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Christopher
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Man, I Really Miss My Long-Gone Dirtbag Gear Shop
It was on a busy thoroughfare in San Luis Obispo, California, occupying a squat, rectangular building with a brick facade…
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Is the ‘Wood-Wide Web’ Narrative Even True?
Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that…
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Amy Johnson Left Her Secretary Job Behind to Become One of History’s Most Daring Pilots
Amy Johnson was your classic dreamer. Anybody who’s ever pushed back from the expected will recognize a little bit of…
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Easy Riding is Boring—Long Live Hard Trails
‘Tis but an hour past dark and the rain that began moments ago is already turning to snain on its…
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How Fly Fishing Makes — and Consumes — a Life
Dylan Tomine is one of them. A steelheader. A fly fisherman obsessed with pursuing steelhead trout, the ocean-going form of…
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Rockfall Changes World-Famous Teton Skyline Forever—Well, Until the Next Rockfall, That Is
A giant rockfall has forever changed what’s arguably the world’s most famous natural skyline — the iconic Cathedral Group view…
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Meet the ‘King of the Ocean’
On February 22, Aleksander Doba made the last few strides to the top of Kilimanjaro, a pleased 74-year-old man, waving…
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Raise a Glass to Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef National Park, in Utah, is, even amidst the seemingly endless red rock landscape of the Southwest, a universe…
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We Pledge Allegiance to Duct Tape
Regardless of your choice of outdoor pleasure, nothing MacGyvers better than duct tape. We all know the silvery salvation is…
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Who Cares What You Look Like When You’re Doing Your Thing?
Editors note: this piece was originally written with surfers in mind but really, it applies to any outdoors activity where…
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The Shoes We’re Hiking In This Fall
If you haven’t read my treatise on why boots are the vastly, inarguably superior option over trail runners, maybe start…
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Tom Hornbein, Legendary Everest Pioneer, Dead at 92
In May, 1963, Jim Whittaker summited Everest from the South Col, becoming the first American to reach the highest point…
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The Fun and Ultimate-Ish Guide to Off-Trail Hiking and Bushwhacking
Dr. Suess titled one of his books Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Such a great title, isn’t it? Totally worthy…
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Hallie Daggett, First Woman Fire Lookout for USFS, Blew Minds: ‘I hope your heart is strong enough to stand the shock.’
6,600 feet up a mountain in a small wood box, three hours by foot from the nearest dirt road, the…
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Climbing Is Pointless
So is hiking. So is camping. So is skiing, surfing, rafting, catch and release fishing, trail running, mountain biking. And…
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Keep (Running) Simple, Stupid
You know that bit in Forrest Gump where he takes off running, without any planning or preparation, and doesn’t stop…
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Burying Your Poop Is Out, Bagging It Is In
When I took my first course at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming, years ago, the preferred method…
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This Van Conversion Project Is Not What You Think
Five or so years back I embarked on a serious van conversion experiment. For my project, I used the following…
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Millican Dalton Was the Chain-Smoking, Cave-Dwelling Godfather of Ultralight Camping
Millican Dalton knew how to make an impression. When a correspondent from the Sunday Chronicle newspaper came calling in 1933,…
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So You Wanna Plan a Bikepacking Route—We Have Advice
You can be a well-seasoned backpacker and a dedicated mountain biker, and have had plenty of success putting the two…
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Public Lands Are Being Given Away to the Wealthy
In 2017, the public lost 1,470 acres of wilderness-quality land at the base of Mount Sopris near Aspen, Colorado. For…
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Walter Greaves, the Vegetarian, One-Armed Cyclist, Rode Further Than Anyone
Walter William Greaves was never marked for fame or fortune. He came of age in the late 1920s in Bradford,…
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Get Down, Way Down, With West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park
Free entrance. Free camping. Now this is how a national park should be. Peel off a few billion by making…
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If You’re Gonna Hike While On ‘Shrooms Know Your Limits
“The doughty men and women of Keswick mountain rescue are well used to helping walkers who have lost their way…
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Bernard Moitessier, the Fastest Vagabond Sailor the World Ever Knew
In the summer of 1968, nine sailors began sailing from various ports across Great Britain in the The Sunday Times…
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Hey, We Started a Coffee Company!
