Our Story is Your Story: Charelle (and Nova)

On this overcast Portland morning, we headed down to Sellwood for an adventure on the water with Charelle, and their pup, Nova. After Nova ran around the dog park for a bit, we hopped in the boats and got on the water. It was a delight to learn about Charelle’s ever-evolving relationship to the water, to outdoor education, and to their deep ancestral ties and appreciation for kayaking.

Can you tell the story of your relationship to the outdoors: how it started, if you remember specific moments or memories that feel important to you?

I got interested in the outdoors because, growing up, I spent a lot of time on and off the Navajo Reservation because that's where I'm from. During the summer months, we'd get dropped off there and we were expected to work. One of the biggest jobs was herding sheep for my uncle. So that’s what we did for a big portion of the summer. We’d have to walk over to his house – and it was like three miles away – and then we’d go and take the sheep out all day. So, it was really fun because I grew up with a lot of siblings, and it was nice to spend that time with them outside. And then sometimes other cousins would come and we would just enjoy our time together. That was something like we always did. But in the realm of outdoor recreation, it didn't really happen until my senior year of high school. I had a friend take me on a mountain biking date and I really, really enjoyed it. It wasn't anything crazy – just dirt roads. But it was the first time I'd ever tried it, and for my high school graduation present, my mom and stepdad got me a mountain bike. So that’s kind of where it really started.

Can you say more about the experience of herding sheep? Like, how old you were and how you learned? Or if it felt like an intuitive experience for you?

We were out when I was in third grade, through eighth grade. We would do smaller sheep herding things at my other grandma’s house. We were taught how to find the cows and the sheep and to bring them back. And there were always a bunch of rez dogs there that helped out. So it was one of those things that you’ve always just kind of done. And I didn’t really think much about how I learned. It was just like, “Make sure you don’t lose them.”

How was that experience during your summers different from life during the school year for you?

During the school year, we lived in a town outside of the reservation. They’re considered border towns of the reservation; and they boom because it’s really hard to create any sense of economy on the reservation. There’s just so much red tape. There’s an article that came out that said there’s something like 21 different steps an Indigenous person has to do to start a business on the reservation. Whereas off the reservation, it just takes like three to five big steps. So it just makes it a lot harder. So we went there for school, too, because on the reservation the quality for education isn’t very good. So my parents moved us off the rez, and we lived there during the year to go to school, but we would go back fairly often during the school year.

Do you have any rituals, or intentional ways of connecting with the outdoors?

I don't know if it's like a ritual, but I'm just like growing up, there's a lot of things within the Dine culture, in that, there's a lot of respect for nature. And the biggest thing was water. And it wasn't till recently, for my mom, that she said she wanted to get more connected to that side of her. Because even if she grew up on the reservation, she wasn't taught all of our traditions and everything. She’s still learning. So recently, I've learned more about the fireplace and that connection between like the fireplace and the earth and the sky, and then water as well. So just having a better understanding of that. But the biggest one growing up was always being conscious with water, and not wasting it and stuff like that. And a lot of it's from my parents growing up on the reservation, where there's not a lot of running water. Like my dad kind of forced that a lot like when we weren’t on the rez, but, we dealt with it when we would be there too. For a lot of like my aunts and uncles, and even my grandma, there's no running water or electricity there. So no actual rituals per se, but just intention and connection to the water.

How would you talk about your connection to water, especially with kayaking?

I've actually been pretty scared of water. I grew up swimming a lot, but there's always been a lot of anxiety, just being in a pool or big bodies of water. So I was never super, super comfortable with it. It wasn't until my second year into my associate's degree for Outdoor Leadership, Education, and Recreation. I had to take some kayaking classes as part of the curriculum. So it was the first kayaking class I ever took. And, I don't know, it was the first time I was actually able to be on the rivers that go through my homeland, which was crazy, because up until that point, I never, like really, really thought about it at all. Like the amount of time actually spent on the San Juan or the Animus River. And they go through the Navajo Reservation, and border it as well. And I’d never actually been on the river, like my entire life up to that point. And it was a great feeling. And I know my fear of water was based in not really understanding it. And finally being able to understand what the water is doing and how to read hydrology and everything. Like I feel like that took away a lot of my anxiety. But it also just made me think that not a lot of other people – especially within my family – get to experience the rez or home from that point of view. And it was also a big reason why I wanted to keep learning and eventually instruct and guide, especially for IHS – which is Indian Health Services. Which was probably, besides this role, one of those most fulfilling jobs that I’ve ever had. Because we only worked with like people of color, for the most part, and Indigenous – like Dine – people. And a lot of youth as well. It was awesome.

