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Trail Work: Restoring the Paths and Stories of America's Public Lands
Not yet published
Expected 12 May 26“Our public lands—now under constant attack from Washington—are one of America's greatest legacies. This powerful book makes clear that they are places for more than recreation—they are our history, and our best possible future.”
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
“Dillon Osleger is a new voice in the wilderness, and what a voice it is. Trail Work is meditative, instructive and surprising at every switchback.”
—Jason Roberts, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Every Living Thing
“Both elegiac and optimistic, Trail Work reveals how wilderness trails—whether visible or vestigial—embody the complex history of public lands in the United States. Following old pathways is, in fact, a kind of time travel.”
—Marcia Bjornerud, author of Timefulness and 2025 John Burroughs medal award winner
In Trail Work, Dillon Osleger excavates the forgotten trails of the Western United States. He shows how one of the greatest infrastructure investments in the nation's history—paths through our public lands—has been rubbed away by time and deliberate neglect. Osleger unearths the wagon roads, water sources, trap lines, and Indigenous trading trails that once knitted the West together. He reveals centuries of path building, more than two-thirds of a nationwide network of trails and campgrounds, now erased from the map. Dwindling federal investment and privatized timber forests, ranches, and oil fields have blocked access to public lands, prompting to Osleger to ask: How can we better care for the places that are claimed for the American public, but are too often abandoned or sold? Osleger has trail eyes like no other from his years as a trail builder, geologist, professional mountain biker, and public lands advocate. Here he offers a land ethic born of joy in stewardship, attention to history and community, and living and cycling lightly. From the Central California Coast to the Sierra Nevada, out to Colorado and up to Washington, Osleger embarks on a wayfinder's journey, revealing an atlas of lost trails for everyone who loves the outdoors.
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
“Dillon Osleger is a new voice in the wilderness, and what a voice it is. Trail Work is meditative, instructive and surprising at every switchback.”
—Jason Roberts, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Every Living Thing
“Both elegiac and optimistic, Trail Work reveals how wilderness trails—whether visible or vestigial—embody the complex history of public lands in the United States. Following old pathways is, in fact, a kind of time travel.”
—Marcia Bjornerud, author of Timefulness and 2025 John Burroughs medal award winner
In Trail Work, Dillon Osleger excavates the forgotten trails of the Western United States. He shows how one of the greatest infrastructure investments in the nation's history—paths through our public lands—has been rubbed away by time and deliberate neglect. Osleger unearths the wagon roads, water sources, trap lines, and Indigenous trading trails that once knitted the West together. He reveals centuries of path building, more than two-thirds of a nationwide network of trails and campgrounds, now erased from the map. Dwindling federal investment and privatized timber forests, ranches, and oil fields have blocked access to public lands, prompting to Osleger to ask: How can we better care for the places that are claimed for the American public, but are too often abandoned or sold? Osleger has trail eyes like no other from his years as a trail builder, geologist, professional mountain biker, and public lands advocate. Here he offers a land ethic born of joy in stewardship, attention to history and community, and living and cycling lightly. From the Central California Coast to the Sierra Nevada, out to Colorado and up to Washington, Osleger embarks on a wayfinder's journey, revealing an atlas of lost trails for everyone who loves the outdoors.
256 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 12, 2026
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