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An eight-step plan for rebooting your career and finding a job that you love.

Jack Kerouac spent the summer of 1956 manning a fire tower on Washington's Desolation Peak, in the northern Cascades. He didn't do much writing there, apparently, despite being alone with pencil and paper. But he stayed for 63 days. The views were good.

Own Reese Witherspoon’s Hollywood-ready hiking boots.

Some of the explosives that professionals use to take down the white dragon.

A look at the human factors that can blur judgment in the field.

Playing safely in the mountains requires an intimate knowledge of terrain and an understanding of how a host of variables—including sun, wind, and temperature—affect the snowpack.

Every year, more than 500 Americans will be struck by lightning—and roughly 90 percent of them will survive. Though they remain among the living, their minds and bodies will be instantly, fundamentally altered in ways that still leave scientists scratching their heads.

Cheryl Strayed started out on the legendary 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail with no backpacking experience, too-small boots, and a massive pack she nicknamed Monster.  She learned a thing or two about gear on that 93-day trek (REI’s return policy saved her on one occasion), and she writes about some of…

The key to digging your friends out alive is how fast you are with these three essential avalanche safety tools.

Avalanche airbags have arrived.

When you have only the weekend to get outside and play, it helps to have an adventure-ready daypack prepacked and ready to go. Think of it as your bug-out bag, but instead of fleeing an impending apocalypse, you’re escaping from the tedium of your workweek. So whether you’re going…

No, but it is getting increasing dangerous out there. As hordes of skiers hit the backcountry, they're triggering more avalanches than ever before, and there's still a dangerous gap between our collective enthusiasm and the depth of our knowledge. But while the learning curve is daunting and the risks are high, the adventure rewards are immense—if you do it rig

New gear, featuring better mounting, portability, and durability, to capture your most epic days

Our favorite jackets for staying warm and dry—even on the chilliest adventures

They've put in the time up in the air, and some of them tell others how to see the world for a living. We asked them: What's the one piece of travel advice everyone should know?

Crying babies, endless delays, and that one aggressive seat-kicker are almost inevitable travel companions. Doesn't mean you can't have a nice journey: savvy packing will keep you collected and calm. We can't promise the same for the new parents across the aisle.

We polled an all-star team of experts and adventurers to put together our new rules of travel—all the airfare tips and digital tricks that make getting out there easier than ever.

There's a six-pack of cold ones waiting for you at base camp. The only problem? No bottle opener. Thankfully, we're here to help.

The new adventure bike is truly up for anything.

Do cell phones, satellite messengers, and personal locator beacons create more false alarms in the backcountry?

A star political blogger for Grist.org, David Roberts spent so much time posting and Tweeting and staring at screens that he almost went nuts. So he pulled the plug for a year, restarting his relationship with technology and actively seeking health, balance, and adventure in the real world. What he learned just might save you from meltdown.

Ben Hewitt’s essay on “unschooling” in our September issue has sparked some heated debate. Few parents are willing to do as the Hewitts do, and turn their kids loose entirely. But how can we give our children more freedom?

Who says you have to chose between land or water?

I'd love to haul my kids up the railings to Half Dome, but don't want to risk accidents—or turning them off of hiking forever. How can we have fun while staying safe in the national park?

Anxiety, depression, obesity—kids are increasingly becoming unhappy and unhealthy. But there is a pill-free solution: outdoor play.

Climate change is opening up more than ice fields—it's stoking a new tourism economy.

Mt. Margaret backcountry, Washington

Behold: The #�����ԹϺ���Mobile Instagram contest winners

Swiss explorer Mike Horn looks to grind out a big first—again.

Despite the republic's best efforts to modernize, its legacy of trade and cultural expansion still lingers three centuries later

An epic, 10,000-mile road trip across America to find the best place to live in the country.

Yosemite Valley, the birthplace of rebel climber culture is supposed to be all cleaned up and mellowed out. But as a new film shows, the outlaw spirit is alive and well.

Six new ways to power up without sacrificing taste

With 45 successful summits, this season on K2 seems too serendipitous to be true. But safely conquering the mountain took grueling amounts of work and skill, too.

Roman Dial is an adventure icon and Alaskan legend who raised his son, Cody, in the outdoors. Now Cody is missing in a Costa Rican jungle and Roman is leading the search.

Booze from the only country in the world that measures its progress by Gross Domestic Happiness.

On the 100th anniversary of Ernest Shackleton's legendary expedition, a writer retraces the explorer's steps to one of the cruelest, most gorgeous wildernesses on earth.

The Weather Channel dips a toe in the way-too-crowded waters of reality survival programming with two new shows, So You Think You’d Survive? and Fat Guys in the Woods. It’s not a pretty sight.

One man and his canine pal cover 13,000 miles in 32 states to discover just how strong our relationship is with man's best friend.

Reed Timmer gets right into the thick of huge storms for a living. So we asked him to watch Into the Storm, a new tornado thriller, and report back on how it compares to the real thing.

Now is the best time of year to plan your trek.

