The Feed

Oct 25, 2026

On Wednesday, we were sitting on a patio having dinner with friends when Nigel noticed a fluffy white dog tucked underneath an equally fluffy-haired elderly woman’s chair. “What’s that they say about dogs looking like their owners?” he whispered, nodding toward the pair. “I’m a German Shepherd,” a friend announced. “What about you guys?” Nigel shrugged. “Greyhound,” I blurted. I felt compelled to explain that I’d recently spent an entire day on the sofa. When I finally got up, there was a visible impression of my ass on the cushion. I was so horrified by the evidence that I took the sofa apart

Oct 25, 2026

Pencil Cholla Cactus and Granite Boulders (Joshua Tree National Park) | © 2025 Jon Norris For the past few months, this newsletter has mostly been my travel journal. Recently, I took you across the Eastern Sierras on my backpacking series. Before that, we toured Bhutan together over four posts (one more, final installment to come next week), and I showed you glimpses of Hong Kong between trips. Mixed in were the more routine posts — the monthly One Picture reflections, my experiment shooting Kodak T-Max 100 on my medium format RZ67, and the announcement that after years of loyalty, I was leavi

Oct 26, 2026

Time has a funny way of moving on its own, reorganizing your perspective while you don't notice it. As I was taking my daily hike today, alone, without Rock Rabbit or The Historian, I came upon the idea that we had spent so many years weaving in and out of each other's lives that one more weave did not dislodge our sense of connection to our shared universe. For the three of us, airports are the point of joining and separating. It feels normal, as if our time space continuum folds around us shortening or lengthening our distances in a dance of connectivity. We appear and disappear in each othe

Oct 26, 2026

Issue 426, sponsored by Lane 9 Peres Jepchirchir reacts to setting a women’s-only world record to win the 2024 London Marathon. (Photo: Bob Martin for London Marathon Events) Another high profile doping case adds to a troubling pattern The Athletics Integrity Unit announced on Friday that they’ve provisionally suspended reigning world and 2021 Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya after a sample she provided leading up to the Sydney Marathon tested positive for EPO. It’s been a busy week and I didn’t budget time or space to fully do this topic justice, but her name is one of the

Oct 26, 2026

In this pair of videos, Julley heads into Mongolia's remote Khangai Mountains on a mini velo, where isolation, challenging conditions, and the kindness of strangers make for an unforgettable journey. Watch the first two episodes of their unconventional bikepacking adventure here... The post Bikepacking Mongolia’s Khangai Traverse on a Mini Velo (video) appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Oct 26, 2026

I’ve written before about the importance of slowing down on your easy runs . If you’ve ever been coached by me or you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have heard me going on about it. I’m not alone in saying it either. But most of the messaging about slowing down focuses on the physiological benefits -- the microscopic adaptations that eventually show up on race day. And for most runners, the microscopic is a bit intangible, and race day is too far off to feel like much of a payoff. We want to see results now. My take is that as much as runners want a PB, things like Strava make us want to see f

Oct 25, 2026

Day 18 from Carrion de los Condes to Moratinos Todays Miles: 18.5 miles Total Camino Miles: 247.7 miles Yellow Blaze With the lung sickness fully taking over, I knew I shouldn’t push a third consecutive day of high mileage on the trail. We decided to “yellow blaze” in a taxi to Ledigos, skipping ahead 14 miles. Our first stop was a wonderful cafe with a very inviting atmosphere. Up until now, I had been drinking café americano-which in Spain is just espresso watered down to fill an 8-ounce cup. ... The post Bread Mailboxes on the Camino appeared first on The Trek .

Oct 26, 2026

Built for the rugged trails of Canada's East Coast, the Fluent Frameworks Dead Sailor is a rigid 29+ single-speed mountain bike that recently caught our attention on Instagram. Read about the bike's backstory and find detailed shots of this one-of-a-kind, sea-inspired wonder here... The post The 29+ Fluent Frameworks Dead Sailor is a Single-Speed Showstopper appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Oct 23, 2026

U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz meets with leadership at the Forest Products Timber West Mill (U.S.Forest Service/Preston Keres) On Tuesday, the Chief of the United States Forest Service sent a letter to his employees that every American ought to read. Its contents deserve serious examination and its author deserves to be held accountable for them. But first, consider how we might react if the director of the Smithsonian had written the same letter. Imagine the director sending a jubilant announcement to his employees celebrating the largest selloff of America’s national collection in a

Oct 19, 2026

It’s been two years since I last published anything substantial on my blog, and two years since my last big adventure. Two years since my last “confession”. In the simplest terms, it was burnout that kept me away, but that word is not enough. Today I feel ready to explore the symptoms and causes of whatever it is I've been feeling. Is it a mass phenomenon? The post Surviving Burnout as a Travel Writer on the Dead Internet appeared first on The Detour Effect .

