On February 14, 2025, the National Park Service around 1,000 probationary employees in conjunction with a White House effort to reduce the federal workforce. Although a spate of eventually reversed many of the layoffs and reinstated probationary employees to their jobs, roughly five weeks elapsed between the initial firing and eventual rehiring mandate. Those intervening weeks were chaotic for many NPS employees, who wondered what they would do for their livelihoods.

At the same time, Ali Murphy, a former marketing executive and the founder of , a new travel platform focused on creating expert-guided custom itineraries for active travelers, was in the middle of preparing to launch her company. When she heard the news of the layoffs, she quickly recognized a chance to pair individuals with deep, location-specific expertise with travelers looking for guidance on their next adventure. On Facebook, Murphy offered former rangers the chance to put their skill set to use at her fledgling company.

On February 20, 2025, a week after the initial layoffs, Murphy put out a call to all those affected: 鈥淭his is devastating,鈥� she wrote in her post. 鈥淏ut your knowledge is still incredibly valuable鈥� If you want to keep sharing what you know, we鈥檇 love to have you.鈥�

Right now, you can book a call with an Outdoorable expert for $60, and Murphy told me the experts themselves take home $45 of that. That鈥檚 a pretty sizable cut. While there are other adventure and gear concierge services out there鈥攍ike 鈥檚 trip-planning service, or Backcountry鈥檚 popular 鈥擮utdoorable seems to fill a pretty distinct niche when it comes to trip planning and prep.

Here at 国产吃瓜黑料, we saw Murphy鈥檚 post and wondered: what happened next? Did NPS folks actually get in touch? We reached out to understand a little more about Outdoorable and its mission鈥攁nd what the response to her post has been like.

How Outdoorable Is Tapping Into Ranger Talent to Improve Outdoor Acesss

OUTSIDE: What happened when you put out that call to former NPS employees? What was the response like?

Murphy: I think I had 70 people apply to Outdoorable from that one post. I pretty much cried after every call. I was so jazzed because people were enthused, and it gave me the chance to tell them that what they know is valuable.

So, what exactly is Outdoorable? What makes it different from other travel sites or chatbots?

I think the travel industry largely ignores the people who are in need of the most guidance. We make false assumptions that people have networks or they know what to look for or they even know where to go. What if you could talk to a former national park ranger? Some people are going to AI for travel advice these days, but there are certain things AI cannot do. AI can’t look you in the eye and say, 鈥淗oney, you’re not crazy. You can do that hike.鈥� Or, 鈥淭alk to me about your knee. Are you better on uphill or downhill?鈥�

How does Outdoorable plan to address representation and access deficits that can make it harder for some folks to envision themselves in the outdoors?

At the start of this, I had an interesting conversation with James Edward Mills, who kind of wrote the book on inclusion spaces. I called him and told him that it’s really important to me that Outdoorable becomes a place where people of all backgrounds can go, and that they feel comfortable getting outside. That conversation was really illuminating because Mills said, 鈥淚t’s all about representation.鈥� For example, if you’re a queer traveler trying to do van life, you want to talk to a queer traveler if you can. And just seeing someone who looks like you or who has had a similar life path to you can help you envision yourself chasing that dream. We鈥檙e working on getting a diverse panel of experts on the platform so people can have that experience.

Okay, let鈥檚 say I鈥檓 a traveler. After I fill out the intake form and get paired with a guide on your website, what can I expect?

Your guide will read your form and know all about you before the call. They’re excited to talk to you. You can expect someone who has a wide range of knowledge to the extent that they can ask you questions you hadn’t thought of, almost like trip therapy. So you might be saying, 鈥淗ey, I’m doing a road trip around Utah’s national parks. I’m going to go to five parks in seven days.鈥� Your guide isn鈥檛 going to be afraid to push back if they need to. They鈥檒l say, 鈥淣o you鈥檙e not,鈥� or, 鈥淗ave you thought about this? Or looked at it this way? What are you actually trying to accomplish on this trip?鈥� Or, on the other hand, if you鈥檝e shared about a trip you鈥檙e uncertain about, they might reassure you that that trip is well within your ability. You can expect a real thought partner.

