Stories

Why choose between breezy peaks and cool streams when you can have both at Big Frog Wilderness?

What have you done lately for the trails and backcountry you use? Join a Volunteer Vacation and save the trails you love.

If you look beyond the occasional cow, you'll find the BLM has lots of ruggedly beautiful land to offer. No mining, no oil rigs, just lots of solitude.

A hidden spot in Washington's popular Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Break the long Michigan winter with a lengthy hike on Michigan's Riding and Hiking Trail.

Waterfalls and wonder: Both are plentiful in Oregon's Columbia River Gorge.

Can you find solitude in Sequoia National Park? You can if you go off trail.

History and nature intertwine when you hike South Dakota's stunning Black Hills.

Kentucky's Cumberland Falls provide spectacular waterworks, day or night.

Great Smoky's Gregory Bald features an amazing crown of wild azaleas.

Highest, biggest, wildest: Colorado's Weminuche Wilderness is a land of superlatives.

The Marietta Unit provides some of the greatest river trails in Ohio.

Hickory Creek Wilderness in the Allegheny National Forest remains a great hiking destination all year -- even in winter.

Hiking through wetlands in Pennsylvania? Believe it.

Burnt Rock Mountain provides great views along Vermont's Long Trail.

A hike up New Hampshire's Carter Dome has it all -- mountains, forests, water, views, solitude, and even a little challenge.

Lake Superior's best coast lies on Wisconsin's Apostle Islands.

Get away from the Ozarks crowd on the Berryman Trail.

While the wolf reintroduction debate rages across the country, in Wisconsin the animals are simply reclaiming their rightful place.

An Ozark oasis loaded with wildlife and fall colors.

Great Basin's Mt. Moriah is a big mountain of solitude.

Visit Arkansas' Buffalo National River Trail, where the huckleberries are plentiful and the views are wondrous.

Wilderness worthy enough to inspire any classical landscape painter.

Get spectacular Appalachian Trail mountain views without much effort on the Riga Plateau.

The best way to see all Olympic has to offer is on the grand Valley Loop.

Like to start your hikes up high? Then Arkansas Huckleberry Trail is for you.

Crowd-free, rocky mountain highs -- you'll find this and more in Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness.

The colorful walls of Palo Duro Canyon will delight hikers with masterpiece washes of color.

Texas' Lost Maples has beautiful desert vistas -- and mountain lions.

Never heard of Utah's George Washington Hayduke Route, have you? That's because it's brand new.

The most old-growth forest in the east resides in North Carolina's Joyce Kilmer Wilderness.

Luckily, Aldo Leopold's prediction about Mt. Baldy didn't come true -- these Arizona forests are just as verdant as always.

Escape from the urban at Wisconsin's Governor Knowles State Forest.

Here's how to find the best of Wyoming's expansive Bighorn range.

It's not complete, but North Carolina's Mountains To Sea trail rivals Inman's journey in "Cold Mountain."

James Peak is a gem just 50 miles west of Denver.

Oklahoma's own Tennessee awaits intrepid hikers.

Find a new kind of California beach on the undeveloped shores of Santa Catalina Island.

Boy Scouts paved an excellent trail in this Ozark gem.

Dark, volcanic mountains soaring along the Pacific Crest make for a forbidding wilderness perfect for U.S. Marines in training -- or solitude-seeking hikers.

Check out Ted Stedman's author page.

The bare rocks of Oklahoma's Charons Gardens will haunt and delight hikers.

Go through the looking glass in Utah's canyon country.

Texas' Big Slough is as wet as the Big Bend is dry.

Secret scrambles and lakes abound in this northern California wilderness.

Walk among giants in Redwood National Park.

History and landscape meet at Caprock Canyos State Park.

Bears electrify an already incredible experience at Glacier National Park's Bowman Lake.

Cumberland Island's south shore provides remarkably pristine beaches and mossy forests.

Think Iowa is nothing but flat? You haven't visited the Yellow River State Forest.

These quiet summits feature the best views of New York's high Adirondacks.

Hikers often overlook the the quiet meadows, wildflowers, and mountaintops of New Mexico's Latir Wilderness. Their loss is your gain.

High, cool peaks rise over 7,000 feet above the desert flats in New Mexico's White Mountain Wilderness.

Get above treeline in Maine's wild Saddleback Range.

In New Mexico's Pecos Wilderness, it's just you and the bighorn sheep looking down on the world.

To understand what goes on beneath the sea, find a rocky shoreline and explore away

You won't get a nosebleed on the Knobstone Trail, but you will get a taste of Hoosier high country.

Three Bay Area hikes that'll quickly make winter a distant memory

The Tordrillo Mountains are so rugged, you'd swear you're the first human to set foot there.

In Alaska's Tongass, the ancient trees have something to say...if you're willing to listen.

Wrangell-St. Elias National park is known for its jaw-dropping scenery, but there's just as much beauty at your feet.

Extend the hiking season at these three destinations, all perfect for winter newbies.

An Ohio trail that reclaimed land from the ore era.

You don't need a canoe to reach some of the Everglades' best beachfront campsites.

In the fortress-like Mazatzal Wilderness, you can barricade yourself in solitude.

When the White Mountains' hot spots get too hot, there's always the Pilot Range.

For some, reaching Maine's Mt. Katahdin is the end of a life-altering 2,100-mile pilgrimage. For others it's a lark. We captured the extremes, and a little bit of everything in between, one day atop Maine's "greatest mountain."

The Ouachita Mountains sheltered outlaws and gave John Wayne something to crow about. But it's not until you hike the 223-mile Ouachita Trail that you realize this country is the stuff of legend.

Think slickrock in July and your throat clenches, your skin shrivels, and parched bones rattle in your subconscious. But in winter, the snow sends the tourists and dry desert demons packing, and the frosted wonderland is all yours.

Hiking through Oregon's Jefferson Park puts you in the heart of what was once some pretty hot country.

Panoramic ridge-hiking through New England.

Drop off the lip of Linville Gorge into a world of rock escarpments, deep forests, and whitewater.

Deseret Peak Wilderness has everything the popular Wasatch Range does, except the crowds.

We love watching wildlife, but follow these tips to stay safe.

Sometimes you have to go where the guidebooks haven't been, but watch your step.

Theodore Roosevelt ventured into the North Dakota Badlands an East Coast city Boy. After the land got through with him, he had the fortitude to run a nation and the insight to preserve more wildlands than anyone in history.

Hike like a conquistador through Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

There are plenty of Bambi's brethren along the Quehanna Trail-if you know where to look.

Thank the Ice Age for the challenging hiking and incredible views you'll find in the Blue Hills.

Redwood Meadow's massive trees and wild countryside have changed little since Muir passed through 100 years ago.