Trips

Memorable panoramas of Glacier National Park's high peaks

A glacial sculpture of incredible symmetry in northern Canada

A backpacker's go light heaven: thru-hiking California's High Sierra

An Arctic wildlife extravaganza

Delve into the Shoshone National Forest on the North Fork Trail

From paddling Lake Superior to glacier-hopping in Alaska: 6 hair-raising, lung-busting adventures from America's top outfitters

Allow the plants to color the landscape as you make your way along the trail.

A long hike to the highpoint where weather and black flies could pose a challenge.

True highpointers will find this peak.

You'll find numerous surprises as you explore the lakes, rivers and forests of this highpoint.

An exclusive guide to five hikes that have been under water for 40 years

A night in Yosemite's most famous hotel

Camping in Death Valley might give you the hottest day of your life.

Explore a glacier-covered forest near the Canadian Rockies' highest peak

This gorgeous alpine lake hike sports huge glacier views just an hour outside of Vancouver.

Deep in the heart of the forbidden Tibetan kingdom, a long-awaited adventure inherited from the author's father takes an unexpected twist.

Deep in Wyoming's Wind River Range, an accident with a sliding boulder makes a hiker confront his life, his fate, and his faith in God.

Learn the weird science behind our addiction to waterfalls, and the location of the best trails in North America.

Do you have what it takes to climb Alaska's Denali? Find out with our mountaineer's guide.

Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania

Mount Kenya offers classic climbing to all backpackers

Planning to climb Mexico's famous volcano Iztaccíhuatl? Start with our online guide.

Try this ultra-scenic route if you attempt North America's third highest peak.

Yoho National Park, British Columbia

Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Jasper National Park, Alberta

Dolomites, Italy

The short but stunning Mahoosuc Range has major-league attractions, like the toughest mile on the Appalachian Trail and conditions that discourage the faint of heart.

Rather than simply stare at the Great Wall, a determined hiker decided to get a different perspective.

When you hike the world's highest peaks in search of the legendary snow leopard, be prepared for the unexpected.

The Annapurna Circuit is your path to the rooftop of the world.

Let rivers and ridgelines be your compass as you hike in the shadow of Alaska's Mt. McKinley.

Follow this BACKPACKER reader's tip to get the most out of your candles on the trail.

Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Texas.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes has just as many beautiful trails to explore. Here are our three favorites, from anything to an overnighter to a thru-hike.

Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Massachusetts.

Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Virginia.

Do you ever have the urge to step off the edge and fly like a bird?

Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Vermont.

Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in New Jersey.

Hike a rugged, historically rich trail for 21 miles along a nearly deserted island off British Columbia's coast.

Camping with kids can plant a wild seed in them that will grow as they do-but only if you get them Out There.

When you're deep in the wilds, a bedraggled stranger wandering into camp triggers a moral dilemma: Offer him dinner or run for the hills?

How many miles of trail or acres of wilderness will we sacrifice for a tank of gas? Here's a look at eight threatened wildernesses and what you can do to stop the drilling.

When bushwacking a trail, go high altitude and stay there.

For 30 years, some wide-eyed dreamers have been chiseling a 745-mile route through the Canadian Rockies. The result is a labor of love set to become one of North America's most magnificent long trails.

A double lung transplant slows, but doesn't stop, Pacific Crest Trail hiker Dennis Coffey.

We know the strength that courses through flesh and bone when standing at a trailhead, ready to set out and practice our primitive art.

Just because it's flat and treeless doesn't mean it's easy hiking.

"With some eagerness, and some anxiety, and some misgiving, we enter the canyon below?." -John Wesley Powell, August 13, 1869

Can you tackle our readers' favorite long trail? Test your hiking mettle against the Continental Divide Trail.

Everything you'd want in a long trail.

Compared with the rough-and-tumble Chilkoot Trail, the Senate is a walk in the park for Ione Christensen.

In the 20 years since the passage of the Alaska Lands Act, nothing has changed in many of the state's wild places. And that's reason to celebrate.

Some well-meaning, leave-no-trace horsepackers are trying to rein in their environmentally uncouth brethren. The question is: can they change practices and attitudes that date back to the wild west days?

Robert Taylor wants African-Americans to know "there's something great out there."

The Appalachian Trail community lost a prominent supporter, volunteer, hiker, and maintainer.

Five troubled teens and three well-meaning volunteers head into the Colorado mountains, hoping the wilds will help heal the youngsters. But in the end, it's hard to tell whose lives were forever shaped by the experience, the youths or the adults.

Why huff and puff to get to an isolated campsite? Simply grab a paddle, then let the current carry you to a secluded riverside trailhead.

Catch rainbows -- trout, that is -- in Rockhouse Basin's rivers, where you're more likely to see a wildcat than another human.

Sometimes walking "backward" is the only way to go in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

If you're a fan of eskers, moraines, kettles, and kames, Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine State Forest is the right place for you.

If you plan on hiking the European Alps, get ready for some differences across the pond.

If you run into the big white bears, should you be scared?

Vast meadows of wildflowers sprawl across the ridgetops and valley bottoms of the Three Sisters.

The best bird window coincides with the best hiking season in the Chihuahuan Desert.

All along the 23-mile Shenandoah Mountain trail and in the forested areas throughout the Appalachian Mountains, vernal pools are rich aquatic breeding grounds.

The bawling in the black night is the spring chorus of hooting barred owls.

With the fervor of a pulpit-pounding evangelist, Ron Strickland has wandered the land, preaching the gospel of the Pacific Northwest Trail he hoped to create.

Guy Waterman died near the summit of Mount Lafayette, a peak in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire, on February 6.

In the European high-country Alps you can wander through the most stunning mountains in the world. Vive la difference!

In mountains most hikers don't even know exist, the 150-mile Cohos Trail just waiting to carry you far from the crowds and on to Canada.

Combine white sand beaches and gin-clear water with snow-free highland hiking, and you've got Baja, the perfect midwinter escape.

Appalachian Trail (AT) advocate Edward Garvey, 84, recently died of congestive heart failure at Arlington Hospital in Virginia.

Jim Lockart of Pughtown, Pennsylvania is part of a unique group who have scaled all 50 states' highest peaks.

What happens when you go from sea level to altitude too fast? One brave editor found out the hard way, and offers her blow-by-blow findings in hopes that you don't suffer a similar fate.

Like your first love, you never forget your initial visit to the Arctic.

Hike this gorgeous, mountainous section of Virginia's Appalachian Trail.

Last time you went looking for a new place to hike, you probably consulted a guidebook. We all do. So why is author Michael Kelsey getting lambasted for giving us what we want?

Imagine that your well-coiffed, country club mother calls and says, "I want to go backpacking." Would it be your worst nightmare or a family dream come true?