As someone who posts a new blog every Thursday, I’m growing the love the fact that I have one required time every year to give thanks.

I’m thankful for a lot of things this year: my incredible friends and family, a supportive community of adventurers, and of course the approaching winter. But I’m thankful every day to work for a company whose mission statement so closely resembles my personal ethos.

To celebrate Thanksgiving every year, The Mountaineers send a message of thanks to its community. As the marketing director, I’m primarily responsible for crafting and distributing this message. While I didn’t come up with the beautiful design below, we used my picture and words. Just like the last two years, I feel personally moved by the way it turned out.

In an especially tumultuous time in our country, I, too, am thankful for our public lands. I’m grateful for those who came before us, like the late, great Polly Dyer, and fought for the wild places where we play. We all need to do what we can to protect our public lands; to let our grandchildren experience the sensation of discovering an untouched place.