Hello, people! I am thrilled to tell you that the folks who bring you Adventure Journal—that is, Joni and me—have…
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Searching for Nowhere in the Yukon Territory
When I was a kid, I used to go outside and pretend I was the only person in the whole…
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Dear Mountain Bike Community: You Don’t Know How Good You Have It
It’s been about six or so years since I swung a leg over the first mountain bike I’d ridden…
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Greta Anderson, For a Decade, the World’s Greatest Swimmer
In an Olympic-sized swimming pool, it would take thirty-three laps (that’s swimming from one end to the other) to swim…
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In the Mountains, It Need Not Be Lonely at the Top (Because There Are Pikas)
Years ago, a long season of chemotherapy left me unable to hear high frequencies. How does one comprehend what one’s…
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Dora Keen Pioneered Some of Alaska’s Toughest Mountain Routes
Dora Keen had already impressed the climbing world before she became the first woman to mountaineer in Alaska in 1911.…
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Skirafting—Yes, Skirafting—Utah
What do you call a guy that devises some of the most creative omniterrain traverse ideas going? And that willingly…
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We Need a Guidebook for Camping Etiquette
On a camping trip in southern Utah, my brother, a friend, and I pulled up late one night to a flat,…
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Gosh It Sucks Hitting Wildlife on the Road
A deer stands paralyzed in the middle of a mountain highway, stunned by the lights and deafening roar of an…
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In Praise of Old School Flannel Sleeping Bags and Wool Blankets
I can’t remember exactly when but at some point in the past five or so years, I was packing the…
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Big Wall Beverly Johnson Changed the Calculus of Yosemite Climbing
In 1969, Beverly Johnson left school in the last semester of her geology studies for a more hands-on education in…
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Kitsbow Is Closing, What Does This Say About USA-Made Gear?
In a blog post earlier this week, beloved cycling apparel brand Kitsbow announced they were closing their doors for good…
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More Simple, Fun Bikes Like the Priority Sauce, Please
I’ve been working on a bike equation lately, toying with variables in my head as I zoom along single track…
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When Giants Fall, We Must Listen
“God has cared for these trees …but he cannot save them from fools.” — John Muir In just two years,…
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My Life As a Fire Lookout
Trina Moyles looked at the job description for a fire tower lookout job in northern Canada’s Boreal forest and lingered…
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Climber John Bachar Blew the Doors Clean Off the ’70s Yosemite Climbing Scene
In the early 1970s the major Yosemite climbing proving ground was an area called the Nabisco Wall, a series of…
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Do You Really Need the Tech-iest, Most Advanced Gear on the Shelf When Camping?
Just before the first plump rain drops fell, followed by the biting sting of hail, the temperature dropped by a…
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Raise a Glass to The Snow Plow Drivers Who Keep Our Winter Passes Open
Kevin Maynard doesn’t bat an eye at these conditions. Highway 28 is visible, after all, and it’s not snowing. Still,…
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Are We Blowing It In Our Approach to Wildlife Conservation?
How should humans care for the beings that share the planet with us? This is one of the defining…
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Why I’m Giving Up Trail Runners for Hiking Boots
About 12 years or so ago I bumped into an older middle-aged couple on the John Muir Trail whose amazing,…
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Justin Schmidt, ‘King of Sting,’ Was Like a Sommelier of Insect Sting Pain
Shackleton suffered tremendous adversity and pain and overcame the fear of starvation, freezing, and death. But did he ever willingly…
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Why Carbon Steel Pans Have Replaced Cast Iron In Our Camp Kitchen
Cast Iron pans are a ubiquitous part of camping lore. We love them, we do. But a couple years back…
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What Is Hardcore Anyway And Should We Care?
A few years back I sat down at a bar in the San Diego airport while waiting for a flight…
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Climbing the Loneliest Volcano For a Sight Unseen By Modern Humans
Mt. Michael. Photo: Renan Ozturk, National Geographic When you imagine peering into a volcano’s open mouth from above, what image…
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Here’s a Little Something to Get You Stoked on Walking
It’s easy to take walking for granted, to dismiss it when judged against an outdoors life packed with exciting gear…
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Mary Barr Fought Expectations as First Female Forest Service Air Boss
When Mary Barr was pregnant with her first child, she knew she wanted a woman obstetrician to deliver her baby.…
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Is the Patagonia Work Wear Jacket a Down Puffy Beater?
A few years ago, I profiled Bay Area naturalist/artist/author Obi Kaufmann for our print publication. We went for a hike.…
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The Art of Apprehensive Adventuring
Ravine Cyrique, Dominica, 2008 Halfway down the rope ladder, I paused to collect myself. “Are you sure about this?” I…
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A Few Words About Adventure Journal’s New Direction
Dear friends, After 14 years (holy smokes!) of Adventure Journal as an online magazine updated multiple times a day, often…
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Even My Tiny Alaskan Town Is Getting Screwed By the Housing Crisis
In Girdwood, Alaska, we’ll long remember the snowstorm of Dec. 6, just three months ago. But it won’t be for…
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Hannes Keller Showed the World Humans Could Reach the Ocean’s Black Depths
Ever turn a cup upside down in the bath or a pool and dunk it below the surface? The…
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A Review of Questionable Utility: My Adventure Toddler
There are some pieces of heavy, complicated gear you bring on hikes or camp trips that aren’t necessarily required, per…
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Abigail Becker Might the Baddest Badass You’ve Never Heard Of
In 1854, Abigail Becker married a widower and moved to a small, rugged trapper’s cabin on Long Point, Lake Erie,…
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Joseph Kittinger, the Man Who Dove to Earth
First, the indescribable view. Earth, many miles below, twinkling blue, whorls of white and grey clouds. Home is down there…
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Is YETI’s Camino Carryall a Backpack Killer?
If you’re like us you have a few technical backpacks and daypacks and for day trips out to the backcountry,…