Southern Indiana Trails

Master the art of navigation and you’ll never lose your way again. In our seven-part Backcountry Navigation course on Outside Learn , you’ll get versed in everything you need to navigate on- and off-trail, from using GPS and digital maps to old-school wayfinding with a paper map and compass. Join the class now and learn at your own pace.  Why Should I Learn to Use a Compass? Get to Know Your Compass Correcting for Declination What are the Different Types of Compasses? How to Find Your Location with a Compass How to Find Your Bearings With a Compass Using Your Smartphone as a Compass Sure, not all who wander are lost. But when you’ve been walking in circles for hours and your day hike is stretching into an overnight, that saying is a cruel joke. The solution? Don’t get lost in the first place. Learning how to use a map and compass is something all hikers and backpackers need to do. Even experienced backpackers sometimes neglect their navigation skills, but when the tr...

It used to be called the female athlete triad : a condition characterized by lost menstrual periods , a decline in bone density, and stress fractures resulting from taking in too few calories. For years, the condition was regarded as a concern only for women — and only those who lost their periods. Women who retained their periods weren’t considered at risk, and men, whose hormone systems are different, were thought to be unaffected. In 2014, after an extensive review of the medical literature, the International Olympic Committee officially renamed the condition RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sport) and expanded the definition to recognize that the basic problem is consuming too few calories to support everything your body needs to do—a problem that is broader than the traditional female triad and can affect men as well as women. When it’s not actively training, the body’s energy balance is skewed heavily toward things other than exercise. The brain needs about 20 pe...

Port Aransas is Texas’ greatest coastal paradise. With more than 18 miles of sandy beaches, hundreds of species of birds, and uber-easy access to world-class fishing, it’s the ultimate Gulf escape from city life. Port A, as locals call it, and San José Island—just a short boat ride away—are teeming with opportunities for nature lovers to explore the outdoors. Here are just a few can’t-miss activities you’ll need to add to your itinerary. Go Fish Port Aransas is the fishing capital of Texas, and it’s not hard to see why. Deep sea fishing charters here can set you up to catch marlin, barracuda, grouper, mackerel, mahi mahi, and more. But you don’t have to venture far, or pay much, to land a good catch. It costs $7 to drop a line at Horace Caldwell Pier , where you might hook a flounder, redfish, black drum, or trout. Even better, there are at least a dozen restaurants in Port Aransas that will cook your catch to perfection, so you can enjoy well-earned fine dining—and know exac...

It’s hard to remember now, but before Will Smith slapped Chris Rock , one of the biggest controversies heading into the Academy Awards was the baffling announcement that Kelly Slater, Shaun White, and Tony Hawk were on the illustrious list of Oscar presenters—three faces you’d sooner expect to find on a rerun of the X Games than rubbing shoulders with Jessica Chastain and Denzel Washington. It turned out that the superstar surfer, snowboarder, and skateboarder (respectively) weren’t there because the Academy decided to retroactively recognize Lords of Dogtown or Surf’s Up as the cinematic masterpieces that they are. (As Hawk quipped on Twitter , “If being in every Jackass movie, xXx, Police Academy 4 and Sharknado 5 doesn’t qualify me to present at the Oscars, then your taste in movies needs readjusting.”) No, White, Hawk, and Slater traded their boards for tuxedos to present a tribute to the 60 year anniversary of the James Bond franchise. But what exactly do these thre...

Decades ago, snowboarding was born from a desire to surf on snow. Early pioneers sought to carve the contours of mountains like the faces of frozen waves. Undeniably, snowboarding has come into its own since those early days, and for some, snowboarding is only distantly related to its surfing roots. And yet, for many of us, surfing remains the driving force, the ideal, the inspiration for the gear we ride, how we ride it, and the cold-smoke powder we prize above all else. If you count yourself amongst this sect of surf-inspired snowboarders, look no further. Korua Dart Plus Snowboard ($775) (Photo: Courtesy Korua) Korua’s affordable yet critically acclaimed Dart has been a popular pick for surf-addicted powderhounds and carving specialists for a few years now, but this season the boutique German board builder unveiled the Dart Plus . “Plus” doesn’t mean beefier dimensions, but more premium materials. The classic Dart shape remains the same: a broad, rockered nose; a wide, cambere...

Every afternoon near the start of my first thru-hike, I knew just where I’d to find the hiker named Poncho—and that he’d greet me with advice that would help me finish the Appalachian Trail. A few years earlier, Poncho, a fifty-something auto mechanic from Boston, had found his real home (and that nickname) on the Appalachian Trail. He had fallen in love with the path’s subtle majesty and social fabric. Early each spring, he’d return to Georgia to start his annual pilgrimage up through the other side of his home state, Massachusetts, en route to the trail’s northern endpoint. Poncho had become something of an idiosyncratic guru in the process, an intriguing hiker who would slip out of shelters long before dawn and stop in the midafternoon 20 miles up trail to build a fire and rest for the following day’s long walk. A compact and wiry man with an exquisite salt-and-pepper beard, Poncho seemed to glow when he talked about the Appalachian Trail, proselytizing on its virtues like he’d u...

Climbing harder requires stronger fingers, and developing stronger fingers requires specific training. That’s why professional climber Jonathan Siegrist crafted 6 Weeks to Stronger Fingers , a comprehensive training plan aimed at 5.11–5.13 climbers. If you want to climb better and harder, then learn more . One thing everyone needs to consider when starting a finger-training regimen is injury prevention. Proper form, slow progression, and antagonist drills all help you get the most out of your training while staying injury-free to perform another day. Siegrist spoke with Climbing to discuss possible injuries to beware of while training finger strength, as well as how to prevent and heal from these injuries. What injuries to the hands and fingers do you typically see in people training finger strength? The main things to watch for are finger and wrist injuries from overuse. Ideally, when following a finger-strength program, you should be at much lower risk of finger injury co...