America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
By Michael Lanza Are you looking for great trip ideas for your personal “bucket list?” Well, you’ve clicked to the right place. This freshly updated list spotlights 10 of the best backpacking and other trips in the U.S.—from Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier (photo above), Sequoia, Canyonlands and Yellowstone national parks to the Teton Crest Trail and a few adventures on …
By Michael Lanza This is, in a way, a story about addiction. Or a love affair. Or both. Those metaphors best describe how the Grand Canyon constantly lures me back when I’m thinking about spring and fall hiking and backpacking trips. It is that rare kind of natural environment that exists on a scale of its own, like Alaska or …
By Michael Lanza We all want our wilderness backpacking trips to have two sometimes conflicting qualities: mind-blowing scenery, but also few other people around. A high degree of solitude somehow makes the backcountry feel more wild—makes the views more breathtaking. However unrealistic the notion may be, we like to believe we have some stunning corner of nature to ourselves. But …
Read onBig Scenery, No Crowds: 5 Top Backpacking Trips For Solitude
By Michael Lanza “The best backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon.” That was what a longtime backcountry ranger I’ve interviewed in the past, who’s hiked every mile of trail in the park, told me about the 74-mile hike from the South Kaibab Trailhead to the Tanner Trailhead, including the Escalante Route and Beamer Trail. That assertion had struck me as …
Read onPhoto Gallery: The Grand Canyon’s Best Backpacking Trips
By Michael Lanza Imagine this: You’re heading out on a long, beautiful hike deep in the backcountry, but instead of a full backpack, you carry a light daypack. You’ve avoided hassles with getting a backcountry permit and there’s no camp to set up and pack up. I love backpacking—and I do it a lot. But sometimes, I prefer to knock …