A few months ago, my pit bull wandered into my neighbor鈥檚 garage looking for affection. When I went to get her, I spotted a vintage mountain bike hanging by its rear wheel on the wall. It was a rigid neon green Diamondback 听with an early-nineties听paint-splatter overlay.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a really cool bike,鈥� I told my neighbor while she rubbed the dog鈥檚 belly.

鈥淵ou want it?鈥� she said.

We haggled over the price. She wanted $5. I gave her $20. If I harbored long-term goals of one day becoming a competitive downhill mountain biker, hitting Red Bull鈥揷ertified runs, or even just the trail in Philadelphia鈥檚 Wissahickon Park near my house, I had just entered the world of adventure sports for a bargain.

The 2018 Outdoor Industry Association听(OIA)听 found that people who make more money spend more time outside鈥�32听percent of outdoor-sports participants make $100,000 or more per year. Not surprising. The cost of gear, the travel involved to get to destinations, and other factors听pose serious barriers to entry to would-be bikers, climbers, and skiers. But you don鈥檛 necessarily have to spend thousands of dollars to try these active endeavors. Before you go all in to equip yourself, pump the brakes and listen to these experts who have made it their lives鈥櫶齱ork to get more people outside.听

Find听an Entry Point

No one鈥檚 ever going to sell me a Diamondback Mission 2C Carbon, which retails for a听, for $20. Heck, some bikes are that. My new neon green ride would be something Samantha Searles, research director at the OIA, would call an entry-point purchase.听

鈥淥bviously, biking can be expensive,鈥� Searles says.听鈥淏ut the other part of it is, how often are you going to have buy a bike? You make that first investment, and you can either upgrade or not. You can start with something you found on Craigslist or go to a store that鈥檚 having an end-of-the-year demo sale and buy a discounted bike that way.鈥�

Each sport has different entry points on the economic ladder. Sometimes the best way to get started is by using someone else鈥檚 stuff. Ski resorts, indoor climbing gyms, and bike shops want you to get hooked, so most places will rent you the gear you need, which can still be somewhat expensive but is cheaper than buying it all. It鈥檚听an ideal way to figure out whether the sport is right for you.听

If there鈥檚 a store that sells adventure gear, chances are it听can help you find local swaps, too鈥攂asically听Craigslist-in-the-flesh shopping events with mountains of good used gear. Each February, Robin Culver hosts听, dubbed the 鈥淓ast Coast鈥檚 largest indoor bicycle swap,鈥� at the Carroll County Agricultural Center in Westminster, Maryland. It costs $5 to get in, and听Culver says that both private owners and bike shops participate听to unload inventory.听鈥淓verything moves quickly, and everything is cheaper than what you鈥檇 find at a bicycle shop for the most part,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he deals are incredible.鈥� In Washington State, the听Tacoma Ski Swap in the nation, with a portion of the proceeds going to the University of Puget Sound鈥檚 ski team. There are swap-meet groups on Facebook, too, if you鈥檙e willing to pay for shipping.听

Knowing what you need to get started, and which individual pieces of equipment听require a larger investment, will also help you stretch your dollars.听For example, according to Greg Whitehouse, owner of in Berkeley, once you鈥檝e decided to become a skier, you should buy the best boots possible, then save money by picking up a set of skis on Craigslist. Cheap, ill-fitting boots will end your day early and kill your enthusiasm, he says. Bargain skis, on the other hand, will never hurt your feet.听

If you鈥檙e just getting into climbing, find a more experieneced partner or join a group of people who already have a stash of expensive equipment, like ropes and protection, advises听Phil Ratterman, owner of in Overland Park, Kansas. From there, the听minimum package听you鈥檒l need听for going out on a climb would be shoes, a harness, and a helmet鈥攁 complete听beginner鈥檚 kit that will cost about $200. You can also check with听gear stores听to see if they rent any of that equipment.听

叠耻颈濒诲听贰虫辫别谤颈别苍肠别

One barrier to entry for a snow hobby, historically, was the high cost of single-day lift听tickets. However, most resorts today have packages that include a lift ticket, rental gear, and a听lesson, all for about the price of a single ticket.听Whitehouse says that ski resorts have a core group of repeat customers, the hardcore enthusiasts for whom powder is a lifestyle, but they know that far more people go skiing once and never come back. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e decided that lessons are super important for that. You can鈥檛 have fun until you learn how to do it a little bit. They鈥檙e thinking, We鈥檒l give you a smoking deal, but we need you take a lesson,鈥� he says.听

Multiresort听international passes听are another breakthrough of听recent decades. The 2019鈥�20 is $1,049 and gives you access to 39 global destinations听with no blackout dates. The $949 allows for unlimited skiing at resorts in numerous western states, along with Rusutu, a with 16 expert and advanced runs. Smaller hills across the country are offering deals, too. Ikon offers a pass to Ontario鈥檚 for $299 a season. Mount Pleasant of Edinboro, in northwestern Pennsylvania, offers a season pass for $300.