Sounds like Outdoorable is for everyone鈥攂ut who do you see using the platform most often?

I鈥檇 say the biggest use case we’ve seen so far has been for casual recreationists. They want to get out, they’re outdoorsy, they’d love to do a hike, but they’re not in the Reddit forums. They don’t own all the Osprey packs. The outdoor travel industry forgets about this segment of people, which is most people.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

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In 1941, Swiss engineer George de Mestral was hunting in the Alps with his dog, when he noticed burrs stuck to his jacket, pants, hat, and his pup. Being the egghead that he was, de Mestral examined the burrs under a microscope. He discovered their 鈥渟tickiness鈥� was due to tiny hooks and loops. This discovery dominated the next decade of de Mestral’s life as he burrowed his intellect into recreating burrs鈥� 鈥済rab-ability鈥� with synthetic materials. And on one magical day, Presto Chango!, the world has Velcro.

This is probably the most famous example of 鈥渂iomimicry,鈥� the imitation of nature’s strategies to solve human design challenges. Now, a less well-known example but a much more intriguing one (sorry, de Mestral) is the life and music of 鈥淟and of 10,000 Lakes鈥� local Dave Simonett, founder and lead singer of Trampled By Turtles.

Simonett grew up in Mankato, Minnesota, about 80-miles southwest of the Twin Cities at the confluence of the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers. Like the rest of the state, winters there are bitterly cold, summers are hot, muggy, and buggy. And as is ever the Minnesotan way, Simonett spent his youth loving that unloveable weather. No matter Mother Nature’s temperament, Simonett was in the woods. When he formed Trampled By Turtles in Duluth in 2003, Simonett’s lifelong connection to nature鈥攈iking, skiing, fishing鈥攃ombined in his music with other influences, like his love of the in-your-face tempo of punk and grunge bands and the songwriting of legendary fellow Minnesotan, Bob Dylan.

In the runup to the in Denver (where Trampled By Turtles will create a booty-shaking ruckus on June 1), I interviewed Simonett for an episode of the 国产吃瓜黑料 Podcast, which you can listen to here. Here are some excerpts from our conversation that highlight Simonett鈥檚 decades-long love affair with Minnesota and its lasting influence on his music.

A MINNESOTAN SURPRISE

国产吃瓜黑料: If somebody stopped you on the street and said, 鈥淗ey, who are you? What do you like to do?鈥� Would you say, outdoorsman? Would you say, conservationist? Would you say, hunter?

Simonett: Yeah, I’d probably start with those.

国产吃瓜黑料: Oh, before musician?

Simonett: Well, it depends on what point in life I guess I’d be asked. I think right now, at this point, even though music still takes up more of my time than anything else, my passions are split a little bit more equally nowadays. It’s more like a life’s work.

国产吃瓜黑料: You are an outdoorsy guy. You were a scout as a kid. You grew up in Minnesota, which though incredibly maligned like the rest of the Midwest, is double stuffed with frothing outdoor folks and adventures. What makes outdoor adventure in Minnesota unique and inspiring?

Simonett: Well, the natural beauty here is not as obvious. I like to say humble, but聽 it’s not of its own volition. It’s just the way the land is. We have our prairies and our hardwood forest in the southern part of the state, and then the northern parts are boreal and a lot of pine birch, kind of reminiscent of maybe what people would think of as Maine. What people think of here is lakes. And that’s something we have a lot of.聽 The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is probably our crown jewel of a landscape that’s still left to be a wild place. It’s pretty far out and I’d put a sunrise there up against any sunrise anywhere.

