What to Pack in a Hiking Day Pack: The Ten Essentials, Sorted by Trip Length
A checklist that scales with the hours you'll be out, plus swaps that cut weight without cutting safety.
Active Travel Magazine — Adventure travel
RV Basics: A First-Timer's Guide to Life on the Road
Hookups, gray water, and campground etiquette, explained plainly before you rent or buy your first rig.
What Guide Fees Actually Cover: Breaking Down the Line Items on a Guided Expedition
Permits, group gear, meals, gratuities, evacuation coverage — what a guided trip price typically includes, what it usually leaves out, and how to compare two quotes fairly.
What to Know Before You Paddle the Buffalo National River
The Buffalo is 135 free-flowing miles through the Ozarks — America's first national river, managed by the Park Service since 1972 — and its float season is set by rainfall, not by calendar.
Rocky Mountain National Park Brings Back Timed Entry for 2024
Timed-entry reservations returned to Rocky Mountain National Park from May 24 through October 20, 2024 — and the detail most planners miss is that the two permit types cover different halves of the park.
How to Get a Half Dome Permit in 2025
Yes — you need a permit to hike the Half Dome cables, and about 225 day hikers get one per day: apply in the preseason lottery between March 1 and 31, 2025, or take your chances in the daily lottery two days ahead.
What to Know Before You Visit a US National Park as a Nonresident in 2026
A $100 per-person surcharge now applies at 11 of the busiest US national parks. Here is who pays, who is exempt, and when the $250 nonresident annual pass is the cheaper route.
Outdoors
How Backcountry Permit Lotteries Actually Work
From preseason draws to daily walk-up odds, here's the mechanics behind the lottery systems that decide who gets to hike the country's most sought-after trails.
Trail Right of Way Rules: Who Yields to Whom on Shared Trails
Hikers, horses, and bikes — the yield conventions land agencies and trail organizations publish, explained.
How to Plan Your First Solo Hike Without the Anxiety
Route choice, the itinerary you leave behind, and the skills checklist that makes hiking alone calm.
Hiking in Extreme Heat: How to Stay Safe Above 90 Degrees
Timing, water and electrolyte math, early heat-illness signs, and when a trail day becomes a no-go.
Eco
How Deep Should You Dig a Cathole? The Leave No Trace Numbers, Explained
The exact depth, distance, and disposal rules behind Leave No Trace's waste principle, and why fragile terrain sometimes throws the standard cathole out the window.
How to Spot Greenwashing in Eco-Lodges and Hotel Certifications
A leaf logo costs nothing; an audited certification costs evidence — five checks tell an authentic eco-lodge from a marketing page.
Reef-Safe Sunscreen: What Hikers and Paddlers Need to Know in 2026
Hawaii has banned oxybenzone and octinoxate sunscreens since 2021 — here is what the science, the laws, and the label tricks mean for your next waterside trip.
Planning
How to Get a Half Dome Permit in Yosemite
Yosemite issues roughly 300 Half Dome permits a day, and most hikers land theirs months ahead through a preseason lottery. Here's how the lottery, the daily backup drawing, and the backpacker add-on actually work.
The Week-Before Checklist: Seven Days Out to Trailhead
Weather at T-minus 5, gear shakedown at T-minus 3, permits and itinerary filed at T-minus 1 — the countdown that catches everything a forgotten plan misses.
How to Estimate Hiking Time and Plan Daily Mileage
Start from 3 miles per hour and add an hour per 1,000 feet of climb — the Book Time formula, plus the corrections for pack weight, altitude, and terrain.
Travel News
What to Know About Federal Recreation Fees Before You Book
August 2026 Is Loaded for Park Trips: Fee-Free Days and a Moved Park Week
National Park Week shifts to August 22–30 for the NPS's 110th birthday, stacking a fee-free August 25 on top of the August 4 waiver — a rare late-summer window.
Wildfire Season 2026 Is Already Redrawing Trail Plans: How to Check
From the Painted Canyon Overlook to Olympic meadow trails, fire-driven closures are stacking up across the park system — here is how to verify your route.