#scenic-trails

#scenic-trails

"At his peak, Dean Potter was a figure similar to Alex Honnold-the leading free-soloist in the game. But he was also a much more enigmatic and eccentric character than Honnold. It is also true that Potter remains one of the all-time great culture heroes of American rock-climbing."

The Thompson Elk is downtown Portland's talisman, and a hopeful sign for the future after years of post-pandemic struggle.

"There's so much more to Burnsville than meets the eye. We've got live theater, a planetarium and observatory, a history museum, and one of the largest populations of working artists in the country. When I say there's literally something for everyone here, I'm serious."

Thick grey-green mud squidges through my toes as I step into the icy, irresistible water. I'm on the descent from the Britannia Hut at the foot of the Allalinhorn in the Valais canton of the Swiss Alps.

The average elevation across the United States varies significantly, creating a divide between the high-altitude West and the lower-lying East and South, which impacts skiing conditions.

Kirkwood has had a pretty solid past few days, seeing 42 inches of snow through the past 7 days, 31 of which fell in the past 48 hours. As of April 13th, Kirkwood has 5 lifts spinning with 45 of 84 trails open to skiers and snowboarders.

The Black Lantern Inn was a familiar place where I ate with my kids, sometimes once a week. My room was well beyond my expectations for a last-minute booking: a king-sized bed, separate living area, jacuzzi bath, and many thoughtful details, including several back issues of Skiing History Magazine to flip through.

The New River Gorge's moist, shaded forests are an ideal habitat for flowers that color the hillsides in April and early May, making it an excellent time to see the gorge in bloom.

The early morning sun is bursting around the dark corners of High Dodd and Sleet Fell, sending a flush of light across the golden bracken and on to the hammered silver of the lake.

Cody Townsend has called Recent Imagery 'the most useful tool for finding snow.' He notes that it will not tell you snow quality, but it does show 'where it's melted out or freshly coated' and helps plan missions efficiently.

The Million Dollar Highway is a narrow, two-lane road that runs above a deep gorge, with sheer rock walls on one side and an unguarded drop on the other. Drivers experience awe-inspiring views of 14,000-foot peaks as they navigate this perilous route.

"I truly believe travel in your 50s shifts in a meaningful way. It's often a decade of clarity-people are more intentional about how they spend their time, more focused on depth over volume, and increasingly interested in experiences that feel purposeful."

The body is a shifting landscape transformed by surfaces and sensations. Each look captures a different tactile world: the heat of blood, the cool weight of metal, the yielding drift of water. The result is a sculptural study of how the elements carve, shield, and release the self. The materials we embody become the emotions we carry, and the body becomes a materialised exhibition of our emotions, from the pulse of Blood to the discipline of Metal to the surrender of Water.

"For the first time, we can truly see how popular and meaningful the Appalachian Trail and its landscape are to millions of people," says Cinda Waldbuesser, president and CEO of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, in an official March 2026 statement.

Many of them were built for purposes that no longer exist - cattle drives, mining prospecting, early U.S. Forest Service fire patrols - while others were packed by the footprints of the Chumash people well before the colonization of North America. Sections of trail cling to steep slopes that seem to barely resist gravity, shedding soil and stone with each winter storm.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the most popular park in the country last year, drawing more than 11.5 million visitors, according to data from the National Park Service. In fact, the park, which straddles North Carolina and Tennessee, accounted for 12.3 percent of all national park visits.

For 2025, there was good news and bad news: overall, these areas were visited 323 million times over the course of the year. That's the good news; the bad news is that this figure was down ever so slightly - specifically, 2.7% - from a record-setting 2024.

Longer days, blooming flowers, and increasing temperatures make spring the perfect time for an escape to one of the 63 major US national parks. After traveling solo to all of them, there are a few I think are especially worth seeing between the months of March and June.

The idea that hiking trails are a tool for conservation is based on a simple premise: people protect what they know. That requires making conservation areas accessible. There's no point telling people you only protect what you know, if you don't give them the tools to know. The trail is this tool. People who hike, people who camp, these people often become defenders of the environment.

AllTrails, a hiking app with trail maps and reviews, dug into insights from their 90 million-plus members and team of trail experts to spotlight lesser-known places where the trail alone is worth planning a trip around. Their guide, Travel-Worthy Trails for 2026, spotlights eight unexpected destinations around the world where the trail is the destination.

When the weather warms up and the late winter rains turn trees green and fields into wildflower wonderlands, it's the perfect time to take a drive. Whether your preferred landscape is mountains, deserts, forests, plains, or coastal views, there's a spring road trip in the United States for you. Explore historic sites, regional food, wineries, or nature-all from the front seat.

Some travelers love vacations that involve doing absolutely nothing-trips where lounging by the beach or pool, napping, reading, or going for a light swim are the most rigorous activities on the agenda. Other travelers, however, crave trips that are a bit more ... active, whether that means hiking, biking, or parasailing. If you fall into the latter category, you should consider heading to Wyoming for your next trip, according to Wander.