The Feed

Sep 11, 2026

On August 28, the online site NOTUS broke the news that officials at Yosemite National Park and the U.S. Department of the Interior had been quietly conferring for months with a private developer—Jeff Pori, the owner of Las Vegas, Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital—on a proposed land exchange with a controversial goal. According to the initial story and others that followed, Pori has been trying to obtain a small parcel of Yosemite land—between one and two acres—in a swap for a piece of comparably valued turf somewhere else in California. He would then give this parcel to the federal govern

Sep 10, 2026

Ken Seals, creator of The Ultra Minute with this fascinating editorial project covering Meg Eckert’s astonishing run and new world record (pending verification): Eckert won the EMU Six-Day Race, this year’s GOMU world championship , ahead of every other runner, man or woman. She covered 1,024.319 kilometers. She broke her own women’s world record and Joe Fejes’ American record, set in 2015 . … We wanted a closer look, so we used the official lap data to explore her six days and nights: the pace, the pauses, and the same loop, more than a thousand times. This project reminds me a bit of the NYT

Sep 10, 2026

Earlier this week Megan Eckert ran 636.5 miles in six days, winning the EMU Six-Day Race. We covered the result in yesterday’s issue , but kept thinking about it all afternoon.. What does that actually look like? What was her pace? What was the course like? How did her pace change? How long and how often did she sleep or take breaks? So I had fun and made something a little different for The Ultra Minute : an interactive story using the official lap data to explore her race. My favorite view shows every completed lap across the six days, with indicators for day/night. There’s also a closer loo

Sep 11, 2026

Shauna Coxsey recently made the first female ascent of Britain’s hardest deep water solo, Olympiad 5.13d (8b). She did it in just two goes, making it the fastest send Olympiad has seen. Beyond being the first woman to climb Britain’s hardest deep water solo and sending it the fastest, Coxsey has likely also achieved the hardest deep water solo ever by a woman. Before Coxsey, the hardest deep water solo ascent by a woman was likely Slovenian climber Julija Kruder’s send of Weatherman 5.13c in Mallorca in 2018. “Olympiad is one of the most captivating climbs I’ve ever seen,” said Coxsey to Red B

Sep 11, 2026

My introduction to Darwin was a bottle fight between two aboriginal men that neither could win, because both were too drunk. It was in the desolate courtyard of the Northern Territory Supreme Court, an immaculate white building, empty other than still figures scattered in whatever shade there was. Those however were collapsed and quiet, but these two were up and shouting at each other, bottles raised high. They were in the middle of the circular plaza, combatants connected like a game of spinning tops, wobbling towards the middle, armed, and then contact, but with no “bam!”, just the silence o

Sep 10, 2026

New for Spring 2027, Behind the Ranges , published by UBC Press, and written by Zac Robinson and Stephen Slemon offers a new history of mountaineering in the Canadian West, challenging the familiar stories of heroic first ascents and individual conquest. Instead, the book uncovers the colonial, patriarchal, and class-based assumptions that shaped how the Rocky Mountains were explored, mapped, named, written about, and ultimately understood. From David Douglas’s 1827 claim to have climbed the highest mountain in North America to a Japanese team’s 1925 ascent of Mount Alberta, the last of the hi

Sep 10, 2026

When Brent and I left America ten years ago to become digital nomads, we imagined ourselves living in the world’s most famous cities. In our first year alone, we had planned to live in London, Rome, and Athens. But fate intervened, and after spending our first three months in massive Miami, we found ourselves living the rest of the year in three much smaller cities: Valletta, Malta; Matera, Italy; and Bansko, Bulgaria. And we loved them. We had far fewer “expectations,” so we repeatedly found ourselves delighted by these cities’ unanticipated charms. And when it came to tourists, the locals we

Sep 10, 2026

Each of us is given only so many mornings to do it - to look around and love. —Mary Oliver My new friend in our front yard. Photo by the writer. Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published Noticer I notice a family gathers at the table ding, ring, eyes down silence, cell phone in one hand fork in the other. I notice the lake shimmers under the sun, mountain peaks touch the clouds, and a great blue heron stalks the water. do you see? I notice as I wait for the doctor heads down fingers swipe not lost in thought or a good book, I fold my hands in my lap. notice my dr

Sep 10, 2026

I caught wind of the new Tecnica Decoy this fall from some gossiping among Blizzard-Tecnica-associated folks in my orbit. Something between the Cochise and Zero G was the word on the street, and while I may have preferred a Zero G-Zero G Peak hybrid, something burly with a little more touring ability than the Cochise piqued my interest as well. The internet rumor mill seemed to think the Decoy is a Zero G with a PU lower scaffo and Cochise-style stiff wire buckles. On the surface, they aren’t far off, but clearly a little more thought went into this project as far as fit, added reinforcement,

