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For decades, field technicians have scoured the Mojave Desert monitoring threatened tortoises. Their searches sometimes uncovered human remains. Our writer untangles a mystery dug up by the turtle counters.
Alex Kaufman, a suburban dad in Denver, descends slopes with barely any snow, using discontinued plastic skis. This method, he says, is far more fun than a day at the resort, so we accompanied him on an outing.
We spent a night under the stars with the actress and environmentalist, who opened up about her conservation work and how nature helped heal her broken heart
Change is inevitable. When it happens in our relationships, it’s best to take a cue from the currents and go with the flow.
I tagged along on a surreal trip to a conflict zone in Azerbaijan with a group of explorers known as the world’s Most Traveled People. No matter that the war there wasn’t over yet.
My wife decided we needed an active outdoor getaway, a romantic ramble across moors and fells and three national parks. I knew it’d be hard. I’ve never been happier.
Joe Buffalo Child has a deep connection to the auroras, which his people, the Dene, believe carry messages from their ancestors. We headed into the boreal forest seeking light.
Throughout her athletic career, Caroline Gleich has been moonlighting as an activist. This year, she stepped into politics full-time.
Last fall, ϳԹ partnered with University of Colorado Denver to open a state-of-the-art gear-testing lab. Now, it’s finally open for business—and poised to upend the gear-testing world.
How a small outdoor footwear company lost 5,000 pairs of shoes and found itself entangled in an international crime saga
In the remote, heavily logged Yaak Valley, an unlikely stand of old growth sits at the center of a debate about what a forest is for—and how best to protect it
In a new documentary, the pioneering professional snowboarder opens up about motherhood and her career in the shadow of a cancer diagnosis
The community of Culdesac, Arizona, was designed for pedestrians and cyclists. And residents love it.
Petting bison, cooking food in geysers. Ride along with our writer on a wild trip to our nation’s most iconic national park at the height of tourist season to see all the bad behavior.
As part of a long struggle with alcoholism, I decided to jump-start my recovery with a serious physical challenge: hiking 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail
As a brutal heat wave enveloped the country this summer, our writer packed up a cooler full of Gatorade and headed to the Mojave Desert
The longevity influencer, doctor, and bestselling author wants to change the way we take care of ourselves. Does it work?
New booking sites are connecting travel influencers with their followers to take trips all over the world. But should you go? I headed to Yosemite with an influencer and her fangirls to find out.
We’ve always been thrilled to see orcas near our home in Alaska. But sailing through the waters along the Iberian Peninsula, where 600 boats have been hit—and five sunk—by whales, was unnerving at best.
Two American women and two Sherpa guides perished while racing for a record. The tragedy illuminates how the recent rush to climb the world’s highest peaks is driving climbers onto dangerous mountains like never before.
A relaxed, charming kid from Durango may make Americans fall in love with the Tour de France again
When Eberhard Jurgalski determined that Reinhold Messner narrowly missed a key summit, he told the world. He’s still dealing with the fallout.
In ‘A Walk in the Park,’ Kevin Fedarko’s new book about his quest to hike the big ditch from end to end, inadequate fitness and bad gear choices nearly led to disaster right from the start
When Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made history by reaching the summit, a courier named Ten Tsewang Sherpa ran 200 miles to Kathmandu to deliver the news. He died a few weeks later. His story has never been told—until now.
‘Everest, Inc.,’ a new book from veteran outdoor journalist Will Cockrell, documents the mountain’s transformation, first by Western guides and climbers, and now by Sherpas and Nepalis
I could barely walk, a condition doctors told me would likely deteriorate further. That prompted me to plan an adventure of a lifetime.
Embarking on four days of total blackout, inside the sensory equivalent of a tomb, our writer went on a dark-cave retreat, the same one that quarterback Aaron Rodgers did
Meet the famous Alaskan husky—and Iditarod finisher—who got miffed at a musher and chomped her truck’s brake lines. (Allegedly. Because a lot of people think this pup is innocent.)
Highly skilled firefighters are the last line of defense against wildfires, but that line is fraying because the government decided long ago that they’re not worth very much
Lusti has built a career—and a life—on toughness and a preternatural ability to ski through puckering technical terrain. Her greatest challenge may be learning to let herself be soft.
