Everything
Thirteen otherwise courageous writers reveal their deepest, darkest fears in our homage to the creepy, crawly, menacing world of phobias. Prepare to squirm.
"You never know. After this summer, my whole next album could be about kayaking."
Come to the light: Nightcrawling the Gifford Pinchot Forest for signs of you-know-who. Is there anybody out there?: Scanning the horizon for the big-footed one. The Bigfoot Hot Zone Thrown of the ape-man!: Rick Noll displays the controversial and anatomically diverse Skookum Cast. They walk among us: BFRO…
Turn-offs: Leeches, bad stylists—and spoilsports who mock Team Playboy X-treme
They walked down the aisle—now they're walking the world, retracing man's epic trek out of Africa
The strangest stuff litters the flood-sloshed banks of the Mississippi River and her tributaries: tires by the hundred, refrigerators, automobiles, messages in a bottle, urine in a bottle, and (yikes!) the occasional ice chest containing a severed horse head. When the going gets gross, the man to call is Chad Pregracke, a crusading voyager in the war against trash.
August 15, 2002 So what happens when the summer’s biggest tour lands in the New York City? Concertgoers cut loose, the trials bikers reinvent their show, and someone gets engaged on stage. It’s just a typical day at the Jeep World Outside Festival, but it’s always exciting— especially for…
August 8, 2002 Towering 40 feet above the adventure village, Huck Mountain is one of the most impressive and imposing attractions at the Jeep World Outside Festival. But as remarkable as the giant ski ramp may be, it’s dwarfed by the daring of the athletes who brave its slopes…
August 22, 2002 After a long and exciting summer, the Jeep World Outside Festival, which brought both outdoor adventure and rock and roll to people across the country, has come to an end. Sheryl Crow carves the day away on the snowboard simulator. Star power: Crow and Gwyneth Paltrow…
Nothing comes easy for the riders of the TOUR DU FASO, West Africa's tortuous answer to the Tour de France. Their bikes are beaters, the heat is infernal, la dysenterie is inevitable, and every year the locals get shown up by European interlopers looking to find an exotic thrill. But for Jérémie Ouedraogo and his teammates—proud citizens of the fourth-
July 12, 2002 April McKeen had a lot of questions. Should she ski first and then kayak, or maybe hit the bike track and then cool off in the scuba pool? When did the ski jump exhibition start and where was the climbing wall? Could she do it all…
The Jeep World Outside Festival visits the rain-soaked grounds of Winter Park
World-class athletes are forced to get inventive to stay in shape as the Jeep World Outside Festival rocks on to Seattle
He's no Lance (yet), but former U.S. Postal rider Levi Leipheimer has won the right to lead Rabobank, one of Europe's fastest squads
Illustration by Dan Winters and Gary Tanhauser Illustration by Dan Winters and Gary Tanhauser The thrill of adventure is worth a few calculated risks. But sometimes whitewater rafts flip, bike frames snap, and wilderness guides lose the map. In a society where people are increasingly aggressive about putting…
George W. Bush’s Secretary of the Interior keeps a low profile, keeps her mouth shut, and never picks a fight. Don’t mistake her for a stiff, though. As the steward of 507 million public acres, she has deftly combined an aggressive, pro-extraction agenda and the Bush administration’s wartime clout…
After 34 years of blazing trails, Colin Fletcher anoints a footloose, gear-crazed successor
Aiming to ditch those pesky antiglobalists, the G8 elite huddle in backwoods Alberta
Hey, brah—at the Camp, Southern California's new outdoor-retail supermall, you can catch big air and fill big bags
He's No Lance (Yet), but Former U.S. Postal Rider Levi Leipheimer Has Won the Right to Lead Rabobank, One of Europe's Fastest Squads
Scientists never bought his theories, but Thor Heyerdahl's prove-it-yourself adventures captivated the world
Speed hiker Ted "Cave Dog" Keizer has a blistering dream: to climb 140,000 vertical feet in the Adirondacks—in five days
Tearing through the banquet of life, Radish, the author's omnivorous, irrepressible red heeler, was a happy and undiscriminating guest—not to mention a philosophical beast who maybe, just maybe, had it all figured out
#1 You must merge with the living energy of the mountain. #2 That nagging headache may be the result of an avalanche that has just crushed your tent. #3 In order to endure the most dire physical suffering at 25,000 feet, you must inhabit other dimensions free from pain. (Note: Pain returns upon reentry into the body.) #4 You will be compelled to ascend the most harrowing face in the Himalayas, alone. #5 Go home, break both of your legs, and start all over again.
IT WAS JUST ANOTHER QUIET BRAZILIAN EVENING, IN JUST ANOTHER PORT. THE BOAT WAS JUST ONE MORE SLEEK YACHT, bristling with electronics and expensive gear. The pirates were just another band of small-time water rats. And after the shoot-out, there was just one man dead on board the Seamaster. But…
Who knows best the cost of rowing solo across the Atlantic? She who finishes last.
In her new autobiography, Lynn Hill looks back on three decades of big climbs, big falls, and bigger egos
Chris Swain intends to swim the Columbia from source to sea. His goal? Save the river, then sell the rights.
To make his mark in Europe's toughest races, George Hincapie needs more than guts. He needs an old friend.
How does a caffeine-loaded energy drink become a billion-dollar brand? RED BULL's creators inject their product with the adrenaline-by-association of extreme sports, and they never stop in the quest for buzz.
