Stories

Featherweight gear takes a lot of the pain out of carrying a load. But when it breaks in the middle of a long hike, it puts that pain right back in again.

For a professional forager, the woods offer peace and sustenance.

I quit hiking when I was a teenager. Years later, an unfinished pact with my dad brought me back.

Some hikers prepare for years to thru-hike the AT. Others do it on a whim.

From plus-size packs to shoes for people who have undergone amputations, outdoor brands are starting to recognize the importance of catering to customers who don’t fit traditional outdoor norms.

Foul-weather backcountry days have an allure all their own.

Hike from a high-end resort to a remote alpine lake in the Rockies.

Hike from St. Mary Lake to McDonald Lake through some of the Lower 48's best bear country.

Backpack a knee-trembling route through an active geothermal zone.

Late last December, Emily Ford, 28, of Duluth, Minnesota, took her first steps on Wisconsin’s 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail with a borrowed sled dog named Diggins. “I was laid off from my job as head gardener at the Glensheen Mansion, and I took full advantage,” she says. Ten weeks later, she became the first woman and second person ever to thru-hike the IAT in winter.

With information about “secret” trails and campsites all over the internet, finding a balance between conserving the wilderness and welcoming people to it has never been more important—or more challenging.

In one of America’s least visited national parks, I find my authentic self.

Hiking is for everyone, not just the kind of people you're used to seeing in magazines. See the trail from a different perspective with these 8 fantastic Instagram creators.

Even when you're stuck indoors, you can get a taste of the wild with one of these video feeds. Pick your favorite and embrace the chillout.

There's nothing quite like kicking back at camp with a good book. These eight are light both literally and figuratively, making for perfect campfire companions.

In the 1970s, crews finished carving a tribute to the Confederacy into Stone Mountain. Fifty years later, it's time to scrape it off.

Hiking is for everyone—but as Kara Richardson Whitely, a.k.a. Mama Kubwa, discovered, not everyone has gotten the memo.

Trees are remarkable. Wow your hiking partners with these fun facts.

A pilgrim seeking peace and purpose on Spain’s famed Camino de Santiago finds much more.

A footbridge on this San Diego Trail would prevent more hikers from befalling a similar fate, and honor their son.

Nature is wild. Wow your hiking partners with these fun facts.

Researchers tracking bears resettling in the southeast watch and learn their habits to help humans adjust to their new neighbors.

As a small-town newspaper reporter, I’ve had a front-row seat to what happens when people’s and bears’ paths cross.

There are hundreds of thousands of black bears in America, and we know precious little about what they do with their time. The researchers of the #BearsEyeView project are trying to change that.

Georgia’s most infamous bruin—and the true-crime saga around him—is getting the Hollywood treatment in a new Elizabeth Banks-produced film. But the real tale is almost too wild to believe.

Jobs, trips, moves: Every time I tried to hit the trail with my dad, life got in the way. Then something happened that made me realize just how much time I had wasted.

From non-profits to trail builders, organizations around the outdoors are working to make the simple pleasure of a day in the woods available to everyone. And they need your help.

What does hiking 800 miles in less than two weeks do to your body? Ultrarunner and FKT holder Joe McConaughy hit the Arizona Trail to find out.

Once you leave the trailhead, your safety is in your own hands.

Every woman who hikes has been the target of mansplaining—and Backpacker editors are no exception.

There are more hikers on the trail than ever—and that means more wear and tear. It's up to all of us to help fix it.

Look up, be prepared, and don’t forget the snacks.

When the rigors of warfare prove too much for standard-issue gear, the military turns to the outdoor industry. But the flow of innovation, equipment, and profit is anything but leakproof.

Nearly 1,000 young women make up the groundbreaking new class from the BSA.

For almost a decade, I avoided camping alone. Now, I wish I had tried it sooner.

A program called Goat Walkabouts pairs hikers with “healing herds”of retired yoga goats to help treat trauma in the Rockies.

It’s the adventure of a lifetime, but what can it teach you about staying at home? Guide Charlotte Austin shares her hard-won lessons.

I grew up hiking in the White Mountains. But I never fully appreciated them until I moved away.

When it comes to remembering my best trips, smells do something that photos never could.

Thomas has thru-hiked more than 20 long trails, including the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and Appalachian Trails (the Triple Crown). On top of that, she set a fastest known time on the AT for an unsupported woman and has completed dozens of urban thru-hikes as well. Now, she's joining Backpacker as a contributing editor. Here’s some of Thomas’s best advice and insight fed by more than 20,000 trail miles.

