In today's Long Read with Outside Magazine Features Editor Fred Drier, we're revisiting one of the most chilling stories we've ever published. "Murder on the Appalachian Trail" was first published in 2015 and written by Earl Swift, who was compelled to revisit the horrific 1990 murders of thru hikers Geoff Hood and Molly LaRue that took place in the trail's Thelma Marks shelter in Pennsylvania.

We say "revisit," because Earl hiked with the couple during his own thru hike, just a week before their deaths, and he was never able to shake the mystery of the senseless tragedy.

Following today's Long Read, Fred sits down with Earl to learn more about why Earl wrote the story, and what he took away from the experience.

 Last year, ski mountaineer Jim Morrison completed what many have called the boldest ski descent in the history of hairball skiing: the direct North Face of Mount Everest. The accomplishment is the subject of Jimmy Chin's new film, "Everest: The Other Side. "

There are few folks on this planet who are in the same realm as Jim when it comes to bold firsts. Luckily, Outside Days has a way of bringing these types together. Jim was joined on the fest's Ideas Stage with Alex Honnold and Fitz Cahall, hosts of the podcast Climbing Gold. Alex has spent his career redefining what is possible on rock walls and Fitz—host of the first outdoor podcast, the Dirtbag Diaries—has spent his career helping us mere mortals make sense of why people do objectively bonkers things.

Alex and Fitz sat down with Jim for a live recording of the Climbing Gold Podcast to discuss Everest, decision-making, risk, why we spend time in the outdoors, and what happens when the margin for error gets very small.

Recorded live at RESET Hotel, presented by Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy

What's on the outside of outer space? Nobody knows, not even a guy who spent 36 years at NASA. 🌌

Paddy heads to Reset Hotel outside Joshua Tree National Park to stargaze with Dr. Gary Blackwood, aerospace engineer, former NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program leader, and (yes) alien hunter. We get into why he’s convinced we’re not alone, how telescopes can sniff out breathing planets from light years away, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, the Belt of Venus, a Hurricane Hilary backpacking mishap, a lightning round (quasars vs. pulsars vs. Jar Jar), and what Gary would ask visiting aliens first.

Plan your stay at RESET, part of Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy: https://www.marriott.com/brands/outdoor-collection.mi

If you’re a skier or snowboarder and you’ve never packed into a movie theater with a few hundred other snow-starved fiends to shout and cheer and ring in the winter season by watching your favorite past time reflected back at you on the big screen, you’re missing one of the best rituals in the outdoors (ironic, given that it happens indoors). This collective act of snow-summoning has become an annual ritual for hundreds of thousands, thanks in large part to one man: Warren Miller. For over 70 years, the films have reliably sent people into autumn evenings around the world glowing and ready to shred. This year, the film’s 77th edition features a new star and, for the first time since Warren himself was at the helm, that star is also the film’s director. Katie Burrell needs no introduction to Outside Podcast fans; this is her third time on the pod in less than three years, but her previous spots were due to her  best-in-class comedy chops and massive social presence. This time, the conversation has a bit more heft: You’ve been handed a legendary winter sports franchise … now what?

In this week's Long Read with Outside Magazine Features Editor Fred Drier, we explore an entirely different kind of poaching than the one you're thinking of. This isn't a story about illegally hunted grizzly bears or gray wolves, it's about trees.

In the Pacific Northwest, loggers venture deep into national forests to illegally cut down protected species of trees that they can then sell as specialty lumber for thousands of dollars.

Today's story was reported by Nick Davidson, about a high profile case of timber poaching that occurred in Washington's Olympic National Forest in 2018 and how a team of forest service rangers and investigators ended up cracking the case by using tree DNA.

We love our extreme endurance athletes, like Ironman champions, the lady who walked to the South Pole, and Alex Honnold. But, regardless of how many times we stare slack jawed at their accomplishments, we never stop asking: Why? Why do they choose to do these outrageous, objectively un-fun things? Record setting open ocean rower Kelsey Pfendler has the most relatable answer for these un-relatable outdoor pursuits: “ There’s a part of me that I don’t get to be unless I’m in those places.”  In July 2026, Kelsey became the first American woman, youngest woman, and fastest person overall–breaking both the women's and men's records–to row solo and unsupported from California to Hawaii. Nothing about the 2,400-mile journey is easily identifiable to regular ole outdoor folks, but Kelsey’s ideas on the importance of endurance sports, fear, and motivation are relevant to everyone. After all, who doesn't need a little motivation to push harder when the going get tough?

