Leading the way

Walking group leader Sam Stevenson-Jones speaks to Digital Communications Officer Natalia Barbour about finding inspiration through our Connect Outdoors programme.

In 2024, Sam Stevenson-Jones joined our educational hiking programme Connect Outdoors as a participant through LEAP Sports, an LGBTIQ+ sports charity.

Sam said: “Connect Outdoors seemed to come at the perfect time for me. I was looking to start exploring the outdoors but felt that I didn’t quite have the confidence to go by myself.

“I wasn’t a stranger to the outdoors growing up, but Connect Outdoors was my first real experience of hiking outdoors in all kinds of weather and in a mountainous environment, which is a completely different experience.” 

Connect Outdoors was launched by Tiso in 2023, to help under-represented communities build the skills and confidence they need to enjoy wild places. The Trust is one of the original delivery partners.

Through the programme, Sam undertook seven weeks of walking education covering navigation, outdoor equipment, orientation and safety, including sessions on conservation and ecology from the Trust’s Community Outreach Manager Laura Curtis-Moss.

“Apart from the core hiking skills we learned, learning about the land around us and how to slow down to appreciate our surroundings was very valuable. I naturally keep my head down when walking, but on one session at Glen Feshie we were stopping and looking at the mushrooms and plants around us. I’ve taken that into my walking now; I like to slow down and appreciate the wild place I’m in.”

Last year, Sam joined Connect Outdoors leadership programme, taking part in two sessions between May and November 2025 at Glenmore Lodge.

“The leadership programme was great for my confidence. I'd wanted to start my own walking group ever since I began this journey, but the sessions really helped me to develop the skills I’d built in my first Connect Outdoors experience – managing diverse weather, having the right kit, pacing yourself – also helped by conversations about creating the right walk, how to handle different abilities and how to manage group expectations.” 

Inspired by the Connect Outdoors experience, Sam wanted to create another space where members of their community could experience the Scottish outdoors. In January of this year, Sam founded Sam’s Saunters, an inclusive walking group for members of the LGBTQI+ community and their allies.

“There are still barriers to queer people taking part in hiking and walking groups. For some people it's concerns about safety, for others it's not having a community to go with, or simply not seeing themselves represented in the outdoors. I wanted to create a friendly environment where queer people can safely and confidently explore the outdoors.”

Sam’s journey into outdoor leadership continues to grow; in September, they began Mountain Leader training. Later in the year, Sam will bring Sam’s Saunters back to where their own journey first began, with six members of his group signed up for a Connect Outdoors programme.

"Connect Outdoors was such a positive and fulfilling experience for me and I hope my group find the same joy in it. I’m really looking forward to going back with my own group, and to my participants taking as much joy and inspiration from it as I did.”

• You can find Sam’s Saunters on Instagram at @samssaunters or on the LEAP Sports website.
• This article first appeared in the Autumn / Winter 2026 edition of the John Muir Trust Members' Journal. If you would like to receive our Journal twice a year please consider joining the Trust as a Member.