Nearly a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us are ready to say goodbye to stay-at-home orders, shoulder our packs, and head out on a multi-month hiking adventure. But with transmission rates still high and vaccination efforts stretching into late summer, should we hold off?

For this 28-year-old Minnesotan, life on a long path is a series of snowy 20-mile days with a borrowed husky. What will life after it look like?

If you think of these natural treasure troves as the B-list of the national park system, you’re missing out.

That scenic path you’re hiking didn’t spring up out of nowhere. We talked to trail designers to find out what goes into creating a hike.

A recent court decision struck down permit requirements for commercial filming and photography in the national parks. One land manager considers just how bad it could get.

Backpackers have a habit of glorifying the big adventures. But the little ones can be just as sweet.

It’s time to extend the same respect we have for the land to all the people who use it.

Hiking isn’t all gorgeous sunsets and glowing campfires, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at Instagram. And for people just getting into backpacking, that matters.

Rue McKenrick would hike the perimeter of the country to demonstrate our nation’s unity—if only he and the country could hold together long enough for him finish.

BACKPACKER is committing to making a better world for all hikers.

Thousands of people hike the Colorado Trail every year, but India Wood had a bolder idea: Hike a 732-mile diagonal, from corner to corner, straight across the state. It would take dozens of maps to do it—and help from a few new friends.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail with four kids is tough; figuring out how to do it safely and legally in a pandemic year might seem insurmountably so. But for Olen and Danae Netteburg, two physicians who have spent the last decade working in Chad, it was just another challenge.

When they wake up broke, broken, and far from home, how do thru-hikers find the will to go another mile?

Why do we still run our public lands like it’s 1920?

The 72-year-old activist, who passed away last month, used mining claims, scenic flights, hiking trails, and occasionally outright confrontation to protect the Opal Creek Wilderness.

The results of this fall’s election could change the outdoors for a long time. Make a plan and make your voice heard.

In November, Colorado will make history when it lets voters decide whether to reintroduce gray wolves. But the discovery of the state’s first confirmed pack in nearly a century is casting an old debate in a new light.

Being a new parent is hard, but being able to share your favorite thing with your baby makes it a little easier.

Getting back to "real life" after a long hike can be rough. But if you feel low after coming home, you're not alone.

The founder of HBCUs Outside is using gear libraries and hiking meetups to tear down barriers in the outdoor industry.

Go behind the curtains at this down-obsessed outfitter

Is natural beauty always in the eye of the beholder?

With travel plans cancelled due to COVID, one hiker makes the most of staying close to home.

In a remote corner of Montana, backpackers and wildlife advocates clash over the future of a bear population hanging on for dear life.

When companies don't offer plus sizes, that sends a message about who is and isn't welcome in the outdoors.

With races around the country canceled, an unprecedented number of ultrarunners are testing themselves on the trail.

The Western U.S. is rife with forests and deserts that you can't visit. A new law could fix that—if we're willing to fight for it.

After 18 years of backpacking, boating, and skiing, a mother and son confront letting go.

When you’ve stepped onto a long trail, you never really leave it.

As she nears the end of her journey on the Colorado Trail, our writer reflects on some of the people she’s met along the way.

A chance encounter with a group of friends on an annual, women-only backpacking trip leaves our Colorado Trail correspondent reflecting on how her own life changed her attitude towards the trail.

What do hiking the Colorado Trail and childbirth have in common? Sometimes, you just need to trust your body to get you through it.

After a series of mistakes left her dehydrated on the Colorado Trail, our writer learned that making it on a long trail is about more than guts or skill.

Hiking a long path is hard. As Patricia Cameron discovered while getting ready for the Colorado Trail, doing it in the era of COVID-19 adds a whole new level of difficulty to the process.

There are a lot of good reasons to fight racism. Let’s add one more: We can’t protect the climate without ending it.

Yes, apple cores and banana peels are "biodegradable." But tossing them into the woods isn't just gross, it's bad for wildlife too.

After a cross-country road trip, Earl Hunter Jr. made it his business to break down racial lines in the outdoors.

We can do better for the environment.

Supportive social media posts are a start. But as the country protests yet another Black man’s murder, the outdoor industry has to take a stronger position against structural racism.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, hundreds of long-distance hikers paused their trips on the Appalachian Trail and headed home. Now, as states begin the process of reopening, the wisdom of getting back on the path is up for debate.