Every once in a while, there’s a moment in life where a single choice will send you down a profoundly different path. One of these choices happened to me in Spring 2011. I received an unexpected chunk of change, and with all that coin burning...
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park boasts more than 800 miles of trails; 500,000 acres of land; and some of the largest stands of old-growth forest in the eastern US. And with more than 9 million guests annually, it's the most visited national park in the...
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With an abundance of rail-trails in the midwest, cycling in and around the Windy City is a breeze. And rail-trails have the added benefit of preserving historical landmarks, serving as wildlife conservation corridors, linking isolated parks, establishing greenways in developed areas, and stimulating local economies...
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Wilderness Press has again partnered with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to publish three new guidebooks that present the best rail-trails of the midwest—Rail-Trails Illinois, Indiana & Ohio; Rail-Trails Iowa & Missouri; and Rail-Trails Michigan & Wisconsin. Railways helped build America. Spanning from coast to coast, these ribbons of steel linked people, communities, and...
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Los Angeles is quickly becoming more of an outdoor city. The smog is lifting (you can see the mountains now!), and there's a public push and political will to make the city more walkable and bikeable. The crumpled sidewalks are being addressed, and hundreds of...
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Since December of 2014, I have been working on a full revision and update of Jerry Schad’s hiking guide, Afoot and Afield: San Diego County. Part of my revision included hiking every inch of those 1,420 miles to determine what had changed and what was new. From...
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Before there was Cheryl Strayed, there was Catherine Montgomery. In 1926, almost a century before Strayed’s best-selling memoir about her Pacific Crest Trail experience was published, Montgomery came up with the idea of creating a ridgeline track from Canada to Mexico. It seems fitting to pay tribute...
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Packing for long, strenuous day hikes is a balancing act. You don’t want to forget anything critical, but you also don’t want to carry any unnecessary weight. Packing for such a hike at 14,000 feet may seem slightly more stressful than usual. But fear not—the supplies you need...
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Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks offer the ultimate in natural and geothermal wonders, and the vast mountain ranges and steaming geyser basins make for thrilling hikes around every corner. But with more than 28,000 square miles (including all of the surrounding protected lands), how do...
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You have decided what time of year you want to summit Mount Whitney. You have applied for your permit. You’re growing excited. Now it’s time to start thinking about the task at hand—actually summiting the highest mountain in the Lower 48. Yikes! Hiking 21 miles is...
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