ajtestbed Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You might have heard we have a thing against cairns. That isn’t quite true. We have a thing against unnecessary, pointless, unauthorized, and environmentally damaging cairns. What’s the difference? Why should you care? And what should you do when you encounter a cairn you think is begging to be knocked down? On … Read more
Like two of our other favorite legends of outdoor literature, Ed Abbey and John Muir, Henry David Thoreau could be said to be a motivational speaker. If you need someone to light a fire under your ass to either a) get outside or b) start living or c) both, just go back 160 years to … Read more
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.In February 1959 in Russia, nine young ski tourers failed to return from an expedition to the Ural Mountains. Weeks and months later, when searchers finally found their bodies, the evidence—their tent, manner of dress, footprints in the snow, and strange injuries—didn’t come close to offering a logical explanation. After 64 years, the … Read more
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. “Well, you’re not hardcore unless you live hardcore,” sang Jack Black in “School of Rock.” In this episode, taking a cue from our pal Jack, we tackle core-ness: What does it mean to be core? Why do we care if we’re perceived as hardcore or not? Does it signify anything? In Book … Read more
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Did you have one seminal experience that set you on a life of adventure? Or did you come to your adventurousness gradually? Adventure Journal founder and editor Stephen Casimiro and senior editor Justin Housman unpack their first major adventures, tackling how and why the restless hunger to explore gets under our skin. In … Read more
Unless you’re a search and rescue team member stationed near the backcountry and you need to be ready to drive over hell and back to assist people stuck in the middle of the wilderness at the drop of a hat, your adventure vehicle is for one thing, and one thing only: fun. That’s it. Pure … Read more
In July, at a boatyard warehouse on Chicago’s South Side, Tamara Thomsen inspected a roughly 15-foot-long canoe likely made more than a century ago. The canoe — called a dugout, because it was carved from a single tree trunk — rested on two construction horses, a bright light illuminating its contours and scrape marks. … Read more
My curiosity about canvas tents was first sparked along the Colorado Trail in the San Juan Mountains in autumn, when I passed a cozy-looking hunting camp, wood smoke cheerily puffing from a silver stovepipe extending from the tent’s roof. Long accustomed to the packability, light weight, and perpetual nylon rustling of backpacking walls, I wondered … Read more
Update 5 January 2025: “It’s been a bit since we first wrote about the Specialized Turbo Levo and though there have been changes since, we still don’t know if there’s a better, more well-rounded dose of electronic fun than this bike. Plus, you don’t need to completely plunder your kids’ college savings fund to spring for … Read more
For three weeks in July, the world’s most elite bike racers climb steep mountains and sprint along historic cobblestones to capture the coveted yellow jersey or the race leader in the Tour de France. It’s a 22-day feat of human endurance that requires constant eating and drinking to manage the average daily energy demand of … Read more