Sarah L. Stewart

For how dangerous the backcountry can be, it's sometimes the smallest accidents that become the biggest injuries. Stay safe with these tips.

You spend your weekends in the wilderness. For these lucky professionals, it's a living.

Search for energy sources, or help land managers understand what's right below their feet.

Join the clean energy revolution.

Because their work week is better than your vacation.

Guides get paid to make people's vacations. Here's how you can join their ranks

Life on the fire line isn't for everyone. Could it be for you?

Make a career out of cleaning up the world.

Make tree climbing your career with a little on-the-job training.

Gather clues about how ancient peoples lived, and enjoy backcountry solitude in the bargain.

Love biology, but don't have the time or money to get a PhD? No worries.

Save the world—and get to swim on the job.

Think map-making is an obsolete skill? Think again.

Want to wear the hat? Here's how to better your chances.

Maximize your winter fun with a backcountry basecamp where you can spend all day skiing or snowshoeing, and all evening lounging by the fire.

Boost comfort and miles with these field-proven tips for carrying less.

Trace a West Virginia ridgeline in the Alleghenies, show your family eight waterfalls on one Pennsylvania hike, check out a rare moonbow in Kentucky, and go on nine more adventures.

Trek along the country's first national river in Arkansas, find solitude in Michigan's Trap Hills, watch whooping crane chicks learn to fly outside Madison, WI, and plan for nine more summer trips.

Hike through wildflower-laden alpine meadows in Washington's volcanic high country, see a meteor shower in dark-sky New Mexico, escape the crowds above Lake Tahoe, and more.

Get magnificent coastal views in Maine, snag a few fish in West Virginia's Otter Creek Wilderness, spot sunning alligators in the Florida panhandle, and more.

Hear various bird songs during Ohio's bird breading season, cool off in clear swimming home in a hidden Oklahoman gem, and more.

Experience the varying habitat in California's Lobo Canyon Trail, get a high-vantage view of the Colorado River in Arizona, hike former mining roads, and more!

Let our field scouts' beta fuel your next adventure from the wildlife-rich Sky Meadows State Park Loop, to thickets of mountain laurel in Georgia, and more.

Enjoy the wildlife of Mississippi, search for Morels in Minnesota, view the nesting turtles on Texas' Padre Island, and more.

Take in the birder's paradise around Vern Wolf Lake in Wisconsin, cleanse yourself in the mist of a 15 foot waterfall in Arkansas, marvel at a 320-million-year-old sandstone formation in Ohio, and more.

From a panoramic hike above Sin City and Lake Mead to a slot canyon adventure in Utah, our scouts provide trail beta.

Our trail scouts' top local hikes, including fire tower views in New Jersey, a New York waterfall, and more.

Follow the footsteps of Wild West outlaws in Oklahoma, marvel at Gooseberry Fall's frozen cascades, search out arrowheads at Hot Springs National Park, and more.

Our trail scouts' top local hikes: ancient Oregon volcanoes, a Nevada slot canyon, a hidden California oasis, and more.

Check out the River Trail in South Carolina, the Florida Trail, or a loop in Mississippi and Virginia.

Try a 9-mile out-and-back in Ohio's Hemlock Gorge or hike through history in Per Marquette State Park or on the Saddle Rock Trail in Nebraska.

Whether you want an uncrowded hike in Zion National Park or a five-miler through a gypsum dune field in New Mexico, our scouts have paved the way.

Test your courage—and your quads—this Halloween on one of these spooky cemetery trails.

Our trail scouts' top local hikes

Our trail scouts' top local hikes

Our trail scouts' top local hikes

Our trail scouts' top local hikes

Our trail scouts' top local hikes

Our trail scouts' top local hikes

Explore the west coast in a whole new way with these five summer hikes.

Experience the east in a new way this summer with hikes that each offer a special glimpse of what the east coast has to offer.

Looking to relax this summer? These central hikes offer beautiful lakes, great views, and a breath of fresh air.

Head out on one of these trails in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

Hike these long trails in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and head south to Texas to see Horned Lizards.

Paddle to Maryland's Assateague Island; pack an ice axe for the Presidentials.

Discover east Texas's longleaf pine forest; see the Boundary Waters on foot.

Conquer the rocks, ridges, and ravines on the East's toughest trail.

Your favorite Northeast hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.

Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Northeast.

See North America's deepest river gorge, the west's most violent mating Display, and the Southeast's last longleaf pines.

Walk beneath trees that predate the Revolutionary War.

Witness bighorn rams' skull-bashing attempts to win a date.

Hike into North America's deepest river gorge--a canyon that could hold five stacked Sears Towers.

Watch 10,000 birds take wing daily.

Marvel at America's first national monument.

Meander through a sprawling forest of clones.

Visit the world's largest aspen colony, the Plains' highest skyscraper, and a raptor super-flyaway.

See ferns that play dead, then dramatically come back to life.

Witness the birthing of a species that shared the seas with dinosaurs.

Gaze into a 2,000-foot-deep tub of snowmelt.

Discover the world's tallest geyser, North America's smallest bird, and the country's best shade tree on these three treks.