6 Outdoorsy Gift Ideas That Give Back
This outdoor gear lets you use your shopping power to do good while gifting
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Stories Outside Readers Love
Stories Outside Readers Love
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The Sweat Science Gift Guide
With winter on the way, here are some products that will help you stay active in the cold and plan adventures for next year
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How To Best Explore Maine in Winter
Here are 5 ways to craft memorable winter adventures across the Pine Tree State
The Best Men’s Jackets for Winter Running (2025)
Tested and approved jackets to provide shelter from winter cold and slop
Wearing Oakley’s Meta Vanguard Glasses Changed How I See Smart Tech
I tested everything—from hands-free photo capture to Garmin syncing—to see if these performance sunglasses can actually make life easier
A Hiker in Arizona Risked His Life to Save a Lost Dog on the Side of a Mountain
With sweeping vistas and steep elevation gains, Shadow Mountain Trail is a 2.6-mile loop just outside of Phoenix. Experts say it’s best to hike during the cooler parts of the day, but losing light on the trail can be just as dangerous as overheating.
Northern Lights Photos Across the Country Were Next Level. Tonight Is Supposed to Be Even Better.
Another incredible light show is excepted to shine across the U.S. tonight. Here are our favorite shots of the dazzling aurora so far.
The Show Isn't Over. Here's Where to Catch Tonight's Northern Lights.
The dazzling and elusive aurora borealis may be visible in 17 states again tonight due to a strong geomagnetic storm
Long Reads
Raise Your Glasses. Now, Hold Them Up Until Your Arms Shake.
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Adventure
Why Does Doing Hard Things Outside Feel So Rewarding? Outdoor Adventures Change Our Brains.
Experts say that when we push past fear and frustration in nature, we’re not chasing thrills—we’re reconnecting with what it means to be human
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- What It’s Like to Make Rock Climbing History on Yosemite’s Biggest Wall
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Health
Walking for This Amount of Time Every Day Could Add Years to Your Life
A new study concludes that it's length of time you walk, not the steps, that improves your heart health and extends longevity.
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Travel
Rodeo Meets Skiing: The Wild West Sport of Skijoring Goes Pro This Winter
This once-niche cowboy ski-racing sport is going big this winter with its first pro tour across the West
Culture
Egos and Terrible Outfits: What It’s Really Like to Work at a Fancy $5,000-a-Night Dude Ranch
Riding horses with movie stars isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
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Listen
How To Walk Through—And Away From—A Digital World, with Craig Mod
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The Rangers Are Not Alright
The Rangers Are Not Alright
Here's what happens when the dedicated employees of Rocky Mountain National Park start to break down
This story was produced in partnership with RE:PUBLIC Lands Media, an independent, nonprofit news organization.
It’s a perfect fall afternoon in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park and I am on a guided hike alongside 15 strangers just a few miles beyond the park’s eastern entrance. As we click away with our iPhone cameras, our leader, a bearded 32-year-old named Adam Auerbach, regales us with the park’s history: In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson officially created it with the stroke of his pen. Lobbyists from mining and logging companies urged the federal government to rethink the decision, Auerbach says, setting up a century-long fight between the park and the extraction industry.
“People need to realize that the fight to protect places like this doesn’t end with the founding of a national park,” Auerbach says. “The fight will always be there, and every generation will have to fight.”
This hike, Auerbach tells us, is his way of continuing the battle. Since June 2025, he has led a series of what he calls “advocacy hikes” for anyone who wants to show up. During the outings, which he promotes on social media, Auerbach discusses the Trump Administration’s staffing and budget cuts to the National Park Service (NPS) and other public lands agencies, and how those cuts are impacting Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and the people who work there.
Auerbach worked as a seasonal ranger at RMNP from 2016 until 2019, and his social circle includes full-time NPS rangers who still work in the park. But these staffers have been strictly forbidden from speaking publicly about the cuts. The administration has posted so-called “snitch signs” at NPS sites, urging the public to blow the whistle on rangers who are critical about the administration, the NPS, and even U.S. history.
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