Oct 24, 2026

It was the third blow in a row. Fourth actually. First, Dolly, not that I even listen to her much, but she’s always been around— in life, in culture, in the air. Second was Tim Curry, and I immediately watched Clue . Third was Wendell Berry, which reminded me that Hannah Coulter was still awaiting me on the shelf— now was the time! Fourth, though, fourth was Annie Dillard, and that was the blow that sent me spinning off into memory. I first read Annie Dillard in college, I think. On my own, not for a class, I think. Somehow I got my hands on “Total Eclipse.” I read this essay and thought, Wow,

Oct 22, 2026

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum flanked by private equity executives | photo: Blackstone Last Friday, on the deck of the Old Faithful Inn, overlooking its namesake geyser, someone set out a long table draped in white and hung a black banner across the front of it. The banner carried four logos. Yellowstone Forever came first, then Blackstone, then Tallgrass, and last in line sat the arrowhead of the National Park Service, the emblem of an agency that belongs to every American, displayed alongside the corporate logos as though it were one more sponsor. Five people took their seats behind it. In

Oct 22, 2026

We were nearly 10 miles into the Trapp Lodge Half Marathon when my son said he was going to drop me. Together, we had battled sleet, snow, mud, and 2,200 feet of climbing, including a super sketchy technical section on top of a mountain. We had run together all morning, side by side on steep fire roads and single file on narrow single track, with temperatures ranging from record lows to surprisingly warm. All of this had been his idea, by the way. He asked to run a trail half marathon for his 13th birthday present. What was I supposed to say to that request, No ? My role in this adventure was

Oct 20, 2026

Yesterday, at an event staged in front of Old Faithful, a Blackstone portfolio oil, gas, and artificial intelligence developer announced the establishment of a $105 million fund to benefit Yellowstone National Park. It’s the largest private donation to the National Park Service ever, and comes at a time in which Yellowstone and other parks are facing unprecedented funding shortfalls. So it’s a good thing, right? Of course not. The first thing that popped into my head when I read news of the money was the ballroom Trump is developing in place of the White House’s demolished East Wing. There, th

Oct 19, 2026

Author’s note A note before you start. This piece took about two weeks: rebuilding a model I’d set down in 2020, reading every fuel-price story out of Alaska since March, and checking the numbers against what the state publishes. I’ve written before that most of what gets counted online is fictitious, and that a million people being briefly furious changes nothing. What changes things is attention that stays put. Five dollars a month is what lets me put mine here instead of somewhere faster. If this is worth that to you, upgrade. If it isn’t, or can’t be right now, send it to one person who’d

Oct 25, 2026

This week, British adventurer Ash Dykes has been heavily called out on his bullshit after ‘going missing’ in a very populated river, which he had described as the worlds most dangerous river, via what felt oddly like planted press releases and sensational social media posts from his PR team. Yes, I did just say he has a PR team. A week prior, the Taurus Mountain Race was cancelled due to dangerous conditions, and the ultra community was divided over whether the athletes in the race were to blame because they flew there, causing the climate damage that creates extreme weather conditions. On bot

Oct 23, 2026

I’ve been meaning to review Moonlight’s Cruiser Carbon Superlight skis for a few seasons now. Over that time, while the snow has been somewhat lacking for a ski like the Cruiser Carbon, I’ve become decidedly more hardwired about what I’m looking for in a wide ski here in the PNW. For starters, I live in Bend. East of the Cascade divide, it’s sort of a roulette wheel, depending on where a particular storm’s snow type lands. Sometimes it’s right side up and light and dreamy. Most times, it’s a semi-dreamy mix: colder snow in some areas with a dash of the heavy stuff on top as the day evolves. Ot

