Robert Annis

In two recent events, grizzlies shared the trail with hikers in Canada and a black bear joined the crowds at Magic Kingdom. Growing bear populations are the cause, experts say.

THE WOLF TRACKS — large, wide paws about the size of an NBA player’s fist, claws digging into the frozen ground — are fresh, likely made just minutes earlier. Kneeling down to get a better look, our guides estimate a dozen wolves could be traversing this lonely stretch of wilderness just west of Canada’s frozen Hudson Bay. The chase is on.
A few yards away, I scan the horizon over the pine and barren willow trees for the wolf pack I traveled nearly 2,000 miles to see. I’d bee...

At the western edges of North and South Dakota, large swaths of grassland prairie collide abruptly with multicolored rock formations of limestone, shale, volcanic ash, and sandstone. When seismic upheaval created the Rocky Mountains 65 million years ago, these Dakota badlands formed almost as an afterthought, as sand, silt, and mud flowed down ancient rivers to be deposited here, hundreds of miles away.

I hoisted myself over the rocks and dusty buttes of the Caprock Coulee Trail ....

The gigantic bear ambles closer and closer. Weighing between 800 and 1,000 pounds, its the largest predator I’ve ever come across—and I’ve certainly never been this close. Now, just yards away from me and the eight other bear-watchers in my tour group, just off the eastern coast of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, it looks up across the flat, tiny patch of meadow between us and meets my gaze. I’ve wanted to see a bear in the wild for years, but in these first few seconds, I’m secon...

Is this the most ridiculous adventure ever?

It started as an innocent, non-threatening lark. I would hike and paddle my way to the largest island on the largest lake on the largest island on the largest lake in the world, which also happens to be in the middle of the least visited national park in the lower 48 states. A virtual Russian nesting doll of idiocy, adventure, or maybe both.

Although I consider myself more of an Average Joe adventurer these days, I’m no stranger to difficult outdoor...

Patagonia is a bucket-list list destination for many fly fishers, including me. But when I got an invite to Melimoyu Lodge, an ultra-high-end lodge in Chile, I almost turned it down. I only picked up a fly rod in earnest last spring, and I continue to struggle with my casting. At this point, me traveling to Patagonia to fly fish was like a beer-league softball player suddenly being inserted into game seven of the World Series. But my desire to throw myself into the middle of this vast gorgeous wilderness once again won out.

Hiking a social trail behind Joshua Tree National Park’s famed Cap Rock, I came across a peculiar sight that, if you know what you’re looking for, actually isn’t so unusual at all: a crude cross made of dark stones below a scribble of orange graffiti.

It was a makeshift memorial to Gram Parsons, the 1970s rock star who had a deep connection to the park in life — and in death. So much so that fans, nicknamed “Grampires” by some park staff, still haunt this dusty patch of Mojave Desert decades ...

Every year at the Alaska State Fair, local farmers try to outdo each other with car-sized pumpkins and 130-pound cabbages. Here’s what it takes to grow such prodigious produce.

I’m driving through the Catskill Mountains in New York, located about three quarters of the way up from the Big Apple to Albany, on a Sunday afternoon in early May. Every bend in every waterway looks as if it were an LL Bean advertisement. There are anglers of all ages, sizes and sexes decked out in waders, fly rods in hand. I try counting, but stop after about a dozen. I’m a writer, not a mathematician, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to count that high.

I first learned about the California Zephyr from a song by Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar, who, in turn, were paraphrasing Jack Kerouac’s novel Big Sur: “Now I’m transcontinental, 3,000 miles from my home,” Gibbard sings in his, as my buddy Scott Zuppardo describes, “nasally sweetness.” “I’m on the California Zephyr, watching America roll by.” It sounded blissful.

Today, the California Zephyr route is considered by many to be ...

South Dakota packs adventure into a western pocket of the state, home to two national parks: Badlands and Wind Cave. Explore wondrous geological formations both above and below ground in these natural playgrounds.

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Cuyahoga Valley National Park
All aboard to Cuyahoga Valley National Park! Sandwiched between two prominent metropolitan areas, this northern Ohio park charms with its easy access, scenic train ride and prolific waterfalls.

The Winnebago eRV2 is a promising new camper van slated for launch in early 2024. We took it for a five-day test drive to find out how practical it was for weekend trips and longer jaunts.

Minutes after Winnebago introduced their electric concept camper van in 2022, I began hounding the company to let me take it for a spin. Thankfully, after unveiling their latest protot...

Wilderness areas outside of Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, and Shenandoah can offer more remote, intimate, and immersive experiences than the busy parks.

It’s another warm early December day in the Cuban countryside, perfect for a bike ride. I launch myself up a hill, legs spinning fast in a big gear. As the grade increases, I rise from the saddle and stomp on the pedals. The top of the hill is only 20 bike lengths away, and I feel a moment of triumph that none of the other riders have passed me.

That is until I notice a Cuban rider named Jorge on my left pedaling j...

“That sign warned trucks about going up this road—tight switchbacks and no shoulder,” I said. “Should we find another route?”

“I think we’ll be alright,” Sally said.