Miles Howard

Is it just me, or is there something seriously romantic about the idea of stepping onto a bus or train, rumbling through a hall of trees, and disembarking steps away from an alluring trailhead? Car-free hiking is growing in popularity, as the logistical and financial headaches of car ownership pile up. And here in New England, where I live, you can reach a surprisingly diverse range of hiking destinations by public transit!

For a region as festooned with rivers and streams as New England, finding a swimming hole on a summer day can be surprisingly difficult. Many of the lakes and ponds here, as in other regions of the U.S., are landlocked by private property; making it hard for swimmers to gain access to the water. But I've lived here long enough to sniff out the most sumptuous spots for a dip. Here are my top 15 swimming holes.

I used to be something of a curmudgeon on the question of whether or not it's cool to listen to music while hiking. Then I took a walk in a town forest during Year 1 of the Covid-19 pandemic, inserted my earbuds, and queued up the soundtrack for Terrence Malick's The New World (a re-telling of the story of Pocahontas.) I haven't looked back since then. On a gentler hike where you don't have to worry about natural hazards, pairing the journey with music from the cinematic universe can make for a uniquely transporting experience. To get you started, I've highlighted 15 of my favorite movies soundtracks for hikes. Just make sure to use earbuds or headphones, as that it's a private serenade.

What if your next nature outing ended with you in the jaws of some great beast? Or…what if nature broke into your home to eat you? The great outdoors is the stuff of dreams and nightmares, and no movie genre has tapped into this primal fear like the Creature Feature: a time-tested, crowd-pleasing genre in which a group of humans squares off against a very large and aggressive animal. Or a lot of regular-sized and aggressive animals. Here are 15 of the all-time great creature features, culled from over half a century of moviemaking.

When Frederick Law Olmsted created Central Park—and the concept of the public urban park as we know it—he envisioned a green oasis that could serve as the “lungs of the city" by removing pollutants from the air. But parks also offer city residents and visitors a place to breathe, in a spiritual sense. There's nothing quite like stepping into a park, from the cacophony of the cityscape, and listening as the roar of traffic is replaced by the chirping of birds overhead and the rustling of nearby plants. Here are some of the most immersive urban parks in America.

As much as a documentary or narrative feature set outdoors can scratch the nature itch when you can't run off to the backcountry yourself, neither comes close to the escapist power of an book that gets your cranial gears cranking. Sometimes, the landscape of a great book will inspire future adventures to that very place! But just as often, disappearing into a book that makes use of wild places is an adventure in and of itself. Here are 14 books—fiction, nonfiction, and illustrated children's books—that will have you reaching for your walking stick.

Traditional hiking food tends to be a series of heartbreaks. After years of shoveling down stale mixed nuts and stuffing gelatinous protein bars into my gullet, I decided to buck convention and seek out hiking snacks and meals that actually tasted good (while still fitting neatly into my backpack.) Here are 15 of my tried-and-true edible accompaniments for a hike.

Size is overrated in many avenues of life, and mountain climbing is no exception. Here in New England, we don't have peaks with the epic scale and elevation of the Rockies. So we've learned to appreciate the scenic qualities of more modest peaks, and we've also learned (the hard way) that sometimes, these “little” mountains can still kick your ass. Here are my favorite sub-4,000 foot mountains in New England.

Hiking isn't something most of us think of doing when we venture off to the city for a weekend or a more extended holiday. But cities offer much more than dining, shopping, and entertainment. From Maine to Arizona, America's metro areas contain multitudes of natural space, where urban hikers can ramble through forests, wetlands, rock gardens, and much more. Here are 15 U.S. cities with beautiful urban hikes.

Sometimes you crave the scenic immersion of being outside, but the sticks and stones are out of reach for the moment. Maybe it's a busy week at work. Perhaps you're stuck in bed with a cold. Or you might not have the energy to motor off to the nearest mountains. Thankfully, we'll always have Outdoor Cinema! Here are 15 of my favorite movies, from five different genres, that feature Mother Nature in a lead role.

There are few things more viscerally satisfying than sidling up to a bar after an industrious ramble, ordering a fresh beer, and savoring the foam as you take that first, well-earned gulp. Regardless of the season, beer is an intuitive accompaniment to any post-hike celebration, given its carb content *and* the explosion of craft breweries in the vicnity of hiking areas. Here are 15 of New England's best Hike + Hops pairings.

At the height of New England's infamously muggy summers, we take coolness wherever we can find it. And thankfully, the hills and valleys of this region are positively misting with cascades that come in many shapes and sizes while offering a reliable respite from those broiling afternoons. Whether you're embedding in one region or taking a multi-state road trip, consider chasing these enchanting waterfalls in 2024.