Travel

The post Arkansas Is America’s New Adventure Hub appeared first on Outside Online.

Struggling with exhaustion, I attempted to hoist myself up out of deep snow after a fall. Beads of sweat dripped down my face as I spotted my guide, Kris Robinson, waiting patiently below. Unable to muster more strength, I sank down and took a moment to absorb the vastness of Canada’s Columbia Mountains. Then I…

It was my best New Year’s in memory; jumping into the 45-degree Atlantic Ocean with 6,000 other people for Coney Island Polar Bear Club’s annual community swim. I’m no Wim Hof devotee, but I’ve taken cold plunges all around the world, from two polar dips in Antarctica to swims in glacial lakes in British Columbia….

Terlingua, Texas, doesn’t have a lot of people. The tiny settlement (population 100ish) is literally a ghost town, where a handful of homes and businesses mingle with a cemetery and the stone ruins of a late 1800s mining camp. It’s dusty, hot as hell, and about 240 miles to the nearest Whole Foods. And yet,…

Every scuba dive starts the same way: Gurgling bubbles and a hissing regulator. Then silence. Signaling “okay” to your buddy, you descend into whatever adventure waits below. After this, there’s no script—nature determines what will come. You’re just the lucky witness. And fortunate you are. A scuba certification is an underwater passport that lets you…

With more than 18 million acres of public lands and the lowest population density of any state in the United States, Wyoming has room to roam—and then some. The variety of landscapes across the state can’t be beat. Picture: rugged mountains, dense forests, deep canyons, mesmerizing badlands, and blue-ribbon rivers. There’s something for every kind…

A dream vacation nearly turned into a logistical nightmare this week when eight passengers on a Norwegian cruise line were stranded on São Tomé and Príncipe after they were delayed returning from a tour of the island. Despite being flummoxed and uneasy at being left behind, however, the eight tourists did quite well in their short…

How do you top a DIY full send? Make it a competition. Each of these races packs two to four distinct adventure sports into a single, grueling push. Some are sprints—think two to three hours of full-on effort. Others require up to 34 hours of unsupported navigation in backcountry terrain. Sound like your cup of…

Where did eagles come from? Why are grizzly bears so mean? In this Audible Original excerpt, host James Dommek Jr—the great-grandson of a famous Iñupiaq storyteller— travels around the state sharing legends from different cultures and traditions. The result is a beautiful portrait of life in the north, and a new twist on the idea…

There’s a saying in Iceland that’s sort of the country’s unofficial motto: Þetta reddast (sounds like “thetta rettast”). Like so many Icelandic words there isn’t a direct translation into English, but the essence of it is, “Ehhh, it’ll be fine…” My good friend Pétur Magnusson, who lives in Reykjavik, tells me, “It’s a big part…