The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), the non-profit organization responsible for preserving and promoting the聽West Coast鈥檚 iconic 2,650-mile trail, announced on Wednesday that it will drastically reduce its planned program of work in 2025. According to a statement on the organization鈥檚 website, the decision is a result of delayed grant funding, which is part of the administration鈥檚 efforts to reduce federal spending.

The PCTA partners with the US Forest Service (USFS) to collaboratively manage the PCT and relies on federal funding, volunteer hours, and fundraising to support trail maintenance and repair projects, the hiring of trail crew leaders, and more. PCTA CEO Megan Wargo wrote in the statement that this week鈥檚 announcements have caused great uncertainty about the organization鈥檚 capacity to support hikers.

Wargo announced that the organization will cancel 56 weeks of planned trail projects in 2025 due to the funding loss. They鈥檒l likely be unable to hire six trail crew leaders, who are responsible for providing trail-building expertise and coordinating volunteer efforts. According to the PCTA, the reduction is equal to 鈥渕ore than one full year鈥檚 worth of trail crew maintenance. 鈥�

鈥淐utting back needed trail maintenance will directly affect the PCT experience this year and in the future, and surely will increase the amount and cost of work we will need to address later,鈥� Wargo wrote in the statement. 鈥淗ikers, equestrians and local trail communities will feel this as they traverse the magnificent lands through which the trail passes.鈥�

, the PCTA historically relies on a $667,000 federal grant each year to fund trail projects, along with funds from the and disaster relief funds. The Chronicle wrote that these sources make up about 48 percent of the PCTA鈥檚 yearly budget and that that money 鈥渂ecame imperiled last month when President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to halt spending. About a week later, the Trump administration withdrew the freeze but said it is withholding federal program funding pending internal reviews.鈥�

The PCTA specified several trail projects that will be eliminated or delayed These include 鈥渄ry masonry work around Donner Summit near Truckee; stone step repairs in Inyo National Forest near Mount Whitney; creek crossing repairs in Sierra National Forest outside Mammoth Lakes, and rehabilitation around Snow Creek Village near the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County.鈥�

鈥淭hose unmaintained spots are going to be hell for hikers,鈥� PCTA Advocacy Director Mark Larabee told the Chronicle.

In the statement on the PCTA鈥檚 website, Wargo called on volunteers to help fill in the gaps left by the funding freeze. She wrote that the organization will continue to lean on volunteer labor and donations to address trail maintenance projects and advocate for the future of the PCT. Wargo also encouraged hikers to contact their senators and representatives to speak up for the PCT and public lands everywhere.

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Canada鈥檚 border authority expanded on its decision to bar Pacific Crest Trail hikers from crossing into the country earlier this week, noting that its new policy mirrors the United States鈥� refusal to permit southbound hikers to begin their hikes by crossing the border into American territory.

In , the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) confirmed it would no longer issue permits for PCT hikers to cross into E.C. Manning Provincial Park at the trail鈥檚 northern terminus, and said that the change would 鈥渇acilitate monitoring of compliance of trail users鈥� as well as increase security at the border. In addition, the agency noted that the move 鈥渁ligns with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) who does not allow travellers to enter the U.S. from Canada on the trail.鈥�

Northbound thru-hikers will now need to end their trips by backtracking to the nearest road crossing at Harts Pass, roughly 30 miles away; those who still wish to hike the extension of the trail into Canada will then need to travel to the nearest border crossings at Osoyoos or Abbotsford, both of which are roughly 60 straight-line miles from the trail.

In a blog post, the called the announcement 鈥渄isappointing,鈥� but acknowledged the CBSA鈥檚 points, including that the new policy mirrors one that the U.S. has long held.

鈥淗ikers and equestrians should turn around after reaching the Northern Terminus,鈥� the group wrote. 鈥淲e ask that everyone travels with the utmost respect for nature by practicing gold standard Leave No Trace practices. This area will experience increased use now that more people are traveling this section of the PCT twice.鈥�

The change comes at a tense time for U.S.-Canada relations, as on imports from it and Mexico on February 1 if the two countries don鈥檛 take steps to deter unauthorized crossings. This week, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police unveiled a new fleet of leased Black Hawk helicopters that it is using to step up enforcement along the border.

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On a brisk weekday in October 2023, three sewing machines hummed while experimental indie pop played quietly inside a warehouse near the airport in Missoula, Montana. Three sewers had their heads down, assembling eggplant-colored jumpsuits, as Mallory Ottariano, the 34-year-old founder of the women鈥檚 outdoor clothing brand , squinted into a dizzying spreadsheet. The Youniverse鈥攚hat Ottariano, a queen of puns, calls the factory she opened just eight months earlier鈥攕melled like the sugary candle that had been burning that morning, and soon it would be fragrant with garlic.

鈥淲hat kind of pizza do you guys like? Or not like?鈥� Ottariano shouted from the lofted office that a handy friend helped her build. Staring at numbers was making her hungry.

鈥淣o olives!鈥� one of the sewers shouted between stitches.

鈥淎ny meat?鈥� Ottariano asked.

鈥淚 like pepperoni,鈥� said another.

