Adam Roy

Embracing the pee bottle is the secret to getting through cold nights on trail comfortably. So why do so many hikers fight it?

After a bobcat attack in January this year, Saguaro National Park warned visitors to be on the lookout for infected animals.

The brands say the three offerings—which include hiking in Shenandoah and camping in the New River Gorge—will “celebrate Black joy in nature.”

With the contiguous United States' last total solar eclipse for 20 years hitting on Monday, most campsites in the path of totality are fully booked up. But procrastinators still have options.

Cinamen, an 8-year-old cat from New York, went viral for leading guests at his owner's AirBnb on Appalachian Trail hikes. It's a role he was born to play.

Spend a night in one of these incredible spots and it might just change your life.

In Instagram apology, actor said he didn't see closure sign before making "impulsive" decision to leave path.

Traveling 68 miles through Sweden’s Arctic backcountry, the original Fjällräven Classic is an anomaly: A wild trek dozens of miles from a trailhead that’s also feasible to tackle as your first-ever backpacking trip. Backpacker Executive Editor Adam Roy hits the trail to check it out.

From drownings to falls to homicide, each year more than 240 people die on lands managed by the National Park Service. We dove into 17 years of mortality data to find out how it happens.

A cozy fleece cap, a lightweight multitool, and a personal safety tool our editor always carries: Here's the gear that kept us moving on the trail this February.

Their idea of a nice dinner is buying the expensive dehydrated meal, cuddling on a sleeping pad is awkward, and don’t get us started on their feet: There are a lot of great reasons to date a hiker, but there are also a lot of reasons not to.

If your life partner is also your hiking partner, you'll express love by popping blisters, planning trips, and sharing M&M's.

Fixing a popped inflatable sleeping pad is one of the most frustrating tasks that backpackers have to deal with. But with a little bit of knowledge and some cheap supplies, patching it yourself can be simple.

For now, Mystery Ranch will continue to operate from its headquarters in Bozeman, Montana.

A winterized trail runner, vegan candy, and a fast-and-light hydration pack: This is the gear that kept us moving this month.

You have gotten so smelly before, you've stopped noticing. You have a "nice" pair of Lone Peaks for when you want to look presentable. You own too many sporks. If this sounds like you, then congratulations: you are definitely a hiker.

Rainier will join other popular national parks like Glacier, Rocky Mountain, and Arches in implementing a new timed-entry system for the park's most popular entrances.

Hikers today can be harsh when they see one of our number screw up on the trail. But it's time to face facts: We all make mistakes, and if we were less judgmental about them, we might all be safer.

New year, new us? Not quite. From hiking crowded trails to carrying gear we know we will never use, here are all the bad habits we plan to keep nursing this year.

Traps set to catch wild animals can accidentally kill hikers' dogs instead. Learn how to save your canine companion from three common types you may encounter on the trail.

A pre-holiday adventure didn’t go as planned for two hikers near Tampa, who ended up lost in a flooded forest after dark.

From candlelit rambles in the snow to epic treks on the Appalachian Trail, this is how hikers and parks in every state are ringing in the new year. Pick one and start 2025 off in style.

Years come and years go, but hikers' fascination with bears is eternal.

A hiker rescued in California last week is the latest to find themselves pinned under a big rock. But they're far from the first—or the unluckiest—to have a bad encounter with a boulder.

Light weight, heavy hitters: These affordable gifts will help an aspiring ultralighter shave down their pack weight.

The North Country Trail, Ice Age Trail, and New England Trail are the newest units of the national park system, a move that supporters hope will help them close gaps in the routes.

As fall gives way to winter, these smart pieces of gear are keeping us outside.

We're going back to our roots—all the way back—by bringing back our original logo from 1973.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy announced this week that it had purchased 850 acres of land beneath McAfee Knob, in part using funds from an agreement with the developers of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The ordeal is a reminder to value your own situational awareness over what Big Tech may tell you about a trail.

The weather may be unpredictable this time of year, but that doesn't mean you need to trade your trail runners for big, bulky boots. Our experts picked five low-cut, lightweight shoes tailor-made for backpacking during shoulder season.

A video of eight-legged creepy-crawlies clustering on a backpacker’s tent in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve last month had arachnophobic hikers vowing to stay a thousand miles away. But look a little closer, and you might just gain a new appreciation for the Alaskan wilderness.

The weather's getting colder, and that means your packing and planning strategies have to change. Steer clear of these backpacking mistakes for a smoother transition to fall.

Make your headlamp pull double-duty as a warm, inviting light for camp gatherings with these low or no-weight techniques.

Signed into law earlier this week, Assembly Bill 618 aims to make it easier for campers to snag a site—and will allow the state to punish visitors who don’t call to cancel.

An outbreak of norovirus on the Pacific Crest Trail proves that hikers’ hygiene routines need an upgrade.

After Oregon agreed to provide wolves to Colorado, state officials say they will be ready to begin releasing the animals between late 2023 and early 2024.

Starting on October 2 week, 12 of Alaska’s chubbiest bruins will face off in a bracket for the title of Fat Bear Week Champion. Here’s what you need to know about the history of the competition, the science behind bears’ fall feasting, and the tournament’s undisputed GOAT.

Enjoy an easy-to-make spin on a classic campfire treat—no kindling necessary.

