Welcome to the tropical Philippine island of Jolo, where life is like a Corona ad—coconut trees, white-sand beaches, bathtub-warm seas. Except those guys in the water are U.S. Green Berets, and those kids on dirt bikes are jihadists known for kidnapping Western tourists. Even stranger? On this front, at least, America seems to be winning.

Listen to an interview with John Falk, author of February’s “This is the War on Terror. Wish You Were Here!” and see Antonin Kratochvil's photo outtakes from the story here.

Get ready for the new age of adventure on the world's wildest continent. Whether it's the Ugandan National Kayak Team leading raft trips on the raging White Nile or entrepreneurial young guides building stylish bush camps with an eye toward helping local communities, a fresh generation is redefining travel in…

Four years ago, the president of Gabon announced the creation of an unprecedented 13 new national parks. Ready for a visit? On a grueling first descent down the Djidji River, ROB BUCHANAN checks in on the world's most ambitious conservation plan and discovers a pristine wilderness unmatched in its magic—and a country not quite ready fo

Forget après ski. Three January film festivals are redefining post-powder entertainment. Head to Park City, Utah, or Nevada City, California, for the winter’s coolest mountain town film festivals, where you can play outside by day and catch top film premieres by night.

When freeskier Kit DesLauriers dropped in at 29,035 feet on Mount Everest in October, she became the first person to ski off the Seven Summits. Kit, her husband, Rob, and photographer Jimmy Chin also became the first Americans to ski from the top of the world's tallest mountain.

Big names, big adventure—and a message for the masses

The year's best voices on the hottest spots around

That's what many Africans are calling Thomas Cholmondeley, the scion of Kenya's most famous white family who killed two black men on his vast Rift Valley ranch in the space of a year. But was it stone-cold murder or self-defense? Against a backdrop of rising racial tensions and brutal violence, JOSHUA HAMMER reports on the trial that could shatter the

November 15, 2006 In Outside‘s December issue, Joshua Hammer reports on the murder trial of Kenyan aristocrat Thomas Cholmondeley (“The Kenyan Cowboy,” page 158), who has been accused of killing Robert Njoya, a black poacher found trespassing on his 50,000-acre Soysambu Ranch in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley on May…

Untold riches may lie hidden in Arizona.

A fateful trek into nature's tangled labyrinth

A California forest ranger meets his fate in the forest.

The Bermuda Triangle isn't the only place you might witness the unexplained.

Who can resist a good mystery, the kind that leaves you both rattled and baffled? Certainly not us. So it's with sinister pleasure that we bring you 13 tales of unrighteous deeds, inexplicable vanishings, supernatural weirdness, and the stuff that nightmares are made of.

An unholy terror descends on South Asia.

When he landed a rare permit to hunt bison deep in the Alaskan wilderness, our fearless forager thought he'd be living out a childhood dream. Wild buffalo, hungry grizzlies, nearly fatal hypothermia—what more could a grown man ask for?

There's only one best ski town for nighttime fun, and it's Aspen

The top ten adventures on the subcontinent

When ultracyclist Bob Breedlove fatally collided with a pickup truck during the 2005 Race Across America, law-enforcement officials in Trinidad, Colorado, called it a tragic accident—and nothing more. But friends and family have been investigating his death ever since, and they're making some disturbing allegations. Can they prove their case, or are th

Rethinking the classic game expedition on a winged voyage over Namibia, where wildlife is only part of the landscape of vast deserts and empty coastlines

Prepare for sensory overload—regal palaces, wireless tech, urbanized elephants, Bollywood style, and more than a billion coexisting citizens—in the giant, baffling spectacle of modern India

There's a lot to love about the Arkansas Ozarks: fresh trout, sick singletrack, and the onset of rural chic

Unique, irreplaceable, and still largely unknown—our must-see-now list of the UN's latest World Heritage picks

In the mother of all canyons, a big-picture adventure below the rim

Red-hot lava, scary pelagics, and heavenly creatures all come out after dark on Hawaii's Big Island

Chasing tall legends for his new book, Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides takes a wild ride deep into one of the most sacred spots on earth—Arizona's Canyon de Chelly

Decompress from summer in Spain's Pyrenean lodges

Scientists proclaim Indonesia's Bird's Head Seascape the most biodiverse marine area in the world.