Sep 11, 2026

Late last year, I wrote about the House Natural Resources Committee opening an investigation into three environmental groups —Earthjustice, the Wilderness Society, and the Center for Biological Diversity—over their supposed "backroom roles" in the Biden administration's cancellation of the Twin Metals mining leases near the Boundary Waters. Back then, I called it political theater—a characterization that has been proven out over time. The practices being questioned were nothing more that routine lobbying efforts, and, as far as the public record shows, the “investigation” produced nothing: no

Sep 10, 2026

Greetings, and welcome to the RLRH newsletter! Exercise physiologists and coaches describe endurance performance using three major variables (which you’ve heard about multiple times if you’re a regular reader of this newsletter… so bear with me). VO₂ max , or the upper limit of aerobic energy production running economy , or the oxygen cost of holding a given pace fractional utilization , or the percentage of VO₂ max that can be sustained at lactate threshold or race intensity The third variable is perhaps most appealing from a performance perspective. Two runners might have the same VO₂ max, b

Sep 11, 2026

Hydration can make or break a long run, but there isn’t a universal formula that works for everyone. Kramer Ammons shares how he tests everything from sweat rate and hydration timing to where runners carry their water, explaining why the most efficient solution isn’t always the most obvious. The conversation explores handheld bottles, hydration belts, vests, bladders, and why convenience often matters just as much as laboratory efficiency. Don and Scott add decades of racing experience, emphasizing that successful runners solve problems early instead of waiting until dehydration, stomach issue

Sep 10, 2026

“We are paying attention. We won’t tolerate elected officials who undermine our shared American legacy of public lands. We will remember those who championed public lands and the voice of the American people.” - Save Public Lands letter Sunrise at the Painted Hills in John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon. Author photo. “For decades, one of the few constants in American public opinion has been support for public lands—it holds up across red states and blue states, hunters and hikers, ranchers and remote workers,” wrote Campbell Leonard for RE:PUBLIC on September 8. “New polling out th

Sep 10, 2026

Remembering the days of dreaming big Any American who was old enough to remember much of anything has a core memory of that bright September morning. It was my third week on the job at my first full-time newspaper gig, the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin in Tooele, Utah. We published Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the publisher made it clear that I was expected to arrive on time on deadline day, 7 a.m. sharp. I made sure to be five minutes early. But as I walked through the double glass doors, the building was eerily quiet. I climbed the stairs to the editorial department, where the newsroom was empty

Sep 10, 2026

A permit used to mean a backcountry camping trip or a rafting run. Now it can mean the difference between driving into a park at all. As visitation has climbed at nearly every major U.S. national park in the past few years, more and more of them have introduced some form of reservation system, for vehicles entering the park, for specific trails, or for both. At the same time some parks are backing off this system - it’s constantly changing. Knowing how these systems work, and how they differ from park to park, has become a real part of planning a trip to most parks. Most permit and reservation

Sep 10, 2026

In a world of runners searching for answers from within, what does community and support really look like? Alyssa Clark , a young veteran of the trails, has the answers. Growing up in a family of endurance athletes (cross-continental cyclist, triathlete marathoner, national team rower, elite cross-country skier) Alyssa really had no choice in falling in love with the great outdoors. But it wasn’t always running. She read Dean Karnazes’ book Ultramarathon Man when she was just 10 years old, and thought, ‘I’m going to do that one day.’ It’s not classic reading material for a 5th grader, but ther

Sep 8, 2026

Last year, the National Park Service lost about a quarter of its previously 20,000-strong workforce to reductions in force, early retirements, and buyouts. But that didn’t go far enough for Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who tried to use last fall’s 43-day government shutdown as a mechanism for eliminating staff at regional NPS offices. A federal judge ultimately stopped that from happening, at least temporarily. Now, Burgum is back with a new plan that works around that court order by reframing the layoffs as a “reorganization.” NOTUS reports : “The reorganization plans across Interio

Sep 8, 2026

This story was co-published with Grist , a nonprofit media organization covering climate. Dan Dallas had defended these communities before. The little towns on the Karuk tribal land are nestled in a gorge along the Klamath River, amidst a million-acre wilderness of Northern California conifer and hardwood that makes up the Six Rivers National Forest. This time, August 2023, a fusillade of lightning strikes had ignited the web of steep canyons south of the town of Orleans in two dozen places, and as the fires expanded, they merged. As an incident commander for the U.S. Forest Service, Dallas wa

Sep 5, 2026

Dear 2025 Brandy “Pumbaa” Sales, You already know why you hike. At least, you think you do. Last year, you wrote about your 10 reasons for backpacking the Laugavegur Trail. You talked about health, adventure, pushing yourself, and the way you feel when you’re out there. A year later, I don’t think your why has changed. But I understand it a little better now. The biggest reason is pretty simple: You are choosing your health. There are a few things I wish I could tell you about the year ahead. ... The post Dear Pumbaa in 2025, This Is Your Why in 2026 appeared first on The Trek .

