We Cover Current Events

Dear readers,

On November 5, last year, I turned off the TV sometime around 9 p.m. and went to bed. The next morning, I woke up, packed a bag, and drove to the North Cascades alone. At the north end of Baker Lake, I shouldered my pack and wandered up the Baker River, following the gravel miles past any established trail or campsite or cell service. My motivations that night were probably similar to those many of you have for going hiking or backpacking: just to get away from it all. For the sake of complete transparency (something I think is important in journalism), I was disappointed by the election results the day prior. But regardless of who I voted for, I thought it wise to separate myself from the news, emotion, and conversation for a while. I went out there to use the outdoors—basic, incorruptible, clean—as an escape from "the real world."

So I get the impulse to want to keep the outdoors free of the murk, complication, and debate that is so prevalent in our daily lives. I understand going backpacking—or reading Trails—in an effort to escape. But here's the thing: We can't do that. As much as we might hate it, the outdoors aren't a safe space. Regardless of who is in charge, powerful people have a real impact on the places we like to go and the things we like to do. Whether it's through environmental regulations, government funding changes, policy decisions, or the management or outright sale of public lands, the things happening in Washington and elsewhere have an impact on our common passions. It's not possible—nor responsible—for any of us to live in a bubble of ignorance. So we agreed before our very first issue that we wouldn't stray from covering policy, current events, and the powerful. And I'm really proud of the stories we've published already in that spirit. 

The Trails team and I are biased; it's impossible for any journalist not to be, and irresponsible of them to pretend otherwise. But our bias is towards backpacking. We're biased towards the trails and the mountains and a good pair of boots. And if there's a story that we think impacts or harms any of those things, we think you deserve to read it. In just the next two issues, we have a feature exploring the recovery of the AT following Hurricane Helene, first-hand reporting from a hiker who spends his weekends backpacking into the US-Mexico border to drop water and supplies for migrants, an analysis of the likelihood that our public lands are sold to the highest bidder, the impacts of microplastics in the wilderness, and reporting on how recent border policies are affecting thru-hikers visiting from outside the United States. Our only agenda with any of them is to give you the accurate, truthful information you need to make informed decisions. And we promise to do that. 

Now, we're not Woodward and Bernstein, and we of course want to balance the important information we give you with stories that make you remember why you like getting outside in the first place. As always, our news reporting lives alongside recipes, pretty mountain pictures, and shitter reviews. But we're not leaving the real stuff out and we're not sticking our heads in the sand. There may be a time for that. If you want to bock it all out, get off the grid, go backpacking. And then come home to Trails to be a smarter, better-informed backpacker. 

See you out there, 

Ryan and the Trails Team