Stories

During a one-month August journey, BACKPACKER undertook multiple crowd-free Alaskan backpacking routes and returned with extensive photos, video, & GPS.

In September 2005, BACKPACKER editor Jonathan Dorn joined the magazine's Northwest sales rep Nick Freedman and his friend, Susan, for a weekend hike in the little-known Tatoosh Range before a summit attempt on Mt. Rainier. (Photos by Jonathan Dorn)

In May 2006, BACKPACKER editors Jon Dorn and Kris Wagner made an early-season summit attempt on the highest peak (14,255 feet) in Rocky Mountain National Park. (Photos by Jonathan Dorn)

BACKPACKER editor Jon Dorn and his wife have a tradition: They've been celebrating New Year's Eve in the backcountry for almost a decade. In 2009 they did a 40-mile, 5-day hike beneath the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. (Photos by Jonathan Dorn)

In spring 2006, BACKPACKER editors Jon Dorn, Peter Flax, and Kris Wagner joined a group of readers for a weekend of hiking and mapping in a remote slot canyon. (Photos by Jonathan Dorn)

Considered by many the toughest dayhike in the Northeast–and possibly the Lower 48–this 24-mile classic features 18,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. (Photos by Jonathan Dorn)

Photographic evidence of our intrepid blogger getting out from under his desk to hike, bike, and flyfish in Grand Targhee on the west side of the Tetons.

Get national park-caliber scenery without crowds (or entry fees!) in these dead ringers for Great Smoky Mountains, Zion, and Yosemite.

From the best guiding service to ultimate summit routes, Washington's highest peak is still the greatest.

From the top day hike to the key skills you'll need, we'll have you ready for the Rockies in no time.

Follow a long-forgotten loop in Rocky Mountain National Park across the Continental Divide, through moose-infested meados, and up Longs Peak via a rarely climbed route.

Marcus Woolf explores history and wilderness during a six-day trip through the Smokies.

By crunching numbers on the thousands of lost hiker cases in the backcountry each year, Robert Koester hopes to keep you on track.

Feeling inspired by your hike? Here's how to protect more land.

Follow our fool-proof three-stage guide to getting your kids as psyched as you are about getting outside.

Get outside earlier and faster by taking less with you. Here's how to ditch excess gear and pack light, tasty food.

Team trips will help get you outside faster than solo outings.

If you want to hit the trail before everyone, you'll need to get your gear in gear. Here's how.

We guarantee you can triple your trail time this summer. How? Our step-by-step guide solves every challenge–work overload, gear chaos, no partner, family demands–so you can enjoy more of what you live to do every weekend: hike.

Threatened by OHVs, logging, and overgrazing a 120,000-acre proposed addition to Red Buttes Wilderness would quintuple its size and benefit the Pacific Crest Trail.

Urban sprawl and local opposition lead the threats to this 84,000-acre tract of Coronado National Forest.

A two-day, 17-mile zigzag along blueberry-lined mountain ridges will give you a dose of the 24,000-acre "Crown Jewel of the Monongahela," threatened by oil and gas drilling.

The biggest threat to his critical gap between the Weminuche and Uncompahgre Wilderness Areas? Off-highway vehicles.

Oil and gas development threaten these 65,000 acres. Float the Green River to see what's at stake.

On the Brooks Range's Arctic slop, coal mining and oil and natural gas drilling are threats to half a million caribou, and the Arctic's highest concentration of grizzlies.

Development, bureaucracy, and apathy threaten this Glacier-like mecca, home to grizzlies, fields of beargrass, and superlative alpine hiking.

Oil drilling and vacation homes threaten on of the last Chestnut tree bastions, a 5,191-acre proposed Wilderness Area in the Allegheny National Forest.

The thread to this Down East trail? Vacation homes. Passing through roughly 10 miles of private land that has yet to be protected, wilderness designation could neutralize the looming threat.

It's never been easier to help save the wilderness–no donations, no petitions, no pulaski swinging required. The only thing you have to do is go backpacking.

This sustainable light gives cap-wearers a viable headlamp alternative.

Four BACKPACKER editors kayaked, ran, and biked (road and mountain) for miles in the grueling Teva Mountain Challenge. Photos by Caleb Tkach and Ted Alvarez.

You know that the big-name parks draw big-time crowds. But each of those outdoor icons has a lesser-known replacement that offers some of the same classic features and epic scenery–and you get it all to yourself.

Beaches, wildlife, and prairies in Minnesota, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, North Dakota, Kansas, and Illinois make the Midwest a hiker's paradise.

