He wrote the book on ethical outdoor recreation. Here's how he puts it into practice.

MINNEAPOLIS - How is it possible to hike on land knowing much of it was stolen from Indigenous people?

That’s the question Joseph Whitson tries to answer in his book “Marketing the Wilderness,” which was published by the University of Minnesota Press last year.

Whitson, who grew up in Bloomington and obtained his doctorate in cultural studies at the University of Minnesota, said the answer is to change your mindset when you’re outside and to advocate for the return of the land to its rightful owners.

As a Boy Scout, Whitson learned how to camp and paddled in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with his troop. Years later, he brought his love of the outdoors into his studies, focusing on the intersection of outdoor recreation, marketing and Indigenous sovereignty. During his studies, he said he realized that verbs like “pioneering” and “exploring,” frequently used to advertise the outdoors and rooted in colonialism, continue to disenfranchise Indigenous people.

“Instead of thinking about conquering a mountain or exploring and discovering places, it’s more about how are we learning about a place? How are we building a relationship with a place?” he said. “That can be through scientific knowledge, emotional knowledge. I think there’s a lot of ways that we can encounter nature in a relational way.”

We asked Whitson, 36, more about how he goes outside. His responses have been edited for clarity and length:

Q: What’s your favorite outdoor activity? Why?

A: I like day hiking. I don’t like having a bunch of equipment, that becomes like a barrier. So for day hiking, no equipment. You can just get out and go for a walk. That’s what I prefer because I like moving slow. People love biking and paddling, but I like to be able to stop and look at stuff and enjoy what I’m seeing and have the opportunity to look more closely at things.

Q: How did you get into hiking?

A: We grew up camping, walking and hiking. … It was in Boy Scouts, which formalized [my outdoor learning]. We learned a lot of skills. I also do photography as a hobby. One of the excuses I use for photography is it’s an excuse to get outside and walk. I started that in high school, and I like being able to take a camera out and use that as a literal lens to look at the world in a different way.

Q: What have you learned about yourself from hiking?

A: I’ve learned that I need to be outside and I need be in touch with nature. It’s much more of a joyful thing. … For example, yesterday, I felt so tired I thought I could just go to sleep right now after work. But after just an hour outside and walking [around Cedar Lake], it’s like a total transformation. I came back, I was energized.

Q: What was your best day outside?

A: I think one of my favorite days was a few years ago. It was relatively simple. I had some friends that took me on a blind outdoor adventure. They planned it and didn’t tell us where we were going. We ended up in southeastern Minnesota in the Lake Pepin area. The nicest part about that is that I’m usually the planner, the one instigating things, knows all the parks and information.

To have somebody else do that for me was really nice. You can just kind of enjoy it in a different way when you don’t have to be the organizer of a trip.

Q: What was your worst?

A: I just completed all the Minnesota State Hiking Club trails - it took me 10 years to do all of them. But one of those hikes was my worst day outside. It was at Savanna Portage State Park. I don’t mean to judge this park by this experience, because it’s a beautiful park, but it was peak mosquito season.

The mosquitoes were as bad as I’ve ever experienced them, and no amount of bug spray could keep them away from you. You’re going through this kind of wettish area. I could have just laid down and given myself up to the mosquitoes.

Q: What’s your favorite place to be outside in Minnesota?

A: Anywhere that feels like an open space. … I love, I think they call them the goat prairies down in southeastern Minnesota. ... Prairies we get up on top of the bluffs and in Great [River] Bluffs State Park or above Winona.

Q: What’s an outdoor activity you wish you knew how to do?

A: I stopped in Sandstone at the ice climbing park there. It’s an old quarry that they pour water over ice for ice climbing. It seems very cool and to just like watch these folks with these [ice] picks, and it seems like a really great community. I thought this would be a fun and unique activity to learn, and it’s not something you can do everywhere.

Q: You’ve been given the chance to go on your dream outdoor adventure. What is it, and who would you bring with you?

A: The Pacific Crest Trail in the U.S. is the one I would do, and anyone who’s willing to take that time off and commit to something like that is probably a good person to have with you on that trip.

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