You couldn鈥檛 tell from the employees鈥� nonchalance, but Youer was in the middle of its latest supply-chain crisis. Actually, two. First, it couldn鈥檛 find a specific purple thread in all of the U.S. to sew together 300 pairs of leggings, 30 of which had already sold to customers eagerly awaiting their arrival. Any other color would look weird, and dyeing was too expensive. Second, inventory slated to be ready in a month for a Black Friday drop wasn鈥檛 even underway at a contract factory in Los Angeles, California. Unless Ottariano found a fix fast, Youer鈥檚 customers would be disappointed, if not angry.

Since Ottariano started out back in 2012 with a $100 sewing machine from eBay, her brand has amassed a fanatical following among active women. Signature garments like the best-selling ($179) and stretchy ($94) sell out quickly. The vibrant prints are hand-designed and cheekily named by Ottariano, like a floral pattern called OK Bloomer.

Prodded about her stress levels, Ottariano shrugged as if to say, What鈥檚 new?聽After all she鈥檚 been through鈥攊ncluding contemplating bankruptcy following losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to unreliable factories in 2020鈥攏ot many setbacks phase her anymore.

鈥淚鈥檝e proven to myself that we can figure it out,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not really fun, but I think that鈥檚 just the reality of business. If I want to stay in this industry, that鈥檚 going to happen all the damn time.鈥�

It鈥檚 especially the reality for small outdoor businesses like Youer that have chosen to manufacture domestically despite countless challenges such as higher costs, fewer resources, more regulation, and now potential new tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump on U.S. imports from China, Canada, and Mexico.

These obstacles pose such a threat to small businesses that doubt lingers: Is having more control, greater transparency, and better ethics by manufacturing in the U.S. worth it? And do American consumers care enough about those things to keep the few American-made gear brands alive?

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Barely two weeks into his second presidential term, Donald Trump has already dramatically changed the policies governing public lands, outdoor recreation, and the environment.

On Monday, January 20, Trump renamed the country鈥檚 highest peak, 20,310-foot Denali, to Mount McKinley, replacing the indigenous title with that of the 25th president of the United States. The same day, Trump the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the 2016 international treaty to battle climate change. He on oil and gas leasing within the state鈥檚 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He requiring the National Marine Fisheries, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin pumping water from California鈥檚 San Joaquin Delta across the state鈥攁 move that could jeopardize endangered fish. And Trump announced a , which has a within the National Park Service.

These moves echo ones that Trump made during his first presidential term: like the controversial downsizing of Utah鈥檚 Bear鈥檚 Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by almost a million acres apiece and the different climate, water, and wildlife protections.

But critics may forget that, during his first term, Trump also signed into law a pair of very significant conservation bills. In 2019, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act created 1.3 million acres of Wilderness and ten new Wild and Scenic River segments. It also increased the size of three national parks. Then in 2020, Trump encouraged the passage of the , which funneled $9.5 billion towards the infamous National Park Service (NPS) maintenance backlog. It permanently allocated $900 million annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the nation鈥檚 single largest source of outdoor recreation infrastructure funding.

What will the second Trump administration mean for public lands, the environment, and outdoor recreation? Nobody knows for sure. But we鈥檝e taken a look at the decisions Trump has already made, what he鈥檚 said he鈥檒l do, and a wish-list created by personnel from the previous administration, to make an educated analysis.

Hiring Personnel Who Appreciate Outdoor Rec and Industry

One of the former president鈥檚 first personnel nominees for his upcoming administration was North Dakota governor Doug Burgum to lead the Department of the Interior. The agency controls some 500 million acres of public land and oversees the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Critics have labeled Burgum a champion of the oil and gas industry, having led the state with the third-largest oil production and publicly criticized the Biden administration鈥檚 efforts to . At the same time, Burgum is himself an avid horseman, hunter, skier, and hiker and has been a booster of outdoor recreation in North Dakota, creating the state鈥檚 Office of Outdoor Recreation and allocating $1.2 million in grants for trail building.

Trump is also expected to name Burgum the administration鈥檚 energy czar, following through on his campaign promises to increase oil and gas production as a way to curb energy costs. Burgum鈥檚 nomination drew praise from the energy and mining sector. 鈥淗e recognizes that affordable and reliable energy along with American mineral production are critical to growing our nation鈥檚 economy,鈥� Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association told .

Conservatives argue that increased mining and domestic fossil fuel production could spur economic activity, but conservationists are bracing for the environmental blow. 鈥淧ublic lands are beloved and vitally important to people in this country. The first Trump administration treated these places like they鈥檙e meant to be dug up, drilled, or sold off for profit,鈥� David Seabrook, interim president of the Wilderness Society, said in a press release.

