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Julie Dugdale

Writer. Editor. Journalist. Storyteller.
   Humankind --> I try to be both.


For more of my work or to connect, visit the menu above.

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5280: The Denver Magazine •

Hive Mind

“That’s my jaaaaam!” Samuel Ramsey says into his mouthpiece as the room erupts into applause and laughter. He stops the YouTube video—of himself, belting out pop lyrics in Thai—playing on the big screen behind him and turns back to his audience with a little bow. Clad in a black blazer over a white hoodie, his hair bleached at the tips, Ramsey has the look of a captivating entertainer. Or maybe a singer or comedian. Few would guess this dynamic raconteur is a world-renowned entomologist.

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The Denver Post •

Adventuring to visit a glacier in Alaska and Canada before it disappears

Even in a state as saturated with dramatic peaks and geological marvels as Colorado, it’s thrilling to get up close and personal with something as grand — and as emblematic of our ballooning climate change crisis — as a glacier. Given the near certainty of continued climate chaos in coming years, seeing these remnants of the last ice age is becoming a catch-them-while-you-can prospect.

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Time Out Denver •

The very best restaurants in Denver

From trendy hangouts to fine dining and Italian to Japanese, here are the best food spots in Denver right now. May 2025: Since our last update, the Michelin Guide team finally made its way through the city and doled out its coveted honors. We’ve been bringing our crew to as many of these hot spots as we can, from throw-down special occasions to family-nights-out to the occasional solo mission at a barstool. This time around, we’ve added a few killer new spots to replace three closures on the previous list (RIP to beloved farm-to-table pioneer Fruition, buzzy Japanese outpost Sushi Ronin and the enchanted forest-esque Beatrice & Woodsley); replaced our taco pick with the line-around-the-block Kiké’s Red Tacos; swapped an Italian selection for the exquisite hand-cranked pasta house Restaurant Olivia; and bumped a pick or two off the list in favor of some indisputable standouts that have truly leveled up Denver’s culinary game (lookin’ at you, Brutø and Alma Fonda Fina). Click here for more information on how we curate guides.

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5280: The Denver Magazine •

Meet a Coloradan Who Wrote a Book About His Explorations in the Alaskan Arctic

When Jon Waterman first visited the Alaskan Arctic in 1983 as a Denali National Park ranger on patrol at the wild Noatak River, he had no idea how profoundly the experience would shape his life. Today, the Carbondale-based award-winning author—as prolific an environmental writer and researcher as he is an intrepid explorer and adventurer—has just released his 17th book, Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder amid the Arctic Climate Crisis (November 12, 2024).

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5280: The Denver Magazine •

Is Colorado’s Last Great Ski Town Losing Its Soul?

On a crisp early October morning in downtown Crested Butte, the aspens are doing their thing, radiating gold and fluttering audibly in the breeze. Sunshine warms the shoulders of couples strolling along Elk Avenue—dogs on leashes, coffees in hand—against the backdrop of the town’s eponymous peak. Planters overflowing with fall blooms gild pastel-painted Victorian buildings, and handwritten chalkboard signs beckon passersby to pop through the open doors of storefronts. The whole vibe is impossibly quaint—perhaps more so because of the quirky free-spiritedness that makes the charm feel genuine.

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5280: Denver's Mile High Magazine •

The Pandemic Only Amplified Colorado’s Drinking Problem

Nora began drinking heavily in her late 30s, turning to alcohol after the demons of early childhood trauma resurfaced. A self-described emotional drinker, the fortysomething Denverite, who asked that her real name be withheld to protect her privacy, says her consumption only increased during the COVID-19 crisis. “You’d be seeing all these memes on social media at 2 p.m. that people were having wine parties together,” Nora says, “so you’d feel comfortable doing it as well.” But after a two-week bender in early 2021, Nora woke up feeling more broken than usual.

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University of Denver •

Korbel Honors: Celebrating 60 years of the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs

[Non-bylined] Former Secretary of State and Korbel Alumnus Condoleezza Rice’s recent message to the Korbel community was clear: Democracy as we know it hangs in the balance—but there is hope in tomorrow’s leaders. “When you’re in the middle of an avalanche, you can’t stop it; you just have to decide how you’re going to dig out,” the former Secretary of State told the audience at DU’s Korbel Honors 2025 celebration. “We’re in a little bit of an avalanche right now.”

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Global Greengrants Fund: Our Voices, Our Environment—The state of funding for women’s environmental action •

Why Grassroots Organizations Benefit From Approaching Environmental Justice With a Gender Perspective—and Why Funders Should Support these Collaborations [Role: contributing case study author]

[See page 7] Silvia Perez Yescas of Oaxaca, Mexico, knows what it’s like to have her voice silenced. For an entire year, month after month, she stood outside a room full of men who gathered to discuss land rights and environmental issues that were affecting family and community well-being. For an entire year, she planted herself firmly on the other side of the room’s window— she wasn’t “allowed” to come inside—and raised her hand to participate in the discussion. For an entire year, the men ignored her. Why? Because Yescas is a woman. In Mexican territories where vast swaths of natural resources are being threatened by energy companies, infrastructure projects, and mining corporations compounding the effects of climate change, the people most impacted—women—rarely get a seat at the table to lend their

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5280: The Denver Magazine •

Can Conservation Easements Give Young Colorado Farmers a Chance?