Sep 8, 2026

Every fall I see the same five or six summits recommended over and over, Monadnock, Cadillac, Mansfield, etc and they’re recommended for a reason, they’re great. But they’re also exactly where everyone else is going, because everyone read the same lists. Fire towers are the workaround nobody talks about. Same payoff a full 360-degree view from the top usually for half the elevation gain and a fraction of the people. The view from the fire tower on Canon NH This Week’s New England Outdoor Report Foliage is creeping south and down in elevation now, the higher summits in NH and VT should be well

Sep 9, 2026

“What the hell,” I sighed. A year ago I decided that the time was now, or it was never. And that was the hardest part. Not climbing the stairs at Amicalola. Not waking up in freezing temperatures in the Smoky Mountains or sweating in my tent at midnight in June. Not Rocksylvania. Not the Presidential Range. Pulling myself from a normal, comfortable life, a decent-enough existence. I began the controlled demolition of my life months before I ever saw the trail, ... The post Fare thee well – from Katahdin appeared first on The Trek .

Sep 9, 2026

As the Norda lineup of shoes gradually expands, the company remains focused on developing each shoe as a specific tool for a specific purpose. Last year the company released the 005, built to be light and fast for race day agility. This summer, they took a “more is more” approach with the 055, designed as an all-mountain shoe that maintains explosive energy but with added stability and protective elements for rugged environments. The post REVIEW: Norda 055 Trail Shoe appeared first on Ultra Running Magazine .

Sep 9, 2026

The Fisherman’s Larder is Josh’s monthly food-on-the-water colum. This installment originally appeared in LOOP Tackle’s The Take Magazine. I spent my morning on an unnamed blue line. It is a mere squiggle on the map, yet it is part of an intricate system that keeps the entire drainage breathing. The Westslope cuts in this section aren’t trophies in the conventional sense. They are small, aggressive, and wear shadows that make them vanish against the cobble the moment they stop moving. Fishing water like this requires quiet feet and an often-bent knee. There is no real casting; instead, you fli

Sep 9, 2026

High above the Valais valley in Switzerland, the 2,985m Petit Clocher du Portalet rises as a steep granite spire into the Alps. Histoire sans Fin (8b+, 200m) is one of the hardest free-climbing routes on the spire and a major test of hard Alpine multi-pitch climbing. In the last week of August, German climber Solveig Korherr, 28, made the route her hardest multi-pitch ascent, following two and a half weeks of effort and completing it on her final available day. Known for sending several 9a/5.14d sport climbs, Korherr has increasingly moved into demanding multi-pitch and traditional climbing. H

Sep 9, 2026

The Beitschhorn is 3934m – falling short as a 4000er but still a smidgeon higher than the Eiger, and one of the tougher mountains of the Bernese Oberland. On a September morning in 1871, at 5.30 am, two climbers and their three guides set out from their quite comfortable camp at 3500m, leaving their faithful beagle dog behind in the camp. In their sights, the mountain’s third ascent. 1 The north-west side of the Beitschhorn, seen from the Lötschental High-level Route: photo by Christoph Strässler (Wikipedia DE). The Nest Glacier is just down to right of the summit. TheNorth Ridge (ascent route

Sep 8, 2026

Photo: Bison at American Prairie. Patrick Kelly/WWP It was a chilly fall morning when I arrived at the American Prairie National Discovery Center in Lewistown, Montana. I had made the 6 hour drive from Missoula the previous night and woke up before my alarm, too excited to sleep. I was about to spend the day exploring and learning about one of the most ambitious efforts currently underway in the country to restore a functioning prairie ecosystem. I met up with Scott Heidebrink, at the time American Prairie’s director of bison restoration, and we prepared for a tour of their deeded lands and ad

Sep 8, 2026

Order an Uber and a Lyft at the same location and there is a decent chance the same driver, in the same car, could show up for either. Brian Button spent 4 years at Lyft watching that exact scenario play out, and it is the cleanest argument for brand strategy he has ever seen. The product was literally the same. The experience was not. Drivers could tell whether the person getting in had booked Uber or Lyft, and it changed how the ride went. Lyft could not control the car or the driver, but what they could control was everything around it: the magenta instead of black and white, the swoopy fon

Sep 8, 2026

Patagonia’s Aysén region feels impossibly vast–fjords, glacial lakes, jagged mountains, dry Patagonian steppe and temperate rainforest, all carved by countless watersheds. The result is an almost absurd variety of fishing: big rivers, technical spring creeks, enormous lakes, float trips, walk-and-wade water, dry flies, streamers, mousing, sight fishing–you name it. I’ve been lucky enough to visit my friends at Magic Waters Lodge , outside Coyhaique, three times over the past decade. I also visited their Baker River operation farther south, before the current Patagonia Baker Lodge was built. Th

