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Pacific Crest Trail Towns Struggling After Dixie Fire; Fresno Gorditas Shop a Tribute to Mom

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looking down from above on an exposed part of a trail with burned trees in the background
Hikers are increasingly skipping burned sections of the Pacific Crest Trail, like this one outside Belden, California. (Fred Greaves for KQED)

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Two Years After the Dixie Fire, Towns That Relied on Pacific Crest Trail Hikers Are Still Struggling

Two years ago, the Dixie Fire nearly wiped the Pacific Crest Trail off the map. With a lot of work, the trail has mostly been repaired. But sections of the PCT remain inaccessible, and for the first time in history, doing a continuous hike of the trail from beginning to end is almost impossible. It’s a huge blow to rural towns along the trail, which rely on the hikers and trail tourism to survive. Reporter Dana Cronin ventured out into  a tiny town called Belden, to see how people are doing after the fire.

Fresno’s New Gordita Shop is an Homage to Mom’s Cooking

Americans may be more familiar with tacos, but in the northern regions of Mexico, gorditas are a more popular kind of street food. And for Lizett Lopez, a Fresno native who recently moved back to the Central Valley during the pandemic, gorditas are closely tied to her identity, her culture and heritage – and now, her mother. As part of our Flavor Profile series, Reporter Olivia Zhao brings us the bittersweet story behind Lucy’s Gorditas, the latest addition to Fresno’s Mexican food scene.

The Coolest Place on Earth: The Public Library

We’re sharing an excerpt of the latest episode of KQED’s Rightnowish featuring Fairfield’s Mychal Threets. Threets is a superstar librarian, who readily professes the importance of childhood literacy, library access, and mental health. Because of that, he’s amassed a social media following that rivals your favorite artists and entertainers.

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