About The Hiker's Herald

Staff

• Cormac Bogle

  Founding Editor

  Irish expat and professional contrarian who moved to Colorado for the mountains and stayed for the arguments. Cormac's 'Devil's Advocate' column exists to disagree with whatever the hiking internet has decided this week — he's defended cotton, questioned Leave No Trace orthodoxy, and once wrote 1,200 words arguing that blisters are good, actually.

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  Irish expat and professional contrarian who moved to Colorado for the mountains and stayed for the arguments. Cormac's 'Devil's Advocate' column exists to disagree with whatever the hiking internet has decided this week — he's defended cotton, questioned Leave No Trace orthodoxy, and once wrote 1,200 words arguing that blisters are good, actually.

• Donnie Switchback

  Standards Correspondent

  Retired letter carrier from Appalachian Ohio who's been section-hiking the AT since 1987 and will finish it when he's good and ready. Donnie writes the 'Old Blaze' column defending wool socks, external-frame packs, and the dying art of reading a paper map. He does not own a smartphone and files his copy via email at the Dairy Queen in Damascus.

  Read full bio

  Retired letter carrier from Appalachian Ohio who's been section-hiking the AT since 1987 and will finish it when he's good and ready. Donnie writes the 'Old Blaze' column defending wool socks, external-frame packs, and the dying art of reading a paper map. He does not own a smartphone and files his copy via email at the Dairy Queen in Damascus.

• Greta Vestlund

  Civic Affairs Desk

  Former Swedish cross-country ski coach who switched to thru-hiking after a knee injury and never looked back. Greta covers gear testing with the ruthlessness of a Scandinavian winter — if your tent pole flexes wrong at 40 mph, she'll find out. Known for her 'Gram Court' column where she weighs readers' submitted pack lists and delivers verdicts.

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  Former Swedish cross-country ski coach who switched to thru-hiking after a knee injury and never looked back. Greta covers gear testing with the ruthlessness of a Scandinavian winter — if your tent pole flexes wrong at 40 mph, she'll find out. Known for her 'Gram Court' column where she weighs readers' submitted pack lists and delivers verdicts.

• Jin-ha Park

  Culture Columnist

  Korean-American ultrarunner and fastpacker who thinks thru-hiking is just running with extra steps — and fewer. Jin-ha covers the bleeding edge of ultralight innovation: custom DCF tarps, toothbrush-handle-sawing culture, and the philosophical question of when 'light enough' becomes 'dangerously stupid.' Her pieces move fast and cut weight.

  Read full bio

  Korean-American ultrarunner and fastpacker who thinks thru-hiking is just running with extra steps — and fewer. Jin-ha covers the bleeding edge of ultralight innovation: custom DCF tarps, toothbrush-handle-sawing culture, and the philosophical question of when 'light enough' becomes 'dangerously stupid.' Her pieces move fast and cut weight.

• Lucinda Fern Castillo

  Field Reporter

  Former park ranger turned freelance writer who spent eleven years working backcountry stations in the North Cascades and now channels that experience into pieces about what hikers look like from the other side of the permit desk. Lucinda's 'Ranger Station' column blends trail comedy with genuine backcountry safety wisdom, delivered with the patience of someone who has answered 'Is the water safe to drink?' ten thousand times.

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  Former park ranger turned freelance writer who spent eleven years working backcountry stations in the North Cascades and now channels that experience into pieces about what hikers look like from the other side of the permit desk. Lucinda's 'Ranger Station' column blends trail comedy with genuine backcountry safety wisdom, delivered with the patience of someone who has answered 'Is the water safe to drink?' ten thousand times.

• Marcus Tarn

  Letters Editor

  Former war correspondent who covered conflict zones for Reuters before a burnout spiral sent him to the Pacific Crest Trail in 2019. He never came back to news. Marcus writes long-form pieces about the social dynamics of trail life — class, gatekeeping, the unspoken hierarchies of thru-hiker culture — with the eye of someone trained to spot power structures in any environment.

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  Former war correspondent who covered conflict zones for Reuters before a burnout spiral sent him to the Pacific Crest Trail in 2019. He never came back to news. Marcus writes long-form pieces about the social dynamics of trail life — class, gatekeeping, the unspoken hierarchies of thru-hiker culture — with the eye of someone trained to spot power structures in any environment.

• Priya Ridgeline

  Institutional Memory Desk

  Data scientist at a climate tech startup by day, obsessive FKT tracker and route optimizer by night. Priya brings spreadsheets to the wilderness and isn't sorry about it. Her 'By the Numbers' column turns trail data into arguments that make ultralight forums either worship her or demand her ban.

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  Data scientist at a climate tech startup by day, obsessive FKT tracker and route optimizer by night. Priya brings spreadsheets to the wilderness and isn't sorry about it. Her 'By the Numbers' column turns trail data into arguments that make ultralight forums either worship her or demand her ban.

• Ross Carabiener

  Weekend Editor

  Historian of outdoor recreation who holds a PhD from the University of Montana and can trace the origins of any piece of gear back to its military surplus ancestor. Ross writes the 'Waypoints' column, connecting modern trail culture to its roots in post-war recreation, the Sierra Club's evolution, and the surprisingly political history of the National Scenic Trails Act.

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  Historian of outdoor recreation who holds a PhD from the University of Montana and can trace the origins of any piece of gear back to its military surplus ancestor. Ross writes the 'Waypoints' column, connecting modern trail culture to its roots in post-war recreation, the Sierra Club's evolution, and the surprisingly political history of the National Scenic Trails Act.

• Sierra Trailmix

  Public Records Fellow

  Thru-hiker who has walked more miles than she has had hot meals, a statistic she wears as a badge of honor.

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  Thru-hiker who has walked more miles than she has had hot meals, a statistic she wears as a badge of honor.

• Tamika Dawn Osei

  Copy Chief

  Started hiking during the pandemic after a TikTok algorithm rabbit hole, went from 'is a mile a lot?' to completing the Colorado Trail in three years, and now writes about the experience of being loudly, unapologetically new. Her 'Fresh Boots' column asks the questions veteran hikers forgot were confusing and exposes how much trail culture runs on unwritten rules.

  Read full bio

  Started hiking during the pandemic after a TikTok algorithm rabbit hole, went from 'is a mile a lot?' to completing the Colorado Trail in three years, and now writes about the experience of being loudly, unapologetically new. Her 'Fresh Boots' column asks the questions veteran hikers forgot were confusing and exposes how much trail culture runs on unwritten rules.