Whether you're headed to the Pacific Crest or the Florida Trail, long trail alumni have something to teach you. Here, backpacker writers share their best thru-hiking wisdom from a collective 11,000 miles of walking.
Austin Dirks was on a 20-mile section hike of the Hayduke Trail when he stepped in what looked like normal desert sand. A few minutes later, he says, he was stuck up to his knees and struggling to get out.
Texas Parks and Wildlife officials are opening the new Palo Pinto Mountains State Park on New Years day to a select few guests.
The 32-year-old man told his children that the 9-mile trek was the ‘trip of a lifetime’ before ascending into foul weather.
Amidst an active search for missing hiker and law professor Charles Hosch, law enforcement is requesting that hikers steer clear of Blood Mountain.
Madison "Peg Leg" Blagden battled injury and weather to become the first woman to complete a border-to-border Calendar Year Triple Crown.
Just weeks after a hiker slipped and fell to their death on Mount Whitney, a pair of incidents led to three rescues on the peak this month.
Two weeks after a hiker reported an abandoned tent with supplies and car keys inside on the northwest side of Mount Madison, authorities are still trying to determine what happened to the gear's owner.
A least 13 people have been killed and more than 100 people have been attacked by bears in Japan since April.
AT legend Dale "Greybeard" Sanders hopes to become the first person to thru-hike the trail in their tenth decade—and the man whose record he’s trying to break is along for the ride.
A new job posting calls for volunteers and asks for 40 hours of work per week.
After ascending the 14,505-foot peak, one hiker slipped and fell down the 99 Switchbacks.
After walking for 293 days, Troy “Punisher” Croxdale touched the southern border of the Continental Divide Trail—his third long trail since the year began.
A report from the Adirondacks is leading some researchers to surmise that hikers’ gear is likely a leading cause of microplastic contamination in at least some wild water sources.
Crowded campsites, unpermitted hiking, and illegal sport is running rampant in this national park right now.
The Washington State Animal Response Team dispatched to the Goat Rocks Wilderness after another crew had to airlift a dog’s owner out without her.
The first 1.1 miles of the CDT are now only available to US citizens who apply for permission to enter the National Defense Area.
After a category 4 hurricane tore through the southeast, a third of the Appalachian Trail faced significant damage. Volunteers are bringing it back to life.
Garmire finished the trail in just over 45 days, raising $29,000 for the Trevor Project in the process.
The giant salamanders make their homes and lay their eggs under rocks.
Self-rescuing can be a good idea—just make sure the SAR team looking for you knows you're doing it.
Visitation to the park jumped 7 percent over the same period last year, while rescues rose 40 percent.
The 501 “pizza” shelter and Eckville shelter are expected to be demolished between 2026 and 2027 due to an NPS policy that targets “nonconforming infrastructure.” Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club is mounting a last-ditch campaign to stop it.
A herd of cattle reportedly trampled an 85-year-old man as he hiked with his wife and dog.
The AT was rugged and sparsely traveled when Espy hiked it in 1951.
More than half of people in the U.S. recreated outdoors in 2024 according to a new report from the Outdoor Industry Association, with Black and Hispanic participants driving the biggest gains.
Feeding bears can lead to aggression and dangerous encounters between them and humans—and the National Park Service caught visitors in the Smokies doing in three times in one week
The pups were rescued off of Mount Princeton after hiking up with their owner.
The province’s premier ordered restrictions on non-essential activities in wooded areas amidst Canada's second-worst fire season on record.
The discovery of an abandoned camp full of garbage, food, and ditched gear led Badlands to dispatch first responders and issue a stern message.
28-year-old Andrew James McGann was arrested and charged with killing Cristen Amanda and Clinton David Brink while the couple was hiking with their daughters at Devil's Den State Park.
CDT hikers have reported disconcerting run-ins with “Cottonmouth” for years.
A father of three is dead shortly after attempting the 29,032-foot "Everesting" challenge in Wyoming.
Because her injuries prevented her from getting off-trail herself, officials used a high-tech drone to help track her down.
The child was hiking on a popular trail with their family when the mountain lion attacked.
A video of a crowd of bears purportedly leaving Yellowstone went viral on social media. Now wildlife biologists and park officials are stuck debunking the influencer who posted it.
National park officials euthanized the adult sow after weeks of concerning behavior.
Authorities dispatched multiple aircraft in an attempt to rescue a hiker from 14,379-foot Mt. Williamson in the Eastern Sierra.
Tex the grizzly already had multiple relocations on his record and a history of breaking into fishing boats and following hikers in British Columbia when he swam to bear-free Texada Island. Now, locals, provincial officials, and First Nations leaders are divided over what to do.
Capitol Peak is widely considered the most serious of Colorado’s highest peaks and has been the site of numerous fatal incidents over the years.
The latest iteration of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could make a continuous hike more difficult for PCT and CDT thru-hikers if it passes.
