in the woods among trees, being by the water, and hearing waves, it does so much for your nervous system.” Then she adds words that feel deeply rooted in ancestral truth. “We are nature. Nature is us.”
That belief sits at the heart of Latino Outdoors. It’s not about asking Latinos to fall in love with something unfamiliar. It is about helping us remember something we already are.
Latino Outdoors
A Chapter Growing in Connecticut
Latino Outdoors is volunteer-led, and according to Liz, that makes all the difference. When leadership comes from within the community, the space feels safer, warmer, and more authentic.
“When you become a volunteer, you are making a commitment to your community,” Liz explains. “To create diverse, welcoming, and open spaces.”
Each chapter reflects the needs of its region. In Connecticut, those needs are clear: access, belonging, and family-centered connection. As the Latino community in the state continues to grow and diversify, including new immigrants, second-generation families, and Spanish-dominant households, even language can become an invisible barrier.
That’s something the Connecticut chapter takes seriously. The current leadership team is fully bilingual, ensuring that people feel supported from the moment they see an event posted to the moment they step into the experience.
“All four of us are bilingual,” Liz says. “Whenever we can, everything’s offered in Spanish and English, from promotions to communication to support during outings.”
For Liz, leadership is not simply a title. It’s a responsibility. It’s about showing up for those who cannot always do so safely or comfortably on their own.
“Latinos are often overlooked,” she says. “Generalized as to our capabilities. Our voices more than ever need to be heard.”
Latino Outdoors is also intentional about addressing financial barriers. For many families, outdoor activities can feel out of reach before they even begin. Winter sports alone require equipment, rentals, and lessons, costs that add up quickly.
“All of our programs are free,” Liz explains. “We are able to front the cost so people can get past one of the biggest obstacles, which is financial.”
But access is about more than money. Sometimes it’s fear. Sometimes it’s not seeing yourself reflected in outdoor spaces. Sometimes it’s that quiet thought many of us have carried at least once: this isn’t for people like me.
Latino Outdoors meets that hesitation gently and proves it wrong. The goal isn’t to turn everyone into hikers. It’s about rebuilding a relationship.
“We try to engage people,” Liz says. “How are you feeling? Have you done this before? Would you want to do it again? What else would you like to try?” Because community isn’t built in silence. It’s built through conversation.
And, of course, through food: at a recent caminata at Gillette Castle State Park, Liz brought alfajores from the Latina-owned bakery Made by Pam, and people lit up, saying, “This is what we need,” a sweet moment, a familiar taste, a reminder that these spaces belong to us, too.
A Call to Action for Our Community
“Reconnect with nature and with yourself,” Liz says. “You don’t have to do extreme outdoor activities. Just being outside in community makes all the difference.”
The truth is, none of us were meant to do this alone. Healing doesn’t always begin in therapy or with major life changes. Sometimes it starts with one small step outside.
One caminata.
One afternoon with people who get it.
One moment where you remember you belong here.
Latino Outdoors Connecticut continues to grow, offering monthly outings and opportunities for families and individuals to reconnect with the land and each other. Upcoming events include a Meet the Wolf Pack event on February 15, rescheduled from an earlier date due to weather, indoor rock climbing in March, and bird watching in April.
Latinos of CT will be including Latino Outdoors events in our community calendar. We encourage you to follow the Connecticut chapter, support their work, and invite friends and family to connect with Latino Outdoors chapters across the country. Even when we are physically apart, we remain connected through nature, through land, and through community.