BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors

Hit up one of these 7 hikes for a late-season color show.

Get the deepest backcountry rest of your life with these mattresses.

Upgrade one of the most essential items in your survival kit.

Ten trails. Ten unmatched miles each. Get maximum bang for each boot step on hikes that our most-traveled contributors call their all-time favorites.

Ghosts, serial killers, and abandoned towns: These spooky-season hikes hit harder than your average Halloween attraction.

Hike to one of these nine fire lookouts for unbeatable views and a unique backcountry experience.

This month's exclusive discount is brought to you by Xero Shoes.

Plan, navigate and share your adventures!

This month's exclusive discount is brought to you by Therm-A-Rest.

Plan your trip to the alpine as the snow melts out from meadows and ridgelines

This month's exclusive discount is brought to you by MSR.

It's the perfect time to tackle one of these indoor DIY projects to set yourself up for a great hiking season.

This month's exclusive discount is brought to you by Somewear Labs.

Every year BACKPACKER Basecamp gives you access to select full-length AIM Adventure U courses for FREE! Basecamp members also get 30% off any non-featured BACKPACKER course on the AIM Adventure U site. We know you have a busy schedule, so each course is designed to be taken at your own pace. You’ll learn through a variety of interactive formats, including video instruction, photo descriptions, and more. Each session builds on the last, and each course is split-up into several parts, so you can take it as quickly or slowly as you want. Plus, once you purchase the course, the lessons are yours forever.

Where to get out now

This month's exclusive discount is brought to you by BioLite.

This month's exclusive discount is brought to you by Mountainsmith.

See exclusive photos and videos as you listen to season 2, episode 5 of Out Alive

This month's exclusive discount is brought to you by Swiftwick.

Chocolate and champagne are fine, but this year, give your Valentine something that will keep them happy on the trail.

From trekking in Nepal to hiking Peru, start planning one of these bucket-list trips right now.

This breathable boot is a swamp foot slayer.

The more, the merrier. Bring the gang along with one of these king-size shelters.

Whether you need something light and fast or are settling in for a few days at a basecamp, there is an efficient and proficient stove here for you.

Prices may vary in these five rain jackets, but all of them are guaranteed to keep you dry depending on the conditions.

The writer and hiker shares her favorite local trails—and the one article of clothing she doesn't leave home without.

Get the best of the Pacific Northwest with a little help from Backpacker's trail experts.

Summit crowds are overflowing trails and parking lots, trampling vegetation, and worse on Upstate's ever-popular peaks.

A wildlife camera image gives the first proof of a cougar living in a slice of proposed preserved land in the Hollywood Hills.

The incident was the first confirmed wolf kill in California for more than a century.

The controlled burns help restore ecosystem health to prairie and forest reserves.

Gorham, New Hampshire's efforts to attract ATV riders doesn't sit well with all its residents.

The popular Lake Serene Trail traverses through Weyerhauser property, and now they want to cash in.

The new 33-acre forest is called John Sunman's Woods Nature Preserve.

Two years after a massive leak at Aliso Canyon, protesters are still fighting to shut it down permanently.

The federal government is forecasting a mild La Nina. Local meteorologists aren't sure.

Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows to officially announce a high-speed link, but environmental advocates aren't on board.

An Oakland couple got stranded overnight after getting disoriented.

Two hikers reported a vehicle in the parking lot after completing a hike on Sauk Mountain. Officials connected it to a missing man.

The Japanese therapy, also known as shinrin-yoku, now has certified guies in New England.

Two hikers on the PCT in Chelan County are safe.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

The National Park Service is considering a fee hike in more than a dozen of the system's most popular parks.

A pilot program will let you purchase daily passes using an app.

After years of administrative fighting, the BLM recommended that 53,000 acres be closed to shooting—but 443,000 acres will stay open.

Global warming sounds like it would be good for deserts, right? Not so—at least when it comes to the southwest's iconic silhouette.

The Tupper Triad is a hike up Coney, Goodman, and Arab mountains. Now it's a race, too.

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The new Adventure Tourism Program is the first of its kind in the country.

The new active-wear company launched an Aspen pop-up this summer—to booming success.

Colorado bested seven other states in a series of benchmarks measured by the Center for Western Priorities.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

Since August, eight people have been charged with 191 criminal counts in a huge poaching case in southeast Washington.

Olympic National Park awarded a $2.2-million contract to demolish and rebuild cabins at Log Cabin Resort.

Some 50,000 birds stop off here for winter nesting after flying in from Alaska or Siberia.

Kato, 36, was lost on Missouri Mountain recently. Here's how he survived.

Four Lake Tahoe cubs have tested positive for a rare virus that has already killed two other cubs.

Vireos, lesser goldfinch, and scrub jays have flown the Northern California fires—and the Audubon Society is taking notice.

The so-called Wilson fire has burned 30 acres and threatens the history Mount Wilson Observatory.

Two bodies were discovered in Joshua Tree National Park last Sunday, and one mane believes it's his missing son and his girlfriend.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

The trail, starting near Rancho Vistoso and extending to Big Wash, is the first part of a plan that would reach Tortolita Mountain Park.

The non-profit Center for Western Priorities placed Arizona second-lowest in its scorecard of public lands, recreation, and conservation.

Heather Bolint, 1,124 miles into her hike, came across a fancy rooster near the Mason-Dixon Line. She carried him 42 miles to safety.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

From Civil War sites to cascading waterfalls, North Georgia is full of great fall hiking options.

NASA is joining with The Nature Conservancy's North American Cities program to prioritize greenspace in Atlanta.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

Environmental groups support a change that would allow small projects to circumvent "forever wild" status.

The Nature Conservancy is running an eight-day event to restore habitat after Hurricane Sandy.

Check out BACKPACKER Contributors and Editors's author page.

The historic pathway around Geneva Lake takes all day (and includes brunch).

A Sierra Club writer dishes on his thru-hike of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative seeks to increase $2.5B annual economy

John Ayers, an undergrad at Cal State Fullerton, describes his summer adventures to Yosemite in his own words.