DEAR BOUNDARY WATERS, DAVE LOVES YOU

国产吃瓜黑料: For folks who have not been exposed to the beauty of the Boundary Waters, give me your 30-second elevator pitch on it to those who might be like, 鈥淎hhhh, Minnesota, c’mon!鈥�

Simonett: Right? It sounds buggy.

国产吃瓜黑料: Well, the mosquito is the state bird of Minnesota.

Simonett: And you won’t find any more of them than in the Boundary Waters if you go at a certain time of year, ha! But the Boundary Waters is a little over a million acres of woods and mainly lakes, thousands of lakes interconnected by portages. It’s part of the Superior National Forest and it’s named the Boundary Waters because it’s on the boundary of Minnesota and Canada. When you get a couple lakes into that wilderness, you might as well be in 1849 or something. It gets pretty far out and you can go deep as you want.

When I was young, a little bit of an initiation in that place was to paddle out to the middle of a lake, dip your cup in the lake, and drink the cup of water. That鈥檚 just as an example of what a bastion of clean water it is. And so I do a lot of work now on that place. If I’m gonna spend my time involved in something, this is where I get the most meaning in these places. I’m gonna work on protecting that.

THE JOY OF COLDER THAN HELL WINTERS

Simonett: I like winter. Half the stuff I like to do outside is when it’s snowing.

国产吃瓜黑料: I love winter too. But winter in Minnesota is a different animal altogether.

Simonett: It’s a good time to write songs, ha!

国产吃瓜黑料: Exactly. You’ve said that Northern Minnesota winters have inspired your music. And I think, in regard to the Midwest鈥檚 unfair poo-pooed-ness, the bitter cold winters have a lot to do with that. What do you think is the most unappreciated part of Minnesota winters?

Simonett: It gets dark at 4:30 here and I crave my little writing studio and a guitar. And that’s when my psyche wants to do it the most. And I try to honor that. There’s lots I want to do outside in the winter too, but it’s kind of a time where you can give yourself the leniency to look inside and try to make something. That’s what I’ve always used that time for. And that is the thing I look forward to, writing

国产吃瓜黑料: Do you think that because of that, you are writing slower laments or are you writing dancier, more uptempo tunes?

Simonett: Like trying to overcorrect?

国产吃瓜黑料: Yeah.

Simonett: It’s hard to say, but I think that kind of stuff is more phase of life for me or reactions to creative whims. I think the weather in the wintertime will give me a space to do it. But I don’t know if that’s like, 鈥淥h, I’m gonna write sad songs ’cause it’s cold outside.鈥� That being said, look at reggae music and where that comes from. That’s a lot of happy stuff. Maybe I’m completely wrong about that. Hahaha!

DIRT-FOOTED HOOTENANNY VS. MELLOW INSTRUMENTAL

国产吃瓜黑料: I know that you don’t like labeling your music or boxing it into a specific genre, but I will say, Roots music, Bluegrass, Americana, Trampled By Turtles could fall under these if someone were to box you guys in. Ha!

Simonett: Haha! Yeah, if you wanted to limit us. Ha!

国产吃瓜黑料: Those genres very often present a frenetic dancey pace. They create a dirt-footed hootenanny. For instance, 鈥淲ait So Long鈥� and 鈥淐odeine.鈥� Those tunes of yours are incredibly aggressive. Where does that edge come from and does your time outside inspire it? Ease it? Do both?

Simonett: Both those songs are like 15 years old. When I was younger, I had a lot of punk rock left over. When I was a teenager, that’s what I was into. And I was a young man then. I had a lot of energy.

国产吃瓜黑料: Oh, so it was like angry young man music?

Simonett: Yeah, and you feel things real big and loud. I did anyway. It’s been a while since I’ve written a song like that. To be honest with you, I’m really trying, especially in music, but generally in life, as a husband, as a father, to grow older gracefully.

国产吃瓜黑料: Does that mean softer?

Simonett: I think it just means being true to where you are at the time. If I were to try to write a song like 鈥淐odeine鈥� now, I would be lying. It would be me trying to reach for something that’s not there.

