Donald Trump pardons U.S. trail runner for cutting national park switchback
In Sept. 2024, Michelino Sunseri was charged with a Class B misdemeanour for taking a closed shortcut in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park
Joyce N. Boghosian/WC
Two months after being found guilty by a federal court for cutting a switchback in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, U.S. trail runner Michelino Sunseri received a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump, clearing him of the charges.
In Sept. 2024, Sunseri set a fastest known time (FKT) at Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, covering the 21-km round-trip trail with 2,100m of vertical in two hours, 50 minutes and 50 seconds.
VICTORY: On Friday, President Trump pardoned our client Michelino Sunseri, the record-setting mountain runner prosecuted by the National Park Service for using a social trail in Grand Teton National Park.
Michelino set a new Grand Teton speed record, ascending and descending the… pic.twitter.com/yb83qO5TLG
— Pacific Legal 🗡⚖️ (@PacificLegal) November 11, 2025
En route to setting the record, Sunseri cut a switchback, taking the “old climbers’ trail” instead. It’s a well-established shortcut, but at the time, it was marked closed; two signs read “short cutting causes erosion” and “closed for regrowth.”
After Sunseri announced the FKT and posted his activity on Strava, he acknowledged controversial cutting and said he would “100 per cent make the same choice again.”
A few days later, the National Park Service (NPS), the government agency that administers the U.S.’s national parks, issued a mandatory citation under 36 CFR 2.1(b), which prohibits shortcutting on federal trails. It was a Class-B misdemeanour charge, punishable by up to six months in jail and a US$5,000 fine.
The charge ended up becoming a heated topic on the FKT scene, raising questions about the charges and punishment, and whether it was an example of overcriminalization.
Sumseri’s lawyers argued that no damage was done to the park or any visitor to the park. They also claimed other runners had used the trail previously without consequence.
In response to the pardon, his lawyers at the Pacific Legal Foundation said they are thrilled “Sunseri’s nightmare is over.”
“We are not done fighting against unconstitutional regulations that give low-level park officials the power to criminalize harmless conduct,” said Michael Poon of Pacific Legal Foundation.
Sunseri has also teased a documentary covering the controversial FKT and criminal charges. The North Face athlete has even started a petition encouraging public support for dropping the criminal charges. “These mountains mean everything to Michelino,” Pacific Legal stated. “Agreeing to give up such an integral part of his life because of a law he didn’t know he was breaking was unthinkable.”
