Stories

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

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

Oklahoma's own Tennessee awaits intrepid hikers.

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

Boy Scouts paved an excellent trail in this Ozark gem.

Check out Ted Stedman's author page.

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

Secret scrambles and lakes abound in this northern California wilderness.

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

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

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.

Walk among giants in Redwood National Park.

History and landscape meet at Caprock Canyos State Park.

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

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

Get above treeline in Maine's wild Saddleback Range.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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."

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

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.

An Ohio trail that reclaimed land from the ore era.

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

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.

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.

They paw, prance, bang heads, and curl lips. The rut is on, and there's no better time to observe the wild kingdom.

Forget what CNN and Your Daily News say about Yosemite's crowds and crime and traffic. the "treasure of the Sierra" is still a golden place for backpackers to escape.

Keep your cool on Nevada's Mt. Charleston Loop Trail.

Tune up your senses and turn off the lights for a wild walk on the dark side.

Birds and deer are your only companions on this stretch of the Allegheny Trail.

Baldface Range's icy swimming holes and heights will get any hiker worked up.

You'll find North Cascades beauty minus the rain in Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness.

The 76-mile Foothills Trail takes in all of the Blue Ridge's scenic wonders.

The Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park is a place of reckoning and, given its trackless nature, a place of choices. To a young man who came of age here, it offers perspective on paths not taken.

Washington's rocky, log-strewn shore is no place for beach bums.

The best wildlife stronghold in California.

A small taste of Washington's mighty mountain.

All the park is a stage for nature's steamy performance in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Wondrous lava formations in the Sierra's granite kingdom.

The trails are lonely and the trout are always biting in this Inyo National Forest hideaway.

Tundra hiking in the shadow of Washington's ice-cloaked behemoth.

Waterfalls and old growth in this gorge-ous Oregon hideaway.

Nine hikes as big as the hearts of their namesake wilderness visionaries.

A roadless wonder in California's Los Padres Wilderness.

Head south to find the quiet side of the King.

There's elbow room to spare in this lofty hiker's haven.

If the beauty of the Colorado Sangres doesn't leave you breathless, the altitude will.