“For me it was a chance to share with other veterans what I find to be relaxing, and it’s a mix of exercise, hiking around the hills, as well as getting to connect with one another,” Johnson said.

His favorite extreme sport, though, is river boarding. River boarders lie on giant boogie boards with a wetsuit, flippers, a helmet and a life vest, and they boogie board down whitewater rapids. They’ll start taking people river boarding soon. Other possible upcoming summer actives are gold panning and sky diving.

Xsports4vets and the Vet Center had to cancel some of their events for the summer because of COVID-19, especially earlier in the summer when guidelines were stricter. 

They had to postpone the Veteran Suicide Awareness and Prevention (VSAP) Half Marathon set for May until September, but Johnson isn’t sure it will happen then either. The event is walk, run or ruck, which means running with a 20-pound weight to honor the 20 or more veterans lost each day to suicide. Hundreds of people come to the event each year, but if COVID-19 numbers don’t get better they might have to cancel the event and hold an appreciation day instead.

For now, Johnson plans to keep hosting outdoor events and engaging veterans in positive, socially distant ways.

“We’re excited to still be able to get out and do stuff since we live in an amazing place, (and) we have the outdoors to take advantage of,” Johnson said. “And we’re going to continue to try and engage the veterans the best we can during the changing times.”