Oh hey! WOOF! Its me, Rippy the wonder dog, the amazing canine of North Canaan, Connecticut. You must be thrilled to meet a VIP—that’s “very important pup”—like me!  I’m sure you read about my amazing, thrilling, oh-so extraordinary story of survival, because it was published far and wide. Wait, you haven’t? Don’t you check out the New York Post? Ah—no need to use such foul language around a terrier. Say, do you have any treats? WOOF! Hey, I get it—there are a ton of stories of doggies surviving in the wild amid amazing circumstances, and it’s so hard to keep track of them all. Do y’all ..read more

Tapeworms have been making headlines ever since an investigation by The New York Times turned up a deposition Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave in 2012. In it, the independent candidate running for president claimed doctors found a one inside his brain. Infectious disease experts and neurosurgeons that the Times spoke with agreed that it was likely a common pork tapeworm. Or rather, a cyst created by pork tapeworm larvae. I’m particularly interested in this topic because I, too, had a tapeworm. How do you catch such an infection? I called Philip K. Budge, Associate Professor of Medicine at Washingto ..read more

Planning an adventure takes you only so far. Eventually you just need to get behind the wheel and go, especially when it comes to astrotourism. Here are the six best campgrounds to base your next stargazing adventure. Discover More Extraordinary Adventures Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado The Black Canyon of the Gunnison has to be seen to be believed. This unlikely gorge plunges more than 2,700 feet into the earth, forming a dramatic miles-long gash with sheer walls of marbled granite. But while it’s often called “the other Grand Canyon,” Black Canyon’s remote location mak ..read more

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What is a national monument, anyway? That’s what I kept asking myself as I rode a mountain bike down a rocky trail on sedimentary layers in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. I was rapidly approaching a lower point on the northern rim of the canyon, which is more than a mile deep at some sections. I stopped 2,000 feet above the bottom of the gorge and watched the Colorado River curve through steep cliffs. The scenery is stunning, the landscape huge…so how is it different than a national park? Turns out, not all that much, at least from a visitor’s standpoint. Most national monument ..read more

Trying to narrow down a list of the best summit hikes in Colorado makes my palms sweat. It’s almost harder than hiking the peaks themselves. I’ve been exploring Colorado’s mountains for over 25 years now and have written six mountain hiking guidebooks, and I still have difficulty picking out my favorites. There are just that many good mountains. My favorite summits are those that embody a certain superlative aspect found on great mountains. That might be the thrill of topping out on an obscure, off-trail peak or simply finding a dog-friendly trail to a gorgeous summit that is shared with my c ..read more

Starting this fall, backpackers will have to pay a per-visitor fee to overnight along California’s famous Lost Coast Trail. For many hikers, this will be triple the current cost. The update is part of a new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to address crowding and protect high-traffic trails from environmental impacts. The Lost Coast Trail traces 53 miles of the Northern California coast between Fort Bragg and Fortuna. Along the way, it winds past black-sand beaches, sea lion colonies, coastal waterfalls, and soaring bluffs. As word has gotten out over the past decade, the trail has become ..read more

I was gunning it toward Split Mountain in the Sierra Nevada and my Subaru was begging for mercy. The “road” to the trailhead was like the surface of the moon, rife with ditches, potholes, and boulders techy enough to have a V-grade. The sunglasses hanging from a strap on my rearview mirror swung wildly, smacking me in the face as I dove the car in and out of potholes. I’d already taken two wrong turns and had been driving this dirt road for the better part of an hour. I was sweaty, stressed, considering canceling my weekend backpacking trip… and I hadn’t even made it to the trailhead. Whether ..read more

As a new mom, I found my first Mother’s Day to be a letdown. I had naively thought that it would be a day where all my anxieties and responsibilities would fall away. But that isn’t your reality when you have a screaming baby who wants to be held only by you. Despite my family’s earnest efforts, each gift felt like a tiny bandage on the gaping wound that was my maternal overwhelm. So I decided to start doing Mother’s Day differently. If this is intended as a day for moms, I thought, then I’m going to do what I want to do. So I decided to start doing Mother’s Day differently. If this is intend ..read more

Updated May 10: Andrew Cameron, 23, from Utah, and Austin Mallet, 32, from Montana, have been identified as the victims in the May 9 avalanche on Lone Peak in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon. The third person, whose identity remains undisclosed, was rescued by search and rescue teams and a helicopter. He was taken to a nearby hospital and released on the same day. Read more here. _______________ May 9: Officials have confirmed two people died in the May 9 avalanche near Lone Peak in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon. A third person was transported off the mountain and taken to a local hospital f ..read more