Today is Ona Judge Day. While the United States gears up for its 250th celebration, which inevitably includes the likes of George Washington, Ona Judge made her escape on May 21, 1796. The Washington household attempted her capture several times, but she was never caught. Forever free

Is this already on the "List of organisms named after works of fiction" Wikipedia page why yes it is: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

SOLENOSTOMUS 👏 SNUFFLEUPAGUS 👏

After a pair of incidents in Yellowstone and Glacier, hikers are once again debating what place bear spray should have in the backcountry. We drew on years of interviews with both scientists who study it and hikers who have firsthand experience to try to provide an answer:

While the U.S. is inventing new national park fees, Canada is zeroing them out for the summer. Makes you think!

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart. And with your powers combined...

I think it's important to be honest about your mistakes, and to that end I have a new essay about the time I decided to cook dinner in the bottom of an arroyo during a rainstorm.

Weekend read! 10,000 miles is an absurd distance to hike in a year. But in 2025, Madison "Peg Leg" Blagden did it, becoming the first woman to hike the Border-to-Border Calendar-Year Triple Crown. She shares some of the lessons she brought back from the experience.

Imagine cresting a hill on the Appalachian Trail and gazing down on a majestic, 700-acre...data center.

Someone please fund bioGraphic

Every paragraph of this story is worse than the paragraph before.

It's been ten years this week since Fort McMurray burned. For @cangeo.bsky.social, I gathered a panel of smart people (@johnvaillant.bsky.social, @trinamoyles.bsky.social, @nikiwilson.bsky.social, and @lawrencenayally.bsky.social) to talk about what's changed since, and why wildfire stories matter.

A poll from 2022 found that 6 percent of Americans believed they could win a fight with a grizzly bear.

We are one week past this and currently buried under several inches of snow.

Really good piece

The Separatists were right! Count Dooku was the good guy!

Star Wars! Hiking! Both good things and in honor of May the 4th, we mashed them up:

I would not have a career in games if it wasn't for Paste. It's simple as that.

Games criticism owes so much to Garrett Martin. Quietly one of the most influential people in the space, a guy who was happy to publish anyone that had something interesting to say. A shame AV Club is shuttering its games coverage. End of an era, long live Paste Games

so, so sad to see paste games go. the effect garrett martin and his editorial work has had on games journalism for the last decade and change is immeasurable

Count me as one of the many people who benefitted from @garrettmartin.bsky.social's work at Paste, where he gave me the space to write the only piece I think I've ever published about having TS. The scene will be way worse off without them.

If you liked Parachuting Beavers then you'll love Fish Airdrop.

Let's pretend I didn't spend the first minute of this video doing a bit about how I was going to start a Mad Max-style gang to go pillage water, immediately before Denver's wettest stretch in seven months.

Outside Days! It is happening at the end of May. I will be there, and would love to see you all there too. Ticket prices go up tomorrow:

Bad luck in Zion, with the park seeing its second fatal fall in less than a week.

It costs $2,000 a month to send a kid to daycare in Denver, and the federal government is currently exploring ways to further cut childcare funding.

And also: the runner-up broke two hours too! Imagine breaking two hours in a competitive marathon, a thing no one had ever done when you woke up that morning, and getting second place!

Weekend read from Corey Buhay: A growing number of high-profile thru-hikers are now offering "hiking consulting" services, sometimes for $50 to $100 per hour. Some backpackers are balking—but others say it's been a literal lifesaver.

this is an astounding way to refer to an adaptation of Neuromancer. incredible headline work if your goal is to send a bunch of thirtysomethings on a rage spiral.

If you liked @jamesstout.bsky.social's review of the Gatewood Cape on Backpacker, I am delighted to tell you that it's currently on sale alongside a bunch of other Six Moon gear.

Residents in Monticello, a town an hour from where I used to live that was downwind from a uranium mill, suffered some cancers at double the normal rate afterward.

As someone who's been caring for his kids alone all week while his wife was away on business, we should subsidize any and every shortcut that single parents might possibly want.

For those of you keeping track, we now have both a robot that can run faster than a human and a robot that can track you by the sound of your screams.

One of my favorite Onion headlines of all time is “Report: Average Male 4,000% Less Effective In Fights Than They Imagine.” Turns out that's also true about wilderness survival! New from me:

Bears: they are smart. Probably, researchers now say, way smarter than we think. If your job is to keep them from breaking into trash cans/coolers/houses, that is a real problem.

Incredibly proud of James, for winning this award and even moreso for his relentless reporting AND volunteering at the border, helping to tell the stories of and provide aid too the most desperate people on earth

This would fix me.

In the Year of Our Lord 2026, there are still hikers raw-dogging their water and insisting the risks are overblown. Here's what the latest science says about it.

remember that atlantic article that pretended to be a first person account of a mother's loss of a child from measles? this is the real thing and it's brutal.

I swapped my smartphone for a flip phone* and mental health and procrastination-wise, it's been huge.

I will die on this hill: If you are relying on a campfire to keep you alive during a wilderness emergency, you already fucked up really, really badly.

Broke: Goat Curse Woke: Goose Blessing

I love the rise of indie publications and am in awe of some of the reporting my friends have done for them, but there's a very good case to be made here for why it's also important to have outlets large enough to afford lawyers.

No one: Elijah:

SAME, BIRD.

Bring back Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau, the only Inquisitor who canonically owns a shag-carpeted van with his own picture painted on the side.

Hikers in California and other western states are suffering rattlesnake bites at a notably higher clip than usual this spring What's behind the rise?

"Paddington Bear? I thought you were dead!"

The Weird Shrimp