LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Brittiney Griffin makes setting up a tent easy.

“After college, in my 20s, I discovered I was super grown," said Griffin, owner of Black Azz Camping. "I could do things that I like, such as go camping."

From there, her love of the outdoors took off. She said she would inspire her friends and family to go camping, hiking and canoeing.

“Sunny days, cloudy days, there's beauty in all days," she said. "I absolutely love nature, being outside, and we won't even talk about the animals in the nature there is to see." 

But there is one thing that nature isn’t providing. Griffin said that’s inclusivity. 

“Typically, we aren't so invited into spaces," she said. "There's a lot of us that like to do outdoor activities, but we just don't have that safe space." 

Griffin started Black Azz Camping, a group to get Black people outdoors together. Their first camping trip was in Oct. 2024.

“We had people from California, from Tennessee, from Chicago, from Texas ... you name it, they came all over nationwide,” Griffin said.

BAC aims to make the outdoors accessible for the Black community by creating a welcoming environment.

“When we come together as a community, we create a safer environment for ourselves and also for our counterparts," Griffin said. “When we come together as a community, we create a safer environment for ourselves and also for our counterparts," Griffin said. "We are pretty safe people. It's just that, sometimes, they're not used to seeing us in different environments."

While outdoors, she said, participants are connecting with like-minded people and celebrating Black heritage.

“We need to see this happen, we need to see it thrive and we need everybody's support and all-hands-on deck,” Griffin said.

The group does a different activity each month. 

Griffin also started the nonprofit Junior Black Campers to help get Black children experiencing nature. The nonprofit does similar activities to BAC, just on a smaller scale.