Despite Burgum鈥檚 alignment with the oil and gas industry, other sources within the outdoor recreation community told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the North Dakota governor represents a best-case-scenario nominee from the Republican administration. “Governor Burgum has shown a commitment to supporting outdoor recreation as an economic driver and a meaningful way to connect communities,鈥� said Jessica Turner, president of outdoor recreation trade association Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, in a press release. 鈥淎s an avid outdoorsman, we are hopeful that the governor鈥檚 long-time admiration of Teddy Roosevelt and deep understanding of business will help support and grow the recreation economy.鈥�

According to Cody Schulz, director of North Dakota Parks and Recreation, which oversees the state鈥檚 new office of outdoor recreation, Governor Burgum is 鈥渁n incredibly curious and collaborative leader who encourages his personnel to make decisions based on data.鈥�

Schulz says that Burgum鈥檚 efforts to improve outdoor recreation in North Dakota stem from his own passion for the outdoors, and from an understanding that the industry can be an important economic driver. 鈥淐onservation and outdoor recreation infrastructure draws both visitors and new residents to North Dakota,鈥� he says.

Burgum鈥檚 data-driven approach offers a ray of hope for fans of the Bureau of Land Management鈥檚 new Public Lands Rule, which considers recreation on equal footing with extractive industries like grazing and oil and gas when making land use decisions.

Moving the BLM Back to Colorado

In 2019, the Trump administration relocated the agency鈥檚 headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado. The relocation was touted as a practical move to get managers closer to the lands they managed and seen as a way to attract workers who may not have been able to afford D.C. ‘s notoriously expensive cost of living.

Eventually, the BLM鈥檚 headquarters was returned to D.C. by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2021. According to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report, collapsing the D.C. office drove out the agency鈥檚 most experienced employees and the number of vacancies. Out of 176 staff told to relocate, only 41 accepted their reassignments and the rest left their positions.

Tracy Stone-Manning, who was appointed by Biden in 2021 to lead the BLM, called the move 鈥渨ildly disruptive,鈥� in a . 鈥淚t鈥檚 years of opportunity cost when we could and should be focused on the work of the bureau, for public lands and the American people, and we had to instead focus on rebuilding the bureau,鈥� Stone-Manning said.

Lawmakers in Colorado, , have said that they support moving the BLM headquarters back to Grand Junction.

Taking Aim at Environmental Policy

The downsizing of Bear鈥檚 Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments was one of the former president鈥檚 most high-profile decisions on public land. While the cuts were reversed by the Biden administration, it鈥檚 possible that Trump will again shrink the monuments. Utah Republican Representative John Curtis told The Salt Lake Tribune he .

The first Trump administration championed mineral extraction and land development as a way to pump revenue into local economies and return power over protected lands to states. The administration also weakened several bedrock environmental laws. Probably most significant were alterations to protections afforded by the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

In 2017, Trump鈥檚 EPA , which afforded protections to seasonal wetlands and streams, particularly prevalent in the arid, but recreation-rich western United States. Then in 2019, the administration changed the Endangered Species Act,聽removing protections for threatened species and making it more difficult to add additional species to the list. Agencies would also be allowed to conduct economic assessments when deciding whether a species warrants protection.

More subtle, but arguably more problematic, was the weakening of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), the law that requires an environmental review and public comment period for every major project. It鈥檚 used on everything from major timber sales to ski resort development.

Jon Jarvis, director of the Park Service under President Barack Obama, said NEPA helped guide multiple policies during his time with the NPS, from the relocation of wolves to Yellowstone, to the altering traffic flow in Yosemite. 鈥淪unlight is a great disinfectant, and many of these agency plans would now be done in the dark,鈥� Jarvis told 国产吃瓜黑料.

Trump鈥檚 Interior Department made several other controversial moves during his first administration that directly impacted outdoor recreation. In 2017, the department made a unilateral decision to increase admission prices during peak seasons at the nation鈥檚 most popular national parks from $30 to $70. There was so much furor about the decision that the administration canceled those plans five months later.

Then in 2020, the department issued an order that allowed for e-bike use on any federal trail where regular bikes were allowed. Cycling advocates and at least one advocacy group applauded the decision that would allow better access for cyclists who rely on e-bikes. 鈥淭he Secretarial Order will help get public lands visitors out of their cars and beyond congested visitor centers and parking lots,鈥� wrote the cycling advocacy group People For Bikes at the time. More than 50 other recreation groups, however, formally objected to the policy, saying that the decision had been made without any study on its impact on wildlife and visitor safety.

This year, the Park Service ruled that it would make decisions on up to individual park units on a 鈥渃ase-by-case basis.鈥�

Creating Fewer National Monuments

Some Western conservatives would like to see the administration spearhead an effort to repeal or weaken the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows a president to create new national monuments. The law has been used in some 300 instances by presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to George W. Bush to protect millions of acres of federal land. Some of the nation鈥檚 most popular national parks began as monuments, including the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, and Grand Teton.

Only Congress can repeal a law in the United States, so abolishing the Antiquities Act would require a majority of both houses to want it gone. Given pro-monument public sentiment, that seems like a long shot.

More likely is a severe weakening of the law through the Supreme Court. Published in April 2022 by the conservative think tank The Heritage Project, the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, known colloquially as 鈥淧roject 2025,鈥� outlines the steps such an effort might take. The document calls for a 鈥渄ownward adjustment鈥� of the nation鈥檚 national monuments, and then directs the republican President to 鈥渧igorously defend the downward adjustments it makes to permit a ruling on a President鈥檚 authority to reduce the size of national monuments by the U.S. Supreme Court.鈥�

Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the document. But authors of Project 2025 have noted that other prominent conservatives support weakening the Antiquities Act. In 2021 Chief Justice Roberts signaled that he is looking for a case whose verdict could be used to curtail the ability of presidents to create large monuments.