For the climbing curious, gyms have been lowering the barrier to the sport for decades, and most cities have at least one such gym. Apex charges $12 for a day pass, and听for another $4,听you can rent听shoes and a chalk bag. It also offers introductory classes and private instruction to help people get started.听

Another advantage to joining a climbing gym is having a community of like-minded enthusiasts all around:听people to belay you and tell you to use your feet more. It鈥檚 also a great place to develop听a group to go with when you鈥檙e ready to start climbing outdoors, which, once you get the gear in place, is the cheapest way to climb.听

The same goes for guided mountain-bike听tours. Amy Regan, founder of Arizona Mountain Biking, organizes group rides and also recommends Meetup and Facebook groups as ways to connect with local enthusiasts.听Her organization offers听a free riding-skills class once a year as well as more in-depth riding clinics for $75.听

Secure听Affordable Outdoor Digs

Figuring out where to stay near the trails and mountains on a budget is how dirtbag听culture was born, and accommodations are one area where adventure-sports enthusiasts can save a lot of money. Think of Alex Honnold, who still lives听out of his van when he climbs,听or the revolutionaries who made Yosemite鈥檚 Camp 4 a mini Haight-Ashbury decades ago. The sport came first鈥攃omfort off the walls wasn鈥檛 a top priority.

If you don鈥檛 want to sleep in a car eating Doritos, or even camp for weeks on end, Whitehouse says clubs are a way to get close to the mountains for less money in both winter and summer. His听local , for example, owns a four-bedroom lodge in Tahoe City, California. You can join for $115 per year, along with a small fee each night you book (from $9) and a commitment to put in a week鈥檚 worth of work on the property.听

Many resort towns have hostels, like in Aspen, Colorado, or听听in Killington, Vermont. Both offer hostel and dorm-like accommodations. Single beds can range from $40 to $45 a night. In the summer, when ski resorts transition into mountain-biking destinations, there are even more options. I鈥檝e stayed in campgrounds in both Mammoth Lakes, California, and for less than $30 a night, and when I was there, nearly every car was carrying bicycles.听

Join听the Industry

Obviously, not everyone is听able to do this, but once you鈥檝e committed and decided that an adventure sport听will be more than a hobby for you, getting a job in the industry can help make it a lifelong thing, a slow and steady progression to better gear and gnarlier rides. That鈥檚 what Bryan Fox did. He grew up racing BMX bikes in Washington.听Eventually, he moved to California and bought his first mountain bike, an听ubiquitous , but cracked听the frame on a jump. He upgraded to a 1993 Specialized Rockhopper Comp. He rode a bit with a cycling group called SCAAB (Stockton Cyclists Are Always Bleeding) and raced in a few events. After that, he got a job at in Stockon and upgraded to another Specialized with an employee-purchase program there. When he moved to Chico, California, Fox worked at , founded in 1918. Now听he works in radio and rides a , a bike that retails听for just under $1,000. At听46, Fox still likes to ride Downieville, in Sierra County.听

Whether you work in the industry or not, finding your entry point听is still the first step to听getting into adventure sports. Over the years, Fox tuned up a lot of bikes bought at Walmart, and he says there鈥檚 mostly nothing wrong with that. 鈥淲e鈥檇 encourage people to go ahead and buy it, but bring it here to the shop and let us do a $50 tune-up on it听so that the gears shift, and the brakes work, and that kind of stuff,鈥� he says.听

鈥淎 lot of times we turned those kinds of people into new customers, and we realized that instead of chasing those kids out of the store with their department-store bikes, we should encourage them,鈥� Fox听says. 鈥淲e were of the school of 鈥楬ey man, it doesn鈥檛 matter how fancy the bike is, as long as you鈥檙e out there.鈥欌��

Amen to that. My Diamondback sat beside my听dining-room table for weeks, mostly because I didn鈥檛 have a Presta attachment for my air pump. But I鈥檝e since taken care of that and gotten out on the road.听听

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If you think strictly in terms of global warming, the list of must-see, critically听endangered natural settings is relatively straightforward. It鈥檚 also very long. A number of places have been dubbed the 鈥済round zero of climate change鈥� by the media, including Florida, Alaska, and the earth鈥檚 poles. Any spot along a coastline, on the banks of tidal rivers, or on lonely Pacific atolls is in danger of changing drastically due to rising sea levels. Destinations known for winter sports, deep glaciers, and snowcapped summits will, at the very least, be much warmer in the future.

