Marymere Falls Located near Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park, the short hike to Marymere Falls offers a delightful walk through a verdant rainforest. Along the way, the trail passes through a botanist’s dream: a garden of mosses and ferns beneath a majestic canopy of ancient trees. Viewpoints afford views of the rambunctious falls from above and below. Choose both. …

The wind is blowing like nobody’s business when we arrive at Wai’anapanapa in the late morning, which is not unusual on the northern tip of west Maui.  Located on this sumptuously beautiful coast a few miles north of Hana Town, Wai’anapanapa State Park is a small but exquisite park, offering quite a radical variation of the dreamy white sand travel …

Gregory® Alpaca Duffel 60L I loved my last duffel bag. It lasted close to 30 years. It had everything I wanted: lots of pockets, shoulder strap handles, water resistance, and just enough space for medium-sized camping trips and other excursions where a suitcase was not appropriate. It was hard to give up when it finally wore out.  But the Gregory® …

The rain falls for two days and nights, drifting through the trees, chilled by the breath of oncoming winter. Here at the Klipchuck Campground in the Methow Valley at the tail end of September, Jesse, Al, and I are waiting for the weather to turn so we can head up into the mountains. The rain falling here is likely falling …

Gnara Go There Pants Guest review by Barbara Hansen Gnara’s Go There ™ Pants are an idea whose time has come. Need to pee discretely in the great outdoors? Just unzip and go. It’s as easy as that—no need to squat. I was able to stand up, which allowed me to keep my backpack on while performing this ritual. I …

When I heard about Jasper burning, I wept. This little town, long a venerable outpost in the Canadian Rockies, is (was) one of my favorite places in the world. Located way up at the northern terminus of the world-renowned Icefields Parkway, Jasper was a special place, a throwback to the days of old-fashioned mountain civility, embodying elegant beauty and inspiring …

The North Cascades offer some of North America’s most spectacular mountain scenery, with more peaks that rise 3,000 feet in the last horizontal mile to their summits than any other range on Earth. But these mountains—in addition to their dramatic topography—also offer sublime intimacies: incandescent moss gardens, snow-melt pools reflecting the sky, twisted Krumholtz trees clinging to the fractured rock, …

Heliotrope Ridge   After a two-year hiatus caused by the closure of the Glacier Creek Road due to a massive washout, the Heliotrope Ridge Trail has regained its place among the supreme hikes around Mt. Baker. This iconic trail climbs 1400 feet in a scant 2.2 miles to reach the icy ramparts of the Coleman Glacier cascading down beside alpine …

Old Sauk River Trail   The Old Sauk River Trail offers the spring hiker an easy opportunity to explore the rich textures of a vibrant rainforest, on par with the legendary lushness of the Olympic Peninsula. Along the way, you’ll pass through remnants of towering old-growth forest, curtains of hanging lichen, an understory carpeted with emerald green moss, luxurious fern …

I cross the tidal mud flat that leads to Pack Creek in late afternoon, mid-way through a week-long excursion in the Tongass National Forest of Southeast Alaska. Our small group is alone, greatly outnumbered by the bears. Brown (grizzly) bears line the undulating watercourse of the creek on Admiralty Island, seven or eight of these incredible creatures fishing for salmon …