Some plan trips in advance; others let the current carry them. For Amy Ragsdale, traveling with risk takers like herself has helped her trust the process of exploring without a full map, rather than fight it.

In the half-century since the Wilderness Act was passed, almost everything has changed. All the more reason to go wild.

The key to seeing the best of Iceland? Posting up in the middle of the action.

Two years ago, Filipe Leite turned his ponies south on a journey from Canada to Brazil. Ten thousand miles later, he's almost home after facing drug traffickers, grizzlies, and mad bulls on an epic transcontinental trip.

The Balkan Peninsula's new megatrail is as much about imbibing culture as it is about bagging peaks. In his first dispatch from the trail, the author embarks on a 1,250-mile journey across six countries.

A jacket that can handle the trail but looks tailored enough for a dinner in Aspen—and is 100 percent American? We'll take three.

I want to explore the best of what nature has to offer. Where can I find some up-and-coming ecotourism sites?

An excerpt from Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies examines the spaces between borders

Yeah, some of this is pretty obvious. But it's also just what you need to hear.

Click but don’t share when you’re on safari

A photo is only worth 1,000 words if you know how to capture the right one. These six programs can help.

For the sake of your spine and your sanity, heed these rules

Summer's best timepieces play hard, no matter what you throw at them.

There's a reason exiles dreaded being packed off to Siberia. While retracing the path of a doomed 19th-century U.S. polar expedition in the Russian High Arctic, we encounter swarming mosquitoes, a few Kalashnikovs, an island lost in time, the burial site of ten brave men, and a haunting beauty like nothing we've ever seen.

Beat the crowds on the not-so-beaten path this summer in one of America's favorite national parks.

Redesigning the backcountry shelter

The true story of the mountain's most horrific day, the Sherpas who paid the price, and the aftershocks that will change the mountain forever

Trapping of bobcats, coyotes, and other fur-bearing animals is on the rise—with man’s best friend the collateral damage.

Long stretches of open road through some of the most beautiful areas of the country, peppered with wildlife sightings, adventurous detours, and good brews—it's so much more than getting from Point A to Point B.

Rediscover the open road with one of these four innovative campers.

The Pennine Way, England’s first national trail, turns 50 this year. Even if it’s literally over the hill, the 268-mile route of rolling terrain is as popular as ever, especially this weekend. July 12 marks the annual National Trails geocache release, during which new coins…

Now that the U.S. is out

Traveling light and fast up and down mountains—that’s the concept behind skyrunning, a sport that now boasts 200 races and 30,000 participants annually. In fact, the 2014 Skyrunning World Championships took place over the weekend in Chamonix, France. The event continued the valley’s reputation as a trail running mecca where…

Sweating's divorced from everything chic...right?

There's a new brand in town. Does its dehydrated food stack up to—or shrivel before—its rivals?

Play outside with kids your own age

It's not easy to swim with sperm whales: they're hard to find, hard to reach without adequate diving experience, and they just might swallow you up if you get too close. But how else are we going to crack their complicated language system? A group of rogue freedivers takes the plunge.

You're overworked, overstressed, and overconnected. But don't worry. We're here to help.

We're still surfing in the USA.

Challenge your abilities with these iconic runs through the wilds of America.

Don’t waste time on trashy novels at the beach this summer. These new outdoor and adventure page turners prove yet again that true stories trump fiction for fun reads.  Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art | (Courtesy of HarperCollins) By…

With a little help from Make-A-Wish, Yosemite’s first honorary park ranger earns his keep and proves his strength

These ground-tested strategies will help you conquer every last weekend.

There's nothing more American than hitting the open road with the windows down, the music up, and a cooler full of beer in the backseat (you know, for later). Sure, the game has changed a little—smartphones have all but rendered guidebooks and crumpled maps obsolete—but one essential question remains: where to go? Look no further. We hand-picked the ten best, most adventure-packed road trips in the country.

Cuba. Where travelers lounge on picturesque beaches, swirl mojitos, dance til sunrise, and cruise back to their hotels in ’57 T-birds. Travelers, yes. But Americans, no. Until 2011, these indulgences were long off limits to U.S. citizens due to a Bay of Pigs–era trade embargo.  But despite the Obama Administration…

Take it to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula and find some of the best fishing, paddling, and moonshine-sampling of your life.

Returning to the U.S. after 12 months in rural Brazil means running water, big American breakfasts, and nearly a year of getting used to being back.

Five stunning national parks await beyond North America's 49th parallel. But beware: you'll face shifting ice, mercurial weather, and polar bears if you take this path less traveled.

On March 28th, 2014, the Morelos Dam on the Arizona/Mexico border was opened, and a "pulse flow" released—an experiment in ecological restoration. It worked: For the first time in 16 years, the Colorado River ran free all the way to the Sea of Cortez. Intending to paddle the river to its natural terminus, writer Rowan Jacobsen and photographer Pete McBride assembled a crew they dubbed "Team Delta Force." Their goal was to complete the first ever standup paddleboard (SUP) descent of the Colorado. This gallery highlights their historic journey, and you can read about the entire journey in �����ԹϺ���'s July issue.