Sep 7, 2026

Chris Luna has been running for about four years, using the sport to achieve physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional balance. Running has also seen him embrace ultra distances, including competing at the Saddles 100 in Prescott, Arizona - described as an act of endurance that passes through dust, pine, and shifting stone. Despite not reaching his 100 mile goal, he still managed to rack up 100km at the challenging event. But for Native American Chris, who has Coahuilteco and Lakota heritage, running is about far more than his own health. As the founder of Native Men Runs, he is aiming to enc

Sep 7, 2026

As someone who has been writing about running and sharing her journey on the internet since 2008, I’m probably supposed to look at the new generation of running influencers and say something pointed about how they’re ruining it. But that’s not how I feel. The online running space today is very different to when I started writing about running on a blog back in 2008. I was in my late 20s, going to PR events after work, enjoying the community and writing about running in London. There was less visibility then (which I’m actually thankful for), because running was a lot less popular and there was

Sep 6, 2026

The same thing happens in almost every field I’ve ever been in. The shooting is best at first light, guns rolling, big smiles, lots of energy. Then around nine, the sky gets quiet; another twenty minutes, half the folks are scrolling their phones, and some guy is walking back to their truck. Over the years, I have hosted thousands of dove hunters, and often the hardest thing to convince them of is that if it goes quiet, nothing is wrong. A dove spends most of the time sitting still. It’s perched in a tree, balanced on a wire, or in the shade feeding on bare ground. You don’t shoot a sitting do

Sep 6, 2026

On our first night in Minehead, Nigel’s sister Claire and her partner David took us to the Kildare Lodge, which they described as “an old person’s pub.” It’s a set meet-up on Friday nights, rain or shine. Sometimes two friends show up, sometimes it’s twenty. This time, despite the rain, there was an excellent showing. But there was no food. No sports on television. No music playing. The building looked as though it had once been rather grand. Someone had gotten married there. There were chandeliers, maroon carpet, wallpaper, enormous rooms and dark woodwork that looked as though it had been wa

Sep 6, 2026

i’m 26 now, and i’ve spent the better part of my twenties exploring and experimenting with what matters. not even late nights under starry skies, early mornings catching sunrises, or lazy river floats with friends have given me a clear answer. looking back now, though, i’ve found they’ve given me glimpses of one. no voice parted the clouds to tell me which path to follow. no grand revelation has struck me strong enough to linger longer than a week. but somewhere along the way, i’ve found meaning — or maybe just made some. what I’ve found matters: asteroid watching in late august belly laughs w

Sep 4, 2026

I’m sad about Wendell Berry, but he taught me to be sad. He wrote about death, about resurrection, and about simple, quiet beauty. Jayber Crow is one of my favorites, and I have recommended it to many. I cried when I finished Hannah Coulter , and I’m not at all ashamed. Those tears didn’t come when I learned of the writer’s death. He wrote so much about death, rebirth, and the cycles of things that it just seemed to fit. But I’m sad. Do you see yourself pulling back, shrinking from what this place has become? That’s how I feel. I see it everywhere, but maybe it’s just me. Trying to escape the

Sep 4, 2026

If you pick up a copy of Outside ’s Fall 2026 Style + Design issue on newsstands right now, flip to page 44. There, across four pages, is my story about why hiking and backpacking apparel looks more stylish than ever, largely due to an infusion of young designers bringing influences from fashion, design, and streetwear who are rewriting hiking’s style codes. Here’s an excerpt from the article: “The previously established hiker uniform—blocky boots, khaki nylon pants, pilling fleeces, and still rain shells, all in a riot of mismatched colors—simply don’t appeal to them…What connects them isn’t

Sep 4, 2026

Our coffee order - one campfire mocha, one hazelnut latte Mark and I walked in with our Caribou Coffee cups, like we always do. Nothing unusual about that morning. Except his mom, who’d barely spoken or moved in days, lifted her hand and pointed at his cup. “What’s that?” she mumbled. Carol has always taken her coffee black, no sugar, no cream. Not once in the years I’d known her had she gone anywhere near something like a mocha or a latte. “It's my latte, Mom," Mark said. Her hands stretched toward the cup, the same hands that hadn't managed to hold a fork in weeks. Mark helped her take a sma

Sep 4, 2026

What is the hike up to Burnt Lake without the greyed spectral snags of ancient old growth, killed, but not entirely destroyed, by fire? Would it be like walking through a graveyard with no gravestones? The stand of trees along the trail is uniform, almost homogenous. A mix of hemlock and Douglas-fir. Scattered among these conifer poles are columns, smoothed and greyed, sometimes hollowed out. They can measure four times as large in diameter. These are the markers of the great fire that gave Burnt Lake its name. The forest fire of 1904 started from a homesteader burning slash near what is now R

