Oregon's Steens Mountain: An Airborne Oasis
Steens looks like your average mountain, but hike up high and you'll find a hidden paradise.
Steens looks like your average mountain, but hike up high and you'll find a hidden paradise.
The little-known Cheaha Wilderness Area is the gateway to Alabama's largest trail system.
Learn what the white stuff means.
Use these tools if you're hankering to learn the secret of snow.
Finish foot fungus fast -- and naturally.
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit knows he can't please everyone. So rather than try, he spends his time righting environmental wrongs and preserving wildlands.
If you think west Texas is nothing but tumbleweeds and cattle, you haven't walked 62 miles across one of the world's most famous geological formations.
Okay, so the weather stinks and so does the hiking. Change both by heading down the road to where the sun shines and the trail beckons.
In the European high-country Alps you can wander through the most stunning mountains in the world. Vive la difference!
Scientists now believe that the navigationally challenged can retrain their brains.
Winter activities demand more of your body's energy.
When the ground is frozen or 3 feet under snow, use these backcountry bathroom techniques.
That's essentially what the outdoors is, so use those cold temps to carry tasty foods that wouldn't stand a chance in summer.
Trail goers can experience a whole new world by hiking Virginia's newly renovated Lion's Tale Trail.
Protester celebrates victory in a two-year battle to save a giant redwood by coming back to earth.
When the white stuff piles up, work together to break a trail.
Winter sun damage can be just as bad as in summer.
When the rest of the East is bare, snowshoers can find plenty of powder in New York's Five Ponds Wilderness.
When hiking California's Fish Valley, don't forget to pack your Richter scale.
Let the masses shop till they drop: On Arkansas's Ouachita River the pace is slow and easy.
Cold can harm in subtle and quick ways, so it pays to be prepared.
Know what to look for and you can simply pick one up off the ground.
Like shimmering rainbows in the night, the northern lights electrify the sky with color.
In mountains most hikers don't even know exist, the 150-mile Cohos Trail just waiting to carry you far from the crowds and on to Canada.
Combine white sand beaches and gin-clear water with snow-free highland hiking, and you've got Baja, the perfect midwinter escape.
There's a reason why your field guide doesn't list some flowers: they're not supposed to be there.
Or anything else, for that matter, once you use this easy-to-make stove platform.
Think tofu isn't suited for the backcountry? Think again. Whether it's scrambled, baked, or dehydrated, there's little this veggie protein can't do.
A personal perspective on healing back, joint and other body pains.
NOLS founder Paul Petzoldt fought for wilderness his whole life.
Appalachian Trail (AT) advocate Edward Garvey, 84, recently died of congestive heart failure at Arlington Hospital in Virginia.
After hours of searching through ice chunks and piles of snow on Shishapangma Mountain, searchers have called off an avalanche rescue mission to find American climbers Alex Lowe and Dave Bridges.
Take care of your hiking boots and they'll take care of you.
If rock hopping or log crossing triggers panic, maybe you need to fine-tune your balancing act.
If you've had a knee injury, follow these exercises before you hit the trail again.
Shaky on logs or rocks? Try these exercises to steady your feet.
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.
Twelve trails that'll chew you up, spit you out, and have you begging for more.
It's tasty, nutritious, and will survive being crammed in a pack. Might pasta be the perfect trail food?
Gain a raptor's-eye view of the world in Colorado's Eagles Nest Wilderness.
Relax and sniff the azaleas among Missouri's Whispering Pines.
What they've lost in height, the Penokee Mountains make up for in big views and solitude.
In a park full of natural wonder, the route to Maddron Bald hits the high points.
Everyone's heard of the Cascades, but no one seems to know about Tillamook State Forest.
Jim Lockart of Pughtown, Pennsylvania is part of a unique group who have scaled all 50 states' highest peaks.
Matthew Bogue, who is legally blind and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1996, completed the 471-mile Colorado Trail.
Make your own backcountry insurance policy.
To all the techno-weenies with your space-age outdoor gear, Cody Lundin has some advice: For that day when your butt's on the line, you better know how to get primitive.
Got a first-aid kit? Great. Now add these over-the-counter medicines and it'll be perfect.
Once a bumpy stagecoache route, Arkansas's Butterfield Trail now jostles hikers.
How to find emergency water in the backcountry.
Make your own backcountry survival kit.
How to signal for help if you get lost.
How to build a shelter if you get stuck in the backcountry.
Don't expect the red-carpet treatment in Arizona's Galiuro Mountains, just wilderness on its own terms.
As ice-cream makers in Los Angeles once knew, the Cucamonga Wilderness is the essence of cool.
For almost half a century, California's rugged Ishi Wilderness hid "the last wild Indian." Even today, it is a place that can keep a secret.
Cooking tips from readers.
Where artists once found inspiration, the Catskills' Escarpment Trail now challenges hikers.
Missing for more than a month in the Australian Outback, American tourist Robert Bogucki was found alive and amazingly coherent yesterday in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia.
Stronger foot muscles can end ankle sprains and aching arches.
A simple blister remedy gets you back on the trail fast.
Log some easy "city" miles in your new hiking boots before that epic trip.
Setting up a tarp? Follow these techniques depending on the situation.
Test to see if your "shocks" -- the arches of your feet -- are blown.
Sometimes you have to turn off the lights in order to see.
The William O. Douglas Wilderness is a monument worthy of a great man.
Way up in Nevada's East Humboldt Wilderness, finding solitude and water are sure bets.
Play out your Lawrence of Suburbia fantasies at Indiana Dunes.
Where 100 unknown Sierra miles wait.
What happens when you go from sea level to altitude too fast? One brave editor found out the hard way, and offers her blow-by-blow findings in hopes that you don't suffer a similar fate.
In every backpacker's life, there comes a time when you stare awestruck at a mountain and wonder, "What's it like to climb that sucker?"
After you've spent a cold, drizzly, miserable night searching for a lost or injured hiker, sometimes a few simple words of thanks make it all worthwhile.
Leave the book in the tent and make a date to chat with some owls and sing with the frogs.
Stay calm, have a bite to eat, and remember there's nothing to fear but fear itself.
If you look beyond the occasional cow, you'll find the BLM has lots of ruggedly beautiful land to offer. No mining, no oil rigs, just lots of solitude.
Time it right and you can harvest fresh greens every day of your trip.
Rather than tearing open an envelope, wouldn't you rather slice and dice something fresh?
The ambling Wisconsin River has only one speed: full-out relaxed.
A Thoreauvian classic hike in New Hampshire.