Everything
Gold-medal gorgeous: end of day on the coast of Olympic National Park Q: We are traveling to Olympic National Park in July. We have two small children, ages three and four. Do you think the coastal hikes are realistic? Do we need reservations? — John Perdaems,…
A grand day for a paddle: Snake River with the Tetons looming in the background Q: My fiancé and I are going to Grand Teton National Park for our honeymoon. I remembered reading an article in Outside that said the best way to see the park and…
A cragged view of South Korea’s Seoraksan National Park Q: I’m headed over to South Korea for the World Cup and would love to work in some whitewater rafting while I’m there. The rivers should be runnable, as it appears to be the rainy season. Any recommendations?…
It’s no wonder that the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia has produced some of the world’s best mountaineers: You can’t travel north of the country’s capital, Ljubljana, without butting up against some of Europe’s most precipitous ranges. And since the 11-year-old country is still underneath most Americans’ radar, Europeans have…
THE LAST AMERICAN MAN BY ELIZABETH GILBERT (Viking, $25) TO MEET EUSTACE CONWAY is to be dazzled. Here’s a man who stalked, killed, and dressed the deer whose skin he wears as pants; who rode a horse clear across America; who dines on roadkill and sleeps…
Rick Young—restaurateur, technophile, obsessed basement hobbyist—is about to pilot the first perfect replica of the 1903 Wright flyer, the rickety, wood-and-fabric biplane that kick started aviation history. At least four other teams are poised to launch flyers of their own, but Young is rushing to make it into the record books first—or become th
A bird obsessive chases a maddening truth: the more elusive the prize, the more tantalizing the hunt
Love, War, and Circuses The Age-Old Relationship Between Elephants and Humans BY ERIC SCIGLIANO (Houghton Mifflin, $24) THERE ARE LOTS of elephant books out there, ranging from the cute to the clinical, but Eric Scigliano’s is the first to take a careful look at the human-elephant…
Iceland isn't the only place to revel in Nordic madness. Once the rest of Scandinavia has made it through another winter, the residents start to vibrate...they grin...they regress...and turn positively Viking. All you need to know is where and how to tap
Only on this remote North Atlantic island do you find such glorious quirks as tolting ponies and entire villages of sleep-deprived puffin chasers
Spread brilliant images of your adventures across the wide-open spaces on your walls with the latest generation of photography's technological wonders
WARNING: If you are pregnant, or have kids of any age, read on. This report contains information guaranteed to provide you with the premier places to rest you head. Then rip it in the great outdoors with your wee ones. Access and Resources 888-502-9612 www.cheatmountainclub.com Ten…
After a decade of failed attempts and fatal rebuffs, an Outside-sponsored expedition runs Tibet's Upper Tsanpgo Gorge—and lives to tell about it.
Pretty in pink: flamingoes at Lake Bogoria National Reserve Q: I’m about to spend three weeks in Kenya, starting with a game drive in Masai Mara. After that, I want to get off the tourist track and see some more remote parts of the country. Any ideas?…
What do Sheryl Crow and a 22,000-gallon wave pool have in common? They’re both going on tour this summer with the Jeep World Outside Festival, a first-of-a-kind union between a major popular music concert tour and the exploding world of outdoor adventure sports. 2002 Summer Tour Dates The Jeep World…
How To Get Off the Beaten Trail (or River, or Mountain) With These 43 Soon-To-Be-Classic National Park Adventure
Fifty-five parks, 70 all-new experiences, and nothing but long summer days ahead. Here’s how to CLIMB. KAYAK, HIKE, FLY-FISH, MOUNTAIN BIKE, or just wander far from the maddening crowds in every national park in the United States. You’ve got 61 million acres of wilderness heaven at your disposal. What are…