Have you ever felt like outdoors were not for you? And, if so, how did you grapple with that narrative? 

I never really thought it wasn’t for me. I always knew it was hard to access. But I was told by my dad – while I was telling him about the courses I was taking, like the kayaking class – he was like “Oh, that's not for us. That's like a white people thing.” And I just thought that shouldn’t matter. But even though he said that, I never truly agreed with it, especially after that class. Because one assignment, on a component of kayaking, gave me the opportunity to go back to the first peoples that started kayaking and there's a lot of Indigenous history there. And doing my own research was a big reason why I didn't agree with my dad. And so I just told him that people have been doing it well before white people. And just because they’re doing it now, doesn’t mean it’s not for us.

What did you learn, broadly, through that research?

I learned where the oldest known kayaks originated, which was in the Arctic Circle, because it was the main way people hunted. There were two different ways kayaks were constructed. Some of them were made out of driftwood, the other whale bones. So the differences between those. And the ingenuity that went into the construction. LIke, people knowing how to create ballasts – like putting extra weight into the kayak – so that they can maintain stability, and keep the buoyancy pretty low. But you need it to shift with your body weight and it shouldn’t really be moving on its own. So water works really well just because it's not just like one big piece, and it kind of moves with the boat. So just the creativity of things like that, and how it was used for hunting. It was really cool to learn about. And awesome to share a little bit of that into the training for kayaking leaders for Wild Diversity.

Do you have a favorite way of being outside?

I think it’s being on the river for multiple days with a really big group of friends or family. It creates a really close sense of community, because you’re moving down a river together and you need everybody’s help: You load up the boats in the morning and unload in the evening when you’re ready to camp. And a lot of people take on a ton of different roles in camp life and on the river. And it just makes a lot of space to be silly and to be yourself. I’m hoping that next year I’ll be able to take two rafting trips with my family, which is something we haven’t been able to do just yet.

Can you talk about your experience spending time outdoors in solitude, versus in community?

I’ve spent a lot of time outside alone. For a long time I’d mountain bike alone till I got a couple of friends into it. But it was always really nice to just be the only one out there – and to not have to think about anyone behind you or ahead of you. And especially with mountain biking, it just felt like the courses were easier and I had a bit more confidence. I wasn't overthinking things.

Also a couple years ago, I lived out of my car. So I spent like a ton of time camping. And that was actually really, really nice because I had been living in a house with a bunch of people for a long time and I never really could just be on my own. And it was great to just be, because I feel like up until then I was always working two to three jobs and just going going going. And it was nice to set up my camp and it was just really simple. And I would just lay there and be in the mountains. It was just a great time to be on my own, and I felt like I needed it at that point. Kayaking and other stuff can be a little harder to do on your own. But I feel like sometimes, even when you're on the river with people, if you're in a kayak you tend to drift off. And you're on your own sometimes and that's always great to just take in the water and the scenery, because usually you're in really beautiful places when you choose to go kayaking. So even those little moments when you’re just floating away for a little bit, they’re just really soothing. I know that for me, I have social anxiety, so those are also times when I can regroup.

What has Wild Diversity offered to you that has been surprising, unique, or impactful?

It's been like a really, really, great learning experience. Because I feel like you go to school for a lot of things and mine was specifically this. And after just a year with Wild Diversity, I feel like I’ve applied so much of what I went to school for already. And there’s other things that I wasn't really prepared for like a lot of the relationship building. And so that’s been really, really great to learn. But one of the most surprising things is Wild Diversity being able to cover trainings. Because especially in the outdoor industry, a lot of companies that you work for require you to have all of these certifications. But they're not gonna pay for it or offer a stipend for it or anything like that. And depending on the actual certification that's required of you, it can be anywhere between $400 to like $2,000 in certifications. And certifications are nice, but a lot of it is just like what you learn from the courses. I know that being an instructor or a guide, that’s one of the biggest issues I’ve run into: that you’re expected to dish out thousands of dollars, and that’s before all of the equipment that you’re expected to acquire yourself, as well. 

I think that Wild Diversity can be positioned as a starting point for many people when it comes to the outdoors. What might you say to someone who is less experienced or trying to get connected?

I feel like the best advice would be to start somewhere you’re comfortable. The outdoor industry is very focused on achievement, or being the first to do this. And is always trying to push the envelope on a physical level, and not necessarily trying to build people up in ways that are not just physical. And the outdoors can offer so much more than that.