Cars spin, trucks slide, and what should be an hour’s drive can take all day. How did this scenic mountain corridor get so congested—and can it ever be fixed? I took a wild ride through the traffic jam to find out.
In May 2022, we took a spin with the Richmond Cycling Corps, a mountain-bike-racing team from the Virginia capital’s public-housing system. Coaches teach young riders how to shred trails and prepare for adult life. The kids, meanwhile, measure happiness one pedal stroke at a time.
At Red Bull Rampage, the infamous freeride mountain-bike event held each year in a remote corner of Utah, riders and teams construct their own runs, walking a fine line between death-defying and deadly
Why did a mother with no backcountry experience take her sister and 13-year-old son to live off the grid on a 10,000-foot mountain during a Colorado winter?
The forecasting behemoth Surfline redefined the art of scoring waves. But some say it’s to blame for increasingly crowded breaks and a pervasive fear of missing out.
Rising predawn to chase powder is sacred in ski culture, but an increasing number of resorts are offering early-access programs for people who can afford them
The rusty coach where Chris McCandless spent his final days captured the imagination of people all over the world and inspired hundreds of seekers to make dangerous treks to reach it. Now a dedicated team of curators in Alaska have given it new life as a fascinating exhibit—one that tells the story not just of McCandless, but of modern Alaska.
Federal prosecutors allege that Charles Barrett—a prominent member of the Northern California climbing community who goes to trial for aggravated sexual abuse next week—is a serial offender with a shocking history of violence, harassment, and intimidation. An exclusive investigation into his life and alleged actions raises troubling questions about the dangers women continue to face in the outdoors.
The oceans need protection like never before, and the environmental organization is redefining itself. The original focus—dramatic campaigns against whalers and seal hunters operating under the flags of nations like Japan—is giving way to an emphasis on fisheries protection in cooperation with governments. Tristram Korten rides along with Peter Hammarstedt, the Swedish activist at the heart of this strategy.
Alecia Moore, the singer, dancer, and all-around force of nature, has nurtured a vineyard for the last decade on the path to becoming a respected winemaker. The magic happens on 25 misty acres in California’s Santa Ynez Valley, home to her estate wine label, Two Wolves.
The 26th president once demanded that military personnel be able to walk 50 miles in 20 hours. I set off on an ill-fated mission to see if I could do it myself.
Everybody’s buzzing about this affordable passport to smaller, often overlooked ski resorts around the U.S. Its owners think their rapidly growing business could be the antidote to the ski industry’s endless consolidation.
Held annually in the Swiss village of Mürren, the Inferno combines hard partying with a very serious downhill challenge. And did we mention the abject terror?
This summer Courtney Dauwalter made history, becoming the first athlete to win the three biggest races in ultrarunning in the same year: the Hardrock 100, the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, and the Western States Endurance Run. What’s her secret?
After 25 years, writer Katie Arnold returned to Long Caye, a slice of paradise that the adventure travel boom forgot
Record winter storms turned the Central Valley into a 300-mile long flood zone. We sent a writer and photographer to check out conditions that hadn’t been seen in 40 years.
Doyle set a speed record on the AT 50 years ago, long before YouTubers and partying twentysomethings had flooded the iconic trail. Through his Appalachian Trail Institute, which he's run since 1989, he’s still trying to convert a new generation of thru-hikers to his personal philosophy of what the trail should be.
One of the first women to make a splash during ϳԹ’s formative years was E. Jean Carroll, who in 1981 reported on a championship that was equal parts rodeo and beauty pageant. She came back with a story that advanced the magazine’s rambunctious style and treated saddle queens with the respect they deserve.
Throughout the lower 48, recreational bush pilots are using their nimble planes and social media influence to spread the word about bold frontiers in flight: touching down on remote federal lands, flocking to little-used runways in designated wilderness, and drag racing one another for pure sport. Their capstone event each season, the High Sierra Fly-In, never fails to deliver hair-raising thrills.
