Family Friendly Hikes in Zion National Park - Zion is home to plenty of short, family-friendly hikes that pack a punch in terms of scenic prowess. Some of these hikes are more well-known than others, but they're all suitable for a wide range of age and ability...

How To See More Wildlife - Spotting an animal in the backcountry adds an intangible element of wildness to any outdoor experience. Unfortunately wild animals are usually in the business of avoiding people. Still, there are a few things you can do to increase your likelihood of spotting wildlife on your next trip...

Johnson Canyon and the Hunt for Montezuma's Gold - A few miles east of Kanab, a deep canyon slices northward through the Vermillion Cliffs of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Johnson Canyon has an eclectic past...

Jacob City: Exploring an Abandoned Canyon - The tunnel wound and forked through ochre rock; tall and narrow in some places, low enough to require hunching over in others. We passed dripping new cave formations like stalactites, flowstone, and cave pearls: graceful conceptions of nature that appear only after decades of quiet solitude...

All Sorts of Stings - All spiders are venomous, but North America is home to only three species that are considered a threat to humans. Most spiders either have venom too weak to be harmful, or teeth too small to puncture human skin...

Naturalist Basin - Over the years, a variety of men and women have dashed themselves against these undulating peaks and basins. In one such surge of attention, a gaggle of nineteenth-century naturalists flocked westward on the newly minted Union Pacific Railroad, each hoping to be the first to make the “next big discovery” out West...

Unearthing History in Range Creek Canyon - Duncan points out a couple of crumbling homesteader’s cabins. At one of the cabins, the fallen timbers sprawl through the rock walls. He stops and tells the story of a young, single rancher who struggled to make a living here. He wasn’t here long before he was found dead by his neighbor...

The Lakes Backcountry - Most experts agree there is no gold in the Uintas. However, two men created minor turmoil when they claimed to own a map showing the location of several lost mines. According to their story, the maps were found on a group of dead Mexicans in 1830. Supposedly the Mexicans had been harvesting gold from one of the lost Spanish mines...

Eardley Canyon - When we catch up, I lean over the sideways tree and see Paul, unknowingly sitting with his back to a full-size ram. Half the ram’s torso is eaten away by some monstrous predator. Its broken ribs jut into the air. t would have been a quick kill in the narrow canyon...

"1.21 Gigawatts!": The Real Facts about Lightning - In July 2003, Rick and Lisa Goff were enjoying an idyllic afternoon with their three children. They set up camp near the shore of Crystal Lake in the Uinta Mountains. As an early afternoon storm gathered , the Goffs moved their lawn chairs under a tree for shelter...

Dispelling the Snakebite Myth - Over the years there have been many in-the-field remedies for snakebites. Most of these therapies are as strange as our fear of snakes, and none of them work. Mostly, they increase the harm that is already being done...