| NATIONAL PARKS QUICKLINKS |
The High Life: Maine Hut Trail, ME
Explore a new shelter system with old-school wild.
Killer Trips: Terrain
Our favorite high-risk, high-reward adventures in North America.
From the Field: East
Our trail scouts' top local hikes
Trail Mix: East
Your region's go-now guide.
America's Best Campsites
Park your tent in one of these 10 spots, and you'll be happy in the morning. Guaranteed.
Local Hikes
Jump-start your hiking season on these spring-ready trips from around the country.
Readers' Choice 2012: Top 3 - Northeast Hikes
The region's top map contributor—with 20 years of experience in the area—dishes tips for beating the crowds on her all-time favorite hikes.
Readers' Choice 2012: Appalachian Trail, 100-Mile Wilderness, ME
Tackle the Northeast's most remote wilds for bears, moose, and berries.
Rip & Go: Little Lyford to Gorman Chairback - 100-Mile Wilderness, ME
Ski (or snowshoe) hut-to-hut in the East's wildest preserve.
Rip & Go: Debsconeag Loop - Maine Public Reserved Lands, Nahmakanta Unit, ME
Cross the northeast's wildest moose country beneath fall's fiery canopy.
National Parks: View Finder
Go ahead, look again. And again. These images are worth a third, fourth, and then a tenth gaze.
Local Hikes: Northeast
Head out on one of these trails in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
Going to Extremes
Can you ever really have too much of a good thing? Once you've seen the biggest tree, largest glacier, and deepest canyon, nothing else compares.
The High Life: Hiking Utah's Highline Trail
Watch your step on Utah' Highline Trail. The nonstop views and rampant wildlife are distractingly spectacular. Plus: Gaze away on 9 more elevated hikes.
Local Hikes: Northeast
Paddle to Maryland's Assateague Island; pack an ice axe for the Presidentials.
Readers' Choice 2011: America's Best Hikes
The undisputed local experts—you—chose the top parks, trails, campsites, and weekend getaways from Alaska to Alabama.
Trip Finder: Northeast
Your favorite Northeast hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.
Readers' Choice: Northeast
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Northeast.
Best. Hikes. Ever.
We've covered 245,591 miles of trails in our 37-year history. Here are our 20 all-time favorite trips, plus—shocking!—20 routes we never covered.
Best Hikes Ever: Appalachian Trail, GA-ME
Thru-hike America's most revered long trail: the Appalachian Trail.
Rip & Go: Maine, Idaho, California
Take the guesswork out of weekend hike planning; download these new trips in Baxter State Park, the Bitterroot Wilderness, and the Trinity Alps.
Local Hikes: Portland, ME
The best hikes near Portland, ME.
Local Hikes: Northeast
The best hikes, as recommended by the best hiking clubs in the Northeast.
Rip & Go: Horse Mountain to Traveler Mountain - Baxter State Park, ME
Reach great granite heights on Katahdin's next-door neighbor.
Secret Hikes: Appalachian Trail
The last lonely stretch of the AT beckons from the mountains of western Maine.
Local Hikes: New Hikes Near You
Our army of reader-reader scouts mapped 59 local hikes from South Carolina to Northern California. See their favorites, then learn how to download tracklogs and waypoints.
Local Hikes: Northeast
Hike across a state, gain the country's best foliage view, and top alpine balds. (Click linked trips for GPS waypoints, photos, and more.)
Rip & Go: Big Moose Mountain - Maine Public Reserved Lands Little Moose Unit, ME
Hike to an historic fire tower and camp beside secluded ponds.
The Best Cities To Raise An Outdoor Kid
Which towns offer the ideal mix of accessible trails, inspiring teachers, and great recreational resources? We worked with The Outdoor Foundation to identify America's top 25 places to beat nature deficit disorder.
Northeast Readers' Choice Hikes
A state high point, killer foliage, and a hike loaded with waterfalls
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Ricketts Glen State Park, PA
22 falls in a one day. Need we say more?
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Panther Gorge and Mt. Marcy, Adirondack Park, NY
Bag New York's high point and two other big peaks.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Bernard Mountain, Acadia National Park, ME
Hike to a crowd-free view of the ocean.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Vermont's Green Mountains Foliage
Ogle fiery color in the Green Mountains.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Maine's 100-Mile Wilderness
Explore the Appalachian Trail's wildest stretch.
Readers' Choice Northeast Hikes: Burroughs Range Loop, Catskill Mountain Preserve, NY
Scramble to the Catskills' highest peaks.
Insider's Guide to Peaks
Think you know all there is to know about these famous peaks? Get an insider's guide right here.
Where Solitude Rules
Sharing is for kindergarten. Take one of these 30 hikes and you can have the wilderness all to yourself.
Where Solitude Rules - Wilderness Hideaways
Lose yourself in a private paradise the crowds have overlooked.
Hike It, Save It: Maine's Grafton Loop
The thread to this Down East trail? Vacation homes. Passing through roughly 10 miles of private land that has yet to be protected, wilderness designation could neutralize the looming threat.
