From inspiration to heartbreak: 8 of the most important The Trek stories of 2025

TO A lot happened in 2025, both on and off the track. This year, we celebrate innovative hikes on long trails across the United States while also grappling with uncertainty and changing access to those same trails. With just a few days left in this rollercoaster of a year, here are some of our most read blogs and news stories of 2025.

1. Almost attacked on the Appalachian Trail
per wooden leg

«Please come here, I need your help. Someone is trying to poison me.» The words set off alarm bells for hiking superstar Peg Leg. —something about the man who spoke to them just seemed off. Read more about the incident that left the experienced backpacker fleeing through the woods, fearing for her life.

2. A German hiker has been detained, deported and deported from the US without a hearing: here’s what you need to know
by Caitlin Hardee

Having successfully hiked the PCT and CDT, German hiker and Trek blogger Annika Ananias assumed it would be easy to enter the US this spring to tackle the 800-mile Arizona Trail. However, despite having a valid B2 visa, she was detained at passport control on suspicion of attempting to enter the US to work illegally and was banned from entering the US for five years. Before her deportation, Ananias says she was held overnight without basic necessities and was yelled at and mocked by Border Patrol agents.

Photo: Annika Ananias

3. REI announces massive layoffs and the end of a beloved program
by Katie Jackson

This year, major outdoor retailer REI closed its Experiences program, ending a 40-year legacy of adventure travel, day trips and classes. The move resulted in the layoffs of more than 400 full- and part-time employees. Although REI said Experiences only served a fraction of the provider’s overall customer base and was losing money year after year, the elimination of this popular program still marked the end of an era.

4. CDT Hikers: US Citizenship and Military Permit Now Required to Access the South Terminal
by Katie Jackson

This spring, 100,000 acres of public land along the New Mexico-Mexico border were abruptly transferred to the U.S. military for the establishment of a National Defense Area as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. It turns out that the southern terminal of the CDT is located within the militarized zone. Although the terminal is still technically open, accessing it is now much more complicated and you need to be a US citizen to be eligible.

Photo: Katie Jackson

5. The first woman to complete the calendar year Triple Crown from border to border
per wooden leg

After 318 continuous days of hiking, she became the first woman—and one of the only people, period—to complete the calendar-year Border-to-Border Triple Crown hike. If you thought hiking the AT, PCT, and CDT in a single calendar year sounded ambitious, the Border to Border version will blow your mind: Peg Leg added extra miles to each end of the AT to make it a true border-to-border hike like the PCT and CDT, bringing the total trip to nearly 8,500 miles. In one year.

Here, Peg Leg tells the story of her last day. (After finishing that, she kept walking. By the way, she’s still out there, aiming to become the first woman to walk 10,000 miles in a single year.)

Photo: Peg Leg

6. Betty Kellenberger just became the oldest woman to hike the AT at 80 years old
by Kelly Floro

Betty Kellenberger had already attempted to hike the AT several times, but when her friend and hiking partner died after one attempt, she decided to finish the entire trail in her honor. That goal mattered more to her than the doubts of any naysayers who might question whether an 80-year-old woman could accomplish it on a hike, and it certainly mattered more than breaking the women’s age record, which she didn’t even realize was a possibility until she was almost done with the trail.

In a year of uncertainty, both on and off the trail, this modest woman who made her way on the AT with sheer determination was the inspirational story we all needed.

7. The second hiker was found dead in Katahdin a day after his father’s remains were discovered on the Abol Trail
by Kelly Floro

In a story almost as strange as it is tragic, a pair of experienced hikers, father and daughter, went missing and were eventually found dead 24 hours and approximately 1,000 feet away on Maine’s Mount Katahdin this summer after an extensive search effort.

Photo: Tim and Esther Keiderling in a photo released by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife during their search effort.

8. Partially blind grandmother performs PCT in less than 70 days
by Katie Jackson

Australian ultrarunner Julie Brock is not what most people would consider a “typical” Pacific Crest Trail ultrarunner. The 59-year-old grandmother, who is partially blind in one eye, has publicly shared her decision to start ultrarunning when she was 50 after being overweight and a long-time smoker.

And still. Brock made headlines this year when he completed a nearly 2,700-mile assisted PCT hike in just under 70 days, less than half the time it takes most hikers.

Photo: David Byrnes/Julie Brock

Featured Image Collage (L-R): Madison Blagden, Julie Brock, Betty Kellenberger

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