国产吃瓜黑料: On the other end of the tempo spectrum is a song like 鈥淟utsen.鈥� That’s nearly a10-minute beautiful, mellow instrumental. So where does that energy come from?

Simonett: That’s easier for me to point at. Lutsen is a little ski town in northern Minnesota on Lake Superior.

国产吃瓜黑料: Love Lutsen. It鈥檚 the first place I skied in Minnesota where I didn鈥檛 hear my turn. I love Lutsen.

Dave: Ha, yeah!. It鈥檚 as close as we get to real mountain skiing in the Midwest. I’d been spending a lot of time up there. It’s incredibly beautiful. I was doing some skiing, but also just hanging in the area by Lake Superior. It’s kind of our version of an ocean up there, with the same kind of gravitational pull on the people around it. It’s cold,聽 it’s harsh. You go down to the lake and it’s like a nightmare sometimes. Like if you could turn a nightmare into water. So many ships have sunk in that nasty body of water. It reminds you real fast about where you are in the pecking order of things. And at the same time, you might wake up the next morning and it’s glass, and the sun’s coming up, it’s beautiful. That 鈥淟utsen鈥� song was that. That’s what I was trying to capture, comprehending where I was.

MY VELCRO IS YOUR VELCRO

国产吃瓜黑料: In regard to your time outside, your conservation efforts, and your love of Minnesota, if you were to take one of those things away, could you still write and perform the way that you do?

Dave: It sounds kind of self-important or something, but to me those are just little different parts of who I am. We’re all a product of space and time, right? I’m a product of where I live, what’s going on with me at this moment. And so you’d have to put me in somewhere real hard to escape for me not to find my space outdoors. I mean, I sometimes use touring to find new places to hunt and fish, which has been great. Last year and last summer, we went out to Montana. And both of those times I ended up on some really great fly fishing days with some buddies out there. When I’m home, I wouldn’t pop out to Montana and go fly fishing.

国产吃瓜黑料: The greatest work boondoggle of all time, ha! The music is whatever, but really what I’m trying to do is land a giant rainbow.

Dave: Haha! Yeah! I think for me, I really just hope an audience feels like we did the best we could. I hope they thought that their time was well spent.

I can write a hundred songs in this room and never play ’em for anybody. They’d still be songs and they’d still be mine. But there’s an interesting relationship that happens when you open that up to the world and I try to remain mystified by that. It’s scary and beautiful. I do enjoy that part of it. I don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 like a 鈥渋f a tree falls in the forest鈥澛� kind of a thing, where it鈥檚, 鈥淐an a song exist if nobody hears it?鈥� I don’t know.

国产吃瓜黑料: I feel like there needs to be a bumper sticker that reads, 鈥淧eak Minnesota: Juicy Lucy, Tater Tot Hotdish, Trampled By Turtles,鈥� not necessarily in that order.

Dave: It’s a lot of responsibility, but we’ll take it.

You could win a trip to the 国产吃瓜黑料 Festival and meet Trampled By Turtles backstage!

Donate to Save the Boundary Waters at and you鈥檒l be entered to win round-trip travel, 3-night hotel stay, VIP passes to 国产吃瓜黑料 Festival, a signed Deering banjo, and even a Colorado adventure picked by the band. Enjoy VIP perks like private lounges, bars, and shaded seating while catching sets from Trampled By Turtles, Lord Huron, Khruangbin, and more.

NO PURCHASE OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER TO WIN. A PURCHASE OR DONATION WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.聽TO ENTER WITHOUT DONATING CLICK聽.

See the聽听补苍诲听聽for more details.