From Pablo Escobar's abandoned villa to the sun-bleached sands of the Riviera Maya, an assignment doesn't get much better than this.

Getting There: Canyon de Chelly is located in Chinle, Arizona, a four drive from Albuquerque or six hours from Phoenix. Canyon de Chelly National Monument is open year-round, though the winters are cold and tours run less often. Where to Stay: Campsites within the monument are free and…

Outside editor at large Hampton Sides has a gift for homing in on some of the most intense and violent moments in history. Winner of the 2002 PEN USA Award for non-fiction, he wrote about Bataan Death March survivors in his first book, the bestselling Ghost Soldiers (adapted into the…

Who says you need fossil fuels? Four adventurers—including Laird Hamilton, who paddled the English Channel—circle the globe under their own steam.

A tourism industry hobbled by years of civil war and political instability looks to rebound as Nepal makes moves toward a lasting peace. Is it finally safe to go back?

Ten go-now getaways that are short on hassle but long on adventure—no passport required

Prepare to be converted by this tiny Central American nation of raw, dark jungle, teeming reefs, and a very original cast of locals. (They all speak English!)

Sending Jon Krakauer to Everest was my idea. After the news broke, I spent the better part of a day wondering if I'd put him in a frozen grave.

Client, Mountain Madness

Survivors from Everest '96 recall a day of terror and confusion that many still believe was distorted in ways that oversimplified complex events and dishonored the dead.

David Sharp's lonely death on Mount Everest revived the old, raging debates about personal ethics and the wisdom of commercially guided climbing. But whatever went right and wrong in 2006, the bottom line remains: You challenge this peak at your own risk, because its punishments are swift, terrible, and blind.

You need to learn your lesson! So listen up to Mike Roberto, a fast-talking consultant who uses the '96 saga as a teaching tool for students, lawyers, and businessmen.

With 25 national parks, 815 miles of coastline, and thousands of wildlife species, Costa Rica is indeed a rich coast. Experience it all with these seven sea-to-jungle family adventures.

We sit down for a candid conversation with Outside contributor Eric Hansen about his most recent assignment, a quest to find the world's most extreme bar, Colombia's El Mirador, for the September feature story, "It's Thriller Time."

Wanna live where the action is? The goal: Trails out the back door, a serious Saturday-morning peloton, whitewater just up the road, and neighbors eager to join in. Our source: The best adventure athletes in America, who tell us where they live and why. The result: 20 places where locals work, train, and play hard. Start packing now.

Think life in America's favorite outdoor mecca would be dreamy? Careful what you wish for.

Is it possible to guide safely on Everest? Or will the mountain always demand its pound of flesh? MARK JENKINS talks to a dream team of veterans—between them, they've reached the summit 17 times—in a frank look at the risks, rewards, and nightmares of taking clients to the top.

North Korea opens its doors to American tourists

To air is human. To go big is divine. To huck for dollars at the hard rock cafe... a cry for help. Why are action-sports athletes suddenly channeling Evel Knievel?

Befuddled and heartbroken after watching the New York Yankees end their beloved Boston Red Sox’s 2003 playoff run, Jeff Neumann and Ray LeMoine needed to get away. Far away. So, using the money they’d earned from selling “Yankees Suck” T-shirts in Boston, they hopped a plane to Jordan and bussed…

For the Italian-born photographer, a trip to the Caribbean to shoot W. Hodding Carter for August's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin Swimmer" was more than an assignment, it was a rum-soaked adventure.

When a study this past spring revealed that the British are significantly healthier than Americans, we went looking for the wellness benefits of warm beer. But it turns out there are plenty of more wholesome buzzes in the UK.

Strap in for a road trip through the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan with Robert Thurman—Uma's dad and one of the planet's most magnetic Buddha boosters—and get set for stunning scenery, harrowing S-curves, and face time with the wild side of your soul

With on-call mechanics, high-energy meals, and leg massages, boutique bike hotels turn cycling into a destination sport on par with skiing

What happens when a Type A relaxation-phobe takes his first vacation in years? Life gets good again.

