(6 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Campo, California – 24 March 2025
1. Various of Eric Kipperman interacting with hikers before they start on Pacific Crest Trail
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Joshua Suran, hiker and YouTube personality
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"So we’re down here at the southern PCT terminus right on the Mexico-USA border and we’re just getting ready to hike the PCT 2025 heading all the way up to Canada. It’s about 2,650 miles from here so it’s going to be about five months of hiking."
3. Suran and partner setting off on Pacific Crest Trail
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Anitra Kass, representative, Pacific Crest Trail Association:
++COVERED++
"So, you know, we received Great American Outdoors Act funding to start to address the backlog of maintenance, and this was a few years ago."
5. Suran and partner hiking on Pacific Crest Trail
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Anitra Kass, representative, Pacific Crest Trail Association:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"But those funds are currently frozen. And so some of the work that we had planned, we can’t do because there’s no funding for it." 8
7. Various of hiker interacting with Kipperman before setting off on hike
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Kipperman, crest runner, Pacific Crest Trail Association:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"So this year, we’ve been telling people there’s less infrastructure in the backcountry, so whether that be rangers or whether that be people doing work on the trails, there’s less people out working. Just trying to educate folks that there’s less people, meaning that the trail work is gonna be, there’s not gonna be as much done."
9. Hiker sets off on Pacific Coast Trail
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Kipperman, crest runner, Pacific Crest Trail Association:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
"No one else is gonna clean up your trash Besides you and no one is gonna make sure you’re safe besides you. Just really like letting people know that a lot of this stuff is up to them and that they need to be good stewards and they need to take the agency and the environment to be able to last for their children to be able to hike."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Whitewater, California – 3 April 2025
11. Various of European hikers walking on Pacific Crest Trail in area where trail hasn’t been maintained
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Laura Lamberts, hiker from Belgium:
"This is really amazing and we’ve said it already many times, it’s also so nice you meet a lot of people, you see so many different views."
13. European hikers crossing creek
STORYLINE:
Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail that runs through three western states from Southern California to Canada is already challenging.
Now the grueling journey may become even tougher this year due to federal cuts. Over a year’s worth of trail work to clear downed trees and rebuild stretches of the Pacific Crest Trail has been canceled, while similar repairs have been disrupted for the Appalachian Trail.
Wilderness advocates say there’s “no trail” at all in parts of the 2,650-mile (4,265 kilometers) path through California, Oregon and Washington state.
Eric Kipperman, a crest runner for the Pacific Crest Trail Association, talked with a group of backpackers from Europe and the United States at the trailhead near Campo, an hour’s drive east of San Diego. He urged them to make safety a priority because trails haven’t been maintained and there are fewer rangers to help hikers.
After hearing Kipperman’s spiel, one backpacker, Joshua Suran, said he planned to try helping restore the trail where possible.
===========================================================
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/18c54cbf3f8a44b6b670a7b4639f8ea9
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in April 11, 2025, 6:04 am.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