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For Bryn Merrell, art began as a necessity. When she first started painting, she was working as a guide for a bike touring company. 鈥淎s guides, we didn鈥檛 have much time to ourselves because we were always making breakfast, fixing flat tires, figuring out logistics, and answering questions,鈥� she says. It was rare that she got a moment to breathe, let alone soak in the beauty of the vast western landscapes she was lucky enough to call her office. 鈥淚 started painting on those trips because it forced me to slow down and soak it all up a little bit while I could,鈥� Merrell says. 鈥淚t would help calm this feeling of burnout.鈥�

Painting also gave her a new perspective on outdoor recreation. This was a way of getting to know the natural world on a more intimate level鈥攊ts textures, colors, and intricacies鈥攁nd to enjoy it without having to worry about achieving or conquering. Art has since become a for Merrell, but it still feels meditative, even after all these years. And it鈥檚 still a way for her to reconnect with herself and what matters. Painting Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone, she said, left her with a feeling of overwhelming gratitude. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so lucky that we protected these places,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 want to bring my daughter back to enjoy them some day.鈥�

The Prismatic Spring Color Wheel

Every concentric ring of Yellowstone National Park鈥檚 Grand Prismatic geothermal pool correlates to a different temperature, and therefore a different pigment. Here鈥檚 where the colors come from.

Blue: Clean water at the spring鈥檚 heated center is too hot to host bacteria.
‍ Green: Chlorophyll forms in a blue-green algae (Synechococcus) that loves warm water.
Yellow: Carotenoids (the same things that make carrots orange) are found in a bacteria that likes lukewarm temperatures.
Orange: Green, yellow, and red colors blend in a bacteria (Chloroflexi) that has both carotenoids and chlorophyll.
‍ Red: A mix of different bacteria that thrive in cooler temperatures makes this striking color.

Raise a Toast: Prismatic Cooler

Celebrate a great day in the national park with this custom recipe and聽, which was founded in 1872 to honor America鈥檚 first national park, and which continues to聽聽the national park system today.

Glassware: Collins

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Yellowstone Bourbon Rum Cask
• 4 oz lemonade
• 3/4 oz butterfly pea simple syrup
• 1鈥�2 oz seltzer water
• Mint or lemon for garnish

Directions

• Fill Collins glass with ice.
• Combine all ingredients into the glass and top with seltzer water.
• Gently stir.

Established in 1872, was crafted to honor the sprawling wonder of America鈥檚 first national park. It鈥檚 what first inspired us to create approachably smooth whiskey for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and why we still do it today.

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From 2021 until 2024, while I was Secretary of the Interior, we worked to forge stability, create jobs in a clean energy economy, conserve more lands and waters for future generations, and secure clean air and water for communities in every corner of the country.

We treated everyone with dignity and respect鈥攙alues that New Mexicans live by. Today, the work we accomplished, alongside conservationists, farmers, ranchers, Tribes, rural communities, and cities is under attack.

In a time of questions and uncertainty in Washington, governors around the country will be on the front lines of defense against this president鈥檚 reckless firing of federal workers, massive cuts to services that people rely on, and general chaos. The Trump administration is vigorously defending its actions in court, and if they鈥檙e allowed to stand, the harm will only grow.

When wildfires strike, there will now be fewer federal firefighters to put out the flames. Jobs and livelihoods in the outdoor recreation sector are at risk. Families who plan to visit Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Yellowstone in Wyoming, and other national parks will encounter longer wait times and possibly limited hours.

When folks are looking to gather firewood on national forest lands, they could have a harder time contacting support staff. Veterans who seek solace on our public lands might not have the access they once did. Hunters may notice that their organizations are losing funding, and their hunting grounds slowly disappearing and being sold off to the highest bidder.

I鈥檓 running for Governor of New Mexico because leadership matters.

Governors will need to meet this moment with bold and steady leadership, and I will be a Governor who stands up for New Mexicans and the public lands that we love. While I was Secretary of the Interior, we made tremendous strides to address climate change, expand access to public lands, address drought, and manage resources responsibly. This was all done with clear direction and respect for the workforce tasked with implementing our goals. We tried new things and shot for the moon, and we did it all hand-in-hand with the people most impacted.