In the new PBS documentary 'The American Buffalo' by Ken Burns, the filmmaker goes deep on the near-extermination of bison, unearthing stories that shaped—and still haunt—this country's soul
How a new pair of Limmers taught me a few things about life, death, and the trails we hike in between
Nearly half a million listeners download ‘Tooth and Claw’ each month. Can the show also help save the animals it profiles?
For years, these Rocky Mountain states have squared off on a spicy subject: Who grows the best chile peppers, an indispensable ingredient in southwestern cuisine? Our man hit the road to find out.
Max Lowe made a big splash in 2021 with ‘Torn,’ a documentary about the death of his famous father, alpinist Alex Lowe, and how it shook and shaped his family. These days, he’s forging ahead with ambitious projects—including a new film about the restorative power of climbing—in the next stage of his career.
Despite overwhelming concern for his physical well-being, writer and longtime road cyclist Tom Vanderbilt wanted to see what it felt like to take to the air
Over eight million acres of public lands are gridlocked by private property. When a group of hunters jumped from one plot of federal land to another, they ignited a debate around just how much a landowner can control.
Scientists are focusing on the power of awe, and for good reason. Experiencing it is essential for our health. Our author hit the road during California’s superbloom to figure out how our mind and bodies are transformed when we’re blown away by nature.
Nothing says “I do” like a small blood sacrifice
Jean-Luc Diard, cofounder of Hoka, has been innovating in the outdoor world for decades, and he’s not done yet
Serious illness gave our writer an urgent need for physical and spiritual rebirth. She found both by bonding with a unique riding breed that seems touched by Viking spirit.
The story of the deadly avalanche in October 2022 on India’s Draupadi Ka Danda II
Austin Howell soloed harder and more often than almost anyone else in the country, documenting his exploits on Instagram and a podcast. But behind the scenes his mental health was faltering.
A Black southerner who grew up during the dying years of Jim Crow journeyed north as a young man to pursue life as a writer and scholar. Fate brought him back, and he fell in love with a troubled part of the state known around the world as the birthplace of the blues.
In 2016, a wildfire jumped the Athabasca River and headed straight for Fort McMurray, an Alberta oil town 600 miles south of the Arctic Circle. In this excerpt from ‘Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World,’ John Vaillant chronicles the moment the blaze enters town, forcing nearly 90,000 people to flee in what remains the largest, most rapid single-day evacuation in the history of modern fire.
It took 20 years of planning to open the new 190-mile Aquarius Trail bikepacking hut system in southern Utah’s spectacular wilderness, sandwiched between Bryce and Zion national parks. Stephanie Pearson saddles up for a wild ride.
Right out of college, Leath Tonino traveled to Antarctica to experience the frozen landscape of his childhood exploration heroes. The daily routine was a bit dull—shoveling snow for the U.S. government—until a pair of skinny skis unlocked the potential of the vast snowy expanse.
Apples no one has ever tasted are still out in the wild. Dave Benscoter, a retired FBI agent, has spent a decade searching for these 100-year-old heirlooms.
Peter Kaestner has traveled the world on an adventure-filled quest to become the first birder to hit 10,000. Ornithologist Jessie Williamson hitched a ride on a rollicking South American mission that involved land, sea, and (you guessed it) air.
A crazy-sounding idea—build a tube from the Pacific to bring water to Utah’s Great Salt Lake—raises a larger question: Are we willing to do absolutely anything to fight climate change?
Dad and I had always planned to climb Africa’s tallest peak together, but cancer took away our chance. I knew he wouldn’t want it to take mine, too.
Wolves are my favorite animal, but my parents see them as the enemy that kills their livestock
Randy Udall was most at peace in the wilderness. After he died on a solo backpacking trip, his daughter took up his tradition of hiking to a secret place in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, where she was surprised by what she found.
Meet YouTube’s quiet superstar: Martijn Doolaard, a semi-hermit Dutchman who has turned the slow, steady process of Alpine-cabin restoration into a masterpiece of performance art
Therapy on the hiking trail couldn’t fix the new normal of Oregon wildfire season, but could it help me grapple with it?
Katie Burrell has developed a brand around teaching winter-sports experts and strivers to chill out and share a laugh. Her upcoming film, ‘Weak Layers,’ revives the old party-hard ski comedy—with women at the center of the action.