You may remember Ammon Bundy from co-leading an armed resistance against the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada in 2014 after his family failed to follow mandated regulations (for two decades). Or perhaps you remember when he led an armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for six weeks in 2016, leaving a rancher dead. Or maybe you remember when he was fighting with Idaho law enforcement over a refusal to pay a $52 million defamation judgement.
Anyway, great guy, Ammon Bundy. For a while, he and his family were poster boys of the ‘Conservative’ movement, building off of his Sagebrush Rebellion bona-fides and apparel, but when Bundy posted an essay critical of the barbarism the ICE agency has been perpetuating in American cities and towns, his old buddies kind of left him out to dry, according to a new piece in The Atlantic. A choice quote:
Just the other day, Bundy told me, he had a contentious conversation with a militant who had joined
him at Malheur. Bundy had always thought that he and his supporters stood for a coherent set of Christian-libertarian principles that had united them against federal power. “We agreed that there’s certain rights that a person has that they’re born with. Everybody has them equally, not just in the United States,” he said. “But on this topic they are willing to completely abandon that principle.”
Bundy’s essay is titled “The Stranger: A Christian and Constitutional Case for Protecting Those who Come to America,” and … what’s that old saying about a broken clock being right twice a day?
Bundy is scheduled to go live with Outside’s former columnist (and excellent writer) Wes Siler this morning to talk about resisting government tyranny, and while I think it’s great that there are some principled libertarians out there—and that at least right now we might have some bigger fish to fry—I also think it’s important to remember that Bundy’s definition of ‘tyranny’ includes things like National Parks and Wildlife Refuges and policies that prevent ranchers from stripping all of the plant life from publicly-owned land. But maybe we can work through all of that later …
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Something to talk about
If it’s February, it’s time for Yosemite National Park’s Firefall!
Each year, at a certain time in mid to late February, the sun sets at an angle that—at a certain time in the right conditions—makes it appear that Horsetail Falls is lit up with fire. It’s a stunning sight that, as you’d imagine, draws quite a crowd, too.
The Park Service usually gives a forecast for the firefall’s likeliest dates, but this year has just said “mid to late February” (thanks, Trump budget cuts!). Local photographer Aaron Meyers has forecasted February 11th through the 26th, and you can see a more detailed timetable as well as predicted ‘best’ views on his website.
If you are thinking of going, you should also know that this is the first year since 2021 that the Park Service has not required a timed entry permit for the Firefall (thanks again, Trump Department of the Interior!), which means it’s going to be an absolute zoo up there.
Still, some things are worth the crowds and the hassle, and I kind of get the feeling this is one of them. So if you go, just be patient and kind, and let us know if you get a good shot!
Your Places
Don’t forget – it’s the time of year to check on wildflower forecasts and updates! Check Modern Hiker’s comprehensive guide to wildflowers in Southern California, which covers a very generous definition of ‘southern California.’
As part of the insultingly named ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History’ executive order Trump signed last March, federal lands across the country have been directed to remove any signs or interpretive exhibits that run counter to the Trump administration’s warped and, frankly, wrong opinions about American history. I wrote about this right after it happened, but the damage is already being done. Signs have been removed or altered at Little Bighorn, the Grand Canyon, Stonewall, and other parks and monuments.
Most recently, the government removed signs at Independence National Historical Park that correctly noted that the President’s House was built by enslaved people. Fortunately, this particular park is co-managed with the City of Philadelphia, which has to sign off on any changes, so now the government is getting sued (again).
While it is a huge bummer that these facts are being removed, one organization is working to preserve them for the future. Save Our Signs is building what they call “the people’s archive of national park signs,” before this information is lost. And yes, you can help.
On their website, you can submit photos of signs that are still in existence (or maybe some signs that you’ve got old photos of). You can also see a full archive of all the signs they’ve received, sorted by parks, and also be alerted to signs that may be under immediate threat.
via the Friends of the Inyo Instagram account.
No, not the actual parks—that won’t happen until this administration is gone and being subpoenaed to courts and Congressional hearings. But the next best thing is a brand new edition of the National Parks of the USA picture book by Kate Sieber and illustrated by Chris Turnham.
The new edition is available now, and includes a new cover with embossed text, four new double-page spreads on National Parks, and a four-page panoramic fold-out for Grand Canyon National Park. These books are informative and beautiful—and I’m personally a big fan of illustrator Chris Turnham, too. I have two prints of his in my house, and I’ll bet if you like spending time in the Western United States, you’ll dig his prints.
The National Park Service is currently offering up some open public meetings and accepting comments on a new special resource study that is considering the feasibility of adding land along the coastline near Los Angeles to the Park Service’s jurisdiction.
The study does not mean L.A.’s beaches will have park rangers anytime soon—it’s merely a fact-finding mission to document areas of exceptional natural or historical value that might make sense either as part of a new unit of the national park system or an extension of the already existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The actions are due to a law passed in 2023 that directs this study along the coastline from Will Rogers State Beach in the north to Torrance Beach in the south, including Ballona Creek and the Baldwin Hills but excluding the Port of Los Angeles.
There are two online webinars schedule for February 11th and March 11th, and these meetings are open to the public with opportunities to ask questions. Find out more and join the meetings here.
Gadgets, Technology, and Hype
If you’re a member of the REI Co-Op, you likely got a huge wall-of-text email recently with a very dry-sounding update to the terms and conditions to the retailer’s member rewards program. Previously, the member rewards—a rebate of up to 15% based on your purchases—could be rolled over for nearly two years. Now the rebates must be used with 12 months, and REI reserves the right to alter that length at any time in the future.
Plants!
I have a trip to Palm Springs planned next month, and even though this winter has been abnormally dry and sunny in Portland, I’m still excited to get to say hello to all of my desert plant friends—including the Desert fan palm, the only palm tree native to the Southwestern United States. There are some stunning oases south of the city that I’ll be revisiting, and I did also just revisit this old piece from Desert magazine on the palms, which details some of the attributes that makes them special and also posits how these things spread so far across mostly inhospitable terrain.
Get your palm oasis on in-person at:
If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know I have a deep fascination and admiration for California native plants. I maintained a native garden amidst the trash tumbleweeds of the Thai Town neighborhood, got a bunch of them on my body as tattoos, and it is not physically possible for me to resist talking about some of the species I come across while hiking.
I was a big fan of the Studio Petrichor team, an Altadena-based landscaping design firm that focused on native plants and hügelkultur, and I got to see them present inspiring and entertaining talks at several venues in Southern California. Two of the founders of that team lost their homes in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire, but that has not stopped them. They’ve now expanded into a new organization called Poly/Ana, and they are turning their attention to Altadena.
This month, they are hosting a free walk-and-talk for fire-impacted neighbors to help envision a rebuilt Altadena more in-tune with its natural surroundings, and later in March they are kicking off a four-part landscape design workshop for Altaendans who have been affected by the fires. If you’re at all interested in this sort of thing, this is a great group to keep an eye on.
Oh yeah, before I go …
Did you hear outdoor-themed drag performer Pattie Gonia is being sued by … outdoor brand Patagonia? It is not only true AND stupid, but it is also unsurprising. You can get a full primer over at USA Today but this legal battle was probably inevitable because of the intricacies of trademark law, and what I’ve found is often a misunderstanding of the concepts of fair use and parody by folks raised on the internet.
For what it’s worth, it doesn’t seem like there is any genuine bad blood between the retailer and the performer—they both do good work in the same fields—so here’s hoping this is all settled amicably. And maybe with a fun official collab? Queens can dream …
Until next time,
Happy Trails.
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