Where to go and what to see is, like most trips, dependent on your budget and also how much of the getting there you can handle. To help you plan and make decisions about where to head, we鈥檝e gathered up some grim facts and spoken to a few people who鈥檝e seen these bucket-list-worthy places change in their lifetimes.

But before you go anywhere, know that traveling to these places is also furthering the problem by putting more carbon into the atmosphere. People live in these locations听and听love them deeply, but听yes, make a living from them, too. Tread lightly. Merely gawking at an imperiled place isn鈥檛 much different than slowing down to look at wreckage on a highway. Ultimately, whether you can or听can鈥檛 get to one of these destinations, or the many others threatened by climate change, donating money to and advocating for the听organizations trying to stem the tide will听help.听

Everglades National Park, Florida

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says global sea levels are rising at a rate of about听. And with warmer ocean temperatures generating stronger coastal storms, more water is surging inland. Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club鈥檚 Lands Protection Program, says Everglades National Park is at the top of听the list when he thinks about vulnerable places. The 1.5-million-acre expanse of fresh water and saw grass prairies could basically 鈥渕elt into the ocean,鈥� he says.听One recent study by Florida International University warned that it could happen .听

鈥淚 used to live in South Florida, and the Florida Keys and the Everglades are both changing so dramatically,鈥� Manuel听says.

Airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Myers make the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve, just north of it, one of the easiest destinations to get to on this list. In the spirit of Florida, tourists can lather themselves in sunscreen, sit in听, and whip around the marshes for $28 or take simpler, muckier excursions on foot with Clyde Butcher, a longtime Everglades photographer who looks like Santa in expedition khakis and a cowboy hat. Butcher鈥檚 motto is 鈥�,鈥� and for $125 he鈥檒l take two people on a two-hour tour where old tennis shoes听are a must.

Kayaking and canoeing the Everglades are听ideal ways to experience the landscape if you鈥檝e got time, but the听vastness can be daunting for beginners. One waterway there is appropriately called the Nightmare.听 is available through the National Park Service, and guided tours abound. The most unique way to camp in the Everglades is on a chikee, an elevated wooden platform over the water听where people can tie up their boat and pitch a tent above the alligators. Like an Appalachian Trail shelter, you might be sharing a chikee with fellow campers. Some even come designed with听a portable toilet.

Glacier National Park, Montana听

Glacier National Park has already lost a vast majority of its namesake. A 2017听USGS听report titled 听found that of the 150 present in the park in 1850,听only 26 still fit that听definition.听It also noted 听suggesting that the glaciers of听Blackfoot鈥揓ackson Glacier Basin,听the largest concentration听within the park, would disappear between 2030 and 2080.听

The park has experienced an increase of a million visitors over the last six years. Harvey Lemelin, a professor at Lakehead听University in Ontario, Canada, who literally wrote the book on the subject,听, says Glacier鈥檚 uptick in tourism coincides not coincidentally with the dire听climate outlook. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 seen the pictures of the retreating glaciers in Glacier National Park,鈥� Lemelin says. 鈥淚t is out there.鈥�

But he says the government agencies that run and regulate national parks all over the globe, along with many tour operators, wring their hands over the ethics of last-chance tourism.听When asked if the disappearing glaciers were driving tourism, Glacier National Park spokeswoman Lauren Alley told me, 鈥淭here are听probably a lot of factors at play.鈥�

鈥淵ou know, we don鈥檛 have a scientific study that says X number of visitors came for this reason and X came for this reason. Certainly, people are coming to see glaciers,鈥� she says.

Like many national parks in the American West, Alley says visitors should expect听crowds and parking lots at capacity by 8 A.M. Finding a place to stay can be difficult as well. If you鈥檝e ever tried to book a room in national-park lodges or hotels, you know that gauntlet well. Glacier accepts reservations up to 13 months in advance. There are also听13听, many first-come, first-served, and ample backcountry camping. Another transportation option is Amtrak, which stops at East Glacier Park Village and听has听 that start at $849.

