While most Americans remained glued to the news, watching the presidential election results slowly roll in during the wee hours of Nov. 4, American climber Emily Harrington was hard at work adding her own personal mark to a historic week, becoming ...
Adventure
Married to Adventure: Martin & Osa Johnson’s Photography Escapades Across Two Continents
Martin and Osa Johnson relied on Boculy, the elephant tracker who joined them on many of their African safaris. They sometimes referred to him as the “Little Brother of the Elephant” because he knew the precise locations of the elephants no matter ...
Did an American Just Ride One of the Biggest Waves in Surf History?
Catching a wave as tall as a seven-story building is a dangerous and complicated business. Mason Barnes is in that business. And business is good. In October off the coast of Portugal, Hurricane Epsilon combined with a low-pressure system near ...
Every Adventure Needs a Dog — Here’s How to Pick the Right One
Whether you’re hiking a new trail, sleeping under the stars, or casting a line for hidden fish, any outdoor adventure is always better with your best friend. While human friends may scoff at the idea of walking several miles in the rain, the right ...
Smagical Thinking: The Life and (Near) Death of Phil Smage
weat dripping down his face, Phil Smage sat on his Kawasaki KLX 110 pit bike at the starting line of the first-ever Pastranaland Pit Bike Championship. Nine national-level motocross competitors were beside him — all gunning for the same first-place ...
A Trial by Fire in the Antarctic Ice Marathon
passed the threshold of the aircraft door and the cold cut through my piled-on layers of down and fleece in a flash. The cold went straight to my bones, and the primitive, reptilian part of my brain spoke, informing me that this was more than ...
Man vs. Mountain Lion: A Near Deadly Encounter Caught on Video
Snapping jaws, claws swinging through the air, the mountain lion came in hot and ready to pounce, driven to protect her cubs with a lethal barrage against an unfortunate 26-year-old trail runner who happened to stumble upon them. Kyle Burgess of ...
Setting a Wingsuit World Record
In 2015, Andy Stumpf, a retired Navy SEAL, broke the standing world record for absolute distance flown in a wingsuit, covering 18.257 miles and falling 36,500 feet. It was a hell of an accomplishment, considering he volunteered for the undertaking ...
How to Pick the Perfect Campsite in the Backcountry
The sun set to the north that day, at least as framed by the steep walls of the Chugach Mountains, casting a golden light over the valley. Up in the alpine, 4,000 feet above sea level, we watched the day end. It was a good campsite and one of the ...
Off the Couch and into Life: Get Children Excited About the Outdoors
I won’t lie, I’m not super dad — heck, sometimes it seems like I struggle to be average. Married with two sons, 7 and 10 years old, my wife and I work and try to play when we can. But sometimes the siren song of the couch is too strong and we find ...
How a US Air Force Combat Controller Survived a Double Parachute Failure
Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane is scary. Having your main chute fail? Even worse. Having the backup fail? Shit just got real. And that's just where Jared “CCT Peaches” Pietras, an Air Force Combat Controller, found himself during what was ...
How One Woman Prepared to Race in the Iditarod
Gliding across the snow on a dogsled is a perception changer. Traveling by dog team opens up the wilderness. In a world filled with mechanical transport, allowing a team of Alaskan huskies to pull you across a frozen muskeg or through the taiga is a ...
How Generations of Loggers Have Kept the Petersen Ranch Sustainable
In a small, dead-end valley in Springfield, Oregon, on Camp Creek, three generations of the Petersen family still work the ranch they have owned since 1941. Over the decades, despite the majority of the land being devoted to a variety of things ...
3 of the Best Winter Snowshoe Adventures
Floating across the frozen backcountry on snowshoes is a unique way to see the wilderness. But finding a place to go out and enjoy the snow can be hard. A good summer hiking trail may not be a good snowshoe hike, but areas that are hard to access in ...
6 Ways to Beat Cabin Fever This Winter
This can be a hard time of year. The holidays are over, and we’re ready for spring — but it’s still winter. For many people that means not leaving the house, or the couch, until the middle of March. But let's face it, there are only so many shows you ...
A Beginner’s Guide to Snowshoeing
Blinded by the wind and stung by the cold, we set up our camp as the day grew dark around us. The two of us had snowshoed to Dogsled Pass, deep in the Talkeetna Mountains of south central Alaska. We hoped to explore nearby alpine valleys over the ...
3 of the Most Beautiful US Hikes for Viewing Fall Foliage
When the air turns crisp and the days get shorter, it’s time to put on an extra layer (or two) and prepare to take in one of nature’s most aesthetically pleasing seasonal changes — fall foliage. Fall is one of the best times to hike — it’s cool but ...
The Beer is 6.2% Alcohol, and 7 Other Things I Learned the Hard Way at Oktoberfest
For the majority of my life, Oktoberfest has been just another tradition — like Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick’s Day — that we Americans appropriated for the express purpose of drinking our freakin’ faces off. I didn’t know much about the festivities ...
Logging in Alaska: The Complex Battle Waged Over Tongass National Forest
From thick coastal forests to high alpine peaks and sprawling glaciers, Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest stretches over 16.7 million acres. If the Tongass were a state, it would be larger than West Virginia — but it’s also almost devoid of ...
The Basics of Layering Clothing for Fall Hikes
Outdoors clothing needs to meet the conditions a hiker will face. How hot or cold is the climate? How intense is the planned activity? Is rain or snow in the forecast? What about changes in elevation? Outdoors people are often told to “dress in ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Butcher
In the eyes of this butcher, the craft of cutting and selling meat is making a comeback, and he couldn’t be happier that its role in human history is being celebrated. “Butchering is the second oldest profession known to mankind,” said Paul ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Carpenter
On top of being a physically demanding job, carpentry is more of a visual process than most people realize. When you throw in the extreme weather often found in the northeast United States, it takes a special kind of person to excel in this line of ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Industrial Inspector
His service in the U.S. Marine Corps was key to this industrial inspector and entrepreneur’s career. Jay Locatelli was in a Marine Recon unit from 1998 to 2000, stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. He started his own industrial inspection ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Electrician
Dilan Call has been an electrician for 11 years, and currently works out of the Local 490 union in Concord, New Hampshire. While being an electrician isn’t always an easy job, Call sees it as a key component to the American economy, and he’s ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Firefighter
Even after a residential blaze gave him third-degree burns, firefighting was a lifestyle Arron Williams couldn't leave behind. He got hooked after going on a ride-along in high school, and now going into his seventh year with his local Fire ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Metal Fabricator
More than anything, metal fabrication is a profession that requires precision and care. Those who perform the job start with large pieces of metal, and then cut, weld, burn, machine, and form them into a final product. That product could be anything ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Welder
Welding is strenuous work, but creating something with your own hands is inherently satisfying. There are many different types of products that welders have a hand in creating. For welder Travis Kasperson, who creates agricultural implements such ...
Hard-Working Americans: The Blacksmith
The mix of art and craft keeps this blacksmith of 20 years going. Jonathan Rummel, owner/operator of Hand Forged Works in North Andover, Massachusetts, sees himself as both an artisan and a craftsman. “I think there’s a fine line between the ...
The Art and Craft of Picking the Perfect Campsite
Any hiker planning to spend a night outdoors needs to choose a good campsite. This may seem obvious to the experienced outdoorsman, but any pro knows that no one is above refreshing the basics. And let's face it, sometimes the options aren’t obvious. ...
3 Iconic Hikes in the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are the largest mountain range in North America. Webs of ridge lines and towering peaks wind through the western United States, and every hike finds a new way to impress travelers. From daunting technical ascents like Grand ...