Oct 23, 2026

Hiking season doesn’t end on the first frost: but it does have a deadline for most people (although I strongly encourage you to try a winter hike this year). Once the higher summits get their first real snow, a handful of these turn into a very different kind of trip (microspikes, not sneakers). Here are five worth getting in before that happens, ranging from an easy afternoon to a full day out. Subscribe now 1. Welch-Dickey Loop, Thornton, NH A family-friendly loop over open granite ledges with a payoff view well out of proportion to the effort. 3.5–4 hours, moderate — some steep, open-ledge

Oct 23, 2026

Monarch migration routes from Vermont / © Vermont Center for Ecostudies Monarch butterfly BF8D6568 has been navigating a cosmopolitan and perilous route toward her wintering grounds in Mexico. After her first days on the wing in a Vermont meadow, BF8 (as I’ll call her) flew south for a week before arriving for a day in New York City. She fluttered near Ya… Read more

Oct 23, 2026

High above the Val Travenanzes, in the Fanes group of the Italian Dolomites. The south face of Furcia Rossa III rises towards its 2,791-metre summit. Across the valley, the immense walls of the Tofane dominate the skyline. Old military tracks and wartime positions cross a landscape that remains wild and demanding. Approached from the Alta Badia area near San Cassiano, with Cortina d’Ampezzo the best known major town in the wider region, the Furcia Rossa requires a substantial alpine approach through the Fanes landscape. Old tracks and faint chamois trails lead beneath the cliffs. You feel like

Oct 22, 2026

What do you do if you and your friends have caught the running bug, but you’re traveling for half the year? How do you be part of a community? You build your own while on the road. That’s what Andy Rush has been doing within and alongside one of the most thrilling, exclusive sports around. Andy is a Formula 1 mechanic, you see. He’s been “in some sort of pit lane” since he was 16, when he attended the National College of Motorsport and duly got an apprenticeship after three months. Andy Rush in the pit lane and on the track. A generally fit and active guy, he’s only been running for a couple o

Oct 22, 2026

For the audio version of this article, read by the author, go here. A friend writes to say how he returned to a seaside resort near Naples, Italy, after years away and saw how the area had been completely ruined by all the tourists. Actually, it wasn’t a friend of mine — it was Seneca the Younger, a philosopher of Ancient Rome, writing to his friend around the years 63–64 CE. See what I did there? I’m making the point that people have been complaining about tourists since probably before the invention of the wheel. So we should all just suck it up and accept that crowds are a part of travel, r

Oct 22, 2026

Welcome to the Run Long, Run Healthy newsletter! If 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour helps you maintain your pace late in a race, and 120 grams provides even more fuel, the next question should seem obvious. Would 150 grams be better still? The logic is appealing. Because our carbohydrate stores are limited, and long-distance running depletes them, taking in more carbohydrate should help you keep going. But several things have to happen between swallowing a sports drink and turning its contents into forward motion. The carbohydrate has to leave your stomach, cross your intestine, become avai

Oct 21, 2026

An olive ridley sea turtle on the beach near Seal Beach in September 2026. Two females nested on Orange County beaches that month, the first confirmed natural sea turtle nesting on the U.S. West Coast. (Photo: Huntington Beach Fire Department, via NOAA Fisheries) Hammerhead sharks have been spotted off Los Angeles and Ventura counties. A whale shark appeared off Malibu. Dorado (mahi-mahi) have been swimming near the Southern Channel Islands. On September 16, an olive ridley sea turtle crawled onto the sand near Seal Beach and laid its eggs. Three days later, another nested near the Huntington

Oct 21, 2026

And so castles made of sand Fall into the sea eventually —Jimi Hendrix, “Castles Made of Sand” “Did you hear the Crooked Arrow Spire fell down?” my buddy, Ben Kiessel, asked me. Another one bites the dust, I thought. I used to be surprised when I heard a climb or a major section of a climb fell off, but now two decades plus into my climbing life, it seems to be commonplace. Source

