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 […]

What does it mean “To Listen”?

Editor’s Note: This post was part of the Lightswitch project at KSJD, kindly motivated by Tom Yoder and edited by Penny Holiday. Listen to it by heading here and scrolling down on the KSJD page. Transcript: I owe a career in journalism to my mother. […]

Abandoned Horses Rescued from Perilous Backcountry Fate

Editor’s Note: This article appears in the Colorado Sun. All photos by Clay Tillia. By Maddy Butcher While many were ringing in the New Year, a team of volunteers in Dolores and Montezuma counties were engaged in an eight-day effort to save six horses abandoned […]

JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out

Editor’s Note: The following essay appeared in the Washington Post. This is an expanded, unwashed-by-editors version. Read the WaPo piece here. Maddy Butcher writes: Thanks to 65 billion dollars allocated for broadband expansion in the infrastructure bill, country dwellers like me will inch closer to […]

The Wanigan and What We Carry

Editor’s Note: A version of this essay was published in the Washington Post. Maddy Butcher writes: Few friends aren’t going through something now. It might be relationship struggles or tough times at work. It is often a mental health deal. Sometimes it’s a blend of […]