We created meaningful change because we were a serious agency led by, frankly, serious people. The Interior was one of the largest agencies in the federal government with nearly 70,000 dedicated employees鈥攑ark rangers, firefighters, climate scientists, biologists, and more. These are the jobs in New Mexico that kids deserve to have when they鈥檙e grown.

As I travel around my home state listening to communities, I鈥檓 hearing time and again that people are afraid. I鈥檝e met federal workers who were worried about their jobs, seniors anxious about Medicare, veterans concerned about VA services, and families worried about their kids鈥� schools. Trump and Elon Musk are striking fear into our communities while failing to deliver the things they promised.

Governors have the obligation to protect our communities. I know I will carry the weight of standing up in the face of these attacks, but it鈥檚 a weight I will happily carry because I believe in a future where we all share in New Mexico鈥檚 bounty and success. It鈥檚 a vision that has sometimes been out of reach, but I believe that with my experience, we can change the system to work for the people.

Similar to the way I changed the system at the Department of the Interior by bringing Tribal Nations and local communities in as active participants in stewarding our lands, I will make that a reality for traditional communities and Tribes in New Mexico. I will also collaborate with other governors who recognize the threats posed by this administration and with the state attorney general to pursue legal routes to fight for the protection of our lands. I hope and expect that governors鈥攁s chief executives of states鈥攚ill work together to share and learn from their successes and find opportunities to pursue new solutions. We must recognize the urgency of this moment and lock arms against these very real threats.

As governor, I will make sure New Mexico鈥檚 state parks are maintained and accessible, and I鈥檒l work to break down barriers to access these treasures. If the national parks and other federal lands in New Mexico suffer further staffing and resource cuts, I will explore ways for the state to step up and provide support to keep federal lands safe and available. I will continue efforts to recruit and hire federal workers who have lost their jobs so that they can continue to share their valuable skills and training.

I鈥檓 running for governor because the experience I gained leading a federal department and working in Congress will help working people. And I will stand alongside all of the governors who will be on the frontlines to protect our beautiful landscapes, outdoor traditions, and natural resources for future generations.

Deb Haaland served as the 54th Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior.

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In college, I brought guys into the forest at night because it was a place where I was less scared than they were. As a woman, dating鈥攐r even just being alone with a man鈥攆elt vulnerable. I wanted to flip the script.

I remember the second time in particular, with a man I really liked. We were a mile deep in the campus arboretum, following a trail through faint moonshadows and then, as the trees grew thicker, into a tunnel of black. My flashlight was dim. He held my arm as I led the way.

Something rustled in the dark to our right.

The man jumped a little, chuckled once, and grabbed my arm with his other hand. He squeezed.

鈥淵ou nervous,鈥� I said.

I sensed, rather than saw, his nod.

鈥淲hat are you scared of?鈥�

鈥淲hat was that?鈥� he said. He meant the rustle. Probably a mouse, I thought, but I didn鈥檛 answer. I imagined what he鈥檇 do if I said the flashlight had burned out. He wouldn鈥檛 panic, at least not outwardly, but his breath would quicken. He鈥檇 stay close; he鈥檇 squeeze my arm tighter. He鈥檇 trust me to lead the way out.

Still in blackness, I stepped back so we weren鈥檛 touching. He didn鈥檛 move. I thought about reaching back toward him, but instead I waited. Counted. One breath. Five, ten. When he still hadn鈥檛 moved or spoken, I stepped back toward him. Took one of his hands, then the other, and rose to my toes for a kiss.

鈥淭hat would never have occurred to me,鈥� he said later, back inside. 鈥淕oing into the woods at night. I just never think of it as an option. I don鈥檛 know how you weren鈥檛 nervous.鈥�

The secret was that I鈥檇 been nervous, too. But unlike him, I was used to it.