Oct 19, 2026

Late last month, in response to reports of a missing hiker, federal and state search-and-rescue personnel ventured into a largely trackless section of Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park. On the evening of September 22, they came upon human remains near a primitive campsite deep in the woods. The fact that somebody had died in a national park wasn’t so unusual—on average, it happens hundreds of times every year—but the way officials handled this fatality stood out: They waited three weeks before saying a word about it to the public. In a bare-bones statement sent to RE:PUBLIC October 15, offic

Oct 23, 2026

Photo by Luemen Rutkowski on Unsplash This piece was originally published by CounterPunch. In the American West, the vast majority of public lands are leased to ranchers to graze their livestock. The ranchers can’t seem to get along with any of the wild inhabitants. Coyotes, ravens, eagles, mountain lions, prairie dogs, grizzly bears, beavers are all targeted for elimination by the livestock industry, for its sole convenience. Ranchers carry rifles in their pickup trucks, and coerce state legislatures and game agencies to classify native wildlife as varmints so they can be killed in unlimited

Oct 23, 2026

In this bikepacking homage to the Brecon Beacons, Emma experiences a classic Welsh initiation, complete with fickle weather, sheep sightings aplenty, and, in typical Cymru style, hike-a-bikes galore. Plus, read on for a deep dive into her retro-styled Brother Cycles Pinecone, complete with a “vibes shifter” and splatter paintwork, befitting this old-school mountain biking adventure... The post There Be Habs and Dragons in Brychan: Bikepacking Wales appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Oct 23, 2026

In a quiet corner of East Texas, a humble slice of the Trinity River has cast a spell on generations. Part-backwoods oasis, part-portal to another era, this 12-mile waterway, known as the Cutoff and separated from the river's upstream flow a century ago for flood control, is a buffer from modern development. Roughly 75 miles southeast of Dallas and not far from the first Texas oil boom 132 years ago, some say the Cutoff is just about the wildest place in this largely rural area. Close to ranch pastures dotted with angus cattle and oil wells, the sinuous sleeve of water is largely hidden from p

Oct 21, 2026

Going Off!, the snowboarding history podcast conceptualised and presented by Jen Sherowski and Tricia Byrnes, is a brilliant concept. Each episode, they take key stages in snowboarding's history and development and dip into their enviable black book of contacts to tell the story expertly and even-handedly. Together they've made Going Off! into something different: not yet another four-hour interview show, but an oral history of snowboarding's early days, pieced together from the people who were actually there. And they make a great team - Jen with her journalistic and storytelling chops honed

Oct 21, 2026

One of the things I love most about exploring the Adirondacks is discovering the stories behind the places I’ve been. Sometimes, those stories lead me right back to places I thought I knew. More than a decade ago, I made several hiking trips into the remote Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest of the Adirondacks utilizing the popular trailhead known just as Tahawus to begin my overnight backpack adventures. Tahawus (pronounced tuh-HAW-us ) takes its name from an Indigenous term commonly interpreted as “Cloud Splitter,” a reference to nearby Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York State. For me

Oct 21, 2026

Atomic is and has long been one of the biggest players in the ski game. In more recent times, the Bent series—Chris Bentchetler’s signature line—has been among the most popular resort skis on the market. While generally marketed as resort skis in widths between 90mm and 120mm, the 120mm variant is both the line’s long-standing flagship and a powder ski with a very competitive weight of around 1800g. While these specs have always had me curious, my venn diagram of skiing style has very little overlap with the playful jib-master behind the Benchetler line, which led me to some skepticism as to w

Oct 20, 2026

Popfly sponsors Long Run Labs and , and I pitched them on that partnership this past winter. I’d already been using the platform and wanted every brand I work with on it. So when Taylor and I sat down, I wanted to skip the founding story (Aaron already covered it on Second Nature) and ask him why running, why now, and where creator commerce goes from here. Taylor started Popfly about three years ago. Brands like rabbit, PACT, The North Face and Tahoe Mountain Sports are on it, and a beta campaign with a single retailer in Truckee may have pointed at a few billion dollars the industry already b

Oct 22, 2026

Trust is built in droplets and lost in buckets. I think about that line more than any other in my work, and say it fairly often… most recently just this afternoon on a podcast recording. It shapes how I make decisions and what I want people to think of when they think of me. My ability to put food on the table comes down to whether someone believes me when I recommend a company, a tool, an athlete or a service. That belief is what pays the bills. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The scope Popfly ran a six-

