Caro Doering returned to Palm Beach County after visiting friends in New England with a sharp sense of what was missing.
Boston, New York and Portland offered rich queer communities, events and potential friendships. Back home, Doering felt isolated. Instead of waiting for the space they needed to appear, they created Queer Hike Club.
“Time and time again, my queerness has bubbled out of me, been my compass, and saved me—so for the first time, I did the hard work of creating what I needed: Queer Hike Club,” Doering said.
Doering, 32, is genderfluid and identifies as queer or sapphic. They live in Palm Beach Gardens and serve as founder of the Queer Hike Club collective and an event organizer on its administrative team.
The club gives LGBTQ people a place to feel seen, experience joy and form connections outside traditional nightlife. Doering did not expect the project to become so fruitful or help so many queer outdoorspeople find one another.
“To be fully Out, to be unafraid to be myself, queer-presenting in my hometown, has taken some chutzpah, but now, knowing we are here, I have people behind me and with me and that I am not alone in Palm Beach County!” they said.
Visibility has also shaped Doering’s work as a teacher. An art school in Vermont embraced their queer identity and showed them how being open and using their pronouns could help students and staff feel safer. Teaching in Florida has brought a different reality, including fear about being visibly queer and restrictions on sharing their pronouns.
Even so, Doering has grown more secure in their identity, social circle and career. Queerness, once something they sometimes hid because of uncertainty, has become a guide toward the community they needed.
Their advice to LGBTQ youth leaves room for exploration rather than demanding certainty.
“It’s OK to change your mind a million and one times. Try it. Try it again. You might change and that’s okay. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Doering said.
Their favorite quotation comes from Mary Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day”: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Doering’s answer has been to create the space they once searched for, then invite others into it.
