Happy summer, everyone! Run outside and breathe in that air! Notice how it doesn’t freeze up your lovely nose or bite at your cheeks? Yep, you could literally spend all day out here. That’s not a bad idea, actually. Whether you’re trying to go camping or planning a day trip nearby, you need to make [...]
If you’re spending time in the outdoors, having a fire is useful for many reasons: for heat, for cooking, for boiling drinking water, for drying off, for drying clothing, for light, for keeping wild animals away and even as a signal if you are lost and need to be rescued. “Nothing will improve your morale [...]
How long does a hedgehog live? Until very recently, not even the world’s top experts were totally sure. Even Sophie Lund Rasmussen, a Danish scientist sometimes known by her YouTube handle “Dr. Hedgehog,” thought they could only live to be 9 years old in the wild. Then she found Thorvald. Thorvald is the name of [...]
If you’ve been backcountry skiing, you may have seen dogs bounding after their owners on the slopes. Maybe you’ve even seen ski patrol dogs at work at the resort. But a cat? Carving turns? These days, more people are bringing their cats with them on outdoor adventures, said Canadian skier and cat dad James Eastham [...]
If you’re anything like us, when Friday hits, you yearn for a weekend retreat with friends or family that doesn’t require weeks of planning, research and reservations. You just want to get away. That’s where camping comes in! We’ve compiled the 25 best campgrounds within two hours of Portland, Oregon. While Portland is a metropolis, [...]
Many outdoor adventurers are reluctant birders. Climbing mountains, busting out miles and clocking vertical gain can all feel very glamorous. In contrast, squinting through a pair of binoculars can feel decidedly less so. That’s how we felt, too—until we heard about Cornell University’s massive global birding event. The Great Backyard Bird Count may have a [...]
As rescue efforts grow more desperate in the wake of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, specially trained search-and-rescue dogs from across the U.S. are being shipped out to help. The earthquake, which struck regions of Turkey and Syria on February 6, destroyed hundreds of buildings and left tens of thousands dead. The international response has been massive, [...]
Bear Grylls has had some extreme injuries in the outdoors. At age 21, he broke his back in a parachute accident in Zambia, when the chute failed to open during a 14,000-feet jump. He fractured three vertebrae and spent a year in rehabilitation. He has also broken a shoulder in Antarctica, been bitten by a [...]
When a black bear in Wannaska, Minnesota found itself in a sticky situation, local residents scrambled to come to its aid. The bear, which had been living in a drainage culvert, quickly became stuck in heavy snow after an early thaw caused water to flow through its makeshift den. Despite its best efforts to dig [...]
While California skiers are rejoicing over the state’s record-breaking snowfall this year, many wildland firefighters are starting to get nervous. Winter precipitation means spring plant growth—and to a wildfire, plants are nothing more than fuel. Of course, California’s record-breaking precipitation does have some benefits. It’s helped alleviate the state’s longstanding drought. Plentiful rainfall also encourages [...]
