A group of 13 members of Congress are pressing USFS Chief Tom Schultz to detail his officers' collaboration with immigration ...

After five years and over 100 stories, I’m moving on from my post as Backpacker’s ultralight columnist. There’s a lot I could say about the people I’ve met, the stories I’ve told, and the trips I’ve ...

The two hikers were above treeline when the thunderstorm rolled in. Lightning split the sky, thunder boomed, and rain thrashed all around, pinning the 20-year-old and his 16-year-old brother to the ...

“Bring a paper map” is a common piece of advice for hikers (and a good one, in my humble opinion). But when people suggest that, they’re generally thinking of a topo, not a printout from Google Maps.

Umbrellas are not typically a piece of gear I reach for when I hit the trail. I don’t have anything against them. I’ve just always been more of a rain jacket guy, and I wear hats when I need sun ...

On Sunday afternoon, lightning struck Colorado’s 14,264-foot Mount Blue Sky fourteener, killing one teenager, causing serious injuries in a second minor, and injuring three more adults. Clear Creek ...

Thru-hikers have to weigh every gear choice they make carefully: If you’re going to carry something for weeks or months on end, it better be perfect for the job. That said, it can be tough to tell ...

Change is the only constant, and that’s as true of backpacking gear as anywhere else in life. Take the external frame backpack: What was once a revolutionary upgrade over canvas rucksacks and wooden ...

A hiker died on a desert section of the Pacific Crest Trail in Southern California on Thursday after what authorities described as a “medical emergency.” “Deputies reached the hiker and provided ...

Some of spring’s most famous symbols are gentle: blossoms, baby birds, the first tender leaves. Then you have waterfalls. These streams tumble with enough force to remake the landscape around them, ...

A 46-year-old hiker died after a rattlesnake bit her on a popular Southern California hiking trail, the area’s second death by snakebite this year, authorities say. Gabriela Bautista was hiking at ...

“I didn’t think that was real.” That’s the reply I kept hearing from both coworkers and readers after we wrote about backpacker Austin Dirks’s rescue from a quicksand pit in Arches National Park in ...