I’ve been traveling lately. A LOT. So this weekend I stayed close to home, did some easy cragging, climbed until dark, and then camped out to catch the meteor shower. There’s nothing like a little desert mission to remind you why you started working in the outdoor industry in the first place.
The FBI of the National Park Service
A captivating piece by Rachel Monroe, edited by Axie Navas:
The 33 special agents assigned to the Investigative Services Branch handle the most complex crimes committed on NPS land. When a day hike in Rocky Mountain National Park ended in a grisly death, ISB veteran Beth Shott hit the trail, where she began unraveling a harrowing case.
What I’m reading
Chasing the Dirtbag Culinary Dream in 3 Cookbooks: “I was intrigued by a new crop of outdoor cookbooks that are utterly removed from the gorp-hawking, pemmican-stuffed, strictly utilitarian campfire manuals of yore. These gourmet guides feel more like analog Instagram feeds, creating a fantasy of stylish, outdoorsy effortlessness that feels just as important as the food itself. Would I feel a newfound sense of satiety (and dignity) if I learned to cook well in the outdoors? I cracked open a few of these sexy new foodie bibles to find out.” [Shawnté Salabert for Outside]
Olympian Alexi Pappas on Running and Writing Her Greek Heritage: Sitting in the Panathenaic Stadium on a recent trip to Athens, Greece, Olympian Alexi Pappas imagined previous generations of people who, since 1896, have sat in the same seats watching the final moments of the pinnacle Olympic event—the marathon. [Monica Prelle for Marriott Traveler]
A Call for Better Reporting for Female Athletes: I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy who specializes in work with female athletes in Seattle, Washington. Day after day I am confronted with the sad reality that our medical system has created a sense of fragility in women all over the country. Throughout healthcare and the media, we continue to plant harmful seeds that a woman’s body is the source of her problems, pain, or injury, when more and more evidence tells us that this simply is not true. [Dr. Ellie Somers for SISU]
An Open Letter from MEC’s CEO: “We know we’ve been part of the problem, and we’re committed to learning from our mistakes and changing the way we represent the outdoor community. Outside is for everyone. It’s time we acted like it.”
An excellent thread
To remind you that the world isn’t all evil…
Downriver
Heather Hansman’s new book on the future of water in the West is now available for preorder!
The Green River, the most significant tributary of the Colorado River, runs 730 miles from the glaciers of Wyoming to the desert canyons of Utah. Over its course it meanders through ranches, cities, national parks, endangered fish habitats, and some of the most significant natural gas fields in the country, as it provides water for 33 million people. Stopped up by dams, slaked off by irrigation, and dried up by cities, the Green is crucial, overused, and at risk, now more than ever.