Sep 9, 2026

Leo Cea has made history with his recent ascent of No Pain No Gain 5.15a (9a+) in Rodellar, Spain, at the incredibly young age of 13. The route has received a fair number of repeats from top climbers, including those by Piotr Schab, Jorge Díaz-Rullo, Seb Bouin, and Laura Rogora. While five of ten climbers who have logged the route on 8a.nu have called it soft, including Díaz-Rullo and Rogora, only Bouin went so far as to call it 5.14d instead – the rest agree that it is 5.15a as proposed. The following Instagram quote from Cea about his ascent has been translated from Spanish to English using

Sep 8, 2026

For decades, one of the few constants in American public opinion has been support for public lands—it holds up across red states and blue states, hunters and hikers, ranchers and remote workers. New polling out this month suggests that support isn't just holding—it's growing. The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit that works with local and federal agencies to expand outdoor access, released new survey data this month showing bipartisan opposition to cutting funding and staff at federal public land agencies. The poll, conducted by YouGov in March 2026 and surveying more than 4,00

Sep 4, 2026

Some of the most interesting topics I cover on this newsletter are financial analysis and brand strategy deep dives on iconic cycling brands. Sometimes the story is how a brand like Rapha is taking a bold approach to brand development, and other times it is how brands like ENVE and Ventum present compelling acquisition or corporate development opportunities. These stories tend to focus on particular corners of the industry and almost always center on the United States, which is the core thesis of Built on Bikes. More recently I have explored broader analysis, including research on the market i

Sep 9, 2026

Ugly creatures: everyone has to start somewhere. By the J. Stockard Team When you walk into the fly tying vise section of any fly shop, online or off, the consumer overwhelm can set in fast. Dozens of models, four-figure price tags sitting next to thirty-dollar kits and descriptions like “true rotary,” “in-line” and “pedestal base” thrown around like everyone already knows what they mean. Most of this word salad, however, doesn’t matter a lot for an introductory vise. Buying one really comes down to three basic considerations: the hook range, base preference and will it be a rotary or fixed sh

Sep 8, 2026

In the market for an ultralight backpacking tent? Why wouldn't you be? After all, who doesn't want a tent that packs up smaller, weighs less, and is just as roomy and comfy as its more conventional car camping counterparts? Fortunately, if you're looking to trim weight from your pack, there are a few types of shelter options available. But how do you choose between freestanding and trekking pole tents? Here's how to decide. The post The Ultralight Backpacking Tent Showdown: Freestanding vs Trekking Pole Pitch appeared first on Terradrift .

Sep 9, 2026

Finding good value for a complete bike in today’s market is hard. From high-end super bikes to budget-oriented ones that require upgrading from the get-go, it seems the middle class has vanished. When the new Specialized Diverge alloy popped up, it presented seemingly impossible value. A brand-name groupset, wide-range shifting, internal storage, suspension, and DT Swiss wheels for well under $3,000? There had to be a catch. In his review, Nic finds out whether this new gravel bike lives up to the hype… The post Specialized Diverge Review: Catch 22 appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Sep 9, 2026

I’m moving slowly this week. I woke up yesterday morning with one of those cycling hangovers – the result of spending an entire weekend on the go, failing to eat, drink or sleep enough, and breathing deeply in the fresh air and sunshine. I still have a sore throat and a sore head, my lips are cracked, my muscles are stiff and achy, and walking to the corner shop feels like an unreasonable challenge. But I’m really happy. It was a great weekend, and I’m beginning to feel a bit more confident about pushing myself into states like this, after what’s now been four years of slowly emerging from lon

Aug 24, 2026

Not long ago, I drove six hours with the Mancos Shale riding shotgun. That isn’t a buddy’s quirky nickname, as in: Yo, my man Mancos, my Shaley bro, hand me the Doritos and Sour Patch Kids, would ya please? It is in fact a geologic formation, a remarkably friable gray-blue-brown mudstone deposited in the Late Cretaceous, some ninety million years before present, when much of what we today call the American West was inundated by a vast inland sea. To an unsuspecting bystander, a turkey vulture or big-rig trucker, I must have seemed to be a lone soul on a desert road trip, only the radio’s pop d

Aug 22, 2026

“If you’re unwilling to contribute $392 to the U.S. economy for one day of skiing at Beaver Creek, then the terrorists will win” - President George W. Bush Share Over several months in 2026, The Storm examined hundreds of newspaper articles, ski area master development plans, U.S. Forest Service reports, and other archives documenting the evolution of lift-served skiing across the American West – and, in particular, Colorado – since the end of World War II. This fossil record of a mostly pre-internet culture captures the facts and sentiments of skiing’s past unfiltered by nostalgia or selectiv

Aug 13, 2026

“You’re on belay, Mom.” “What does that mean?” she replied. “You’re safe, Mom. Climb when ready.” Over the last five-plus years of her life, before she passed away from complications caused by dementia, we’d often say, “You’re safe, Mom,” in an effort to calm a growing sense of restlessness and panic. Story by D Scott Borden, published in Volume 24 of The Zine. Photos: D Scott Borden… Source