Parts of Arizona are expecting dangerous heat conditions this week, with Phantom Ranch forecast to experience highs of 114 degrees.
Baxter State Park officials believe Esther Keiderling, one of two hikers found dead near the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail in early June, likely slipped and slid into a boulder field in snowy conditions.
Rangers located the bodies of the two hikers in a remote backcountry campsite over the weekend. The cause of death is currently unknown.
Montaña de Oro is one of California’s biggest state parks, but it receives a fraction of Yosemite National Park’s visitation.
For the first time since floods closed it five years ago, the full length of the Chilkoot Trail, which crosses 33 miles from Alaska to British Columbia, is open to hikers. But a closure at the border could stop backpackers from doing the whole thing.
Authorities are investigating after several people came down with symptoms of norovirus, the highly-contagious, sanitizer-resistant stomach bug that's sickened hikers on the Triple Crown in recent years.
Established last year, North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes National Park blends culture with history and geographical beauty—and when it comes to hiking, its caretakers have big plans.
With the Madison Gulf Trail footbridge in New Hampshire's White Mountains unsafe to use, hikers now face a detour that eliminates 4.3 grueling but beloved miles of the AT—and officials will need to decide whether to make an exception to wilderness rules to allow for it to be replaced.
Officials in Aspen recorded nearly twice as many bear encounters as usual this spring. Could it be an early indicator of a busy bear season in the high country?
Park officials had written that the campground would close "indefinitely" for unspecified reasons.
A $2.4 million grant will go towards maintenance, reconstruction, and stewardship across the state.
National Park Service officials temporarily closed two trails at Lake Mead over the weekend after two high-profile rescues there.
After five rescues in winter conditions in less than a month, Mount Rainier officials are reminding hikers and skiers that it's still winter up high.
Dozens of hikers were forced to stay the night along the Kalalau Trail after rain caused flooding in the region.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy—the nonprofit that supports the United States’ most iconic footpath—turns 100 this year. To celebrate, AT thru-hikers Mary Beth "Mouse" Skylis and Grayson Haver Currin pick the 100 best miles of trail, spread out over 19 bite-size sections.
After months of uncertainty, the Trump administration has approved a new pilot reservation system for Yosemite.
With the park left severely shorthanded due to staff cuts, officials have closed the Fiery Furnace hike until further notice.
Despite pleas from park staff and congresspeople, Yosemite’s timed entry system is still in limbo after the Interior Department paused it last month.
After Hurricane Helene wrecked a bridge that allowed hikers to cross the Nolichucky River in Tennessee, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and a local guiding company arranged a ferry service to help hikers cross safely.
When two hikers took a long tumble off the Tahquitz Mountain Trail, it was the beginning of an epic ordeal for them and their rescuers.
In a new lawsuit filed alongside three other nonprofits, the environmental group claims that DOGE violated the Constitution by directing the NPS, Forest Service, and other federal agencies to fire thousands of employees—and that America's public lands are already feeling the strain.
On top of a mountain in Virginia along the Appalachian Trail, a shelter logbook contains some of hikers' deepest, darkest secrets.
With less than 30,000 cases a year in the U.S., rhabdomyolysis is not a common ailment—but for some boundary-pushing hikers, it can be life-threatening.
After a Chinese-based tech company released robotic exoskeletons last month, hikers got the chance to test them on a hike up the steep Mt. Tai.
A California couple suffered injuries on Sunday while attempting to hike the Sacred Falls Trail, which has been closed for 26 years.
The Northern Colorado Trail stretches 292 miles from Estes Park to Glenwood Springs.
The Haiku Stairs have been illegal to climb since the 1980s, but that hasn't stopped thousands of hikers from venturing there.
Two hikers may be stuck with the SAR bill after a winter hike went wrong in the White Mountains.
Nonprofit will pay $1,000 for information leading to the vandal or vandals' arrest.
Northbound thru-hikers will have to backtrack to Harts Pass after Canada stops issuing permits allowing hikers to enter at the northern terminus.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s thru-hike registrations are down by nearly 30% compared to this time last year—and a look at last season reveals a potential reason why.
A leak released chlorine, used for water treatment at the park, forcing park authorities to close several trails.
A pair of hikers took separate slides down the side of Hollyburn Mountain earlier this week, resulting in an ankle injury and a suspected leg fracture.
After four decades of running outdoor adventure trips and educational courses, REI is eliminating more than 400 jobs to focus on its core retail business, the company’s CEO said on Wednesday.
At 1,454 miles long, the Buckeye Trail is a grand tour of Ohio—and the government is considering adding it to the National Trails System.
State officials say they're worried about bison passing on disease to cattle outside the park—but wildlife managers say it's never happened before.
Trail conditions on Mount Charleston’s South Loop Trail have led to a number of falls and serious injuries from hikers who Las Vegas police described as unprepared.
A solo hiker was wandering around Summersville Lake when he became trapped in thick mud.
Deep in the arctic tundra, our writer gets a lesson in what it means to go truly off-grid.