Oct 21, 2026

Hazel Findlay started climbing at the age of six on the sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire, Wales, with her father, climber Steve Findlay. She became a six-time national climbing champion before leaving comp climbing to focus on trad. She graduated from the University of Bristol, where she studied philosophy, and settled in North Wales. In June 2011, Findlay became the first British woman to climb an E9 when she sent Once Upon a Time in the South West at Dyer’s Lookout in Devon. She went on to achieve first female ascents of several hard lines in Britain and abroad, including San Simeon E8 in Pembrok

Oct 22, 2026

This is a pond seen on public lands in August 2026 near Casa Blanca Canyon in the Coronado National Forest, along the Arizona National Scenic Trail. The neon-green, paint-like water seems consistent with a dense cyanobacterial bloom. WWP In a letter dated October 5, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter to every rancher who holds a grazing permit on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service urging them to help set a new course for exploiting our national forests. “You embody the ethos of our nation’s founding 250 years ago,” she wrote, urging permittees to

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

Oct 13, 2026

Op-Ed / Guest Essay Something was off with the rise forms that I couldn’t put my finger on. But then, there it was–unmistakable with stripes of electric aqua, a sail-like dorsal slicing the surface as the fish excitedly carved away at emergers in the film. In a high-altitude boreal forest lying at the same latitude as Baghdad, a tiny lake sits overlooking searing deserts extending for hundreds of miles in almost every direction. Here, most improbably, lives the southernmost fishable population of Arctic Grayling in the world. This status is not publicized. It wasn’t the premise for my visit ei

Oct 14, 2026

A note before we start. If you’re a free subscriber, or someone sent you this, thank you. Attention is the scarcest thing I ask for, and this piece asks for a lot of it. All At Once is reader-supported, and that’s what lets me spend this long on one question: driving the roads, building the model, reading the rate cases so you don’t have to. If you can, consider becoming a paid subscriber. If you can’t, the next best thing is to pass this along to someone in your life or your work who should read it. Get three people to subscribe through your referral link and you’ll get a paid subscription fr

Oct 15, 2026

On March 10, 1957, people lined the cliffs above the Columbia River to watch Celilo Falls disappear. For at least 11,000 years, Native people had lived, traded and fished along this stretch of the Columbia. The river narrowed violently here, crashing through a horseshoe of basalt ledges. By the middle of the twentieth century, Native fishers worked from more than 450 wooden platforms , balancing over the torrent with long-handled dip nets as salmon forced their way upstream. Individual fishing places belonged to families and passed through generations. Thousands came during the runs to fish, t

Oct 12, 2026

Every week, I volunteer to work at the food bank in Port Townsend, Washington. It’s always crowded — and seems to be getting more crowded as the cost of everything rises. I usually work the “pantry” station, and not long ago, Cal, a disabled man in his sixties, stopped in front of me with his cart. I gave him his usual: two cans of tuna, rice, and tomato soup. “We also have the all-natural peanut butter this week,” I said. “It looks like you only have a few left, and it’s just me,” he answered. “I’ll leave it for someone with kids.” Cal is so thin his clothes literally hang on his body. “We ha

Oct 12, 2026

Where I work and where AI will never work / © Bryan Pfeiffer The AI agents conspiring to take my job as a writer first reached out in a volley of emails offering me ideas, articles, and illustrations at nominal prices. The pitches were cordial enough, and the agents freely identified themselves as artificial. They had names. Vaho, for $25, would write 700 words for me about the extinction of the Spectacled Cormorant — a glossy-black, fish-eating seabird — from its last known outpost on a Russian island in the North Pacific. Nhyira, claiming to have read my published essay “In Defense of Flies,

Oct 4, 2026

The view from a place I didn’t yet know was called the Lake House. When Nigel and I met, he wanted to retire either in the countryside or on a remote island in the South Pacific. I wanted Paris. This probably should have concerned us more than it did. We were both living in Houston for work at the time. Neither of us considered it our dream destination, but work was the reason we were there—and eventually the reason we’d be able to retire early enough to go looking for one. Nigel had somehow found a little pocket of Houston I hadn’t discovered despite living there for years. His house backed o