Dwarfed by five stainless steel grain-storage bins outside the Root Shoot malt house in Loveland, Emily Olander gestures toward the horizon. A two-story cookie-cutter house with a white fence peeks out from the rolling green land. “See that?” 38-year-old Emily asks. “That’s what we don’t want.” The Olanders, who farm nearly 2,200 acres in northern Colorado and run a malt business that regularly supplies 150 breweries in the state, have nothing against the homeowners, of course. It’s the big-picture development they’re wary of—an encroaching sprawl that’s gobbling up farmland along Colorado’s I-25 corridor faster than older farmers can devise ways to affordably retire without selling their fields to the developers behind the ubiquitous mixed-use retail and residential enclaves.

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5280: The Denver Magazine •

It Takes Two

Somewhere between Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, just off the coast of a tiny volcanic island called Raikoke, a small vessel bobbed in the chop of the Sea of Okhotsk. An assorted group of photographers, scientists, and filmmakers lined the boat’s railing and stared in disbelief as the landscape came into focus. The island, usually lush and green, smoldered in an ashy gray state of complete desolation. The air was heavy with sulfuric smoke tendrils, and flocks of birds circled in infinite loops overhead with nowhere to land. The sea-lapped shores, once home to a thriving sea lion rookery, had been reduced to smoking rubble.

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American Rivers / The Source 2023: Life Depends On Rivers •

Invisible No More

On the way to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — the nation’s busiest transportation hub — the air is filled with the hum of planes and the drone of cars as they speed toward departures. What you don’t hear is the rushing of water. Or even the trickle of a stream. Which is problematic, given that the headwaters of the 344-mile Flint River, which supplies water to hundreds of thousands of people across Georgia, are located at the airport. Or, more precisely, under the airport. A network of urban tunnels moves the Flint beneath the sprawling parking lots and runways.

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5280 •

I Conquered a Via Ferrata—Then Wondered if I Should Have

As I wobble along the via ferrata’s cable-wire bridge stretched across the Uncompahgre Gorge in Ouray, I keep reminding myself of one thing: Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Do. Not. Look. Down. That’s because a ribbon of frothy whitewater churns far below me. It’s the first feature of the Ouray Via Ferrata’s downstream route. My friend and I, despite our lack of rock climbing experience, are harnessed and helmeted behind our mountain guide, Micah Lewkowitz of Mountain Trip, who’d already cruised across the cable and swiveled around to snap photos of us. Via ferrata is Italian for “iron path,” a concept that dates to World War I in Italy’s Dolomites, where they were developed to maneuver troops through inaccessible terrain. It’s a system of steel rungs, ladders, bridges, and cables permanently bolted into rock walls and ledges. This one follows the east side of the 180-foot-deep gorge, across from the famous Ouray Ice Park, for nearly a mile.

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5280 •

Need a Backcountry Guide? There’s an App for That

So, you’re itching for an adventure. Not surprising, given most Coloradans’ proximity to, well, a veritable promised land of mountains, crags, trails, rivers, and general outdoorsy splendor. Given the options, though, it can be a little overwhelming to narrow down what, exactly, you want to do, and where, exactly, you can do it. And chances are, if you want to really push yourself outside your recreational comfort zone, you’ll need a backcountry guide. Enter 57hours, a platform that connects adrenaline seekers—of all levels—and outdoor guides in much the same way that VRBO or Airbnb connect vacationers and homeowners.

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5280 •

Colorado’s Iconic Guest Ranches are Contending with an Upswing in Visitors and Changes in the Workforce

Staying at a dude ranch in the West is a rite of passage for many vacationers. So beloved is the experience that for decades, the same families have booked the same weeks at the same guest ranches in Colorado. Some of these destinations are more luxurious than others, but all of them offer a taste of the iconic, gritty Old West (horseback riding! chuckwagon feasts!) intertwined with the gourmet meals and guided adventures. Because of COVID-19, however, the way guest ranches operate has necessarily had to change. Early on, the pandemic took an economic toll on many ranches, where communal traditions like family-style dinners and campfire jam sessions became a little too close for comfort in a virus-y world. While early closures, capacity restrictions, and staff cuts dealt catastrophic blows to some, almost every ranch owner had to make difficult decisions about how to survive—and hopefully thrive—in the new normal. But change wasn’t easy.

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5280 Health •

A Patient's Guide to Denver Emergency Rooms

Last year, about one in six Centennial Staters visited an emergency department, despite the fact that more than a third of respondents to a 2019 Colorado Health Institute survey believed the maladies that landed them there could have been treated by a nonemergency doctor. Why is the ED so confusing? We asked local physicians for insight into that question—as well as 10 other queries that routinely pop up when crises arise.

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Outside Business Journal •

How outdoor brands are taking vaccine mandates into their own hands

In the summer of 2021, Kim Miller found himself in a familiar position: considering the best move to shepherd his team through a life-threatening storm. In his previous life as an expedition leader, he’d shouldered that very burden on plenty of high peaks. As the CEO of Scarpa North America, he now faced a different deadly threat: Covid-19. “My mentality as a leader is to keep people safe,” Miller says. “And motivated, engaged, and happy at a time when people are freaking out.”

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