Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com
Facing severe staffing shortages and equipment issues, the National Park Service has quietly dismantled its underwater recovery team at America’s highest-fatality recreation area. (Photo: Marcus Jones/Getty Images)Published June 24, 2026 03:11PMPaired with an abundance of visitors and boating opportunities, Lake Mead in Nevada is one of America’s deadliest national park sites. Now, as the peak summer season kicks into high gear, the National Park Service (NPS) has suspended its recovery dive team responsible for recovering the bodies of drowning victims.On May 14, NPS Park Dive Officer Sergeant Ryan McCrea announced in an email that Lake Mead dive operations would be…
From UPF clothing to dog rescue harnesses, here’s what you think we should test next—plus, a sneak preview of how we’d approach these new experiments.Published June 24, 2026 10:39AMWhen we test outdoor gear in the field, we make sure to use it as intended and, well, get outside. All year long, our teams get out and get dirty to bring you expert gear picks across a wide variety of categories. Whether you’re looking for featherweight rainshells, backpacking packs, climbing ropes, ski boots, e-bikes, or even yoga mats, one of Outside’s gear teams has put it to the test. But in…
Efforts to protect endangered and threatened species are more important than ever (Photo: Brian Skerry)Published June 24, 2026 07:56AMRed Wolves are a uniquely American species. They live in the southeastern United States and are found nowhere else on Earth. They’re also a uniquely American story. Red Wolves were declared extinct in the wild in 1980, but thanks to the Endangered Species Act and an unprecedented reintroduction program, their population is slowly growing. Red Wolf pups (Photo: John Pitcher) But the end of the story is not yet clear. Today, only an estimated 26 adult Red Wolves inhabit the landscape, and…
Published June 24, 2026 06:00AMWhen Outside first got featured the Slate earlier this year—wrapping it in sun-bleached orange, shooting it against the kind of high desert backdrop outside Palm Springs—the question everyone kept asking wasn’t what is this thing? It was will this thing actually happen? EV startups have a way of, well, not starting. The Slate felt different, but feeling different and being different are two separate animals.Now things get real. It comes with a price tag, a delivery date, and enough spec improvements to quiet a lot of the noise. The $24,950 Slate Truck—already the most affordable electric…
Published June 24, 2026 04:00AMGo for a hike of any level of difficulty, and you’ll see people wearing everything from minimal trail running shoes to burly boots. It’s easy to wonder which type of footwear is better for hiking.Trail runners and day hikers travel over much the same terrain. We’re all out there on hilly, ungroomed trails, moving one foot in front of the other. Day hikers are more likely to be carrying heavy packs and may be on the trail for longer than trail runners. Trail runners usually travel lighter and move faster. But do runners and hikers require…
How lake life, wildlife, and small town life come together in the perfect journeyWest Virginia’s Cranberry Corridor. (Photo: West Virginia Tourism)Published June 23, 2026 03:39PMIf you subscribe to the road-trip theory of travel— that an independent, self-paced drive is the best way to explore a place—then you’ll love to discover that it doesn’t get any better than in West Virginia. The Mountain State has some of the most well-maintained and well-preserved byways in the U.S., country roads that take you not just to and from places, but through them. The Cranberry Corridor is one of those scenic byways that really…
A black bear trailed a hiker in Golden, Colorado, for half an hour. She did everything right and was still attacked, marking the state’s first attack of 2026.Colorado wildlife experts say the attack marks what could be an unprecedented year for bear encounters (Photo: Margarita-Young/Getty Images)Published June 23, 2026 02:35PMA black bear attacked and subsequently stalked a Colorado hiker in Apex Park, a wilderness area in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, on Sunday, June 21. The incident marks the state’s first reported bear attack of the season, and wildlife experts warn that it reflects unusual behavior in a year with…
A rescue at California’s Camp Edison is a stark reminder that when it comes to the campground vault toilets, no pair of sunglasses is worth a rescue mission. Vault toilets can be deadly—here’s what to do if you drop your valuables.Listen to this articleListenUnlike traditional pit toilets that use an unlined hole, vault toilets use a sealed, watertight underground container that can trap dangerous gases (Photo: Andres Jacobi/Getty Images)Published June 23, 2026 11:35AMA camper in California is lucky to be alive after he fell into a campground toilet chasing a pair of sunglasses.The man, whose name and age have not…
Published June 23, 2026 10:05AMWhen I was a kid, we used to spend part of the summer at my grandparents’ cabin in northern Saskatchewan. It was truly rustic: forget TV, it didn’t even have plumbing. My mum would pack a suitcase full of books on long-term loan from the public library for my brother and me, and we would spend hours in the hammock on the reedy shores of Emma Lake.My own kids are just starting their two-month summer holidays, which to them seems like an eternity. There’s a lot I miss about that amazing feeling of endless childhood summer,…
Published June 23, 2026 03:53AMIn 2023, Courtney Dauwalter made history by becoming the first person to win ultrarunning’s triple crown in a single season: the Western States 100, Hardrock 100, and Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB). That’s three grueling mountain races, each 100 miles or more, with a ridiculous amount of elevation, in a span of just ten weeks.It firmly planted her as one of, if not the, best ultrarunners in history. The running community believed such a feat was impossible until Dauwalter proved them wrong. Yet Dauwalter wasn’t out to prove anything to anyone. She wasn’t even planning on…