It may also mean the loss of a Biden-era protections like a 10-mile oil exploration moratorium placed around New Mexico鈥檚 Chaco Canyon National Historical Park to help protect Native American antiquities, and one on 221,898 acres of Forest Service and BLM land on Colorado鈥檚 Thompson Divide, just northwest of Crested Butte. The latter was the result of years of work by an unlikely coalition of ranchers, hunters, anglers, mountain bikers, off-road vehicle users, and environmentalists to protect the habitat of elk, bear, deer, moose, mountain lion, and a pair of endangered species: Colorado River cutthroat trout and Canadian lynx. The Project 2025 document specifically targets both protections.

Also on the chopping block may be Biden鈥檚 public land order to Minnesota鈥檚 Boundary Waters Canoe Area for 20 years. The decades-long fight over proposed copper and nickel mines adjacent to the wilderness area was seemingly settled in 2023 with the order. At issue were concerns that mine waste would flow directly down the Kawishiwi River into the waterways of the nation鈥檚 most-visited Wilderness Area (some 165,000 visitors annually.) Project 2025 calls for that order to be reversed despite recent polling that shows 69 percent of Minnesota for the Boundary Waters.

All of these potential rollbacks fly in the face of what many Americans want, says Jenny Rowland-Shea, director of public lands for The Center for American Progress, a progressive research and advocacy group. She cites a , which found that 78 percent of Western voters want more emphasis on conserving wildlife migration routes, providing highway crossings, and limiting more development to protect wildlife habitats. According to the study, just 20 percent of voters want more emphasis on economically productive uses of land such as new development, roads, ranching, or oil and gas production.

鈥淭he United States is actually producing record amounts of oil right now,鈥� she says.

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Molli Myers was pregnant with her firstborn when the salmon began to die. It was 2002, during the depths of a yearslong drought, and farmers far upstream of her community on the Yurok reservation in Northern California had pressured the George W. Bush administration to divert water from the Klamath River in Oregon to irrigate their fields. Water temperatures rose as the river slowed through the summer, and in September, Chinook salmon returning to spawn began to die, littering the banks with as many as 70,000 carcasses.

Two years later, with her young son in her lap, Myers testified in Orleans, California, before a panel of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission officials charged with renewing the operating licenses of four hydroelectric dams that had contributed to the fish kill. None of the panelists looked her in the eye as she described the structures as an existential threat to the river and the salmon that have sustained her Karuk people since time immemorial.

When the meeting ended, Myers joined a handful of Native people and friends around a bonfire by the river in Orleans to lick their wounds and vent their anger. 鈥淭hat was when we made the decision to dedicate ourselves to dam removal,鈥� Myers recalls. 鈥淎nd that has been our lives.鈥�

The Klamath River flows 263 miles from southern Oregon to far Northern California, through ancestral lands of the Klamath, Karuk, Hupa, Shasta, and Yurok, whose traditions and way of life grew around the river and the abundance it provided. The Klamath once teemed with salmon, but the dams, built between 1918 and 1964 without consulting the tribes, blocked the fish from critical spawning habitat on the upper river and its tributaries. The dams provided no drinking water and almost no flood control. Toxic algae bloomed in their reservoirs, and they accounted for less than 2 percent of the electricity generated by their owner, PacifiCorp. Still, taking them down would involve the largest dam-removal project in American history. The tribes would accept nothing less.

They organized protests at PacifiCorp鈥檚 Oregon headquarters, then traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, to lobby the utility鈥檚 parent company, Scottish Power, which proceeded to sell PacifiCorp in 2006. The new owner was Berkshire Hathaway Energy, controlled by Warren Buffett, then the planet鈥檚 wealthiest man.

The coalition shifted their protests to Omaha, Nebraska, where Berkshire Hathaway鈥檚 annual shareholders meeting packs a 19,000-seat arena. In 2008, 23-year-old Karuk tribal member Chook-Chook Hillman waited in line all night, then sprinted for a microphone and the chance to question Buffett directly. As Hillman introduced himself in the Karuk language, a stunned hush fell over the crowd. Switching to English, he demanded Buffett sign an agreement to remove the dams as Georgiana Myers and Annelia Hillman of the Yurok tribe unfurled a banner proclaiming: BUFFETT鈥橲 KLAMATH DAMS = CULTURAL GENOCIDE.

鈥淭he world鈥檚 richest man doesn鈥檛 faze me at all, because in our culture I鈥檓 just as equal as any other being on the planet,鈥� Chook-Chook Hillman recalls. 鈥淚 got my moment and I took full advantage of it.鈥� After two other Klamath River defenders spoke up, Buffett announced that he wouldn鈥檛 take any more questions about the dams, and security hustled the remaining activists out of the queue.

