Checking Back In! Hiking Updates and More
- Tiff
- May 29
- 4 min read
Hi Friends! I’m back! I deeply apologize for my lack of writing. I have not been prioritizing writing blog posts, and I have no excuse other than I put it on the back burner and devoted my time to other things, including but not limited to:
Rock climbing
Marathon training
Fully immersing myself in a new career
Hiking
Wedding planning (!!!!!)
Traveling
Though I have not written, I hope that you have stayed up to date with environmental news. I won’t go into detail as this post is intended to be a happy one (lol)! But I can give you some happenings in the world, just because! Let’s start with the good stuff!
Quick n Easy News Updates
The Good Stuff
There has been some really positive things happening in the world, environmentally speaking:
The Bear Lake Eagles are thriving! Watch the live cam there!
All four of the Klamath River Dams have been successfully removed (yes, this did happen a while ago), and the news gets better with Indigenous kayakers first descent, and salmon thriving, with “Chinook salmon found naturally hatching in Upper Klamath River for first time in a century”
Brazil’s Atlantic forest is at it’s lowest level of deforestation in 40 years
I recently found the browser Ecosia, a certified B corporation who plants trees when people use their search engine. I’ve fully switched to using it and encourage you to do the same! You can also connect your Google suite to it so you won't have to change much if you're a Chrome person.
The Not So Good Stuff
Some recent, relative, just so you’re informed news:
Steve Pearce is now the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. Let’s hope his history of trying to sell public lands doesn’t influence his current position (spoiler: I’m not hopeful). For context, Pearce cosponsored H.R. 5386 in 2016, a bill to sell public lands. A lot of his movements pre BLM position has been to liquidate public lands. And now he is in charge of public lands.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins is changing the rules of the game by making pretty major land decisions and limiting/cutting public input !!! USDA is still fighting to remove the Roadless Rule. From USDA’s government website itself, they’re making it so logging acres do not need a review or “first-of-its-kind infrastructure proposal,” meaning they can basically copy and paste a memo and then log, drill, and tear down land with a swipe of a pen. If you need proof of this, read it on the USDA website. They’re proud of this move. They still say that cutting logs is fire risk reduction. As someone who lives in a place with wildfires and a too mild winter, it would be nice for our forest service and USDA to follow science… but alas. Also huge shoutout to the wildfire firefighters. Thank you for your service!!!!
Hiking Updates: On Track With My Hiking Goal
Now that we got some poignant issues covered, let’s catch up! You haven’t heard from me in a bit, and while I could write pages worth of the shit Department of Interior and USDA is pulling, I will not (yet)! To stay thematic to my website, I have a fun update for you!
I am right on track in my endeavor to hike 52 hikes this year! I just completed hike 20, meeting the quota for one hike a week. I’m not sticking to a strict schedule- sometimes I’ll do two or three hikes in a week, then skip a week, but as long as the hikes match the amount of weeks, I’m a happy camper!
When I hike solo, I take notes in my phones. Some are delirious, some thoughtful, some just super random. I’ll leave you with some fun contemplations I’ve had during my hikes. Please understand that I am directly copy and pasting from my notes! They’re just talk-to-text that I think of when hiking. Enjoy!
Hiking alone on a rainy day in the Pacific Northwest is so quenching. Like water. Like a gulp of water on a dry desert day or plunging your hand in a river after a burn (Archer Mountain, 4/1/26)
This is much better than staying in bed. This is hiking tiff talking to future tiff. Get up (Angels Rest, 1/4/26)
I have discovered that my boots are very much, not waterproof and that I’ll need to change (Prindle Mountain, 1/8/26)
I’ve never really thought about how coordinated and intricate birds have to be to fly through the forest until I saw this crow swoop in and land on a branch above me. There is more to this thought. (Hamilton Mountain, 2/4/26)
All of my hikes have led me to this hike, which will lead me too many more (Archer Mountain, 4/1/26)
There you have it folks, my short little update! I apologize for keeping you waiting. Thank you to those who have asked when the next blog will be and have stayed patient when I say, “oh my gosh that’s right! I should really do that!”
I love this blog and am so grateful to you all for sticking with me and reading my words - all of which, I want to mention, are straight from my brain and not AI! You’re reading good old-fashion writing! Thank you again, sweet readers. Stay informed! Hug a tree! Be the best version of yourself you can be!
XO,
Tiff