Prairie Hiking: Wide-Open Spaces
It's the easiest hiking on Earth, and you get to sleep with buffalo, listen to coyotes sing, and bask in quiet so deep you can hear the grasslands growing. Welcome to the prairie.
All Content
Skills For The Upwardly Mobile
Everything you need to know about hiking in the high country, from talus hopping to finding the right gear to dealing with wind and glaciers.
Field Fix: Clear Your Stove's Fuel Jets
Got a clogged stove? Try this cleaning method before eating that camping meal cold.
20 Frisbee Hacks Every Hiker Should Know
They're not just for catch. Cook a meal, fix a boat, or make a fire with this handy toy.
Lightning Survival Update
If you're caught in a lightning storm on the trail, head for the hills.
Safe Trekking After Wildfires
Follow these tips when hiking in burned country.
Leave No Trace: Mind Your Footprint
Take a look at what your sole is doing to the ground.
Bushwhacking: Go Up The Creek
Trouble crossing the trail? Try the creek.
Bushwacking: Pole Position
Stow your trekking poles to get an advantage when bushwacking a trail.
Firewalking: A Forest Fire's Aftermath
In an ancient cycle older than man, the fires that torched the West in summer 2000 are causing a dramatic and stunning rebirth of the once-charred landscape.
Hot Hikes After A Wildfire
Seven places where you can walk through a whole new landscape, plus opportunities to help rebuild charred trails.
Hiking Through Lessons Of Fire
Years and even decades after a forest fire, the healed land tells amazing tales about the benefits of flame.
Aluminum Pots Are Safe
Cooking with aluminum pots in camp won't cause Alzheimer's.
Hiking Pain Explained
What causes pain on the trail?
Swallowing Camp Stove Fuel
How to treat yourself if you gulp down stove fuel in camp.
Chicken Soup For The Trail
Some trailworthy soups can even help you heal.
Belly Ache Or Poison?
What to do if the berries you munched weren't safe after all.
The Mountain Knows
When our firstborn son left us, the word "burial" was never uttered.
Stride Right, Feel Better
Tips to improve your hiking stride.
Prayers Answered In Virginia's Priest Wilderness
In Virginia, a miracle occurs and hikers get some new wilderness, thanks to The Priest.
Pilot Crackers
A long-lasting bread that handles the rigors of backpacking.
Stop Camp Snoring
If you have a problem with snoring (that is, if you have a tentmate who snores), try this remedy on your next night in camp.
Trailworthy Cheese Alternatives
With a little creativity, dairy-wary hikers can find tasty and satisfying alternatives to cheese.
Tent Setup: Building A Rain Dam (Skills)
Protect your tent from rain by building a rain dam.
Save Your Hiking Sole
You can experience heavenly hiking even if you lose your boot sole.
Teepee Tent Setup Secrets
Hard-won tips for pitching tepee tents on any terrain
Approach Shoes Instead Of Hiking Boots?
Consider these points when deciding if an approach shoe is right for you.
Breathing Easy
A double lung transplant slows, but doesn't stop, Pacific Crest Trail hiker Dennis Coffey.
Foods For Backcountry Recovery
Our medicine man gives his food suggestions for recovering in the backcountry.
Hiking Utah's Hayduke Trail
You won't find Utah's 725-mile rogue route on any map. But thanks to two passionate Utah hikers, you'll soon be able to search it out with your boots.
Backwoods Headaches
We head for the hills to escape the tensions of everyday life. So why do our heads often pound like a drum soon after hitting the trail?
Pasta Power
Put some past in your stomach for good trail food all the next day.
Fight Fatigue With Food
Eat right and you'll hike stronger.
Going Tribal
We know the strength that courses through flesh and bone when standing at a trailhead, ready to set out and practice our primitive art.
Treating Backcountry Swimmer's Ear
How to identify and treat swimmer's ear in the wilderness.
A Fly In The Ointment
Antibiotic ointment, a basic element of every first-aid kit, has gotten a bad rap lately.
Canada’s Great Divide Trail
For 30 years, some wide-eyed dreamers have been chiseling a 745-mile route through the Canadian Rockies. The result is a labor of love set to become one of North America's most magnificent long trails.
Bug Bites: Close Your Clothes
Use these tips to bug-proof your clothes.
Leave No Trace Trash Tips
Help keep trails clean by picking up your own and other people's trash.
Water Shoe Advice
Cross river with these water footwear options.