Top Cities to Raise A...
Does your kid want to be an ice climber? How about a thru-hiker, or paddler? These cities have just what you need.
The Best Cities to Raise an Outdoor Kid: The Winning 25
From Boulder to Juneau to Bozeman, see which cities made the cut for the best place to raise an outdoor kid, and why.
Best Damn Weekend Ever: Acadia National Park
Avoid the crowds in Maine's Acadia National Park by skipping getting a jump on the season and hiking the park in the Spring. Stephen King country never looked so good.
Adventure Weekends: Luxury Hiking and Camping
We've got a selection of cozy shelters and trail-side restaurants from Washington to Maine. Check out these hikes in the Rockies, the Northeast, and the Northwest.
Weekend Snow Climbs in the Pacific Northwest, Rockies, and Northeast
Pack snowshoes for these nine epic treks to snowy solitude in the Pacific Northwest, Rockies, and Northeast.
Phenomenon: Glacial Relics
The Ice Age left its mark from Acadia to Yosemite. Here's scenic evidence.
Top 3 Ice Hikes
Witness glittering underground gems, skate across frozen ponds, and wander amid towering walls of ice. Just don't try to lick anything.
Thoreau Slept Here: The Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail
Maine's newly minted Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail tracks the famous naturalist's 1800s expeditions. Good news: It's still wild.
Trip Finder: Indian Summer Hikes
Fall camping season seems to go on forever with these fair-weather weekend trips.
Where Can I Find the Best View of the Northern Lights?
You guessed, it, you need to head North. Here's where you'll get the best view of the Northern Lights.
Wind Power: Turbulence Ahead
Wind power offers clean energy–but how much will hikers compromise to get it?
Trip Finder: Ridgewalks
From the West Coast to the Rocky Mountains to New England, we've got nine epic ridgewalks just for you.
Hike It: 4 Big Trips Made Easy
Ready to dial up the adventure meter? Try out your digital skills–and go places most people can't–on these life-list journeys.
Big Trips Made Easy: Hayduke Trail, UT
Finding total Southwest solitude
Big Trips Made Easy: High Sierra, CA
Rambling a granite redoubt
Big Trips Made Easy: Glacier Peak Wilderness, WA
Exploring a high, wild corner of the North Cascades
Big Trips Made Easy: Allagash Wilderness Waterway, ME
Floating a liquid maze in the Northeast's lake-riddled forests
Time To Go: Winter Tracking
Hit the wilderness in search of beasts big and small.
Paddling's Greatest Getaways
16 wild ways to find backcountry solitude and big-time scenery. All this, and you can bring the ice chest, too.
Epicenter: The Scene In Monson, Maine
Jump off into the North Woods' best wilderness
America's Hardest Dayhikes
Push yourself on any of these challenging hikes
Time 2 Go: See Newborn Animals
Looking to catch baby animals taking their first step? You can't go wrong with these picks.
Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park
Come to Acadia and you'll earn your lobster.
Hiking The Mahoosuc Range
The short but stunning Mahoosuc Range has major-league attractions, like the toughest mile on the Appalachian Trail and conditions that discourage the faint of heart.
Best Backpacking In Maine
Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Maine.
Backpacking On Maine's Wild Cutler Coast
Thanks to the Cutler Coast Public Reserve, Maine's rocky, wild coastline is now open to backpackers who like solitude as much as scenery.
Hiking The Appalachian Trail
The famed peaks of the Appalachian chain entice some 2,500 people to attempt the thru-hike each year.
New Hampshire's Chorus Of Loons
A chaotic chorus of loon calls penetrate the darkness, the warbling sounds echoing off the wooded hills around the New Hampshire lake.
Hiking At A Berry Slow Pace
Figure on 9 days to do the entire 100-mile hike—unless you're slowed drastically by all the blueberries.
Maine's Frisky Season For Moose
Even if you don't see a moose, you'll hear the bulls' low grunts echoing off the hillside.
Maine's Seals In The Surf
Maine's seal pups are usually born in May, making early summer an ideal time to witness the youngsters learning to swim and fish.
Maine's Bigelow Preserve
Follow the Appalachian Trail to new heights in the rugged New England high country.
Maine's Saddleback Range Traverse
Get above treeline in Maine's wild Saddleback Range.
The Faces Of Fall
If you think autumn is simply a time to rake leaves, then you need to read our guide to the best of the fall season.
Katahdin In One Day
For some, reaching Maine's Mt. Katahdin is the end of a life-altering 2,100-mile pilgrimage. For others it's a lark. We captured the extremes, and a little bit of everything in between, one day atop Maine's "greatest mountain."
The Best U.S. Summits: Top Of The World
Who needs Everest when you can have these eight summits, all hikeable, all close to home, no sherpas or yaks required.
Northern Lights: The Sky Will Dance
Like shimmering rainbows in the night, the northern lights electrify the sky with color.
