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A relentless explorer and celebrated TV host, Lin has built his on-camera identity on movement, resilience, and inspiration. But on a volcano in Ecuador—surrounded by fellow amputees—he finally lets himself be seen.
Join us on a video walk around—and through—the innovative, fully-electric Lightship AE.1 Cosmos
Professional athlete and longtime Vail resident Josiah Middaugh shares his favorite trails, restaurants, and attractions
Outside Magazine is back with a new look, new stories, and a fresh perspective on all things outdoors. Read along as we meet the real Albert Lin, explore the hidden corners of Downtown Chicago, learn how to build a ride-or-die outdoor community, and visit Kazakhstan for one of the rowdiest games ever played on horseback.
Veteran guides share tips and tricks for avoiding or dealing with the gridlock that always arises on the trail to the top
Vest shares her tips for getting started in sewing and what she builds into her own creations
More than a century after their founding, national parks are still America's best idea—and a reminder that we can all come together over the things we love most.
Our reporter has confirmed four fatalities, as well as multiple helicopter rescues from high on the peak
We tested 75 tees and tanks on roads, trails, and in the lab to find the best running tops for staying cool and dry all summer long
I asked ChatGPT to create a nutritious meal plan for one week. A nutritionist and AI expert said the meal plan was restrictive and unrealistic.
Score our top picks from Garmin, Thule, Mountain Hardwear, and more during REI's Anniversary Sale
Our writer stops by the Pangboche Monastery, a 600-year-old Sherpa religious center where Mount Everest climbers receive a blessing before their expeditions
I asked ChatGPT to create a nutritious meal plan for one week. A nutritionist and AI expert said the meal plan was restrictive and unrealistic.
Explore the world's best bike tours—from the French Alps to New Zealand's gravel—and discover top outfitters for your next dream trip.
Electric mountain bikes are no longer anomalies on the trail, and some say they’ll soon outnumber traditional bikes. If you feel like that escalated quickly, you’re not alone.
In his new memoir, Mike de la Rocha explores the meaning of vulnerability, manhood, and the healing power of the outdoors.
Once a niche piece of lightweight gear, this waterproof layer is now strutting trails and runways
Take it from a professional trier-of-new-things: taking up a new outdoor pursuit can change your life—and the more hurdles you face in doing so, the more reasons you have to try.
There’s no debate that one of the ten essentials you should bring into the backcountry is a first aid kit. What goes into that kit, however, is up for debate.
Timber thieves are a slippery bunch. Here's how cops uncovered an underground criminal ring in spanning the Pacific Northwest and cracked down to protect the state's ancient trees.
Deep in the night on August 4, 2018, a trio of timber cutters bushwhacked into a steep valley thick with brush, wearing headlamps and carrying a chainsaw, gas can, and a slew of felling tools. Their target, a trifurcated, mossy bigleaf maple, towered above Jefferson Creek, which gurgled down the narrow ravine floor that drains the Olympic National Forest’s Elk Lake. Justin Wilke, the band’s captain, had discovered the massive tree the day before and dubbed her “Bertha.”
Wilke had established three dispersed campsites in the Elk Lake vicinity, some 20 miles from the nearest town of Hoodsport, Washington, over the previous weeks. By day he scouted for the most prime bigleaf maples. He had illegally felled at least three in the area since April, but he considered Bertha the mother tree.
A carpenter by trade, Wilke, then 36, dabbled in odd jobs in construction, as a mechanic, on fishing boats, and in canneries, but like many across the peninsula’s scattered hamlets, he’d been a logger since his hands were sure enough to wield a chainsaw. A tattoo the length of his left arm read “West Coast Loggers,” his tribute to a heritage that began with his grandfather.
Honest work had grown scarce. Wilke and his girlfriend were camping on a friend’s property just outside the national forest to trim expenses and lived on his earnings from cutting illegal firewood and selling poached maple. The situation wasn’t tenable. He was hungry, and he needed a windfall.
Closing in on Bertha in the darkness alongside Wilke were Shawn “Thor” Williams and Lucas Chapman. Thor had just sprung from a stint in prison two weeks earlier. A 47-year-old union framer, Thor had also dabbled as an MMA fighter and debt collector and carried a litany of past convictions ranging from assault and burglary to unlawful imprisonment. He hoped the job would deliver him back to his daughter and sometimes-girlfriend in California. Chapman, 35, was Wilke’s gopher, hired primarily to watch the campsites during the operation. The three were high on methamphetamines.
