More than 2 million acres of public lands and 1,000 miles of rivers in Arizona, Colorado, California, and Washington State would gain federal wilderness protection under a bill passed by the US House on Feb. 26. The Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act passed 220-200 in the House, and now goes to the Senate.
Fifteen national parks set records for visitors in 2020, a year that saw Americans head for the outdoors to escape Covid-19 limits on indoor gatherings. But overall visits to the 423 parks in the National Park System declined 28 percent from 2019 to 2020, a drop attributed to 66 parks Read more
Seven months after the southernmost mile of the Arizona Trail was closed because of border wall construction, open trenches, unstable soil from blasting, and abandoned construction areas continue to make the trail unsafe for hikers.
Hugh adds up what it would take to go ultralight, and decides it’s probably not for him.
Trash—and even human waste—piled up along hiking trails last summer as a rush of people sought refuge in the outdoors during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s how the trail organizations are adjusting.
Hikers on national park trails who cannot maintain a safe distance from others will be required to wear masks under new guidance from the National Park Service.
The 32-mile hike on the Natchaug / Nipmuck Trails in Connecticut meanders through woods still bearing stone walls and cellar holes from colonial days. The hike can be completed in 2-4 days.
Reductions in size to the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in southern Utah will be reviewed by the Biden administration amid a flurry of orders addressing the environment. In his first day in office on Jan. 20, President Joe Biden also moved to rejoin the Paris Agreement on Read more
The Appalachian Trail increasingly is being seen as a buffer from climate change along its more than 2,000-mile northbound path from Georgia to Maine. Healthy forests are key to removing carbon dioxide from the air, and that the Central Appalachian Mountains are a critical carbon-removal landscape.
BPR editor Hugh Owen started backpacking in the 1970s with a massive external-frame pack, heavy boots, and an 8-pound tent. Here’s his gear transformation over the past 40 years.