Jun 27, 2026

I’d walked these redwoods a dozen times before I ever set foot in the Grove. I thought I knew this forest. I’d driven the dirt road that threads through it, stood under trees that made me feel like a child, told myself I understood what a redwood was. Then one day I walked into the Grove of Titans, and the forest I thought I knew turned out to have been keeping a secret the whole time. I don’t reach for the word lightly, but it’s the only one that fits. Primeval. These aren’t big trees the way a city park has big trees. They’re something older and stranger, ancient beyond easy comprehension, a

Aug 10, 2026

This one took me three years and several hundred dollars in archival fees to be able to write. It's the most personal thing I've published here, and it's also the most political — those turned out to be the same essay. One branch of my family came from Romania during the immigration wave America decided it feared. The other branch is Diné and never came from anywhere. I went into the federal record to find out what the country actually did with both of them, and what I found changed how I think about the fight we're in right now. If you're new here: I usually write about water, public lands, a

Jul 5, 2026

There's a brief window between snow and lightning, and I took it. The Silverton-Durango train ground to a stop and I stepped off. The only other living souls standing there were a man looking to replace the trail register and another backpacking couple with two “service dogs” (this seemed a bit unlikely as one lunged at me but regular dogs aren't allowed on the train so do with that what you will). I passed the couple and never saw them again. Nobody else was on trail. It felt as though I had stepped into another portal, a wildflower and waterfall globe with only me in it. I camped solo for th

Jun 30, 2026

In the second installment of his 2026 Tour Divide field report, photographer Eddie Clark follows the race deep into New Mexico, capturing the defining moments of an unforgettable year—from Victor Bosoni's composed march to victory to Meaghan Hackinen's dominant ride and Felix Laberge's remarkable singlespeed performance. Find a striking set of photos, a unique perspective on the riders, and behind-the-scenes stories from nearly 5,000 miles on the road here... The post Tracing the 2026 Tour Divide (Part 2): The Final Push appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Aug 27, 2026

Through the long Arctic night, I pushed my fatbike through soft snow in the dense forest. The clouds blocked out the stars, and the tree canopy pressed in on me. Running my front light on the lowest setting to preserve the battery, I was surrounded by darkness, with only a small patch of light shining on the snow in front of me to show me the way. The very image of grim determination. Photo by John Summerton. Subscribe now I wasn’t supposed to be pushing my bike. On cold snow, my fatbike runs like a tractor over the trail and movement is easy. But the March weather in Lapland was too warm, hov

Aug 10, 2026

Devils Hole Pupfish / Olin Feuerbacher / USFWS Maybe we should kill off the pupfish — the Devils Hole Pupfish, which is reputed to be the rarest fish on Earth. It would be a quick extinction. We’d drain the only pool in the world where this endangered species survives: a bedrock cavern in the U.S. state of Nevada. And we’d live-stream the killing on YouTube. Only then might oblivion no longer be an abstraction. The last wild Devils Hole Pupfish, an inch long, iridescent blue or green, flopping on hot desert limestone, would gasp … and then gasp no more. We’d witness something that happens all

Jul 31, 2026

Photo of the Pancake Herd Management Area in Nevada (WWP/Erik Molvar) In northern Nevada, helicopters are flying over the Callaghan Herd Management Area and driving wild horses across miles of open desert in the Bureau of Land Management’s largest roundup operation of the year. Nearly 2,000 horses are slated for removal. Several have already died. Most will spend the rest of their lives in government holding facilities, where taxpayers will pay to feed and care for them for years to come, while others will face the threat of landing in kill pens awaiting slaughter in foreign slaughter plants.

Jul 30, 2026

Vincent Bouillard chased down Francesco Puppi late to win the 2026 Western States 100 in a course-record time of 13:46:15. Thomas Cardin, racing his first 100-miler, finished fourth in 14:07:58 – also under the previous record. In this exclusive conversation, one month after their feat, the two Frenchmen break down the pacing, preparation, technology and tactics behind the fastest edition in race history. The post Vincent Bouillard & Thomas Cardin: Rewriting Western States appeared first on Ultra Running Magazine .

Jul 28, 2026

One of Flip’s final production days. Photo: Chad Smith . The news hit me like a 1/0 Clouser to the back of the head. Scrambling to find sources in support of what I hoped was one of those idiotic death hoaxes, I found nothing but confirmation of the latter. The realization dropped like a lead weight from the screen of my iPhone to the pit of my stomach: Flip Pallot, dead at 82. I pinched my own arm and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to wake up from a bad dream, but my consciousness and reality stayed the same, as did the truth–Flip was gone. Nearly a year has come and gone and it’s still hard t

Jul 23, 2026

Over five days at the start of July, American alpinists Eli Spitulnik and Michael Telstad made the first ascent of Hologram Wall (VI 3,300′ 5.9 A3R M6+ WI5) on Alaska’s Kichatna Spire. Their line is the first to climb directly up the mountain’s imposing south face, succeeding where an earlier attempt in April 2025 had been turned back by storms. Telstad described the ascent as a committing blend of big-wall and alpine climbing, undertaken in one of the most remote corners of the Alaska Range. After spending 1o days moving equipment, fixing pitches and sitting out bad weather, the pair finally