As a kid, I dreaded getting home at night because I hated walking in darkness from the car to the front door. I鈥檇 run past the roses and thuja trees by the driveway鈥攆earing that at any moment, hands would reach from the thickets and grab me tight鈥攁nd I didn鈥檛 calm down until I鈥檇 reached the bright artificial light of the entry. In the daytime, I loved being outside; I made passageways in the bushes, and tossed seeds to lure squirrels close. But at night, the yard turned into something different. It became a place I didn鈥檛 understand.

By my late teens, I spent most of my free time outside, bushwhacking through mountainsides and forests with a backpack and a map. I felt that my fear of the woods at night鈥攖hough common, normal鈥攚as one of the last barriers between myself and the wild life I wanted. But the dark wasn鈥檛 dangerous, I told myself. It was just scary. And fear, I hoped, could be fixed. It was with that intention that I tried solo backpacking at 18, laying my sleeping bag on the moss at the edge of a mountain lake called Sick Water, where I planned to spend two days. But I panicked the first night鈥搇ying frozen, eyes open in blackness, barely able to breathe鈥揳nd then hiked five miles home at three in the morning. I climbed into my own bed as the sun was rising, weak with relief.

Later that year, I tried again. It was winter. I skied uphill to the same lake, which was smooth and white, and found an open creek at the edge, barely a foot across and bounded with deep banks. I drank the water by cupping it in my bare hands, though the cold hurt my skin, and then I built a fire for warmth. I鈥檇 brought a book of poems鈥擯rufrock, I think鈥攖o read for distraction, but I never opened the book at all. I didn鈥檛 need it. For some reason, that time I wasn鈥檛 afraid.

In retrospect, I think the cold helped my nerves. Winter鈥檚 always been my comfort. The world quiets; animals sleep. And the snow doesn鈥檛 lie. At times, lying in the darkness, I imagined creatures creeping toward me. But when the sun rose again, I saw from the untouched snow that they had not.

By the way, there was nothing sick about Sick Water. I don鈥檛 know how the lake got its name. It was good fishing, so maybe that鈥檚 why. Some fisherman tried to scare folks away and claim the whole lake for his own.

My husband and I live deep in the Wisconsin woods; we take all our city friends outdoors. It鈥檚 a running joke that we can teach them dogsledding, kayaking, fishing, skiing鈥攁nd when we bring them back to the cabin late, by headlamp, and they鈥檒l say, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I could do that.鈥�

And we say, 鈥淒ogsledding?鈥�

And they say, 鈥淣o, being in the forest at night.鈥�

Why is this fear so universal? I looked up science, studies. I wanted to tell you facts about what we鈥檙e afraid might happen, and how to push through. But I found almost no research at all. Only stories. Fairy tales, myths, legends, warnings. Don鈥檛 go in the woods at night, characters tell each other, or else. Or else what? In the forest, power shifts. We鈥檙e not in charge anymore. We have to face the fact that we never were.

Stories don鈥檛 create our fears; they reflect them back to us, shimmering with layers of unease. One reason humans are scared of the dark woods, wrote scholar Dr. Elizabeth Parker, who studies ecogothic literature, is because we fear nature鈥檚 appetite, even when it pales before our own. In the forest, 鈥渨e fear being eaten: be it by literal predators such as wolves and bears, or by the many monsters that we imagine within it.鈥�

In the dark, in the trees, anything can creep toward you.

You won鈥檛 see it coming.

It will open wide its mouth.

It might consume you, or might just stand there watching.

We鈥檙e scared of the dark woods, Dr. Parker writes, because they hold a secret we鈥檙e not sure we want to know.

Over the years, I have, in fact, been approached by animals at night. One time, alone in a lean-to of sticks in Florida, something huge blackened the night nearby. I imagined it might attack me. I saw from its tracks in the morning that it had been a cow.

In South Africa, I was surrounded by a pack of hyenas for several nights in a row. They circled, barking and grunting, for hours on end. I had no weapons, but I built my fire high. They didn鈥檛 dare enter the light.