The protesters had made their point and could now engage Buffett鈥檚 people in a language they understood: the cost of adding fish ladders and bringing the dams up to spec for relicensing was more than it would cost to tear them down鈥攁nd more than they鈥檇 ever earn back. The smart play for PacifiCorp was to walk away. Over the next 16 years, without easing the threat of direct action, the tribes worked with environmentalists, irrigators, commercial fishers, state and federal governments, and PacifiCorp itself to help the utility company do just that.

In 2010, nearly 50 parties signed a dam-removal settlement and an environmental-restoration agreement, only to watch them both die in Congress five years later. The tribes then took the lead in new talks, negotiating an amended agreement that didn鈥檛 require congressional approval. The accord formed the nonprofit Klamath River Renewal Corporation to manage the project, with the state of California contributing $250 million in dam-removal and remediation costs and PacifiCorp rate-payers covering the remaining $200 million.

The last major hurdle was approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency Molli Myers had testified to decades ago. In November 2022, as officials met in Washington, D.C., Myers joined friends by the river in Orleans, gathering around a Starlink connection to share the historic moment with their children, now grown, who鈥檇 witnessed the dam-removal fight their entire lives, and elders who thought they would never live to see it succeed. 鈥淲e built a bonfire,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e pulled out all of our old banners from over the years, and we celebrated.鈥�

Dam removal began the following spring and continued in earnest this year. The largest of the four structures, Iron Gate, stood 173 feet tall and 740 feet long. In May, excavators began reducing the earthen formation scoop by scoop, loading the soil into oversize trucks that would return it to the pit it was taken from decades ago. The same day, crews of young people walked the steep embankments, spreading native seeds as part of a habitat-restoration effort that will go on for years. By August, all four dams were gone, freeing the river to carry on the work of healing itself, and providing migrating salmon a clear route upstream for the first time in more than a century.

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It鈥檚 a pleasantly warm afternoon in Azerbaijan, a former soviet republic sandwiched between Russia and Iran, and the tank crewmen of the Qubadli regional Border Detachment are hosting a party. For hours they鈥檝e been working to raise a wedding-style tent and set a dozen tables with cartons of fruit nectar, bowls of nuts, and plates of pale pink meats. The Azerbaijanis have been fighting off and on for more than 30 years with Armenia, another ex-Soviet state a grenade toss to the west, but tonight the war can wait.

Around 5 P.M., 14 shiny Nissan Pathfinders, Toyota Land Cruisers, and Mitsubishi Pajeros come racing into the encampment behind a military-police escort vehicle鈥攁 boxy Russian-built Lada鈥攚ith lights flashing and engine whining. The SUVs file into a gravel parking area that was scratched out of the scrubland. Dozens of the detachment鈥檚 T-72 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles sit silently nearby like insects ready to sting.

The dust settles and about 30 civilians from more than 20 countries step from the cars, stretch their legs, and look around in wonder. Some are doctors. Some are vagabonds. All of them are here to see one of the world鈥檚 most contentious enclaves.

The detachment base sits on the fringes of Nagorno-Karabakh, a 2,700-square-mile patch of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains nestled inside Azerbaijan but historically home to a lot of ethnic Armenians, too. The two have been at each other鈥檚 throats for generations over this region, with thousands of lives lost. In the past four years, Azerbaijan has reclaimed the besieged area, and more than 100,000 Armenians fled back to Armenia. While the conflict appears to be over for now, there are remnants of the war everywhere: step off the road and a land mine might do you in.

A muscular, jovial colonel with thin, graying hair and slate-colored eyes comes forward in his battle dress. The tank crews stand at attention in navy blue boiler suits. His name is Murad, but that鈥檚 all he can say. A patch on his chest reads O (I) RH+, which is his blood type.

鈥淲elcome! Welcome!鈥� the colonel says to the guests. 鈥淲e鈥檙e so honored you are here.鈥�

The leader of the visiting guests, Charles Veley, a 58-year-old from Marin County, California, steps forward from a white Mitsubishi that I鈥檝e been riding in, too. 鈥淭hank you for having us,鈥� Veley replies. 鈥淚 hear you have a surprise.鈥�

鈥淵es, yes,鈥� the colonel says. 鈥淚 hope you enjoy.鈥�

What鈥檚 no surprise is that Veley, who has a boyish grin and a neutral, even way of speaking, is here. That鈥檚 because he is, according to a system he created, America鈥檚 most traveled person, a wanderer who has visited more of the planet than almost any known human in history. Fewer than ten people have seen more of the globe than he has.

To quantify that, there are lists. The most straightforward one comes from the United Nations, which affirms that there are 195 countries in existence, including places like Palestine and the Holy See. Federal Express says that it delivers to more than 220 countries and territories. The list that Veley compiled, and that thousands of other extreme travelers recognize, tops out at more than 1,500 distinct places that are currently possible for one to visit. It includes countries, regions, enclaves, atolls, both poles, and at least one small, sheer-cliffed islet in the middle of the ocean. Russia isn鈥檛 just 鈥淩ussia,鈥� but 86 discrete stops. The United Kingdom has 30 stops, including islands like Herm and Sark. To see the United States, you must travel to 79 places that stretch from the Florida Keys to the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.