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

As the world鈥檚 largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef听often appears as the poster child for nature on the brink. It鈥檚 roughly half the size听, and according to National Geographic, half of it听has been 鈥�.鈥� But that means there鈥檚 still a vibrant coral reef out there to visit, only now just a quarter the size of the Lone Star State.听

Getting there, obviously, isn鈥檛 the easiest the trip, and it鈥檚听certainly more expensive than heading to reefs off the Florida Keys. It could require sacrificing other vacations or planning for years down the road.

The city of Cairns听is considered the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and is home to the nearest airport, which has connections from Brisbane and Sydney. You can sleep in luxury resorts along the Coral Sea, but there are a lot of options on a coastline that runs north for 500 miles. Tourism Tropical North Queensland compiled a list of听 on the Great Barrier Reef, and each one, replete with palm trees and aquamarine waters, could easily be your most liked Instagram post of the year. The nonprofit Great Barrier Reef Foundation recommends visiting 鈥�.鈥� That means choosing kayak, diving, or cruise outfitters deemed to be 听by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.听

Majuli Island, India

The world鈥檚 largest river island, Majuli, sits amid the snaking tendrils of the Brahmaputra River in the northeastern state of Assam. In 1979, one resident, Jadav Payeng, single-handedly planted an entire forest there听to help stem erosion that鈥檚 been steadily shrinking the island (and听perhaps to听balance the cosmic ledger of misdeeds done by mankind). Today, Majuli鈥檚 Molai Forest听is home to Bengal tigers and rhinoceroses.

鈥淭here are no monsters in nature except for humans,鈥� Payeng says in Forest Man,听the听 about his efforts. 鈥淗umans consume everything until there is nothing left.鈥�

Visiting Majuli, a pilgrimage site for Hindus, will require some homework when leaving from the U.S. The nearest major airport is in Dhaka, 475 miles to the south, in Bangladesh, though听there鈥檚 a much smaller airport听much closer, in Jorhat, India. From there, it鈥檚 a slew of bus or train rides and a ferry from the mainland. If you can get there, you can sleep at听, which has both bamboo and concrete huts starting at听.

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

In his 2006 documentary听, Al Gore said that 鈥渨ithin the decade there will be no more snows of Kilimanjaro,鈥� referring to the iconic, snowcapped peak, the tallest听in Africa. Many have pointed out that snow remains on Kilimanjaro today, part of the danger in putting any one endangered place on a precise timeline.

Protus Mayunga, who grew up in Tanzania, first climbed the mountain when he was 17. Now 43, he says he鈥檚 climbed it听hundreds of times since, and after returning from a recent trip, he compared the pictures he鈥檇 taken there decades ago and saw a stark difference, not in snow cover听but rather its听glaciers.

鈥淭hey are definitely shrinking. I think by 2020, some glaciers will still be standing, but yeah, it鈥檚 definitely a big difference for sure,鈥� Mayunga says. 鈥淚 was there in August, and there was tons of snow鈥攕tarting at 16,000 feet and going to the summit, everything was covered. But when the season changes, everything usually melts.鈥�

Mayunga travels from his home in New York鈥檚 Catskills several times a year to lead groups on climbing expeditions in Tanzania with his . Prices to summit can range from $1,200 to $6,000 per person, Mayunga says, depending on your outfitter and the route.

The North and South Poles

The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, according the National Snow and Ice Data Center, 鈥渃ontain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on earth,鈥� and each, if global warming continues unabated, would likely be the main source of rising sea levels.

Veteran adventurer and climber Guy Cotter, owner of听, a travel company that runs expeditions to far-flung places, says ice on the North Pole is undoubtedly thinning. 鈥淚n a few years, it may be that it will be impossible to ski to the North Pole because it will be open ocean,鈥� Cotter says.

, based in southern Greenland, runs two-week kayaking and ice-hiking trips starting at $2,450 and ice-cap expeditions into 鈥渦nexplored鈥� territories for just under $4,000.

say that Antarctica has seen an increase in both water and air temperature in recent decades, causing the growth of plant life and the dispersal of its ubiquitous penguin colonies. While the South Pole may not change as quickly as the North Pole in our lifetime, it鈥檚 worth a visit if you can afford it. 国产吃瓜黑料 Consultants runs ski trips there that can last for two months. A shorter, 16-day ski expedition to the South Pole costs $64,000, and most of that pays for the flights on and off the ice.

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