Even though one in five Americans is estimated to suffer from mental health illness, talk about mental health in the rural West remains muted. I’d like to talk about it this …
President Donald Trump’s first term was a disaster for America’s public lands. While the prospects for his second term are even more bleak, Westerners across the political spectrum …
Twice a year, I hike a favorite trail in Oregon’s Cascade Range. I have done this for over 20 years, timing my hikes for early spring and fall. The first hike is for wildflowers; the second is …
She was 28 years old and dealt with aplomb the hordes of picture-taking tourists and repeated motherhood. When she was killed by a car a few weeks ago, the loss of Grizzly 399 left people all over …
It was the summer of 2015 when the Animas River in southern Colorado turned such a garish orange-gold that it made national news. The metallic color came from the Gold King Mine, near the town …
I was driving on Montana’s Highway 89 just as fall began showing up at one of my favorite spots for walking, a turn onto a two-lane country road. If you don’t know busy Highway 89, it …
This summer, the Biden administration offered Wyoming $35 million to help the state plug and clean up abandoned oil and gas wells. When Wyoming turned down the cash, it seemed hard to believe. …
The Colorado Trail, an iconic 567-mile high-elevation trail that crosses the Rockies, owes its existence largely to Gudy Gaskill, a charismatic, 6-foot-tall woman who could make tough things seem …
More frequent wildfires in the West can turn hiking through beautiful, high-elevation country into a dangerous game for hikers. In July, seven friends from Idaho, Colorado, Washington and …
The company I work for recently built a new ticket office at the base of Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo. Environmentally, we killed it: argon-gas-filled windows, super-thick insulation and comprehensive air sealing, 100 percent electrification using heat pumps instead of gas boilers.
I suppose it’s the human thing on a hiking trail to acknowledge one another when passing. But on a well-used trail, the same comments come up time and time again. “Good …
The coal mining industry reacted with outrage when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently announced plans to stop issuing new coal leases on the eastern plains of Wyoming and Montana. From …
By the time she took the dais at the Arapaho Charter High School graduation this spring, Principal Katie Law was beyond tired. She’d spent the last two days coaching students at the state track …
“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed …” — Wallace Stegner. The goal of the Wilderness Act, now …
What fun: You’re going on a guided outdoor trip. As you get ready, here are some tips from actual guides about what to expect, as these patient men and women have experienced a few trips that …
Imagine Westerners waking up one morning only to discover that many of their most-cherished wetlands have dried up, gone. This is not fiction during these times of determining the true value of …
Westerners have begun looking at their homes differently these days. Are those trees too close? Should I move all that firewood stacked up next to the deck? Meanwhile, in California, some fire …
“I love to spend my day in a bookstore,” said Amy Sweet. She lives in Red Lodge, Mont., and was explaining why she and her husband, Brian, opened Beartooth Books in her town of 2,300. …
Back in the ‘90s, when writer Hunter S. Thompson held court at the Woody Creek Tavern just outside of Aspen, he’d often rail against the “greedheads.” I grew up in Aspen, …
One hundred and one years ago, my Ute ancestors were forced to live within a barbed-wire camp in Blanding, a small town in southeast Utah. For six weeks, nearly 80 people were trapped in a cage, …