Biking & Nightlife

Costa Rica's Nature Air gets an emissions-free face-lift

Snowbound in the Andes after their plane crashes, the starving members of a Uruguayan rugby squad are forced to live off the flesh of their fallen teammates. Now, for the first time, the hero of their ordeal writes his own story. In this exclusive excerpt from Miracle in the Andes, Nando Parrado reveals the untold horrors of their suffering—and the

Hook up with Carmichael Training Systems and Santa Fe Mountain Adventures for one of the most comprehensive adventure racing camp in the country.

Get steeped in Sri Lanka's tea country at four new lodges in the southern highlands

Refugee rockers JJI Exile Brothers give Tibetan youth a new attitude

SCOTT LINDGREN, whose first descent of Tibet’s deadly Tsangpo was chronicled in our July 2002 issue, continues to paddle and film the world’s most dangerous whitewater. His upcoming DVD, Burning Time II (out in May), features first descents in China and Turkey. And during a recent trip to Zambia,…

A virtual tour of South Asia's pearl-shaped island.

All it takes is one trip to change your life - and we've got 40 of 'em. Dreaming of close encounters with cheetahs or penguins? Want to climb a mountain in Peru? Experience an epic trek in China? One trip, one world - that's all it takes.

There's no substitute for the natural world, but engineers are catching up. Ten years ago, an indoor climbing wall turned heads; now developers are mimicking mountains, rivers, and oceans. As urban centers swell, so do the latest man-made achievements.

Here's why ten Winter Olympics have been staged high in the Alps: James Bond glamour, beautiful slopes, and raging après—ski that lasts till 3 a.m.

Seamus Murphy's recent trip to Syria with writer Patrick Symmes was one of many in a long list of far-flung adventures across the globe. Read about his experiences in Syria, then view an exclusive photo gallery of the country.

The Golden State gets set to host America's richest bike race ever

For the veteran adventure photographer, Bhutan broke the mold.

When it comes to adventure kingdoms, all roads eventually lead to California. Here's where to find the Golden State's secret stash.

Time to tune up that garageful of gear (we don't mean lawn chairs) and devote your next outing to full-throttle fun.

IN JANUARY, ARIZONA’S Hualapai tribe, whose 2,000-person reservation covers 1,500 square miles along the Grand Canyon’s south rim, is opening a glass-bottomed, horseshoe-shaped walkway that will jut 70 feet from the edge, 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Located 200 miles west of the crowded lookouts of Grand Canyon National…

Now you can explore Easter Island's famed stone statues in style

Surrounded by the beauty of the world's highest range, thousands of people live without sight. The Himalayan Cataract Project is curing blindness—literally overnight—in the most remote villages of Nepal and India. And, hey, as long as you're performing mass miracles, why not run up a 21,000-foot peak?

Fight back! Don't succumb to the cold-weather blues this winter—head south to the Caribbean and Central America, where the sun comes up early and the ice comes shaved. Presenting the six freshest surf-and-chill outdoor adventures this season.

Some two to three million people have been left homeless by the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck South Asia, according to a press release issued by the North Face and GlobalGiving. Here, find out where you can donate gear to the help in the relief effort. Donated gear will be collected…

So it's a vast, faraway adventure mecca,no worries, mate! Here come ten abso-bloody-lutely awesome Australian odysseys—from Sydney to the bush—plus locals' picks and all the beta you need to get there.

Patagonia's wild peaks and blue glaciers have long been the ultimate lost frontier. Now an American gone gaucho is carving out an incredible new trekking kingdom in Chile's vast, unspoiled Ays�n region, and adventure's South American dreamscape just got a whole lot bigger.

A veteran documentary photographer, Teru Kuwayama frequently finds himself on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan—the latter of which he calls his “hands-down favorite country on earth.” This despite the fact that he and Outside Reconnaissance Agent and Hard Way columnist Mark Jenkins were arrested after traversing Afghanistan’s northeastern…

Thirty vehicles, 16,000 miles, and not a single tank of gas

In the brave new world of Eastern Europe, a bond forged in adventure�then nearly forgotten�is reborn. Just in time.