Mind Yer Spring Step

Editor’s Note: Colorado Parks and Wildlife sent out this notice and we’re passing it along as a general Hippocratic Oath for outdoorists everywhere. Be a good steward to wildlands and wildlife. And don’t be an ass to other folks. If you’re riding horses or encountering […]

This Ain’t Disney

Editor’s Note: This is an unedited version of a piece written about horse slaughter, animal rights activists, and rural, agrarian life. An edited and alternate version was published in the Washington Post. Thwarted by a paywall? Read it here. M.B. Maddy Butcher writes: They meant […]

All Death is Not Bad

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece was originally published in the Washington Post and is republished here. I am throwing in some pretty random pics. Sorry – no provocative images here! It’s dedicated to Barry, pictured first, a horse I lost last year and still miss […]

E-Bikes and Othering

Editor’s Note: This piece was published in the Washington Post. But here it is for those of us hitting the paywall. By Maddy Butcher Who gets to use the trails on this country’s public land? And how should they do it? The latest debate is […]

Othering in the Outdoors

Editor’s Note: This essay in an alternative to a piece written by Maddy Butcher in the Washington Post. In the video, a mountain biker confronts a man riding an adaptive e-bike, berating him for being on the trail, and telling him he’s not allowed. In […]

To Not Comment

Editor’s Note: This piece, edited and trimmed for length, was published in the Washington Post. But here it is for those of us hitting a paywall and to consider the unedited version. By Maddy Butcher Halfway through a 20-mile ride, I choose to expound confidently […]

No Solace in Open Space

Editor’s Note: This is a free, paywall-avoidant version of the Washington Post opinion piece that Maddy Butcher wrote recently. Read the WaPo piece. In “The Homesman,” a 2014 movie starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank, three traumatized pioneer women are transported back East to […]

Cowboying as the Antithesis of Yellowstone

Editor’s Note: An edited version of this essay appeared in the Washington Post. Read below for an alternate and expanded piece. By Maddy Butcher Yellowstone’s fourth season opens with livestock agent Kayce Dutton in a shootout. This is silly, of course. But as it happens, […]

Climbers Need Hokas

Editor’s Note: Dillon Robertson is an avid climber, runner, and outdoorsman. He’s former Peace Corps volunteer who spent years in a remote village in Panama with his wife, Kelley. They live in Grand Junction, Colorado. Dillon reviewed the Hoka Torrent 2 Trail Racer. Dillon writes: […]

Wolves and Coexistence

A note from Maddy: It’s always interesting to work with editors and for a platform which are well outside my usual quiet vacuum of independent travails. I submitted this piece to the Washington Post and, because of my editor’s interests as well as the Endangered […]