LLRULE JOURNALS — TRAILHEAD

THE TRAIL DECIDES.

Dispatches from the ridgelines, switchbacks, and coastlines we run. Real trails, real stats, earned miles.

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TRAILHEAD A Trail Running Series by LLRULE

A person exploring an ice cave in Glacier National Park, Montana
Glacier Highline Trail Hiking Montana National Park Trail Running TRAILHEAD Wilderness

Glacier: Running with Bears

You carry bear spray from the moment you step out at Logan Pass. Running Glacier's Highline Trail along the Garden Wall, through the heart of...

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TERRAIN

Aerial view of surfers in a lineup at a California surf break

The Creek and the Break

Par J.T. Galbraith

When herbicide from Orange County flood channels ran into the surf, Creek Team OC started filming, and made the results public.

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Aerial view of wildfire smoke rising through a forest canopy

After the Fire

Par P. Stohl

Black Summer burned 46 million acres and forced ecologists to rewrite everything they thought they knew about how forests recover.

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Salmon leaping over a waterfall during the upstream run

The Run

Par J.T. Galbraith

Every autumn, Pacific chinook fight their way home against the current. What happens when the rivers stop waiting for them?

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A shark moving through a kelp forest in shafts of green and gold light

The Underwater Forest

Par J.T. Galbraith

From California to Tasmania, kelp forests are vanishing at alarming speed. In Norway and Japan, scientists are racing to bring them back.

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Moss-covered stream running through old-growth Pacific Northwest forest, fallen logs and towering conifers

ROOTS: A Day in the Life of Planting Forests

Par P. Stohl

Follow a professional tree planter into Oregon's Coast Range, one seedling, one hole, one slope at a time, and see why reforestation is upstream of...

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Small bird perched on a branch in soft natural light

"I Saw a Bird Today – Rediscovering Wonder in the Wild"

Par A.A. LeBeauf

We have forgotten how to look. A single bird sighting can unlock something ancient in us, a capacity for attention that the modern world keeps...

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Wind. Basalt. Wildflowers.

Columbia River Gorge

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THE DRIFT

Assortment of hand-tied fly fishing patterns laid out for selection

The Fly Box

Par Brett Simms

The fly box is a record of where you have been and what the river asked for. The patterns that earn their place, and how...

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Fisherman rowing a drift boat on the Smith River, Montana

The Smith River Float

Par J.T. Galbraith

The Smith River does not give itself up easily. A permit lottery, 59 miles of canyon from Camp Baker to Eden Bridge, and a float...

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Angler fishing a cold, clear mountain river at dusk

Cold Water, Warming Fast

Par P. Stohl

A July reading of 72 degrees on the Yellowstone River is the temperature at which trout stop feeding. What warming western waters mean for the...

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Lone angler standing on the bank of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River, Idaho

The Henry's Fork: A River That Humbles

Par J.T. Galbraith

Four miles of Railroad Ranch on Idaho's Henry's Fork. The fish are large, the water is clear and slow, and the river humbles everyone who...

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Two fly fishers wading a clear river before the morning hatch begins

Before the Hatch

Par Brett Simms

The sky is graphite, the thermometer reads 41 degrees, and the river is talking before anyone else is listening. This is the hour before the...

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Angler fly fishing on the Deschutes River with canyon walls in the background

The Deschutes: High Desert, Cold River

Par J.T. Galbraith

The Deschutes drops out of the Cascades and runs 252 miles through the Oregon high desert, carrying summer steelhead and native redband trout through basalt...

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Go before the heat arrives. Red rock. 5:30am. The trail is yours.

Running Sedona

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DISPATCH

Pilot under a teal wing soaring a coastal ridge above a long sand beach and breaking surf

Adventure Sky + Cliff

Par A.A. LeBeauf

Free flight is foot-launched flying with no engine. The best of it happens low and close, a few meters off a ridge, a dune, or...

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Open Supima cotton boll showing long white fiber locks

The Cotton That Earns Its Name

Par A.A. LeBeauf

It started in the Arizona desert in 1900 and took its name from the people who grew it. Today it is about 1% of the...

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LLRULE garment-dyed piece showing its soft, lived-in color

What Garment Dye Actually Is

Par Brett Simms

Garment dye means sewn first, dyed after: the process behind every one-of-one LLRULE piece, why the fade is intentional, and how washing makes it better.

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LLRULE Ridgeflow graphic, the vision behind the brand

Building More Than Activewear – The Vision Behind LLRULE

Par A.A. LeBeauf

Performance is table stakes. What we're actually building at LLRULE is a framework for how apparel can exist in the world without doing damage.

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Hikers on a California coastal trail at golden hour, ocean behind them, forested mountains to the left

Mountains to Sea: The Geography of How We Move

Par A.A. LeBeauf

Where high terrain falls quickly to open ocean, the same kind of person appears. Surf break to ridgeline, ocean to summit, they are the people...

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Two surfers carrying boards toward the Pacific at dawn, silhouettes against morning light

Why We Write: The Journal We Keep

Par A.A. LeBeauf

The trail before dawn. The river in October. The garden in the last week before frost. The break when the conditions finally align. The journals...

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Breathing New life into our forests

FOREST ARE IMPORTANT: Planting Trees

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FIELD GUIDE
TERRAIN
TRAILHEAD
THE DRIFT
DISPATCH