This vegetarian campfire dessert comes together with two convenience-store ingredients.

This month, nonprofit The Conservation Fund announced it had acquired 300 acres of land on Colorado’s popular Mt. Democrat, permanently opening it to hikers after a series of closures. But the future of its neighboring mountains is anything but certain.

In July, Colorado’s popular Decalibron Loop, a 7.5-mile trail that crosses private property to tag multiple Fourteeners, reopened to hikers after a months-long closure over liability concerns. Last week, someone got their pickup truck stuck on it.

All newcomers to the outdoors make mistakes. But if you need to be told “don’t sprint full speed at a mother bear,” we’re sorry, but you are beyond help.

Heavy rainfall led to flash flooding in Bryce Canyon National Park and a canyon northeast of Moab, with disastrous consequences for hikers.

Making your own camp stove out of a cat food or soda can used to be a rite of passage for backpackers. But with canister stoves getting lighter and cheaper—and fire bans getting more and more common—one Backpacker editor argues their time has come. (Plus: Another editor dissents.)

When soreness crosses over into genuine pain, it can turn the most pleasant hikes into teeth-gritting tests of endurance. Fight back with expert advice and exercises for tackling 8 different types of ache.

The park announced that rangers had found "evidence of a black bear's presence" on top of the famous summit.

A proposed change in how Zion handles backcountry permits could raise prices for some groups by more than 400 percent—but solo hikers would get a break.

When a court struck down the public’s right to wild camp in Dartmoor National Park in January, hikers lost the only place in England where they could dispersed camp without getting the owner’s permission first. Now, an appeals court has given it back to them.

Light up your tent, camp kitchen, and more with these versatile lights.

Wildlife officers are looking for the bear and cub involved after a hiker found the victim’s body in a popular hiking and off-roading area.

The heat was so extreme that a rescue helicopter couldn’t even fly to the site of the incident.

In a viral PSA, Yosemite National Park urged hikers to knock over rock cairns. Days later, staff at Canyonlands and Arches asked hikers not to. What's a backpacker to do?

Live electric wires and bridge damage are among the hazards that trail crews have found so far—but it’s not all bad news.

Authorities are trying to determine what caused the deaths of three "mummified" people found in a remote campsite near Gunnison this week.

The death is the third snow-related fatality that local search and rescue has responded to over the past three weeks.

With its warm temperatures and long days, summer is the perfect season for backpackers to try going ultralight. Here’s how to make your pack lighter now without spending a fortune on new gear.

Rangers are urging hikers to follow safety rules after an unleashed dog “provoked” a black bear into fatally attacking a hiker’s leashed dog.

Extremely high water levels in Maine have shut down the famous Kennebec River canoe shuttle—and almost ended one section hiker’s trip permanently.

For hikers around the world, today isn't just the first day of summer: It's Hike Naked Day. Here's what you need to know before joining in the festivities.

Students in the Semester-A-Trail program at Emory and Henry College will spend their spring and summer semesters hiking part or all of the Appalachian Trail—with gear, support, and an on-trail budget included in tuition.

This bear has learned to appreciate the trail no matter the conditions, and we could all stand to learn from them.

In a typical June, a little less than an inch and a half of snow falls on Mt. Washington. This year, the peak has seen more than six times that much—and there are still two weeks to go.

The answer isn’t as obvious as it was five years ago

A widely-circulated article ranks parks by the total deaths they saw in a ten-year period. But those numbers don’t tell the real story.

If you’ve never forgotten an important piece of gear, you will someday. Here’s how to make do without your tent poles, sleeping pad, and more—and how to decide when it’s time to give up and go home.

Dubbed "Doo Colorado Right," the state is hoping its new campaign will deter people from leaving human waste where other hikers end up stepping in it.

With the Woods Creek and San Joaquin bridges out and creeks running too high to safely ford, hikers don't have many good options.

Incredibly, it's not the first time that a baby bison has been euthanized in the park after a visitor tried to "save" it.

This weekend's deaths mark the second double fatality in Buckskin Gulch this spring, and follow a string of rescues caused by wet conditions and flooding.

Yes: You can make pancakes on literally any stove, including a Jetboil. And you don't need a frying pan to do it, either—just a mug and this trick.

A group of young hikers who went missing near Ojai managed to call for help with Apple's Emergency SOS, which the company introduced with the iPhone 14 last year.

Social media is full of ridiculous “camping hacks” that won’t help you do anything but create a bunch of extra garbage. Embrace these editor-tested tricks for staying comfy in the backcountry instead.

Once again, food-seeking bears have forced the closure of part of the AT to overnight stays.

Roughly 84% of visitors at one popular national park are in favor of its new reservation system—and it could be a sign of things to come.

A heat signature in a dense forest led to the discovery of Matthew Read, who went missing in the park over the weekend.

From dense, moss-draped rainforest to misty, cliff-guarded beaches, the Oregon Coast Trail is 425 miles of pure Pacific beauty with a complicated story behind it.

Marta Renee Bowen had disappeared from her campsite in Connecticut, leaving behind her gear and cell phone.

Used correctly, frameless packs can be a great tool for ultralighters. Used incorrectly? Welcome to Shoulder Pain City, baby.

Wildlife officers have been unable to locate the mountain lion so far, and are urging hikers in the area to use caution.