Dzil Ta'ah Adv Diné Youth Bikepacking Series

In 2019, Jon Yazzie and Nadine Johnson of Dzil Ta'ah Adventures and Steve Fassbinder and Lizzy Scully started having conversations about getting kids on bikepacking and bikerafting tours who might not otherwise have the opportunity to do big adventures due to a lack of resources. Naturally, since Nadine and Jon are full-blooded Navajo and they run a bikepacking guide service, and the Navajo are neighbors of Fassbinder & Scully, who own Four Corners Guides, the decision was made to start a program to get Native American kids on bikes. This fall we are starting with Navajo youth. In the future, we hope to get other BIPOC kids on bikes and packrafts. We are raising $3500 to pay for three total trips this fall, two bikepacking tours on the Navajo Nation and one, final bikerafting adventure in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, on Lake Powell and cycling on the surrounding dirt roads.

We currently need and are raising funds to purchase: bikepacking gear (some of which will be given to the youth, and some of which will be held onto for future adventures with different groups of kids); dehydrated food and packaged snacks for the participants; money to help pay for transportation (we will be using the Four Corners Guides shuttle); and other misc things.

We are already receiving support from Kona bikes (bikes), Oveja Negra (bike bags), Revelate Designs (bike bags), Old Man Mountain Racks (donated racks) and Sawyer (donated water filters), plus Durango Devo, which has offered to loan us any bags or other gear we can't round up during this fundraiser. FCG is providing the packrafts, the shuttle, permits and our guides. Other companies, such as Alpacka Raft, have said they'd be stoked to be involved. Feel free to reach out to us directly if you have lightweight camping gear, bikepacking bags  or other things you want to donate, or if you want to spread the word through your social media channels. THANKS!