Jun 29, 2026

I bet my career on this sport. I left a steady job to build inside endurance running full time, and there are mornings that decision feels brave and mornings it feels insane. I just spent a week on the ground in Tahoe, across Broken Arrow, TrailCon, and Western States, watching the sport from every angle I could find. I came home more excited than I have been in years. Not because trail is having a moment. Because of why it is having one. Let me try to explain the mechanism, because the mechanism is the part that makes me think this is durable and not a bubble. First, the growth is real I am w

Jun 24, 2026

A Whitetail Buck harvested for food and land management. Most mornings, nothing happens for a long time. You walk in under a headlamp, find a place, and sit down against it. The light comes up gray and then gold. Your feet go cold. A bird you can’t name starts up somewhere off your left shoulder, goes quiet, starts again. An hour passes, then another, and you have not done a single thing that would photograph well. That, it turns out, is most of what hunting is. I didn’t know that going in. Like a lot of people who come to this as adults, I thought the whole thing was the shot. I came to it la

Jun 22, 2026

Sometimes I hate hiking. That wave of dislike has an annoying tendency to hit when I’m at the furthest point from my car and there is no way to easily throw in the towel. I could give up and refuse to move any further, but then I would just be condemning myself to sitting in the (likely tick-laden) brush for eternity. Except in the most dire situations, if I walk into the woods, I have to walk myself out of them again—no matter how much I wish I could teleport to the nearest spot serving burgers and beer. Hating hiking is a different feeling than being in the midst of a Type 2 Fun adventure .

Jun 19, 2026

I was supposed to be headed north to the Catskills today for Manitou’s Revenge, my all-time favorite trail race: 53 miles on some of the most beautiful and rugged terrain in the world, with 15,000 feet of ascent (and my first race since Hardrock). Instead, I’m driving south to Baltimore to begin cancer treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Rather than a 5th shot at the Manitou, it’s my turn to wrestle the bear. If you just flashed to that scene from The Revenant, that’s what I was going for, because that’s how I’m thinking of what’s ahead... wrestling the bear . And maybe I’ll look back later a

Jun 17, 2026

The desert has a way of testing you. Sometimes it does it through heat. Sometimes through long water carries, relentless wind, or miles that seem to stretch endlessly toward the horizon. Other times it does it more quietly, asking you to trust that what you need will show up when you need it. Somewhere between mile 400 and mile 500, I started believing that might actually be true. The Heat and the Water I woke up at Sulphur Springs to the sound of spotted towhees calling through the trees. ... The post At Mile 500, the Desert Starts Letting Go appeared first on The Trek .

Jun 16, 2026

In July 2023, a small, sleek cat crossed in front of a trail camera in southern Arizona, sniffing the bases of a Ponderosa pine and an alligator juniper, its glossy rosette spots rippling as it moved. A year later, another ocelot was caught on camera as it lapped from a spring in Coronado National Forest, near the Mexican border. This particular cat, who citizens of the Tohono O’odham Nation dubbed Himdam, or “Traveler,” has been detected in four different mountain ranges across Arizona in a little over a year, the longest-known journey by a single ocelot. Then there’s Ocelot #4, or El Jefecit

Aug 31, 2026

Just two weeks after losing 13,000 soldiers at Cold Harbor, Abraham Lincoln signed what he couldn’t have known would become one of the most consequential and long-lasting pieces of legislation of his presidency: The Yosemite Grant Act. That transferred Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove to California, “upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation; shall be inalienable for all time.” It was the first time an area of land had been set aside to create any sort of state or federal park. And it couldn’t serve as a more stark

Aug 24, 2026

As a general rule, ultra marathons don’t tend to reveal life’s great metaphors early in a race. You usually need to suffer a bit longer for your wisdom. Yet barely a few miles into the Tamalpa Headlands 50K, while beginning the first of a half dozen serious climbs, the day’s great big revelation hit me hard. “You don’t have to be anybody but you.” You don’t have to be elite. You don’t have to be legendary. You don’t have to be, as I told a friend the day before the race, dramatically bold and/or potentially stupid. You just have to be you. It was you that got yourself to this moment with your

Aug 20, 2026

What happens when an identity outlives its original purpose? The Walmart Meal Plan consists of $.79 mustard, a loaf of bread, pre-sliced cold cuts & cheese, a Monster Energy drink, yogurt, and Lu Petit Ecolier cookies. The shadow of the wind turbine on I-80 swoops past the pickup truck like a plane, but instead of disappearing into the horizon of the setting sun, it loops back around and over us again. Iowa is a bosom of green that’s welcoming with hospitality; the kind of place that has interstate rest stops with water spigots and educational displays about grassland health. Deeper into South

