Imagine a lake of bright yellow-orange lava with a molten fountain gushing 1,900 feet (580m) in the air. Now imagine walking across a smoothed solid rock surface where that lava lake once churned, guided by ahu (rock cairns) past a tall cinder cone as you aim toward the other side. That’s the experience of the Kīlauea Iki Trail in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

The rough winter in the Sierra Nevada has severely damaged two backcountry trail bridges in Kings Canyon National Park, both of which are key for John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail backpackers.

Christopher Newhook pulls out a pair of adorable cloth cod and two fabric knives at Castle Hill National Historic Site and gets to work showing why this humble fish changed the world.

Before my first giddy moment alone on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in Virginia, I stood in a parking lot across from the trailhead studying a stern sign and feeling anxious.