Almost any hiking area has some sort of history tied to it, but sometimes a historical connection makes a hike even more special. When we walk over old trails, we see what others saw and get a sense for their universe. History is never far from the ...
Adventure
Get Outside, Stay Outside: Stop the Bugs Coast-to-Coast
Whether you’re in the woods, on the trail, or camping in your backyard, summer insects are a fact of the outdoor life. They can range from mildly annoying to seriously dangerous, but with proper care, it’s relatively easy to reduce the risk. While a ...
5 Scenic Battlefields Every Hiker Should Visit
To hike on a battlefield is to hike through history. The artillery pieces used for bombardments are silent now, either used as decoration or removed entirely. In many places, in fact, the signs of the bygone conflict are hard to see. Hiking is a ...
Koh Tao, Thailand: An Island to Dive For
The heat hits me like a solid hand, buffeting my entire body as I open the door of the cabin, stepping out of the air-conditioned interior of the ferry and onto the deck. It’s hot enough to suck the air from my lungs. I start sweating almost ...
The Top 7 Thru-Hikes to Tackle in North America
Sometimes a day hike or a weekend backpacking trip isn’t enough. If you’re feeling the call of the wild — that urge to be outside and survive in the elements for an extended period of time — you’ll want to consider long trails meant for ...
3 American Outdoor Hot Spots You Have to Visit Before Winter Ends
When the days get short and cold, many people take that as an excuse to hunker down in the comfort of their homes. But a harsh winter often opens up new outdoor experiences, and there’s nothing quite as beautiful as a snow-covered landscape under the ...
The Inside Story of an SBS Veteran who Rowed Across the Atlantic
After more than two months alone on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, Tim Crockett, 47, was two miles from the finish line of the Talisker Whisky Challenge when he considered abandoning ship. “I had to clear the headland right in front of the harbor ...
The Quick Ascent of a World Champion Knife Thrower
The forest of mostly dead trees sits near the highway in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Syringes and broken bottles litter the landscape. On occasion, you might catch a vagrant cooking some food or a junkie getting his fix. You might also see master ...
The Life of A Mormon Missionary in Russia
At 6-foot-3, 19-year-old Elder Ostler stood a head taller than most of the people he saw walking down the street in Krasnodar, Russia. He wore a white dress shirt with a black name tag, a paisley tie, and a pair of slacks. His companion, Elder Dance, ...
Don’t Forget to Check Your Contour Lines — Especially in Alaska!
We heard the danger before we saw it. A whitewater creek in a narrow valley. My uncle and I stood there on the bank, within sight of the road but blocked by this uncrossable water. Over the snowy ridge to the northwest, the sun was almost down, and ...
What It’s Like to Hunt With Eagles in Mongolia
Lauren McGough and her Kazakh mentor rode on horseback through the Altai Mountains until they caught up to their golden eagle, who was removing the fur from the fox it had just caught. Because of their language barrier, the two recreated the ...
Surviving Pastranaland: A Day in the Life of America’s Premier Daredevil
It’s not that the backyard pool was remarkable in and of itself. Rather, it was the people swimming in it. Most of them had visible scars, some of them had fresh wounds that would eventually turn into scars, and one was even ...
I Survived a Mexican Ambush in a Van Named Falcor
Have you ever fucked up so bad that time stops, giving some great ethereal fist the opportunity to slip past your teeth, punch down your throat, and choke stop the conversion of oxygen in your lungs’ alveoli? That’s how bad I messed up on my first ...