From canyons to rock art to waterfalls, the Southwest has an abundance of natural beauty.

Take is stunning rivers and waterfalls, killer views, and amazing wildlife in Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Texas with these hikes.

With alpine views, hot springs, wildflowers and wildlife, these hikes in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana offer the best of the Rockies.

Tick off these life list hikes in Washington, Oregon, California, and Alaska.

From dawn-to-dusk epics in Utah canyons to lazy-picnic blueberry strolls in Maine–plus hikes to peaks, redwoods, hot springs, beaches, and more–here are 100 ways to spend a perfect day on the trail.

The best view in the Grand Canyon can't be seen from the rim. Brave the trek to Royal Arch, hidden deep in the gorge, and your world will never look the same.

This iconic summit shouldn't be rushed. Save the experience on this 33-mile trek.

Kelly Bastone trekked forgotten trails to capture these Yosemite photos.

Check out Katie Herrel's author page.

New Zealand's North Island is home to evil black swans, hot springs, and plenty of surf and scenic views.

Join photographer Elias Butler on this trek to one of the Grand Canyon's hidden gems.

Writer Steve Howe and two international guests haunt the park for big bears--and they aren't disappointed.

According to folklore, the soft light emitted by bioluminescent organisms is magical. In reality, the eerie glow results from a chemical reaction–but it still looks enchanting on a moonless or cloudy night. Here's where to glimpse these living light bulbs.

A veteran traveler discovers a world of adventure in his backyard.

Explore Great Britain's answer to the Appalachian Trail.

Start your adventure right with these tips on getting to the trailhead and keeping in contact once you get there.

Don't suffer through a poorly planned trip: Use our tips to choose a destination and create a to-do list to begin your adventure.

Check out BACKPACKER Editors and contributing writers's author page.

This tech-saavy passport sleeve protects your documents from radio wave scanners

Roll, carry, or tote around your gear with the versatile High Sierra Overpass Wheeled bag.

Weave through the Dolomite's limestone daggers.

Head to Northern California's Redwood National Park for a glimpse at these giants.

Superheated water sprays from Yellowstone ground.

Fiery volcanoes, 40-ton mammals, otherworldly caves–in this explorer's guide, we'll show you where to find the most mind-blowing backcountry features on the planet. By Marcus Woolf

Trek between Buddhist villages, raft Himalayan whitewater, and ride an elephant in the shadow of 8,000-meter peaks.

Float, backpack, and mountain bike Canada's wild west coast.

It was tough to pick just one winning photo this year with all the top-notch submissions. So, here are the top five.

Follow editor Shannon Davis and his wife Emily as they trek the second half of the legendary Annapurna Circuit for their honeymoon.

Jump aboard the Eda Frandsen with Backpacker.com editor Anthony Cerretani for a tour of the Scottish isles.

Follow the Super Inca trail on a hike to Machu Picchu. You'll see secluded waterfalls, towering peaks, and the lost city itself. (Anthony Cerretani)

Happy coincidence for wildlife-loving paddlers: Canoes and woodland caribou converge like nowhere else on Earth in Ontario's Slate Islands. PLUS: See video of caribou on the move.

Hike safely in avalanche terrain

Forget flying south. Learn the secrets of cold-weather survival from three well-adapted birds.

The flying, red, and golden-mantled ground aren't your everyday squirrels

Hike North America's deepest canyon

Climb the Lower 48's highest peak on a route with all of the thrills but none of the crowds.

We'll show you how to see these majestic birds in the wild.

You guessed, it, you need to head North. Here's where you'll get the best view of the Northern Lights.

Witness glittering underground gems, skate across frozen ponds, and wander amid towering walls of ice. Just don't try to lick anything.

Plunge from rainforest to caldera in Hawaii's famously explosive national park

Travel to Lake Superior's Slate Islands for an up-close-and personal look at caribou in the wild. (Layne Kennedy)

The last time our author took his buddy camping, they stopped speaking for a year. A decade later, they still haven't hit the trail together. Which means there's only one thing to do: Try again.

Thirty miles up the trail from Springer Mountain, Winton Porter shelters and feeds thru-hikers–and works tirelessly to slash their pack weight.

Maine's newly minted Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail tracks the famous naturalist's 1800s expeditions. Good news: It's still wild.

Pick your own path to an empty 14er.

Explore hidden gorges and spy rarely seen wonders on this three-week raft trip designed specifically for hikers.

A two-day paddle through high plains prairie amid buffalo, whooping cranes, and elk.