Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan

Writer & Editor

What's new

August 2026: In many ways, my outdoor journalism career started when I showed up at Rocky Mountain National Park for a volunteer gig right out of college. That summer changed my trajectory in all kinds of ways, and I still remember it as one of the best phases of my life. That experience also opened my eyes to the (enormous) role that volunteers play in our public land management. Sierra gave me a chance to write about it this season. Where would our parks and forests be without volunteers? I shudder to think. Read it. 

July 2026: Sometimes, one story leads to another. While reporting a story about long trails in general for Trails, I found out that just 11 miles of the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado remain unfinished. What's it going to take to fix that? A whole lot of effort and time, it turns out, as I discovered for 5280. By the way, it was only after I started researching the idea that I found out that the guy in charge of the whole project? My sister-in-law's longtime partner. Small world indeed. Read it. 



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Photo: Lido Vizzuti