Tory Talks Trails

Sports fans 🤝 facts about climate change

Climate Central’s tool to see how heat related to climate change impacts your favorite players and teams.

With record breaking heat, this tool highlights how rising global temperature are increasing heat related risks at outdoor sporting events.

That Scotland vs Brazil is gonna be 🥵🥵🥵🥵

Who are you rooting for in the men’s World Cup this year?!?

I don’t care about baseball but I do care about Hannah

Flashback to SATs over here!

With no service to contact Brooke when we were hiking towards each other, I had to use some rusty mental math skills to give myself a gut check of “okay if I don’t see her by THIS time I need to be worried and maybe call someone” (cuz safety first!!)

But it all worked out!!

Want to see our adventure? Check out the YouTube video Brooke made! Including chugging gummi nerds, talking about b***s (but not what you’d think), and me taking over Brooke’s camera (leading to some bleeped footage). We had a great time!

Thank you to for inviting us to hike the trail together!

I love a story like this…
 
👋 Hi! I’m Tory, a nature love who believes you can’t separate the outdoors from the policies and politics that impact it.
 
The idea for Glade Run Lake began in the 1940’s.  The project goal was to “acquire land to construct a dam and provide a lake for public fishing in the area having 1.75M people within a 25-mile radius” (and that was back in the 1950’s!)
 
The lake and dam site were completed in 1955. Then in 2011, a large crack was discovered in the dam and the dam had to be drained.
 
Residents were frustrated that a resource that drew 16K visitors a year and generated ~$1.2M for the local economy disappeared seemingly overnight. But at the cost of $4M to replace – there was little hope of seeing the lake returned.
 
The Glade Run Lake Conservancy was founded in August of 2011. Through significant fundraising efforts spearheaded by the GRLC and combined funding from then Governor Corbett and the PFBC, improvements were fully funded in 2014. Three years later, after all the improvements were made, water and fish were returned to the lake.
 
GRLC continues to work tirelessly to improve on-site facilities (including installing some of the best interpretive signage I’ve seen at a park) and protecting the area’s watershed in perpetuity.
 
If you’d like to visit this area and want to give back, Public Lands and the Glade Run Lake Conservancy are hosting a volunteer day on Saturday July 13 from 9-12. You can also donate to their cause via their website!
 
‼️ Know Before You Go ‼️
✅ All PA Fish & Boat Commission rules apply to this lake, including fishing license requirements.
✅ Remember to follow all principles of leave no trace, including packing out trash and staying on trail.
✅ There is a 1.9 mile out and back trail from the parking lot.
✅ Google Maps may try to take you into private property to get to the lake – keep driving on Lake Road until you see the Fish & Boat Commission sign
✅ There is a port-a-potty if you need the restroom while visiting.

Did you know the story about Glade Run Lake?

Follow for more conservation storytelling!

My heart loves a wet double digit hiking day, my feet wish I loved laying on a beach for a week 😂

West Highland Way was a challenging hike but every mile was amazing - can’t wait to share more

Clean the stream, Bob!!

Blue Hole was once listed as an exceptional waterway but now contains 336 parts per billion of lead (down from 370 in July 2025).

Highland Sporting Clays, a shooting range owned by Highland Ventures LLC - a company owned by Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting - was cited as the source of the pollution back in July 2025.

While Highland Sporting Clays closed down operations and parent company Highland Ventures spokesperson says that they remain committed to the clean up, the stream remains heavily polluted a year after citation.

What can we do?
🗣️ Tell the DEP to issue a consent order, which would force Highland Ventures LLC to take more aggressive action on cleaning up their pollution

What is a consent order and what does it do?
⚖️ In this case, consent order is a legally binding settlement between a regulatory agency and a party that has violated environmental laws.
⚖️ It includes enforceable obligations, deadlines, reporting requirements, and possible civil penalties

How can you help?
✅ go to the Mountain Watershed Association website (via their Instagram) and send a letter to the DEP to push them to send a consent order to Highland Sporting Clays - let’s help them get to their goal of 3000 letters
✅ consider a donation to help them continue their important water quality testing work

Sources:

✍️Blue Hole Creek still polluted, but no further action from PA DEP (ACTION ITEM) - Mountain Watershed Association
✍️ Laurel Highlands stream remains ‘impaired’ with elevated lead levels, April 28 2026
✍️ Clay shooting range owned by Pirates’ Bob Nutting named source of lead contamination in nearby creek – July 2025

If you wear pants for 100 miles over six days and still like them, they’re good pants

I have lived in these REI Trailmade pants since I got them in January. They’ve survived two backpacking trips, a 28 mile day hike, and countless other guided hikes, solo hikes, and even a book signing.

What I love about them
✅ Roomy enough for big quad muscles, but a waist tie so they don’t sag or fall down
✅ Plenty of pockets for snacks or your phone
✅Light enough to wear in summer months (because the ticks are having a hot girl summer this year)
✅ zero chafe, even in all the places you normally chafe

Like I said in the video, these pants were gifted via RockPorch, but I’ve now bought myself a second pair because one just wasn’t enough.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done to a pair of pants?

The men will not like this one 👀

Follow for more sage backpacking advice!