WILL GADD is a world-class adventurer who wants his exploits to pay off. He tackles breakthrough climbs all over the planet (sounds good), makes so-so money doing it (less good), and could easily get killed every time he goes to work (sounds bad). Is this any way to make a living?
Joe’s hand began to tingle, and he called the group together. The toxins would leave his system in 48 hours, he said. He’d be conscious the whole time.
We've been researching the world's best adventures for 25 years. To see where we're been and where you'll soon want to go, we've culled our archives and created a list of recent favorites.
Murdered by pirates at 53, a champion long-haul sailor leaves behind a legacy of inspiration
What does it take to steer across the Bering Strait? Guts, persistence, and—oh yeah—a seven-ton SUV.
HAVING LONG HELD A PLACE America’s heart for its endearing 1950s nerdiness (you gotta love those hats), the National Park Service will select a group of its rangers to look a tad dorkier this April when they start tooling around on Segway Human Transporters—those much-hyped self-balancing scooters, also known as…
The respect of the men can be a cruel mistress and a harlot. But at other times it can be a nice mistress and a happy slut. You can't think about it too much.
UPDATE On April 7, 2002, at 3:13 P.M., British explorers Steve Brooks and Graham Stratford triumphantly drove Snowbird 6 across the International Date Line in the frozen Bering Strait and into Russia. Ice Challenger Coverage PREVIEW: Strapped behind the wheel of an amphibious snowcat, two lunatic Brits try to…
IMAX mogul David Breashears aims for another really-big-screen hit with Kilimanjaro
The just-in-time, let's-party, fear-no-evil Winter Olympics get ready to rip in the country that needs 'em now more than ever
What's that smell? It's a teeming avian sanctuary—and a sump of troubled waters. It's a mess that we created—and a puzzle we can't solve. It's California's Salton Sea, a hypersaline lake that kills the very life it shelters.
The marines' mountain warfare training center is the ultimate test for some of the world's toughest troops: a make-it-or-leave regimen of backcountry ski combat, torturous night maneuvers, and deadly cold. Any volunteers?
Two decades ago in Sarajevo, Bill Johnson won America's first Olympic gold medal in the downhill with an astonishing kamikaze performance. Now, in the wake of a comeback attempt that almost killed him, skiing's crash-course survivor struggles with the consequences of a life lived too fast.
A world-class mountain biking, surfing, and boardsailing hideout awaits in Baja. All you have to do is find it.
In the first weeks of January, a team of Cavex explorers will plunge into Slovenia’s Skaljarevo Brezno Cave in the Julian Alps. After a couple days of rappelling their way downward through limestone shafts they will arrive at a critical crux at 900 meters, where a boulder choke blocks further…
Meet paleontology's wonder boys—the hard-shoveling, hard-drinking fossil hunters of the Bahariya Dinosaur Project
He is the undisputed king of an immensely grueling sport. So why must Reid Sabin shovel dirt just to get by?
IT WASN’T AS BIG as, say, finding a Lost Ark made of Jolly Ranchers, but the discovery last January of a vintage Hershey’s chocolate bar entombed in polar ice rocked the world of snack archaeology. Now, a year later, the company wants to know: How did the sweet get to…
Armed with audiovisual firepower, a squadron of bird geeks chases the one that got away
With his radical flying sailboat L'Hydroptère, a French skipper aims to snatch Steve Fossett's brand-new Atlantic speed record
An ardent defender of wilderness reflected on the solace of the mountains and nature in difficult times. He wrote this after 9/11, but the sentiment applies now, too, as we watch the world changing around us.
Going deep in Poland's Tatra Mountains, where the forests are soulful, the slopes steep, and the trails most holy
Warm, windswept, unfettered, ever-changing—North America's four great desert regions hide untold possibilities for classic winter adventure. They may be scorching and sere, with prickly dangers over every horizon, but if you know where to go—and how to explore wisely—you'll find these 500,000 square miles of desolation downright hospitable.
Forget what you've heard about calories, pounds, carbs, or miles—the adventure athlete's real secret to optimal weight is all about energy management
A tough-as-nails cadre of Russian and Ukranian speleologists wriggles and blasts its way to caving's grand prize: the mythic 2,000-meter mark
The Intrepid Travels and Incredible Tales of Col. John Blashford-Snell, Explorer
A peek inside the dog-eat-dog world of archaeological sleuths, historic aircraft buffs, and serial entrepreneurs trying to solve the mystery of what happened to one of the greatest aviators of the 20th century
Feeling blue: a diver descends onto the reef off Belize Q: My two friends and I are trying to find the cheapest way possible to make it down to Belize to do some scuba diving. We will sleep on the beach if necessary. Can you give us…
Past and Future Collide on the Class V Rapids of the Philippines' Chico River
Aussie arch: waves and rock off Port Campbell, Australia Q: My girlfriend and I are looking for a two-week winter trip in a warm climate. We are pretty strong bikers but would like beaches and hiking, too. Any thoughts? — Bram Weinkselbaum, Venice, California…
Me, myself, and bike on a 1,253 circumnavigation of the South Island
Cigar-smoking santos, icy Belikin, crumbling pyramids, freshly spun tortillas, slithering vipers, and everlasting love
In the fall of 2001, big-wall climber Mike Libecki went from the vertical to the horizontal, ditching his ropes and portaledge for trekking poles and a sun hat to complete a grueling 600-plus-mile crossing of the Taklimakan Desert in northwest China. Beginning in late September some 3,000 miles west of…