Hiking and Backpacking
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I thought I’d found my calling guiding clients in mountains around the world. I sought out the highs of an adventurous life, but I wasn’t at all prepared for the dark side.
In less than 800 miles, the Arizona Trail offers a steady string of stunning landscapes, uncanny animals, and changing circumstances. If your time is limited, it’s the national scenic trail to try.
When you gotta go, you gotta go. These make it easier no matter where you are.
Columnist Maggie Slepian explains why expertise in the outdoors does not make you immune from mistakes
Hikers had to pay to access 14,272-foot Quandary Peak outside Breckenridge in 2021 and 2022
A longtime resident of the Southwest shares her favorite ways to see this region’s geological wonders, surreal sunsets, and wide-open spaces
Sparkling alpine lakes, the highest point in the continental U.S., and 800-plus miles of breathtaking hiking trails: Sequoia and Kings Canyon in the Sierra Nevada are far more than home to the biggest trees on the planet.
Swedish novelist John Ajvide Lindqvis created a scary audio story geo-locked within his country’s borders to lure visitors into its beautiful natural areas. For Halloween only, you can listen to it anywhere in the world.
Scary movies have a rich tradition of being set in creepy forests, caves, and swamps. We rounded up our favorites of the genre.
The latest story of a tourist behaving badly in a national park is a real head scratcher
Were these hikers more surprised by the fact our free beer was non-alcoholic, or that they loved it? You be the judge.
Hours of testing, tasting, and innovating goes into these freeze-dried pouches
Colorado has thin air and endless views. New England has roots, rocks, and tree-lined trails.
Emma Zimmerman, cookbook author and cofounder of Hayden Flour Mills, shares her favorite recipe for on-the-go energy bars
These boots are the only ones you’ll need all winter long
An injured hiker is lucky to be alive after she was spotted by a passenger aboard Colorado’s Durango-Silverton railroad
The newest national monument sits in the heart of Colorado’s ski country. Here’s what you need to know about Camp Hale–Continental Divide National Monument.
From temperate rainforests to miles of coastline; from waterfalls and lakes to hiking, backpacking, and camping; from boating to skiing to glacier travel and mountaineering—Olympic has astonishing variety.
Jon Anderson overcame temporary snowblindness to complete the 2,650-mile journey from Mexico to Canada
Leon Sparks, 44, was trying to summit three mountains in one trek when he tumbled down Colorado’s El Diente Peak
This trendy food also makes a great trail snack or meal
We asked the experts—and this is the one trail you can't miss in each of the 61 U.S. national parks
Adventurers Andrea Sansone and Andrew Hamilton trace their relationship back to a chance encounter on one of Colorado’s highest peaks. Now, the two are pushing each other to set speed records on the state’s famed fourteeners.
Whether you’re in need of a quick snack or an on-the-go meal, you deserve a bar that's both fulfilling and tasty
Pay your passion forward for the betterment of the planet
Hiker Andrew Devers went missing in Washington State’s Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest with no food or water in June 2021
Philip Carcia covered nearly 2,000 miles over a span of 90 days to complete the arduous goal. It was his third attempt at the challenge.
One enticement of visiting Hawaii Volcanoes, on the Big Island, is witnessing the eruption of young Kilauea—the world’s most active volcano—and basking in the glow of its lava-filled caldera
“I really did spend 16-plus hours covering fewer than three miles”
This feature from Gaia GPS allows you to search recent satellite images for the best leaf peeping in your area
Why endure the traffic headed inland to major mountain getaways when you can hop a breezy ferry to the Channel Islands, passing dolphins en route, and spend time kayaking into sea caves, hiking quiet hills, and birding, with nary an auto in sight?
Traveling this summer was chaotic and expensive. Fall trips don't have to be that way with this advice on how to save and where to go.
Our soft-drink warriors both believe this sugary, caffeine-packed soda is the perfect refreshment after exercise or adventure. (Hmm. OK.) They disagree about flavors, and be warned: it might get loud.
Travelers may think of the Himalaya and Patagonia when it comes to life-list trekking. But the Huayhuash circuit in Peru is an equally spectacular cultural immersion and takes you by the mountain made famous in the film Touching the Void.
Sun hoodies are the multi-tool of the hiker’s wardrobe, but they often get gross, fast. Not Coalatree’s new Suray.