Oct 4, 2026

Gus Scott with his father, Gus Scott Sr., 1959. Kane Creek. Photo via Gus Scott (and shared on Tom Martin’s Facebook tribute.) For almost a decade, I’ve been following ghosts through Glen Canyon. My backcountry travels are guided not by destinations, but by the stories recorded by the men and women who loved this landscape of gilded sandstone and muddy water. Most who experienced the Colorado River before Glen Canyon Dam have long been deceased, yet I’ve developed unusual friendships with many of these spirits who have kept me company on solo explorations. In the process, I failed to face an e

Oct 1, 2026

On Sunday, Tigst Assefa ran the third-fastest marathon in history, winning the Berlin Marathon in 2:11:04. But that doesn’t tell half of it. With just over a mile to go Assefa was ahead of world record pace, projected to run an astonishing 2:09:45. Then, she started to limp, significantly slowing but gutting it over the final mile and change to hang on for a new course record. Did she run out of fuel, hit the wall just before the finish line, pay the price of an early push? Nope…she tore her Achilles tendon. For the last 1.4 miles, as her manager put it, “She was effectively running on one leg

Sep 23, 2026

Set on Canada’s remote Canol Trail through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, this time-traveling piece weaves the past and present with memories of the late Iohan Gueorguiev. In it, author Brad Roach shares glimpses of Iohan’s legend and later retraces a path they once shared to spread some of his ashes. Read it here… The post Chasing Windrider: Memories of Iohan Gueorguiev appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Sep 14, 2026

Climbers die all the time; that’s the game. But the death of climber Fiona Layton in a rappel accident in July — the cause, “knot migration” — seems to have created a lot of debate, both technical and ethical. In this accident, the two climbers were rappelling on a 9.6mm rope and a 6mm rope, using them together, as you would with two 8.5mm climbing ropes. The 6mm slipped, creating mismatched ends, and Fiona rappelled off the 6mm rope and was killed. Before you read on, maybe watch the film of Fiona’s Kyrgyzstan trip, as often — as climbers — we can become numb to the human tragedy behind such

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

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

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 .

Oct 18, 2026

Let's be clear up front: I don't have vast reserves of any of those three things. This trail tried to get me to quit numerous times. With rattlesnakes, with scorching heat and no shade, with steep climbs and sketchy descents, with routefinding and snow and finally, a tropical storm. I left from an obscure northern terminus on October first, right on the Utah/Arizona border. My feet crunched on the gritty surface, overhead a sun too hot for fall. Water was scarce and often green. There were few others on trail. As I hiked 77 miles in three days, mainly due to water availability and the massive

Oct 15, 2026

A large crack in the coastal bluff along Pacific Coast Highway near Laguna Beach. (Photo: Erik Olsen) Nearly every day now, my Instagram feed is showing me scenes of large chunks of the Southern California coast slipping into the ocean. A section of cliff broke off near one of my favorite dive spots in Laguna Beach just a few weeks ago. The Wedge , where I spent a fair amount of my youth in the summer, had much of its legendary beach sucked out to sea, revealing rusty metal fixtures and remnants of an old piece of jetty that I didn’t even know existed. Then, just a few days later, Newport Beac

Oct 15, 2026

That Ryan Montgomery is ‘The Fastest American Runner in Western States History’ isn’t really the headline. The nature of records is that they’re there to be broken. He will be usurped at some point. For me, that headline only tells half of Ryan’s story that I know. This is a man who contains powerful, and seemingly disparate multitudes, you see. He’s a corporate strategy consultant, he’s queer, and yes, he’s also the fastest American runner in Western States history. That last bit happened back in June when he finished 3rd in the men’s division, clocking those 100 miles almost two hours faster

Oct 12, 2026

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Meet my friend Delaine, an Ely Shoshone elder with enough badassery, grit, courage, and humor for all of us. I took this portrait of her back in January at her home outside Ely, Nevada. I wrote a story about Delaine, her son Rick, and a place called Bahsahwahbee that was published today in Emergence Magazine . The essay is accompanied by photos and some incredible footage from my director pal Jeremy Seifert. You can also listen to me reading the story. :) I’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming this Sunday. Thanks for being here, Josh Subscribe now