鈥淐harles isn鈥檛 an adventure seeker but a knowledge seeker,鈥� his friend Kolja Sp枚ri, the German founder of the Extreme Traveler International Congress, a yearly gathering of the world鈥檚 most obsessive travelers that鈥檚 been held in such places as Baghdad, Equatorial Guinea, and Siberia, told me. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the spiritual father of all country collectors,鈥� he added in a blog post.

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Well, folks, it鈥檚 election season again. Between that, , the war, the other war, climate change, and the rising cost of your favorite breakfast cereal, it sometimes feels like we鈥檙e all just a hair-trigger away from absolutely losing it. We鈥檝e all tried doomscrolling. Some of us have even dabbled in worse coping mechanisms, like drinking heavily or . But none of that worked, either. So, what鈥檚 left? How can you shake the existential stress?

Sure, you could walk it out, or meditate, or lament the evils of this world to an expensive therapist. But sometimes, there鈥檚 only one cure for the bottled-up panic that lives rent-free inside you. And that鈥檚 to step up to the edge of the void, and scream into it.

To help you on your quest, we鈥檝e compiled this handy list of our favorite cliffs, canyons, and chasms鈥攁ll places with plenty of vast, cold, emptiness to ugly-cry into. Pick your favorite and let it all out.

North Rim Trail, Black Canyon of the Gunnison

If we got word that the gates of hell had opened up somewhere in the Western U.S., the is the first place we鈥檇 look. Don鈥檛 get us wrong鈥攖his national park is a gorgeous swath of wilderness and a world-class hotspot for climbers, campers, and fly-fishers alike鈥攂ut it鈥檚 also a massive, black gash in the earth. The dark granite walls plunge more than 2,000 feet deep, and at its narrowest point, the canyon is a mere quarter-mile wide. The place feels ancient and solemn. And with far less visitation than the Grand Canyon, it also has an intimate feel that鈥檚 conducive to a nice, relaxing mental breakdown. This is a chasm that cares about your problems. Or, at the very least, it鈥檒l put on a good show of listening. We recommend the 2.9-mile round-trip hike along the . Start from the North Rim Visitor Center and end at the aptly named Exclamation Point, a perfect, vertigo-inducing overlook.

Hanging Rock Trail, Hanging Rock State Park

Hanging Rock is one of North Carolina鈥檚 most popular hikes, thanks to its namesake cliff, which hangs over the edge of a plunging valley like Pride Rock in the Lion King. We recommend doing the 3.6-mile hike on a foggy day. On some fall mornings, when mist settles into the hollows between the mountains, the rolling green carpet of Appalachian forest disappears. All that remains is a shard of rock jutting out into cold, white nothingness. Socked in, you鈥檒l finally feel fully and completely alone. Dig deep, embrace it, and scream yourself hoarse at will.

Pacific Valley Bluff Trail, California

If you need an emotional release ASAP, this short trail will have you at the edge of the vast Pacific in under a mile. The trail, which starts alongside Highway 1, lines a series of steep cliffs and promontories that butt right up against the crashing sea foam far below. Head west from the trailhead, then follow the northern spur until its end. On a windy day, you鈥檒l be able to feel your hair whipping around your face as you gaze into the blue beyond, which adds a nice dramatic effect to any nervous break.

Shovel Point Trail, Tettegouche State Park

Minnesota鈥檚 Tettegouche State Park is home to sheer rhyolite cliffs that rise straight out of the steely waters of Lake Superior. You could target Palisade Head, which sits at the southern tip of the park and is home to the tallest cliffs, but then you鈥檇 have to do your screaming from a parking lot filled with smiling tourists. Instead, we recommend Shovel Point, a popular that traces a 200-foot-high cliff band high above the water. Go during shoulder season, when you鈥檙e more likely to encounter moody weather. This is also the best time of year if you鈥檙e worried about feeling your feelings in front of an audience; the young families tend to clear out come fall, giving way to RV-driving retirees who probably could relate.

Horseshoe Mesa Trail, Grand Canyon National Park

When it comes to , there鈥檚 no place that does it better than the Grand Canyon. This is America鈥檚 foremost chasm鈥攐ur very best void鈥攁nd we鈥檇 be remiss not to include it on this list. To escape the majority of the crowds, head to the Grandview Trailhead and hike , a two-pronged promontory that juts into the Big Ditch. The hike ends at an overlook at the mesa鈥檚 eastern tip. Downside: You鈥檙e not likely to have it entirely to yourself. Upside: Its position and exposure make it ideal for a cathartic lung-busting scream sesh. When you鈥檝e had your fill of wailing and gnashing of teeth, give your fellow hikers a polite nod, and turn to trudge back the way you came.

Endless Wall Trail, New River Gorge National Park And Preserve

The New River Gorge also does a great riff on the chasm theme. While this one鈥檚 not quite as deep as the Grand Canyon or Black Canyon, it still provides a number of dizzyingly steep cliffs that gaze out over empty space. We particularly like the 4.8-mile out-and-back along the . Not only is the name appropriately theatrical and existential, but the hike itself also traces a sheer cliff edge. The views across the gorge are some of the most dramatic in the park, and the plentiful tree cover provides just a touch of privacy in case you need to let out a little sob or two.