The results, however hilarious, remind us how hikers destigmatize the body
Joe “Kanga” Harvey was last seen heading toward the Connecticut River, where his body was later retrieved
The veteran hiker takes us through his three-day attempt, which saw him battle bladder problems and extreme exhaustion
The next time you find yourself camping by a wild body of water, catch your own dinner with this packable fly fishing kit
The Granite State has the right to bill hikers for the cost of their rescue, if officials deem them to be reckless in the outdoors
Each year, Big City Mountaineers changes thousands of kids’ lives by bringing them on their first outdoor adventures. You can make it happen for another.
People keep falling into outdoor latrines while rescuing lost phones. Our editors list the belongings they would fish out of an outdoor crapper—and which ones they’d leave behind.
Your guide to all-things Long Trail for your upcoming thru-hike
Lessons learned during a stroll through London’s narrow streets and soaring parks
There’s a reason a strenuous outing makes you desire a greasy mound of meat: it has a lot of what your body needs
Don’t whack a golf ball off one either, or chuck a Frisbee, or do anything else that jeopardizes the safety of your fellow hikers
Ten years after the publication of ‘Wild,’ the beloved author shares her thoughts on the haters who thought she was unprepared, the transformative power of doing big things, and where Monster is now
Forget Zion and Canyonlands; this desert gem has something for every hiker among the hoodoos and bristlecone pines
On Thursday, they finished the last leg of the triple crown, but they’re not done yet
When the celebrated singer-songwriter moved to this adventure hub nearly ten years ago, she instantly fell in love with the small-town feel and surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. Here are her tips for where to hike, grab a meal, and go dancing afterward.
On Sunday night, British hiker Josh Perry decimated the trail’s long-standing self-supported records after chasing Timothy Olson’s 2021 time
Want to hike without crowds? See jaw-dropping vistas without torching your quads? Check out these dayhikes and backpacks.
Slawek Kalkraut and Krzysztof “Kris” Szymanski, also known as Men with the Pot, have millions of likes on TikTok—and a new cookbook
They’re 1,706 miles in and this is what they like most
Trying to wrap your head around the depth of the rapidly expanding pit in South America? We’ve broken it down in terms our readers understand—like fly rods, climbing ropes, and breakfast burritos.
From local favorites to tourist must-dos, these trails are the best of America's Finest City
In summer or shoulder season, there’s nothing better than a water-view hike or one that ends up at a beach for lounging and swimming. From the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and places in between, these are our favorites.
Two hikers go head to head on the best carryall for a walk in the woods
Driven by closures and new parking rules, Colorado’s highest peaks saw a precipitous drop in hiker visits from 2020 to 2021
“Um, don’t do drugs kids (and don’t start spiders on fire during a drought),” Utah governor Spencer Cox tweeted Tuesday
How people get lost (and found) in the outdoors
Here’s how to make the most out of a visit to one of the wildest places in the U.S., from kayaking to birding to fishing and so much more
Is the PürTrek pole-filter mashup a brilliant idea or a Frankensteinian mess?
How a satellite communicator helps me tamp down panic in the wilderness
With inflation on the rise, I scrapped plans for another long summer hike. On little daily walks through South Dakota’s Black Hills, I’ve rediscovered the surprise and delight of getting back to basics.
Long-standing rules for how we do our business in the wilderness are changing in a very big way—and it’s about time
Join us on a life-list Himalayan trek, and do good for others while enjoying one of the world’s dream trips
Put down those soggy, freeze-dried go-to’s and dig into these delicious recs from Outside staffers
And what to do when your girlfriend won't hike with you but plans to hit the trails with her friend
For his new PBS show, ‘America Outdoors,’ comedian and activist Baratunde Thurston connects us to our natural environments through the most interesting of creatures: humans.
From family-friendly hikes to deep-wilderness paddling trips, Maine has it all.
The outdoor world has produced another horror story involving a clumsy tourist, a lost cell phone, and a search and rescue mission
An unidentified hiker went missing in California while retracing the footsteps of Jonathan Gerrish and Ellen Chung, who died with their one-year-old daughter of heat exposure and dehydration in 2021
You've spent ages preparing for a trip, but now it's right around the corner and you're having second thoughts
Scott Benerofe finished a rare and daunting southbound winter thru-hike of the AT. His self-proclaimed normalcy about the endeavor suggests such treks might not stay so rare for long.
Weight-loss discussion in outdoor forums can inadvertently reinforce the idea that there's a "correct" kind of outdoors body. What should you post about where?
It’s way more expensive and not as comfortable. Our gear director weighs the pros and cons of an über-light kit.