Hyenas eat people. Big cats do, too. Some bears. Sharks, I guess, with all those teeth. But the fear of being consumed isn鈥檛 just a fear of dying. It鈥檚 a fear of recalling that you鈥檙e an animal, too, with warm soft flesh like the rest of them. We鈥檙e not afraid of the woods at night because we don鈥檛 belong there. We鈥檙e afraid of them because we do.

It takes practice, time, to accept that. After my stay at Sick Water, I didn鈥檛 spend a night alone outside for several years; I鈥檇 just needed to know that I could. But when I finally did venture out again, it was for weeks straight. I was visiting a Norwegian village, and needed somewhere to stay, so I set up camp in a grove of sparse birch, a few minutes鈥� walk from the nearest road. Each night I lay on my back in my sleeping bag, watching heart-shaped leaves flicker against the sky. That was the Arctic, in summer, so the sun never set. Darkness only came when I closed my eyes.

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These days, nobody seems to dream about becoming a superhero anymore; instead, everybody wants to be a cowboy. Thanks to pop-culture phenomena like the hit TV show Yellowstone and Beyonc茅’s latest country album, cowboy culture has hit the mainstream in a big way. For many folks, the trend represents not just the ranching lifestyle but a celebration of freedom from the mundane. The allure of those ideals has some people rethinking their vacations. Over the past few years, we’ve seen more folks saying goodbye to all-inclusive beaches and saying hello to guided hikes and whiskey tastings in the American West. The result is an influx of tourists to places like Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Bozeman, Montana. But while plenty of people are packing their boots and bandanas for their Western vacays, we鈥檙e impressed most impressed by travelers’ dedication to the crown jewel of the aesthetic: the cowboy hat.

On that note, please meet our new favorite Instagram account: . This is a space committed to capturing the sojourners who are determined to travel in headwear that鈥攚hile perhaps practical for herding cattle across the prairie鈥攊s decidedly impractical for air travel. Such wardrobe choices often leave locals scoffing. “People treat traveling to Bozeman like they鈥檙e headed to an amusement park for their own kind of Yellowstone-themed Halloween party,鈥� one anonymous Montanan told 国产吃瓜黑料. “If聽you鈥檙e gonna pretend to play cowboy in a place where plenty of people still make their living running beef, you鈥檙e gonna get a little guff for it.鈥� Hence, the Bozeman Airport Cowboys Instagram account.

We’re not necessarily knocking the trend: it certainly seems nice to escape reality by pretending to be a cowboy while staying at a Hilton Inn with a nice view. And we fully believe that a good Stetson has the power to transport us from the bleak reality of the everyday to a place where we can dare to dream bigger. So consider this an ode to all you Bozeman Airport Cowboys out there. You do you. And in the meantime, we hope you enjoy this snapshot of Bozeman鈥檚 daily arrivals.

Introducing the Instagram Famous Cowboy Hats:

Let the wedding bells ring. This cowboy is getting hitched and has the hat to match in matrimony.

 

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Protect the rim of the hat at all costs.

 

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Forget the luggage, we鈥檙e carrying on a cowboy hat.

 

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This globetrotter has a hat to match every outfit he packed for his trip.

 

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John Dutton? Is that you?

 

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Today鈥檚 cowboy hats come in all shapes and sizes鈥揺ven hot pink with fur.

 

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Cowboy hats are an accessory for every season. We鈥檒l be sure to see a few hat-and-fur-coat combos at the Big Sky apr猫s.

 

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What’s better than a cowboy hat? A cat in a backpack,聽plus a cowboy hat!

 

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While we鈥檙e not sure these patrons understand聽what it really takes to be a cowboy, they do embody the resilience and drive of what it takes to travel with an accessory as delicate as the cowboy hat.

The post Where the Wild Hats Are: The Viral Account Documenting Bozeman鈥檚 Top Airport Accessory appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.