Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com
Escape to New Buffalo and St. Joseph, where summer fun overlaps with great food and artPublished July 2, 2026 12:05PMWhat makes a great summer beach scene? Activities for everyone, pristine shorelines and water, and welcoming communities. You’ll find all that and more in southwest Michigan, where the state’s Lower Peninsula has long been a haven for beach seekers. Whether you’re hopping on an Amtrak from downtown Detroit or Chicago or loading up the family van, getting to New Buffalo and St. Joseph is easy—and once you arrive, simply slow down and enjoy harbor-town energy that moves at your pace. Here…
Published July 2, 2026 12:18PMBy the 64th minute, the shadow had taken most of the field. It had been coming all evening, sliding off the rim of Levi’s Stadium, swallowing the grass a few yards at a time, and nobody paid it any mind. Why would we?It was still a gorgeous day in Santa Clara, California on Wednesday with 68,827 people in the stands, most of them in red, white, and blue. For once, we were the favorite going into the game. A novel sensation in American men’s soccer. For the first time ever, the U.S. entered a World Cup…
Celebrate independence from paying full-price this holiday when you shop these Outside-approved sales from REI, Evo, and more. (Photo: evo/REI/Canva)Published July 2, 2026 03:45AMOur favorite way to celebrate the Fourth of July? Spending time outside. Camping trips, backpacking missions, mountain bike bashes, fly fishing adventures—the list goes on. Our second favorite way to celebrate the Fourth of July? That’d be inside, scoring enormous discounts on outdoor gear to prep for our next trip. Alas, such is the life of the gear nerd.Now, we hope you’re out in the wilderness this Fourth of July, far from your laptop and enjoying the…
Published July 2, 2026 03:48AMLet me paint you a nightmare scenario: You go to the office every day, knowing that at any moment, you could be told to pack up and leave on a spur-of-the-moment, 18-day business trip. When you arrive, you’ll be left in an unknown location with no transportation, no way out, and no promise of rescue. Oh, and did I mention that your destination is 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit and actively on fire?That’s smokejumping for you. When federal agencies get a call about a remote wildfire, they break out the maps. If there are roads nearby, they send…
Dressed in all black and defying New York law, urban climbers Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus took their viral “rooftopping” romance to the absolute pinnacle of Manhattan—and descended in police custody.Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus starred in the 2024 Netflix documentary, “Skywalkers” (Photo: Jason Mendez/Getty Images)Published July 1, 2026 02:19PM“This film contains extremely dangerous and illegal activities. Do not attempt to imitate.”That’s the opening of a 2024 Netflix documentary, Skywalkers: A Love Story, which showcases the highs and lows of a Russian daredevil couple who rose to fame by climbing what they called “the last super skyscraper on the planet,”…
With its unparalleled images, user-friendly features, and bombproof construction, OM SYSTEM’s new OM-5 Mark II camera will keep your smartphone in your pocket where it belongsMeet the new OM SYSTEM OM-5 Mark II (Photo: OM SYSTEM)Published July 1, 2026 02:35PMWhen it comes to capturing outdoor adventure in all its glory, smartphone cameras have come a long way but not far enough. Star-filled skies turn to a washy mush of gray-black noise, you need Magic Eye-level sleuthing to identify pixelated wildlife back home, and getting the perfect split-second shot of little grom’s first huck can demand a frustrating amount of trial…
Published July 1, 2026 11:20AMAs a practicing internal medicine physician, I field some version of the same question every summer: Is it safe to be outside right now? This week, the answer leans toward a hard no. The National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) has flagged a dangerous heat wave building across much of the U.S., with major to extreme heat expected through the Fourth of July weekend and beyond.The temperature on your phone is only half the story. Without also checking the heat index, you are missing the number that actually predicts how hard your body has to work…
Published July 1, 2026 03:51AMIn one of the most economically depressed neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., on a warm fall afternoon, woodsmoke rises from a vacant lot. That tells me I am headed in the right direction. Exiting the Anacostia Metro station, on a bright afternoon, I chart a course toward the smoke. In less than five minutes, I arrive at an unlikely scene for this part of town: a bustling pop-up village consisting of six mobile saunas arranged in a loose circle around a patch of astroturf.Dozens of people wait for their turn in the saunas; in the biggest one,…
Published July 1, 2026 03:18AMPerfecting my down-dog in a dark field wasn’t how I expected to spend my first night in Pennsylvania’s stargazing oasis, Cherry Springs State Park. Yet there I was, alternating between yoga positions to pass the hours until the clouds cleared. I’d always wanted to visit. Cherry Springs is a magnet for astrotourists because it’s one of the few truly dark getaways in the northeast U.S. Nearly two decades ago, the 82-acre getaway became one of the first destinations certified by light pollution authority, DarkSky International. What makes it even more special: it puts the glimmering Milky…
From ultralight packables to nap-ready recliners, these are the beach chairs that delivered.Published June 30, 2026 03:04PMThere was a time in my youth when I took a minimalist approach to beach days. I spent a year living in San Diego and I would take a towel and a surfboard to the beach and that was it. If I wasn’t in the water surfing, I would sit on the towel and think about surfing. I’ve evolved as I’ve aged. Maybe it’s because I have a family now, or maybe it’s because beach days are less frequent and I want to make…