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Essays
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Climbing the Grand Teton Just Days After Chemotherapy
One heck of a story about a bid to climb the Grand Teton in the middle of cancer treatment.
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When Favorite Trails Burn, What’s Left Behind?
The losses from wildfires are hitting home in the Golden State.
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Can You Be Happy Dating Someone Who Isn’t Adventurous?
He’s everything she wants—except for being a partner in the great outdoors. Should that be a deal-breaker?
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17 of the Best Songs About Mountains
Try to get ‘Country Roads’ out of your head. Go on, just try.
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Some Universal Truths About Living a Good Life
The arc of a life bends toward…what, exactly?
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The Culture of Mountain Biking Has Gone Astray
Ignorance is ruining the trails—and by standing idly by and letting it happen we’re all to blame.
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When a ‘Belaytionship’ Comes to An End
Nobody knows you like your first and longest climbing partner—so how do you say goodbye?
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The Joys and Benefits of Reading Books in the Wild
Do you tote literature into the backcountry? You’re not alone.
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The Perspective Fresh Eyes Bring
Sometimes all it takes to make a space seem wilder is absence
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How Do You Define Adventure?
Do you compare your outings to others’ and sometimes feel less than? Maybe a little perspective is needed.
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Opinion: The Interior Department is Being Destroyed
Zinke’s radical agenda includes cutting 4,000 jobs and $1.6 billion from the budget.
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The Perfect Hiking Companion Has Four Legs
From a surprising first meeting to a lifetime of companionship, he is a hiking partner without parallel.
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Should There Be a Leave No Trace Rule for Drones?
The copters can go beyond annoying to become a danger. What’s the solution?
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I Pledge Allegiance to Wildness
In this divisive time, a call to listen to the voices that speak without words.
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The Importance of Keeping Traditions
When you need an excuse to disappear into the wilderness for a few days, it’s hard to beat: ‘Because it’s…
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Finding Solitude In the Era of Perpetual Connection
Do the old ideas about solitude and ways to measure it no longer apply?
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What the Road Teaches About Living Simply
How a year away from your stuff shows you what’s beautiful and useful.
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A Woman’s Struggle With the Fear of Camping Alone
What does one do with the thoughts that keep you up at night, solo in the tent?
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The East Coast Isn’t Just a Place for Mountainfolk to Leave
A Westerner moves eastward and falls just a little bit in love.
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The Grand Canyon Visitors Who Put the Butt in Butthead
One may extrapolate that there are approximately 56,940 butts deposited on this one trail each year.
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An Argument for Art and National Parks
You can learn a few things from an hour spent with a saguaro cactus.
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Sometimes the Best Tent is a Decade-old Tent
The more gear changes, the more my tent stays the same
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The Surprising Gift of Totality
People tell how the eclipse changed their lives. Here’s one man’s experience.
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A Few Ways to Stay Warm, Dry, and Alive in Monsoon Season
The strong legs and long days of summer can sucker you into putting yourself in the line of fire.
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Adventuring FOMO May be Harmful to Our Health
Study suggests that merely thinking you’re being lazy can be really bad for you. We’re calling BS on that.
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With the Larsen C Iceberg, Stuff’s About to Get Real
What it means when a piece of ice the size of a state breaks free.
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Protecting Wilderness in the Social Media Age
A few thoughts on the impact of the internet on the outdoors.
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Opinion: Give the Feds What Fer Over Bears Ears
Interior Secretary Zinke wants to gut new national monuments. Tell him how you feel about that.
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Does a Place Still Have Value When It’s No Use to People?
A deep dive into the Hoh Rain Forest reveals surprising insights about the world beyond humans.
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Was That Just a Bike Ride…Or a Date?
That awkwardness when two friends have a sporting outing and one has a different sport in mind.
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Five Fitness Truths to Live By
If you’ve never fallen off a treadmill while trying to run backwards with a pack on, you’re not trying hard…
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A Few Thoughts on Camping With Kids
Letting go of expectations is hard. Enjoying what follows is easy.
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Stop Telling Women Not to Go Into the Backcountry Alone
It’s not the wilderness that’s a threat to females, it’s what you find in the frontcountry: people
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Chasing Stoke and Finding Love
In the wake of loss, a few thoughts about what matters most in life.
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The Beer-Based Gratitude Scale for Outdoor People
You know you owe your friends…but just how much? Here’s a handy guide so you don’t over- or under-serve.
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I Hate Running
I hate running, three to four times a week if I have time. I hated it yesterday for a little…
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A Recipe for Disaster Pudding
A backpacker’s first outing in bear country leads to unanticipated food challenges. Don’t make Bad Ranger Laura show up.
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A Letter from Your Campfire: You’re Welcome
Who’s the life of the party on these cold nights? That’s right, me.
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When the West Gets Under Your Skin
He left Montana for New Jersey and was back just two years later. Some thoughts on the importance of place.
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The Joy of Filling a Woodshed
It’s good to be outside in the fall, working with your hands to create the coming winter’s warmth.
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Why Getting Upset Over Idiot Vandals Is a Waste of Time
Outrage is a natural and understandable reaction, but it takes our focus from the real problems, the author argues.
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Climbing Grades Are Stupid–So Why Do We Obsess Over Them?
Here’s why grades suck. Here’s why they don’t. And here’s an acknowledgement of the contradiction therein.
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Gear Review: Water Bottle
How to stick it to the man while imaginary cash registers cha-ching in your head. An essay by Mr. Semi-Rad.
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Dear Foam Roller…
Here are a few words from a close personal friend to that tortuous inanimate little bugger on the floor.
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Opinion: Trail-Riding Equestrians Deserve Respect
Why do the outdoor industry and recreationalists marginalize backcountry horse riders?
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A Love Letter to My First Climbing Guide Book
Are printed guidebooks going the way of the piton? Not for this loyal romantic.
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The Expedition Storyteller
Everett was more than the kids’ favorite yarn spinner. He was a black street cop with a harrowing tale to…
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What It’s Like to Run Your First Ultra
Are all those aid station Oreos worth the pain of running 50 miles? The answer is…
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Let’s Drop the Idea that Women Shouldn’t Hike Alone
The message that hiking is safe hasn’t gotten to young women and girls. It’s time to change that.
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The Delicate Art of Negotiating Adventure With Your Partner
What happens to your relationship when the going gets tough?
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In-Depth Gear Review of a Plastic Spoon
After a lifetime of testing in the backcountry and frontcountry, we present the world’s most rigorous evaluation of the best…
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Opinion: The Hypocrisy of Helicopter Skiing
#ActOnClimate…but it’s still okay to get in the bird and fly to the summit, right?
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Opinion: It’s Time to End Cairn Building
A stack of rocks does nothing more than remind us that other people were there before us.