Oct 6, 2026

A few weekends ago we snuck out for a fall day, and instead of heading north to the mountains, we turned south and headed to the coast in search of what the fall had to offer in this corner of New England. Ipswich is tucked into the North Shore of MA, between Boston and New Hampshire, bordering Rowley, Essex, Gloucester, and Hamilton: close enough to Rockport/Gloucester and Salem that you could stretch this into a longer coastal day if you wanted. Founded in 1633, it has more surviving First Period (17th-century) homes than anywhere else in the country. We loved that Ipswich has so much to off

Sep 24, 2026

In an essay reflecting on the recent death of Ida Amelie Robsahm and Kalie McCrystal Ian quotes the great mountaineer Reinhold Messner: “If death was not a possibility, coming out (of the mountains) would be nothing. It would be kindergarten, but not an adventure and not an art.” He continues with his own words in an essay which is is an absolute must read from top to bottom: For those of us drawn to mountains, the attraction is not recklessness. It is something much deeper. Mountains provide perspective in a world increasingly dominated by distraction. They challenge us physically and mentall

Sep 24, 2026

Do supershoes help women more? Advanced footwear technology has changed road racing, but the benefits may not have been evenly distributed. In this study , researchers compared elite performances from a pre-supershoe era (2009–2015) with an advanced-footwear era (2017–2024). For each sex, event, and era, they collected the top 50 performances in the road 10K, half marathon, and marathon. Each athlete contributed only one performance per event and era, which prevented a single superstar (or “super responder”) from flooding the data set. The clever part was the control group. Instead of simply a

Sep 22, 2026

Mountain biker, gravel rider, roadie, alt cyclist, bikepacker—cycling has a knack for sorting us into increasingly specific groups, each with its own bikes, clothes, rules, and expectations. In this piece, Miles asks where he fits among them and makes the case for being a “civilian cyclist” and how borrowing a little from each might make us happier... The post Identity Crisis: Are Cycling Labels Holding Us Back? appeared first on BIKEPACKING.com .

Sep 22, 2026

In the early 1970s, Charlie Porter was establishing himself as one of the leading big-wall climbers in Yosemite. He put up new routes on El Capitan, including Zodiac, which he soloed, as well as Mescalito, Tangerine Trip, The Shield, and New Dawn, another solo ascent. In 1975, Porter went north to Baffin Island, where the scale of the climbing was different. The east coast of Baffin is cut by deep fiords and contains some of the highest cliffs in the world. Mount Asgard, at 2,015 metres, rises in Auyuittuq National Park as two enormous towers joined by a saddle. The north peak had first been c

Sep 20, 2026

“I’m exhausted, I don’t want to do this anymore.” I wanted to press send. I didn’t. I wanted to box up all my stuff and throw it on the front lawn. “Melbourne Marathon finishers shirt free to good home.” I didn’t. I didn’t start a race recently. I relentlessly argued with myself over it. I haven’t stopped since the first week of July. Work stress, home stress, races, training, work stress, home stress, races, training, repeat. It’s no one’s fault but my own, falling into a pattern of saying yes to everyone when I should be saying no. I had goals that I no longer give two shits about and fun th

Sep 20, 2026

I wanted a black cat. This should have been a fairly easy problem to solve. There are always black cats, because black cats suffer lower adoption rates . It felt like the shelters surrounding us across the Western Slope were filling with them. I saw them constantly on Instagram, tiny shadows with yellow eyes, elegant adult cats sitting in rescue kennels waiting for someone to understand their particular appeal. But I couldn’t just go to a shelter and choose a cat because my black cat was a manifestation. We already had three cats. There was no path to sensibly adopting a fourth. No, instead, I

Sep 16, 2026

Beat takes in the view from Aiguillette des Houches In my memory, it was the only cold day in Boulder all winter, a frosty Monday morning on the cusp of spring. My sister, driving my Subaru, crept down the icy switchbacks of Flagstaff Road as I sat in the passenger seat, watching diffused sunlight ripple across the eastern plains. “If this is the last sunrise I ever see, at least it’s a good one,” I thought, because I am particularly overwrought when I am stressed. Surgery is scary. The idea that strangers are going to render me unconscious and slice into my body — I don’t understand how anyon

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 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 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 .