Adventure

Destination Unknown: The Ultimate Surprise Trip
By Everett Potter Would you pay someone to plan a trip for you and only learn where you’re going when you arrive at the airport? That’s the premise of Destination Unknown, a trip-planning company that’s part of Seattle’s Explorer X. Michael Bennett is a co-founder of both and finds himself

5 New Walking Trips for 2024
By Everett Potter Walking tours, don’t you know, may just be the best way to see the world. The pace is slow, the better to take in all the new sights and sounds around you. You can savor the landscape, the architecture, and the people you encounter, just as you

At Sea – at Last – on Nantucket
By Sandy MacDonald To be a landlubber on this storied isle is to miss out on 71 percent of its glory: its watery surround. Alas, the skills drilled into me at Point O’Woods decades ago have dissolved amid the mists of time, so I won’t be skippering any time

Backroads Unveils New Family Dolce Tempo Trips
By Everett Potter Backroads has long been a leader and an innovator in the world of adventure travel. They’ve also been at the forefront of change, keeping tabs on fluctuating demographics and traveler demands. Back in 2020, during the heart of the pandemic, they first offered softer adventure trips called

Jackson Hole is a Summertime Outdoor Playground
By Brian E. Clark In winter, the legendary Wyoming ski resort of Jackson Hole is an alpine playground of couloirs, steeps, cliffs and bowls, – even some blue and green runs for non-experts. It also offers plenty of breathtaking scenery spread out over 2,500 acres of inbound terrain, 133 trails

The Great Outdoors in Redding, California
By Brian E. Clark When I lived in San Francisco, I drove past Redding on Interstate 5 numerous times on my way to kayak whitewater rivers north and south of the Oregon border, cycle around Crater Lake, attend plays at the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and ski at the Whistler/Blackcomb

Skipper Thom Burns: A Life Well-Sailed
By Brian E. Clark Thom Burns grew up in Dewitt, Iowa, a small town far from any ocean. In fact, the Pacific was about 2,000 miles to the west and the Atlantic was 1,000 miles east of his home. He’d never sailed until he joined the Navy directly out of

Australia’s Scenic Rim
By Everett Potter Australia has no shortage of memorable sights. That’s especially true in Queensland, which counts The Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest, and the beaches of The Gold Coast among its natural treasures. But there’s another discovery in Queensland that’s been hiding in plain sight for years: The

Trek’s Mansion Hill Inn
By Brian E. Clark In 1857, wealthy builder Alexander McDonnell asked architect and German emigrant August Kutzboch to design him “the best house money could buy.” The ostentatious McDonnell chose a wooded lot for his home on a promontory called Bug Hill on the isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona

John Wayne Rides Through Iceland
By Jules Older I was 13 when Billy Jack threw me for the third and final time. It might not have been final if he hadn’t been such a big sucker… and if I didn’t have a fishing reel in my back pocket. But Billy Jack stood 16 hands, and