This year, High Country News readers spent a lot of time reading our articles — more than 8,000 days’ worth to be exact. That’s almost 22 years of time spent learning about everything from the battle of Obama’s Clean Power Plan to the private life of Laura Jean Schneider, a rancher in New Mexico and author of Ranch Diaries. We looked at which stories caught and held your attention this year and they’re a surprising group. You spent more than 19,000 hours reading our breaking news coverage of the Animas River spill, but you also spent 61 days reading Glenn Nelson’s mournful reflections on the death of three young firefighters in Washington’s Methow Valley.
Here are the news and opinion stories that you spent the most time reading this year.
News:
When our river turned orange
Nine things you need to know about the Animas River mine waste spill.
Minutes spent reading: 1,189,115After a ski patroller’s death, a flurry of questions
Forest Service permitting issues complicate a southwestern Colorado tragedy.
Minutes spent reading: 157,705What Mt. Hood’s fading summer ski season means
As year-round skiing in the Pacific Northwest diminishes, what else will be lost?
Minutes spent reading: 105,382Tesla’s new home battery: energy revolution or pure hype
Powerwall aims to fill a missing link to integrate wind and solar into the grid.
Minutes spent reading: 88,203Gold King Mine water was headed for the Animas, anyway
The nuts and bolts of acid mine drainage.
Minutes spent reading: 79,285In Colorado, a ‘rental crisis’ forces workers into the woods
Tent cities, waste and overcrowding have created something foul in Crested Butte.
Minutes spent reading: 75,582An update on Nevada scofflaw Cliven Bundy
The rancher still has influence in some circles, and has seen zero repercussions for trespass cattle and unpaid fees.
Minutes spent reading: 75,183What does super El Niño mean for the American West?
The weather event follows Earth’s two hottest years on record.
Minutes spent reading: 70,624Hidden camera traps capture wildlife in Wyoming
An ecologist uses a scientific tool for artistic purposes.
Minutes spent reading: 64,700Deaths renew calls for national parks to rescind BASE jumping bans
Squirrel suited flyers say the bans actually contribute to deadly accidents.
Minutes spent reading: 61,628
Opinions & Essays:
Stop the rock-stacking
A writer calls for an end to cairns.
Minutes spent reading: 643,150Endurance runners in the Grand Canyon are missing the point
Marjorie “Slim” Woodruff, an educator who leads trips in the Grand Canyon, bemoans the popularity of endurance sports in the park.
Minutes spent reading: 108,882It’s time to let Lake Powell go
In today’s ‘new normal,’ there is simply not enough water to maintain both Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
Minutes spent reading: 96,412What we’ve lost in the Methow Valley wildfires
Three firefighters died as fires ripped through Washington.
Minutes spent reading: 88,346Leave your dog at home, please
Woodruff returns, to argue that a lack of regulations on service dog is causing canine chaos in national parks.
Minutes spent reading: 78,298Anatomy of a flash flood
After a series of deaths, a writer considers his own close calls in canyons.
Minutes spent reading: 71,722Children in Alaska’s barbaric country
As parents, we watch our kids walk into vast new worlds — like it or not.
Minutes spent reading: 68,940Dispatch from a medic on the North Star Fire in Washington
What base camp and wildfire look like from one firefighter’s perspective
Minutes spent reading: 53,838On death’s doorstep in the Grand Canyon
A misstep in the backcountry alters an avid hiker’s perspective.
Minutes spent reading: 51,500Ranch Diaries: What life’s like as a female rancher
Some ranchers still say women ruin horses and a rancher and his wife can be paid at two-for-the-price-of-one.
Minutes spent reading: 43,000
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