Sarah Savage was alone in the woods and didn’t know which way to turn. She had been eager to explore the Appalachian Trail when she moved to Pennsylvania and discovered that her house was near an access point. But not long after she took off from the trailhead, the path branched in different directions. She wasn’t carrying a cellphone or a map. Nervous, she turned back.

An award-winning astronomer famous for her search for extraterrestrial intelligence spoke to a sold out audience at the Lander high school the night before the eclipse.

Recreation continues to play an important and growing role in Wyoming’s economy, according to a report released July 26 by the Outdoor Industry Association, a trade organization.

A week into her first-ever NOLS class, deep in the wilderness, Katherine Boehrer experienced the biggest shock of the trip, at dinnertime. “They made this chocolate cake. I didn’t know you could make a cake in the backcountry,” she says. “And it was so comforting; it was like a taste of home.”

Any parent who grew up ruling the neighborhood streets on their bike, climbing trees, or flipping over rocks to see what they could scare up will want their kids to do the same.

Exploring Arizona can be beautiful, breathtaking and sometimes even thrilling. From rocky Grand Canyon trails to the secluded Sedona wilderness, thousands of hikers venture away from civilization.

“It’s a madhouse” is the first thing that my wife and I thought as we arrived at Anza-Borrego on a Thursday morning in March. We wanted to see the wildflower superblooms and thought we’d beat the crowd by visiting midweek. Everybody else clearly had the same idea. Hundreds of cars were trying to shoehorn into the tiny lot of state park headquarters. We aborted and drove past the dozens of frustrated drivers that had just pulled themselves off the road haphazardly like pick-up-sticks.

As the first American—and first woman—to row across the Atlantic Ocean solo, Tori Murden McClure is no stranger to challenges.