Recorded live at Postcard Cabins, Blake Brook, presented by Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy

When it comes to the outdoors, New Englanders are a particular bunch, known far and wide for their insistence that — where you might be in the world and whatever you might be doing — you’re missing out if you haven’t done it in New England. Hiking, biking, surfing or skiing, if you haven’t encountered these characters in the wild, you may have found them in your social feeds, where they’re masterfully depicted by Matt Lyons.

Matt amassed millions of social followers with his hilarious caricatures of outdoorsy stereotypes, but he only mocks what he knows himself, and he knows the New Hampshire wilderness better than most. From thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail to weekend escapes from Boston, Matt knows the value of slowing down and getting outdoors. That made him the perfect guest to join us at Postcard Cabins, tucked into the woods just 90 minutes outside the city.

We talked about that thru hike, as well as the unconventional path Matt took from middle school teacher to social media phenom, and of course why his native New England is such a treasure trove of characters for one of the funniest people in all the outdoors.

Plan your stay at Postcard Cabins, part of Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy: https://www.marriott.com/brands/outdoor-collection.mi

You’ve surely heard the stories of a deeply competitive athlete whose drive to win has wreaked havoc on those around them. But can the positive attributes of competitive drive, like  goal setting and persistence be harnessed to achieve something totally different than dominance—even something altruistic? If you’re mountain biker Eliot Jackson, the answer is yes.

Eliot parlayed national championships in motocross into top 10 finishes in downhill mountain bike racing. When he retired at 36 years old, Eliot shifted his drive to confront the racism in cycling, sparked by the national racial justice reckoning that swept the country in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

In 2020, Eliot founded Grow Cycling,  a foundation to promote access and inclusion in the sport. Under Eliot’s guidance, the foundation turned ideas into real life solutions, starting with a 50-acre bike park in Inglewood, California. It's a shining example of a vibrant, diverse bike scene and how individual competitiveness can create real community.

Recorded live at Trailborn Jackson Hole, presented by Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy.

What does Jackson Hole look like through the eyes of a big-mountain ski superhero who's just as excited to talk about the town's artists and musicians as its powder? On this special episode of the Outside Podcast, brought to you by Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy, we sit down with Jim Ryan, recorded live at Trailborn Jackson Hole in Jackson, Wyoming.

Jim is a Vermont ski racer who headed west when his race career ended, and he became a fixture in the Jackson community, and not only in the ways you'd think. He's respected by the town's world-class athletes, but he'll just as happily tell you about its swing dancers, its creatives, and its... LARPers?

Together, it adds up to one big idea: you've been thinking about Jackson all wrong. By the end, you'll be booking your own stay at Trailborn Jackson Hole to see it for yourself.

Plan your stay at Trailborn Jackson Hole, part of Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy: https://www.marriott.com/brands/outdoor-collection.mi

Most of us, at some point in our lives, will put a goal aside, with every intention of coming back to it later on in life. Maybe it’s that marathon you always thought you should run. Maybe it’s going for that big promotion at work. Or perhaps it’s trying to learn how to play guitar or a new sport or…the list is endless.

The point is, we all have dreams, big, small, audacious, or somewhere in between. But, while the goal setting is endless, the follow through is often nonexistent. Unless you’re pianist, composer, and sailor Anne-Marie Keane, who's currently fulfilling a life-long—and long delayed—goal of sailing the globe. In today's episode, she gives a master class in navigation, not just of the seas, but of a life well lived.

On this week's Long Read, with Outside Magazine's Features Editor Fred Drier, we welcome you to fall—specifically, to Oktoberfest. Thanks to the magic of marketing, the German festival where people don lederhosen, drink beer, and sing songs has spawned a new tradition.

Masskrugstemmen is the German word for competitive steinholding. You heard that right; it's a competition in with competitors hold beer steins full of beer and ... well, that's about it.

In 2025, reporter Martin Fritz Huber traveled to Central Park to check out the Masskrugstemmen National Competition, to soak up the suds and the fun at the event, and then for this story, he took a deep dive into the wacky world of Steinholding.