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The U.S. Forest Service is a federal agency that manages 193 million acres of land, an area about the size of Texas. Next year, the agency will have to manage that land without its seasonal workforce. In September, that it would be suspending all seasonal hiring for the 2025 season, a decision that will cut about 2,400 jobs. Nearly all of those positions are field-based jobs, ranging from biologists and timber workers to trail technicians and recreation staff. In addition, the agency is freezing all external hiring for permanent positions. The only exception to the hiring freeze are the roughly 11,300 firefighters hired by the agency every year.

According to the agency and its partners, the effects of these staffing cuts will be far-ranging and severe. In the September 17 all-employee call where he announced the hiring freeze, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said 鈥淲e just can鈥檛 get the same work done with fewer employees.鈥� Though the Forest Service has been shedding jobs for decades鈥攁bout 8,000 jobs in the last 20 years, Moore said鈥攖his will be the largest single-year staff cut in recent memory.

Seasonal employees perform vital fieldwork and research that extends beyond what many Americans consider the jurisdiction of the Forest Service. Rangers patrol whitewater rivers, rock climbing crags, and dangerous alpine summits. Biologists staff critical salmon fisheries. and clean camp latrines. Employees of all types chip in as emergency firefighters when required. According to the American Avalanche Association, the staff cuts could leave some avalanche centers, which rely on the Forest Service for funding, understaffed this winter.

And then there are trails. According to the Government Accountability Office, the Forest Service has had a maintenance backlog for more than a decade, and oversees more miles of trail than it can maintain. Cutting the majority of its field-going trail staff will only make the issue worse.

鈥淭his policy will result in a burgeoning of the , both through lack of Forest Service staff attention to trail maintenance, but also through the loss of connection and relationships with partner organizations,鈥� Mike Passo, the executive director of American Trails, a non-profit Forest Service partner, said in an email.

Backpacker spoke to , most on condition of anonymity, about their experiences with the staffing cuts. Several expressed concern that trail crews would simply be unable to operate. They described crews of six seasonal employees disappearing, leaving one or two permanent crew leaders left trying to make things work. One intern in the National Pathways program, designed to automatically place successful interns into a full-time position with the agency, said she鈥檚 been told her job offer will likely be revoked. Other trail workers at conservation corps and non-profits who saw Forest Service positions as a step up the career ladder are rethinking their priorities.

Danica Mooney-Jones, a trail crew leader who鈥檚 been with the Forest Service since 2021, is among those out of a job next year. Where she works, the trail crew staff will go from five to two, and the broader recreation program is being cut from 13 employees to just four.

鈥淚 moved across the country to work here, for a seasonal job,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e have people who have worked here for 10 years as seasonals, and made a career out of these positions. They trusted that the jobs wouldn鈥檛 go away.鈥�

Now, she and her former co-workers have a tough choice to make: leave their communities to find a job in trails somewhere else, or stay put and find a new career. Mooney Jones considers herself lucky; armed with , she found a local winter job as a ski patroller. Still, the idea of leaving the Forest Service behind for good is sobering.

鈥淚鈥檇 be really sad if this was the end of my trail career,鈥� says Mooney-Jones. 鈥淚 really love doing the work, I love seeing the product, and I鈥檓 very proud of the work that we do.鈥�

Trail maintenance is important every season, but 2025 may prove an especially difficult year to cut down on the workers who make it happen. After Hurricane Helene, southern portions of the Appalachian Trail are closed due to blowdowns, landslides, and washed out bridges. According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, there are more than 2,000 trees to clear from the AT in Tennessee alone, and many Forest Service access roads from Georgia to Virginia are closed due to erosion and rockfall.

That鈥檚 just on the AT鈥攁 popular long-distance trail supported by a non-profit organization and hundreds of trained volunteers. Elsewhere in the southern US, lesser-known trails face similar conditions but rely solely on Forest Service staff in order to re-open.

The cuts also left employees and partners wondering how the budget shortfall became so dire after several promising years of funding increases.

In 2021, the Biden administration mandated a $15 per hour minimum wage for all federal employees, which raised wages for some entry-level Forest Service jobs. Over the past several years, the agency also converted about 1,300 seasonal non-fire positions into permanent jobs. , who now make up about half of the Forest Service鈥檚 workforce, received bonuses of up to $20,000 per year, which were temporarily funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. Several Forest Service employees said there was hope that pay raises for firefighters would eventually translate into raises for other field-going employees, as well.

But those short-term gains have all but disappeared, replaced by a sudden budget shortfall.

In March, the Forest Service requested $8.9 billion in funding, a $500 million jump from 2024鈥檚 $8.37 billion. By the summer, it was clear the agency was unlikely to receive it. In August, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore released a statement preparing the USFS for a reduced budget. With little evidence that Congress would pass a bill funding the government by the end of the year, Moore said in the September 17 all-employee call that 鈥淸the Forest Service] has an obligation to plan for the most conservative funding possibility.鈥� A week later, Congress passed a continuing resolution that extended the 2024 funding levels through December 20.

