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Canoes are North America’s original and quintessential river-running craft. Native people used them to move swiftly through forested country, linking rivers and lakes with a vast network of portage trails. Those routes opened the continent to the fur trade, and later served generations of enthusiasts who spent long summer weeks paddling and portaging their way … Read more

In September, not long after he turned 60, Bill “One Gallon” Nedderman finished the Pacific Crest Trail and quietly became the first person ever to complete North America’s big three hiking trails (the PCT, Appalachian Trail, and Continental Divide Trail) four times each—a distinction he calls the Quadruple Triple Crown, if you can get him … Read more

The eight of them knew before they started that the record was probably out of reach. A successful speed run through the 277-mile Grand Canyon depends on many factors but none so much as river flow, and as the team launched their custom 40-foot cataraft one minute before midnight last Thursday, the Colorado was flowing … Read more

If you spend any time at all around sailors you’ll hear the proverb, “One hand for yourself, and one for the ship.” But what if you only have one hand? “Take it slow, and use a lot of duct tape,” answers Dustin Reynolds, a 41-year-old double amputee currently more than halfway through a solo circumnavigation … Read more

On this, the last day of the year, it’s nice to take a seat, kick up your feet, and look back at the year that was. Take stock of the good, the bad, the great, the wonderful—everything. It’s been a big year for us at AJ, with more subscribers to print coming on board, more … Read more

Hamburg is not a very menacing name by whitewater standards, but we’d been obsessing about this rapid on the Lower Klamath River for weeks, because it comes just a quarter-mile into the run and all of us were feeling a bit rusty. As a kayaker before my kids were born I’d sought out challenging whitewater, … Read more

This week National Public Radio dropped a fantastic story about the American Prairie Reserve, a privately funded effort to create the largest wildlife sanctuary in the Lower 48. Backed by hedge fund billionaires and Silicon Valley venture capitalists, the nonprofit has been buying up private ranches and accompanying grazing leases adjacent to existing public reserves. … Read more

Steve Swenson has amassed a remarkable mountaineering career in his 65 years, all while running his own engineering firm, raising a family, and serving a stint as president of the American Alpine Club. His summit list includes K2 via its remote north ridge in 1990 and Everest, which he climbed solo and without oxygen in … Read more

Sports fans are known for their devotion. They’ll paint their bodies and stand shirtless in for hours in freezing stadiums, and proudly wear blocks of faux cheese on their heads. Just two Sundays ago, a Philadelphia Eagles fan assaulted a 6-foot-8 professional athlete for wearing the wrong jersey to a tailgate. But that’s American football. … Read more

Earlier this month, we wrote that this year’s remarkable Karakoram climbing season got into the swing with an unlikely breakthrough on K2, and reached its crescendo with Denis Urubko’s new solo route on Gasherbrum II. That was one hell of a number, but the band played on. The encore came in the form of an … Read more