Walking On Water
Face it: you aren't Moses and the waters won't part, so here are ways to cross wild rivers safely.
Be A Dried-Food Gourmet Chef
Create tasty trail meals like fish chowder, lasagna, and seafood with pasta.
Backcountry Menus For Diabetics
Feeding a diabetic hiker takes planning and professional advice, but not necessarily a special menu.
How To Dry Your Sleeping Bag (Skills)
Add some ribbons to your sleeper to speed drying.
Hiking Minnesota's Jay Cooke State Park
Can't wait for the snow to melt? Get warmed up at Minnesota's Jay Cooke State Park.
Field Fix: Pole Patch
Tent pole problems? Here's an easy fix.
Tundra Tip: Wear Your Rubber Boots
Rubber boots are essential gear in the tundra.
Tundra Trekking Tips
Just because it's flat and treeless doesn't mean it's easy hiking.
Have Diabetes, Will Travel
Even diabetes can't slow down hikers with these health tips.
The Mountaineer's Herb
Ginkgo helps with altitude sickness and cold.
Yerba Mate: New Trail Brew
Kick the coffee and toss the tea and try yerba mate.
Bacteria In Paradise
On your next tropical dip, beware of water-borne bacteria.
Death On Montana's Granite Peak
High on a Montana mountain, the mystery of a long-lost climber continues to unravel for those willing to make the arduous trek and search for clues that literally lie at your feet.
Clear-Cut Views
To understand the full impact of logging, you need to rise above it all.
Grand Canyon Magic
"With some eagerness, and some anxiety, and some misgiving, we enter the canyon below?." -John Wesley Powell, August 13, 1869
Discover California's Point Reyes National Seashore
In Point Reyes National Seashore, you'll find peace and quiet in the heart of California's earthquake zone.
Backpacking Tennessee's Cumberland Trail
If you're a backpacking purist, Tennessee's new Cumberland Trail was made for you.
Albuquerque's Magic Mountain
Albuquerque's backyard wilderness lets hikers perform a disappearing trick.
Guarding Your Grub
Above treeline, there's no easy way to hoist your vittles.
Tundra Tip: Farther Than You Think
Distances can appear farther in the tundra.
David Brower's Last Interview
Activist and former backpacker David Brower reflects on his life in the political trenches and on the trails.
Identifying Wildlife Holes
There's a fascinating world of fur and claws underfoot. Here's how to tell who's down there.
Buying A Better Filter
It's simple: Unless you like getting sick, treat all of your water. Follow these 10 essentials to find and maintain the right filter.
Buying Better Poles
Follow these 10 essentials to pick the right trekking poles.
Buying A Better Tent
Not all shelters are created equal, as anyone with a cheap tent will tell you after a bad storm. Follow these 10 essentials when buying your next tent.
Buying A Better Pack
There's no single piece of equipment more crucial to your backwoods enjoyment. Here's how to make the right choice.
Buying Better Boots
There are different boots for different types of terrain. Follow these 10 essentials to match sole to trail.
Buying A Better Sleeping Pad
Half of your "good sleep" equation is a comfy pad (the other half is your bag). Look for these 10 essentials when you buy.
How Big Should My Pack Be?
Pick your backpack before your hike with our sizing guide.
European Pack Size Conversion
Buying a European backpack? Use our conversion chart before you buy.
Boot Sizing Chart
Before you get a new boot, make sure the shoe fits with our sizing chart.
Filtering Vs. Chemicals Vs. Boiling Water
Water treatments defined.
Buying A Better Stove
After a long, hard day, nothing is more disappointing than a stove that refuses to fire. Follow these 10 essentials for foolproof stove features and techniques.
Boots That Get You Charged Up
Inventor finds a way to harness all that energy you burn on switchbacks and long trails.
Hiking Dreams Really Do Come True
Easily said and done, when you have a constant reminder at bedtime.
Snow Smarts
How to travel safely across four seasons of white.
Florida's Big Cypress: Wade This Way
In Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve, you'll walk on water -- almost.
Sleeping Bag Care: A Lofty Goal
Keep your sleeping bag up to fluff with proper care and handling.
Two Shades of White Mountains
Lines at backcountry outhouses. Hikers competing for tent sites. Is there any solitude left in New Hampshire's White Mountains? Lots of it, if you know where to go.
Cold Doesn't Always Mean Dead
You can freeze to death and still live to tell about it.