That's ICO leader Chris Grenier, in the upper left, having fun.

Years ago, while doing trail maintenance in the White Mountains, Chris Grenier listened to one of the leaders describe hiking the Appalachian Trail.

"He had story after story," Chris recalls.

Chris had limited hiking and camping experience up to that point. But, inspired by what he had heard, Chris hiked the Appalacian Trail two years later.

"And now, thanks to Inner City Outings, I have story after story when kids ask me about the various places I've been. It's a great topic around the campfire."

Chris is a leader with ICO's Chicago group, which helps kids who would otherwise not get the chance to experience the outdoors connect with nature. Inner City Outings is made up of 50 groups across the country, leading more than 800 outings each year and serving more than 14,000 kids.

Inner City Outings isn't just an outdoors experience. It’s a learning experience. Just ask Elizabeth Neat, a retired teacher and acting chair of the Los Angeles Inner City Outings program. Inner City Outings gives her the chance to combine her love of kids' enthusiasm with education. So what can bringing a kid to the outdoors do that the classroom can't?

"Two things," she says. "Science books only talk about floodplains and tide pools and things like that. But seeing them in person and seeing the human impact on the environment in person is a completely different experience.

"Secondly, getting outside provides character development. They challenge themselves to go on long hikes away from home and take care of themselves, and that's so important for their development and qualities like determination and accepting other people. ICO has so much to offer along those lines."

The L.A. ICO program is one of 50 ICO groups nationwide that connect thousands of city kids with the beautiful outdoors. In many cases, participating kids are not even aware of the special natural places that are near them. ICO changes all of that and provides accessibility to parks and outdoors experiences.

Rodrigo Mendez. Photo courtesy San Francisco Foundation. Rodrigo won a 2012 young leader award from the foundation.

Nearly every Inner City Outings leader and kid can tell you when they first heard about the Sierra Club program that connects city youth with nature. For Rodrigo Mendez of San Francisco, ICO reached him through Mission Graduates, which helps kindergarten through high school students with their education. 

"They came to our school. It seemed pretty cool when I saw the pictures of people rafting, so I decided to sign up for the trip," he says.

Many kids have no idea what to expect on an ICO trip. That’s because ICO reaches youth who rarely see the outdoors outside an urban setting, or even know that such beautiful, natural places exist. ICO serves 14,000 kids a year and carries out more than 800 outings across the country.

Rodrigo, like many ICO kids, signed up because "many of my close friends decided to sign up." But like many ICO kids, it was the experience that opened his eyes to what was out there beyond the city limits.

"I can't really describe my first experience, but I will say that it was the best day of my life," he says. "One, because I was interacting with nature again. Two, there was a lot of adrenaline involved. I love extreme sports so that made it even better. It was like being at a fair full of games. At that time I was 17 and I went to the south fork of the American River. So awesome."

Now Rodrigo is an ICO volunteer and apprentice guide.

"I told myself that I wanted to be part of it, and the good news was that ICO trained people for free," he says. "All I had to do was apply."