Travel

Some of the best travel experiences revolve around culture—tasting it, hearing it, seeing it, immersing yourself in it. That’s certainly true in Texas, and in particular San Antonio, where you’ll discover a tapestry of history, local foods, art, nightlife, and more. Outside sent travel couple Mike and Anne Howard of HoneyTrek to explore San Antonio…

“Chicago is one of the best places in the world from May through October, with all its festivals and events,” says Dave Zimmer, “and the running scene is vibrant year-round.” The Chicago-area native should know. Zimmer and his wife, Lisa, spent the last 28 years opening Fleet Feet stores across the city. And though he…

This is the eternal paradox of summer: the days are longer and yet they always seem to fly by faster. But there is a way to make the most of the season before the solstice even arrives: plan now to lock in your summer of endless adventure. To help you strategize, I put together a…

Roads usually leave me lukewarm. I understand they’re necessary, connecting us from points A to B, and they can be cool, but I don’t stay up late thinking about the adventures to be had on a two-lane blacktop. The exception, of course, is a road trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’ve never driven the…

Three days in total blackout darkness doesn’t sound that hard, until you hear this story about someone who tried to do it. Following in the footsteps of a famous quarterback who made headlines for his dark cave retreat, Outside writer Tim Neville went underground looking for nothing. And wow did he find it. The post…

In the decade I’ve been aurora-hunting around the globe, from the fjords of Greenland to the waterfalls of southern Iceland, never once did I expect to catch a strong and colorful overhead display of northern lights from my neighborhood park in light-polluted, low-latitude Cleveland. But that’s just what happened during the dazzling aurora show from…

If you dream about destinations where towering mountains, dense boreal forests, and glacier-fed lakes stretch from horizon to horizon, set your sights on The Great Wilderness, a place for truly one-of-a-kind outdoor adventures. Located in the far north of British Columbia, Canada, this vast region, home to Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial, is a prime…

I first experienced the Sierra Nevada while thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail when I was 20. As I approached from the south, the prominent mountains were an intimidating sight, rising thousands of feet from the desert. I was new to thru hiking, and didn’t know the first thing about snow travel, but I was immediately…

Sliding my head through the bright orange life vest, I listen to the expedition leader walk us through emergency evacuation protocols. Almost 100 of us are gathered in the lounge toward the bow of the National Geographic Quest, an expedition ship scheduled for a five-day journey to the Channel Islands. “In the unlikely event” of…

Mount Elbert’s status as the highest peak in Colorado is disguised by its modest yet massive profile. The mountain’s once-jagged contours have been smoothed out by ancient glaciers, a characteristic shared by many of its neighboring Sawatch Range summits. Millennia of erosion has transformed Mount Elbert into a gentle giant, offering several non-technical hikes to…