adventure

A teen boy and his father in muddy earth tone clothes, hiking backpacks, and sunglasses, smiling and pointing at a large park sign titled High Sierra Loop Trail. The teenager is pointing to the 211-mile long John Muir Trail route.

14-year-old helps redwoods while hiking John Muir Trail

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Lewis McColgan is a self-described “regular person” from Fremont, California. This past summer, at age 14, he spent more than three weeks in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, hiking all 211 miles of the John Muir Trail (JMT). His goal: to …

A hiker wearing a bright red jacket and a gray backpack walks through a redwood forest carpeted with giant ferns.

Redwoods backpacking, the antidote to stress

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Sometimes modern life can feel like a daunting list of deadlines, debt, and difficult decisions. But all it takes to unzip from these everyday stresses is to walk deep into a redwood forest to live for a weekend, sustained by …

How My Family Backpacking Dream Came True (And Yours Can, Too)

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I can think of no wilder adventure than spending a week exploring the Yosemite backcountry with three teenage boys. With my oldest son heading into his final year of high school, I decided to go all out this summer in search of a truly epic, life-changing, never-to-forget experience that my sons and I could share.