‘We’re actually here for each other.’
Recreation
Posted inArticles
How growing Western rec towns might hold onto their futures
Researchers look to give small tourism communities the tools for a GNARly approach.
Posted inJuly 1, 2022: Living with Rivers
The Colorado stream case that could revolutionize river access
‘There are waters I’ve wanted to fish for 50 years, and I’ve been denied the use of a state-owned resource.’
Posted inArticles
Wildfire and detours on the Pacific Crest Trail
A hiker is caught in smoke and decision-making when the Carr Fire broke out in 2018.
Posted inMay 1, 2022: New Ways of Seeing the West
From river bottom to meadow
A runner in Ojai, California, considers how access to public space isn’t necessarily a given.
Posted inApril 1, 2022: The Archives Issue
Schussing through time
A Utah library holds a comprehensive archive commemorating ski sports.
Posted inDecember 1, 2021: Visions of Wildness
Sharing the slopes
Will skiers compromise to help a dwindling herd of bighorn sheep?
Posted inNovember 1, 2021: The Radioactive Waste Next Door
The winnowing of winter
As the climate crisis worsens, what will happen to snow?
Posted inArticles
Black entrepreneurs built beach havens in California. Racism shut them down.
The hidden history of Santa Monica’s Black coastal enclaves.
Posted inArticles
The public lands that kept us sane
In honor of National Public Lands Day, High Country News staff reflect on access to spaces across the West.
Posted inArticles
After the Palisades Tahoe name change, where is the Washoe Tribe looking next?
‘This whole thing, it’s decent. It’s a decent thing to do.’
Posted inArticles
National park managers search for answers to overcrowding
Timed-entry reservations and apps that point visitors to less-trafficked areas work to disperse the denizens.
Posted inArticles
The lack of diversity in outdoor rec is systematic and disconcerting
I want people of color to feel called to reclaim natural spaces.
Posted inArticles
The fires that follow us
A hiker copes with a new anxiety brought by a changed climate.
Posted inArticles
A Q&A with New Mexico’s deputy director of The Wilderness Society
Kay Bounkeua discusses growing up Lao-Chinese in the state, her connection to landscape and what’s next for the conservation movement.
Posted inArticles
Climate change sinks Lake Powell, local rec industry
The water line has dropped to historic lows, and house boats are at risk of being marooned.
Posted inArticles
Development threatens one of Montana’s ‘blue-ribbon’ trout rivers
Noxious algae is choking the very watershed that’s drawing people to develop property there.
Posted inAugust 1, 2021: A Mega-Dairy Comes to the Desert
Is there really freedom in the outdoors?
After a year indoors, a writer remembers the joy — and pressures — of a childhood spent in Utah.
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
Reclaiming LA
Communities in Los Angeles are turning industrial sites into pockets of green.