Stories

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A high country stunner that defines Colorado wilderness.

Plus 24 other round-the-campfire brain stumpers every nature buff should know.

Great lake views in Minnesota's land of moose and wolves.

Hiking Wisconsin's glacier-carved trail will set you back 12,000 years.

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

A small taste of Washington's mighty mountain.

The best wildlife stronghold in California.

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.

Look on the south sides of mountains to catch animals coming out in spring.

A 42-mile loop through America's version of the Black Forest.

The East Cactus Plain Wilderness brims with life and solitude. Just don't forget the water.

On its way from the Ohio to the Mississippi, Illinois' new River to River Trail takes you through a surprisingly wild side of the Corn Belt.

Smooth and easy hiking deep in the heart of Texas.

Harriman/Bear Mountain State Park is only an hour from Manhattan, but you'll feel like you're worlds away.

The ancient Uwharries have baffled geologists, but hikers know a good thing when they see it.

If the redwoods don't wow you, there's always the world-class California coastline.

Thirteen miles in the spectacular Sangre De Cristos.

Wilderness doesn't get much better, or higher, than Holy Cross.

Thrills and views by the minute on the Kinsman Ridge Trail.

South Carolina: A wealth of waterfalls and world-class swimming.

A well-intentioned handout today could mean disaster for panhandling wildlife tomorrow.

In a land with few trails, Alaska's Resurrection Pass stands above them all.

Quirky geology leads to even quirkier residents at Missouri's Hercules Glades.