The lowest number Moore referred to comes from the proposal from the House Interior Appropriations Committee, which sets spending limits for all federal land management agencies, including the Forest Service and National Park Service. This year鈥檚 proposal includes $8.43 billion for the Forest Service鈥攖echnically a modest increase compared to 2024. But last year鈥檚 budget was boosted by an additional $945 million through pandemic-era stimulus bills, a funding source that has since dried up. And while the House proposal fully funds the firefighter pay raises, the proposed budget would still necessitate cuts elsewhere at the agency. All of these details muddy the financial picture, but compared to total funding in 2024, the agency could face a budget hole of nearly a billion dollars next year.

Because the Forest Service鈥檚 budget for next year is still not finalized, there is a chance the agency will fill some seasonal positions in the near future. 鈥淲e are working closely with individual partners to explore creative solutions to fill gaps where we can. And we hope to have more hiring options in the coming year if additional funding becomes available,鈥� Scott Owen, national press officer for the Forest Service, wrote in an email.

Even with these sobering financial details, it鈥檚 clear that the agency鈥檚 decision to balance the books by cutting seasonal jobs came as a shock to many employees.

鈥淢y trust has definitely taken a hit,鈥� says Mooney-Jones. 鈥淚鈥檇 consider coming back to the Forest Service, but I鈥檓 not sure I could. It鈥檚 a balancing act between how I feel about how we鈥檝e been treated and how much I love the forest.鈥�

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Caroline Gleich was 55 miles into the 65-mile trek to base camp on Pakistan鈥檚 Gasherbrum II when she started to feel queasy. It was July 2022, and temperatures were in the triple digits. A few minutes later she threw up. The 38-year-old ski mountaineer felt weak and dizzy. Over the next three hours she vomited 30 times.

After a few rough days, she and her husband, 43-year-old realtor Rob Lea, finally made it to base camp at 16,900 feet. This was just the first part of their journey: they hoped to ski from the peak鈥檚 26,362-foot summit, a longstanding shared dream. Then, just as Gleich started to recover, Lea got sick. They languished in their tent for a week, feeling miserable, before calling off the expedition. They鈥檇 paid the money, invested the time, flown across the world, and bailed before they even laid eyes on the mountain.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to put your goals out there and to fail,鈥� Gleich .

For an athlete like Gleich, part of an alpine objective鈥檚 allure is that there鈥檚 no guarantee of success. The whole point is to do something hard鈥攍ike climb Mount Everest, which she did in 2019 (with a torn ACL, no less). This particular ethos might help explain why Gleich is running as a Democrat for a U.S. Senate seat in deep-red Utah, a state that has exclusively sent Republicans to the Senate since 1977 and has never elected a woman to the post.

鈥淗ow many people are so stuck on trying to ensure success that they don鈥檛 even show up to the start line?鈥� Gleich says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e definitely not going to win if you don鈥檛 show up.鈥�

Gleich鈥檚 ski career really took off in 2017, when she became the first woman to ski all 90 lines in The Chuting Gallery, a steep skiing guidebook that chronicles the most coveted, difficult descents in Utah鈥檚 Wasatch Mountains. Then, in 2018, she climbed and skied 26,906-foot Cho Oyu, the world鈥檚 sixth-highest peak, and solidified her reputation as a talented high-altitude mountaineer. She has appeared on the covers of Powder, SKI, and Backcountry, picked up sponsors like Patagonia, Clif Bar, Leki, and Julbo, and gone on expeditions in Peru, Ecuador, Alaska, Antarctica, the Himalaya, and the Karakoram.

She is also no stranger to Sisyphean political tasks. She has spent much of her professional ski career moonlighting as an environmental activist. As soon as she built an online audience for her skiing鈥攕he has 鈥攕he started using that platform to advocate for protecting public lands and taking action on climate change.

For the past decade, she has gone to Capitol Hill every year to lobby with organizations like Protect Our Winters, Heal Utah, the Access Fund, and the American Alpine Club. She , at a hearing about the climate crisis; spoke at rallies to save the Great Salt Lake; and at the Colorado State Capitol. In 2022, she was to meet President Biden and Vice President Harris and to celebrate the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. She also hosts a podcast, The Caroline Gleich Show, where she talks to guests about topics like , , and . (Editor鈥檚 note: The author works as a video contractor for Protect Our Winters.)

Normally, to win an election in Utah, a politician needs to have certain attributes. They tend to be male, Republican, have the backing of large political-action committees, and belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Gleich is not any of those things. Current gives her a less than 1 percent chance of beating her opponent, Representative John Curtis (who has served in the House since 2017 and does check all those boxes). In 2018, it to win a Senate seat. As of this writing, the Curtis campaign to Gleich鈥檚 $665,000.

鈥淚 have always been an underdog for my entire life,鈥� Gleich announcing her candidacy. 鈥淲hen I told people about my dreams of climbing and skiing the biggest mountains in the world they told me, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e too small and delicate, you鈥檙e not strong enough, you don鈥檛 look like a mountaineer,鈥� so I鈥檓 used to doing what people tell me is impossible.鈥�

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