32 YEARS AGO this summer, my pal, the crime novelist Jim Crumley, his overeducated farmer friend from Arkansas, Harold McDuffy, and yours truly hiked six miles to Bowman Lake in Glacier National Park. For someone who had spent most of his life in the desert country of southeastern Oregon, this…
The Cadence of Grass by Thomas McGuane (Knopf, $24) A HEARTY WELCOME-HOME: After a decadelong foray into nonfiction, Thomas McGuane returns to Storyville with a tale of familial strife and kidney theft played out against Montana’s sweetgrass valleys. The Cadence of Grass, McGuane’s first…
Island R&R: a sandy spit off the coast of Grenada Q: How can I book a windsurfing trip to Grenada? — Marilyn Adam, Redding, California Adventure Advisor: A: No need to book in advance; Grand Anse Beach is littered with…
Have boat, will paddle: coastal cruising off Vancouver Island Q: Four of us are planning to fish, canoe, and camp for two weeks in June. We’re considering Canada but have been warned of the black flies. How can we avoid them? Thank you, — Patti Hansen,…
Slickrock style: taking the high road near Moab Q: Five of us are looking to take a mountain biking trip in the western United States. We have thought about Moab in Utah but wanted to know if there are any alternatives we should consider. Thanks,…
Horsepower: Berber riders in Marrakech Q: If you wanted a little culture, a little nature, and a little adventure but only had a week, where in Morocco would you go? I would like to cover a lot of territory. — Sally Bentley, Portland, Oregon…
To film Valhalla, the cinemaniacs at Teton Gravity research went to great lengths—of rope, that is
CHERRY Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Phillip Whalen and Jack Kerouac in the Cascades, by Jon Suiter (Counterpoint Press, ) illuminates these beats’ little-documented time tending fire lookouts in the north Cascades—summer pockets of productive A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard BY SARA WHEELER (Random…
At the First Church of What Happens Next—MIT— a NASA-trained engineer and his stable of whiz kids are jump-starting the future of outdoor gear
Hop on (HUH?), rev up (WHAT?!), and take a trip (I can't HEAR YOU!) deep into the hillbilly heart of West Virginia, where gas-huffin' ATV motorheads churn through the Hatfield-McCoy Recreation Area—a private preserve devoted to the joys and sorrows of four-wheeling. (ARRRRGHHH!)
In our lifetime, the outdoors has been reinvented by visionaries who opened new worlds for explorers, athletes, travelers, and dreamers. And the adventure is just getting under way—so take a closer look at the bright minds creating the next frontier. Jake Burton, son Timmy, and Ruby the retriever at…
Diving on lost ships is one thing. Exploring the boat that shadowed your life is a murkier adventure entirely.
ONCE THERE WAS A WORLD WITHOUT SNOWBOARDING. A world where mountain biking was a strange and obscure cult, kayaking fiendishly inaccessible. A world without fleece vests, single-walled mountaineering tents, down sleeping bags, or GPS. In fact, until the late seventies—around the time this magazine was born—the universe of outdoor recreation…
Ten lodges where you can take it all in, and then launch an expedition out the back door
Camp overnight or camp all week. We've got the gear to let you go fast and light under blue skies or gray.
Stymied by the dark side of sport? Don't panic. Mastering fear, fatigue, and pain is easier than you think.
As lawmakers accuse seven government biologists of fraud, the truth is drowned out by the headlines
After a dark year, Nepal offers up a trove of glittering new prizes: 103 peaks and miles of virgin terrain
When the weather turns ugly and conditions get rough, every mountaineer must make the ultimate choice: storm the summit, or call it quits.
The road less pedaled: storm clouds approaching in the English countryside Q: My son and I are planning to cycle the length of the UK in June, 2002, including Wales and Ireland if possible. I need to find out who might help me in planning the route.