Aug 20, 2026

Feature produced in association with DPS A decade into DPS’s relationship with the American military and NATO allies, making skis has never carried more weight for the ski brand. Leading up the operation is Mike Cannon, who gets a point of view into a world which few civilians ever see when he travels to mountainous and arctic regions around the globe. The experiences have given him a unique understanding of what soldiers demand from their skis and how DPS can meet those demands through innovation, design and in-house manufacturing. It’s not enough to survive; 10th group soldiers must learn to

Aug 20, 2026

I ran 300 laps on the indoor track at the gym in our neighborhood, each one one-tenth of a mile, clockwise. This was a couple Fridays ago, when the air quality index was 110, which is technically “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” according to the EPA. At least I think it was 300 laps. It was probably more, because I ran until my watch hit 30.06 miles, and the gym says the track is 0.1 mile per lap, but my watch often recorded something a little short of 0.1 mile per lap, and I wasn’t going to try to keep count of my laps for five hours. The wildfire smoke moved into town the last week of July,

Jul 28, 2026

How pants made by a hippie California rock climber for high-stepping up granite became one of the most influential silhouettes in modern menswear

Jul 24, 2026

While bikepacking across the Balkans en route from England to India, Joshua Kian and Sarah Morgan had an unforgettable encounter and savored some of their journey’s most fulfilling riding in Albania’s Accursed Mountains. “The People in Empty Places” is a 20-minute video that unpacks the experience of feeling something shift inside. Watch it and find an accompanying feature story here… The post The People in Empty Places: An Albanian Adventure (Video) appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Jul 20, 2026

Opening scene from the film Warfare. I am a collector of parallel friendships. By this I mean my friendships tend to be defined by side-by-side interaction—relationships formed through common activity, practices, rehearsals, or collaboration. I’ve met most of my friends through sports, jobs, or some sort of physical exertion. Our friendships were cultivated over casual chats on group runs or banter riding bikes along a country road. Our conversations were defined by the rhythm between swings chopping wood in the backyard or by work projects approached shoulder-to-shoulder (or virtual square-to

Jul 17, 2026

This April, I spent four days in the basement of Utah State University pulling faded catalogs from olive-gray archival boxes in the . I’d crack a book from the 1970s looking for anything related to wool , flip a few pages, and get distracted by the same thing: men in fishnet undergarments . I’m not even kidding. Look: Upper left, from the 1973-74 Fall & Winter Norm Thompson catalog: “Norse-Net”as full of surprises as it is holes. Actually a thermal undershirt! Full of holes to keep you warm in the winter, cool in the summer, comfortable all the time. Wear it under a soft cotton T-shirt and lig

Jul 15, 2026

Lisa Jackson and her husband Graham regularly ran together - although she found more enjoyment from the sport “To imagine a future without him was inconceivable. I’d never lived my adult life without him by my side.” Lisa Jackson is talking about her husband, Graham, who sadly died from mesothelioma in 2021. Subscribe now Graham’s passing came at the start of a heart-breaking period of 17 months in which she also lost her father and her sister. Their story is part of Lisa’s latest book, ‘Still Running After All These Tears: A Runner’s Journey Through Grief’. In it, the serial marathoner and Ru

Jul 13, 2026

“But the killing of the females was totally wrong”: Changing conservation ethics expressed in William Hornaday’s Our Vanishing Wildlife , 1913 “What’s it about?” asked ecologist Stuart Pimm when, more than forty years ago, his colleague Michael Soulé called with an invitation to a meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Conservation,” said Soulé. “What’s that?” Pimm asked slyly. “Well, whatever it is, you’re doing it!” answered Soulé. With the support of Pimm and other prominent ecologists, the Society for Conservation Biology was founded on a May afternoon in 1985 . Soulé, who had recently returned

Jul 8, 2026

Pillar Rock, rather romanticised, seen from the Ennerdale Water shore about half a mile from John Atkinson’s farm at Croftfoot. (Tinted lithograph, James Baker Pyne 1853) In Ennerdale, away on the southwest edges of the Lake District, is Lakeland’s most spectacular rock feature. The Pillar Rock, even though it’s 200m high on its downhill side, is surprisingly non-obvious from anywhere that you’re likely to be. Even from Haystacks, directly opposite, it can be easily missed because of the way it lies back against the equally rocky north side of Pillar Mountain. One place you do see it from, fiv

Jul 3, 2026

Welcome to TOGS! Here we explore the culture of fashion in the outdoors, test clothing and gear, poke at trends, and bring you interesting stories from people who sport in style. Art by Zach Litoff . Read on to hear what the artist has to say on the topic— Where have all the good race shirts gone? Good folks of TOGS, it's Kellyn here. Today requires a preamble: this opinion piece got a little spicy as I was click-clacking away. What follows is my honest opinion, from someone who lives and works in the world of sport and style, but it's not my wish to offend anyone or put down other people's wo