News and Events

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.

The Pacific Northwest Trail Is the US’s least-developed National Scenic Trail. But a new comprehensive plan could give a boost to efforts to change that.

Quandary Peak was Colorado’s most-hiked high mountain in the early days of the pandemic, but new data suggest that parking restrictions have cut down on crowding.

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.

When Apple introduced the ability to automatically call for help via satellite in 2022, critics feared it would encourage hikers to be reckless. But a year later, one of the United States’ busiest search and rescue outfits is praising it—and other new safety tech from the company—as a “game changer.”

Our new weekly discussion program covers outdoor recreation and adventure

Celebrate Giving Tuesday by supporting two organizations that are preparing the next generation of outdoor advocates and environmentalists.

The Rich Mountain Fire burned 60 acres, just days after another blaze in the park closed part of the Appalachian Trail.

Miles of the AT and Blue Ridge Parkway have closed over the past week as crews battle blazes in North Carolina and Virginia.

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

Search and rescue officials are urging adventurers to carry appropriate gear after an unprepared hiker nearly died on one of the state’s high mountains.

After discussions about making the system permanent, three of America's most popular national parks are extending their timed entry pilot programs instead.

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.

After otters bit three wild swimmers in the Sierra, state wildlife officials are urging caution.

National Park Service encourages hikers to avoid Whiteoak Canyon and Old Rag due to poor air quality.

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 Southern Sierra’s record snowpack may have contributed to a deadly accident on 14,505-foot Mount Whitney this month.

One of the hottest, driest places in the world has a brand-new lake festooned with wildflowers—but park officials say it won't be around for long.

A draft plan would introduce 3 to 7 bears per year into the North Cascades over the next decade.

In a new social media post, the National Park Service said the trend threatens to harm California condors, one of the rarest birds in the United States.

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.

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.

Officials found the victims on Saturday morning and euthanized a bear that exhibited aggressive behavior

Veteran hikers call it the “Middle Blues.” You have already hiked an impossibly long distance, and somehow still have an impossibly long distance to go.

A bizarre rescue in Michigan has eerie similarities to a 2022 incident in Washington State

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.

"When you have a very fat 400-pound bear, it will take it ages to starve to death. That’s a horrific way to die, decaying from the inside out."

The top nonprofits win a customized Land Rover Defender 130 and a pile of cash. Cast your vote starting on September 15 to help choose this year’s winners.

Late season snow damaged trails and delayed start to the season, pushing hikers into hotter summer conditions

As rutting season begins, officials warn hikers to take extra caution around the wildlife.

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.

Usually, viewers on Explore.org's Katmai National Park live streams expect to see giant grizzlies and wide-open natural views. But on September 5, a wet and cold-looking hiker walked up to the camera and appeared to mouth "help."

Authorities used DNA analysis and "other characteristics" to identify the bruin after the incident.

Heavy precipitation left some of the park’s key roads in tatters.

Despite record snowpack and extreme heat, the ultrarunning dentist shaved over five days off the previous record.

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

As the remnants of Hilary moved inland, floods trapped visitors and boosted flood risk across the southwestern US.

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

The cause of death has not yet been released.

The draft management plan proposes preservation methods for the Appalachian Trail's Triple Crown in Virginia.

Karel Sabbe just blasted through California's section of the PCT—will he set a new FKT for the whole trail?

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.

What do winners of the Defender Service Awards have in common? They make the world a better place, and now Land Rover is helping them do it.

Wildlife officials blame Hank the Tank and her three cubs for dozens of burglaries. Now, with her death sentence commuted, she'll spend the rest of her days in a Colorado wildlife refuge.

These are some of the best ways to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch Maine on your next adventure

Girard Ridge and its surrounding terrain will become part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

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.

Robert “Steady Eddie” Kerker appears to have gotten caught in a swollen waterway during the historic floods that hit Vermont in July

Mud-choked paths, damaged bridges, and trail communities cleaning up from some of the worst flooding in Vermont history have AT hikers wondering if they should skip the state for now.

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.

The granola brand bolsters naked hiking communities with a system to review the country’s top nude hikes

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.

Visits to one popular Colorado fourteener have declined by more than half since 2020.

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 the Sierra’s record snowpack beginning to melt, swarms of the biting insects are coming out en masse. For hikers, that could be a nuisance.

America's oldest national park is only getting more popular—but hiring staffers and keeping them on the payroll has been difficult.

The Outdoor Industry Association’s annual outdoor participation survey found the United States added 881,000 new hikers in 2022—and that the outdoors are becoming more diverse.

The good news: Glacier Point Road will reopen again to backpackers and other visitors again starting July 1.

Sands, 65, never returned from a hike on Southern California’s Mount Baldy in January

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

Park officials say requiring visitors to make reservations for Mount Rainier National Park would help cut down on crowding and protect natural resources—but one major hiking organization opposes the change.

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.

Winners of the Defender Service Awards save bears, train service dogs, feed people in need, and more. Meet last year’s honorees—and learn how to enter the 2023 contest now!

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 Benton MacKaye Trail Starts at the AT's southern terminus and runs nearly 300 miles through the hills—and a bipartisan bill is set to name it our next National Scenic Trail.

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.

Despite the NPS’s best efforts, Yellowstone National Park continues to be the world capital of people getting too close to wild animals.

The epic winter of 2022–23 is still with us, with snowmelt causing flooding concerns in some national parks and in others roads and trails are closed for repairs. Here’s what you need to know for your summer trips.

After a snow-delayed start to the season, the North Rim will finally open next week, but services will be limited.

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.