Typing with Taryn

“Heat, Water, Fire: How Climate Change is Transforming the Pacific Crest Trail”

The Pacific Crest Trail is an intense 2,600 mile long hike located in Los Angeles. This beautiful trail which can take up to five months to complete. Similar to other parts of the world, the Pacific Crest is now starting to be impacted by global warming. The landscape that was once full of sequoias, craters, and meadows is now forming traces of dry soil and an increasing threat of wildfires.

Before this major threat of global warming, long hiking already required many carefully planned out days. For example, if one is going south to north, he or she has to handle walking through triple digit temperatures while also being ready for piles of snow. With global warming adding more troubles onto hikers, major complications could arise. Hikers could be at a serious risk of heat and fire when traveling through California.

A group of climate scientists found research saying how many thru-hikers are more likely to travel the Pacific Crest Trail in 2022 rather than 2023. This is because the average thru-hiker in 2023 can expect to experience three times as many 90-degree days while hiking through Northern California and Oregon.

Burned landscapes, on the other hand, are a whole other ballgame in the global warming world. In burned areas, there are many more scars to show. For example, there are black trunk stands in the ground where roots burned out of soil, dead pines holding on to frail brown needles, and towering trees fighting to survive a fire.

Thankfully, when these horrible situations do arise, local authorities step in to make sure everyone is evacuated and safe. I truly do not see global warming getting better as the years go on, and this article was eye-opening to this fact. A trail as beautiful and iconic as the Pacific Crest Trail should always be safe and controlled by harmful elements.

Ben Steffens is a twenty-one year old Business Administration major here at Morningside University! While I already knew Ben, I had the opportunity to learn more about him during this exercise. For example, Ben owns and manages a gutter/window cleaning business which has kept him very busy outside of football. He had gotten the idea to start this business from his dad, who made a joke about starting this business initially. After some research, Ben found the idea to be interesting and took his first steps into starting the business.

Before coming to Morningside, Ben attended Wayne State College for his freshman and sophomore year. During this time, he switched his major quite a bit. Steffens averaged switching majors once every semester. The majors range anywhere from Graphic Design to Architecture – this man has a solid variety going!

Ben grew up in Spirit Lake, Iowa. This town is a famous tourist attraction about two hours away from Sioux City. He graduated from Spirit Lake High School, as well. With a lake roughly ten minutes away from his house, Ben owns a fishing boat which he enjoys using during the summer. In his twenty-one years of life, Ben has never gotten a tattoo. He also has never had braces or a retainer, which I believe to be pretty impressive considering how straight his teeth are.