Essays

Ignorance is ruining the trails—and by standing idly by and letting it happen we're all to blame.

Rushing through the stages from panic to acceptance when a mass of water looms.

Relying on an old model to effect radical change ain't gonna happen.

Wine and cheese might improve over time, but your wet, recently used pile of adventure kit does not.

The idea that outdoor recreation leads to meaningful conservation rests on a big ‘if.’

Finding praise, admiration, and respect for the wildness in these creatures.

Nobody knows you like your first and longest climbing partner—so how do you say goodbye?

Patagonia is ubiquitous. Supreme is scarce. Should the outdoor brand steal a page from the fashion retailer?

Finding adventure thirty minutes at a time.

Do you tote literature into the backcountry? You're not alone.

He had orange-ish hair, no patience, and no skills. Hmmm....

People are suing on behalf of wild places. Do these suits have any chance at all?

An act that was passed unanimously by the Senate is now itself in peril.

It took moving east to appreciate the freedom of lots and lots of public lands.

What happens when a Type A in sports, work, and life is diagnosed with MS.

Will ticks be bad? When will leaves pop? The emerging science of ecological forecasting aims to answer.

A few helpful tips from a woman whose curtains are made from a t-shirt and an old dress.

Think globally, clean up your act locally.

Federal acreage leased for development is effectively public in name only.

When it comes to cold, hard dollars, your and my land more than delivers.

Hint: take a cue from the animal kingdom.

On an odyssey of a ride, water cuts through the imagination like a path through the woods.

‘Cause it’s more than a hobby.

A delightfully sweet love letter to a missing partner.

Money is the root of the industry, money is the root of the issue.

Replacing colonial or imperialist nomenclature with native names is both healing and teaching.

A half-century on, the book's message stands in high, acidic relief.

Along with 10 top solutions.

A love letter to the places where skiing is enough.

Sometimes all it takes to make a space seem wilder is absence

Do you compare your outings to others' and sometimes feel less than? Maybe a little perspective is needed.

Zinke's radical agenda includes cutting 4,000 jobs and $1.6 billion from the budget.

From a surprising first meeting to a lifetime of companionship, he is a hiking partner without parallel.

The copters can go beyond annoying to become a danger. What's the solution?

In this divisive time, a call to listen to the voices that speak without words.

When you need an excuse to disappear into the wilderness for a few days, it's hard to beat: 'Because it's [...]

It turns out that skiing doesn’t make everyone happy.

Sometimes we need "encouraging." Sometimes we do the "encouraging." Here's how it all goes down.

A glimpse of the consciousness that only comes from being in the saddle.

Do the old ideas about solitude and ways to measure it no longer apply?

How a year away from your stuff shows you what's beautiful and useful.

What does one do with the thoughts that keep you up at night, solo in the tent?

What to do is mostly learned from doing the wrong thing first.

A Westerner moves eastward and falls just a little bit in love.

When it’s over, it’s over. Bring on winter!

It’s a pretty terrible financial decision but it’ll improve your mental health.

Love to hate it, hate to love it. It’s a very complicated situation.

One may extrapolate that there are approximately 56,940 butts deposited on this one trail each year.

You can learn a few things from an hour spent with a saguaro cactus.

Mountain pooches are awful and watching them is terrible. Don't try this at home.

The more gear changes, the more my tent stays the same

People tell how the eclipse changed their lives. Here's one man's experience.

Finding optimism in a post-wildfire landscape.

FOMO almost made me fry my retinas.

They call the Arctic fox of Alaska's Pribilof Islands the 'chocolate bear'—here's why.

Because when I say, “Dude,” I don’t mean, “Dude.”

When “no” just won’t do.

Unless you’re down south, skiing is not really an option in August. Stoke the fire with a little digital drooling.

The strong legs and long days of summer can sucker you into putting yourself in the line of fire.

Study suggests that merely thinking you're being lazy can be really bad for you. We're calling BS on that.