When outfitting yourself for desert or tropics, you no longer need to choose between protecting your epidermis and sweltering or going skimpy and inviting melanoma. New togs of tightly woven, highly sun-protective fabrics combined with built-in screen doors now reconcile coverage and comfort. RailRider’s Eco-Mesh Shirt Pants, and…
Exploring the back of beyond in Bolivia's Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado
Eight daredevil surfers head to the Amazon for a shot at the longest, wildest white-knuckle ride in the world
EVER SINCE RED BULL charged into the United States beverage market in 1997, stimulant-laden sodas from a host of different companies have been generating big buzz. In the last five years, domestic sales generated by these power-gulps have grown from $10 million to nearly $300 million. That’s in part because…
THE SNOW GEESE Art Brewer (The Surfer’s Journal, ), The second volume in the Masters of Surf Photography series, collects more than 30 years of this camera Kahuna’s Ultrasoulful Work—from action shots like this one of Dennis Pang, Marvin Foster, and the late Mar A Story…
Beyond Kenya's endless plains lie the mythic Loita Hills, home to one of East Africa's last great swaths of wilderness. To a young Masai who gave up his birthright for the hustle and blare of Nairobi, a journey to the pure heart of Masailand offers a vision of what he left behind—and a glimpse of his people's fearful future.
We’ve learned a lot in a quarter-century of roaming the planet. This month, to kick off Outside‘s silver anniversary, we’ve chosen 25 bold, epic, soul-nourishing experiences that every true adventurer must seek out—from the relatively plush and classic to the cutting-edge and hard-core. All that’s left for you is the…
Are your workouts an exercise in solitary refinement? Supercharge your performance with a little help from your friends.
It sounded like a good idea at the time: Journey to the sopping epicenter of the wettest place on earth, bag the peak, and get back in time for supper. But that was before the clouds clamped down on Mount Waialeale. Before the jungle closed in and the map became irrelevant. Before the machete-wielding, pig-hunting swamp guide said, "Would be so easy to get lost
Family outing: mom and the kids head downstream Q: I’m looking to take 30 to 40 people to Alaska for a two-week fishing/fun adventure starting in mid-June, 2002. The group will consist of some experienced Alaska fishermen, some city folks, and kids of all ages. Are there…
Follow your nose: elephants fall into line in Kenya Q: We are planning a three- to four-week backpacking journey through Africa in March. Any thoughts on where to go to get a good general impression of Africa? What about destinations preferred by typical backpackers?…
Twenty-seven specks of coral, lost in the Indian Ocean, 1,620 miles from Perth. And you thought Australia's interior was remote.
Only a few badges—Lifesaving, Dog Care, and the impossible Seven-Minute Mile among them—stood between this lapsed Scout and his boyhood dream of earning Scouting's highest honor
Innovations in synthetic insulation and a glut of high-quality down are making bags lighter and warmer than ever. We burrow into six of the best.
A paddle-perfect day on the Maine coast Q: I’m planning a kayaking trip to the Maine islands for a group of seven people. We would like to camp on one of the public islands for one night and paddle back the next day. Some of us have…
End of the road: Machu Picchu, terminus of the Inca Trail Q: I’ve heard that the Inca Trail in Peru will be closed starting in February for repairs. Despite the fact that this is a world-renowned destination, I can’t find out if this is true. Is it?…
Bergelicious: ice soup off Chile’s Patagonian coast Q: Where are the best places to sea kayak in Chilean Patagonia? Also, do you know of any outfitters in Punta Arenas that provide good equipment without international prices? Thanks, — Patrick, Lima, Peru Adventure Advisor:…
Last spring, 41-year-old Andrew McLean and 29-year-old Brad Barlage set out into the arctic wilderness of northern Canada ‘s Baffin Island for a month-long expedition in which they would complete 19 first ski-descents on runs as long as 5,100 feet. The key to the journey was an arsenal of giant…
Clip in and hang on for the 31st America's Cup—a game of skill, guile, wealth, power, pettiness, paranoia, espionage, and egomania. And the sailing's not bad, either.
Accompanying Outside‘s inside report on the battle for the 2003 America’s Cup are graphically stunning images by New York-based photographer Jeff Riedel. The 34-year-old found his way into the profession in the 1990s after his grandfather gave him an old camera and he ventured down to Virginia shoot a rally…