Wildsam

Rich in scenery and history, there is no escape like a drive through New England’s outermost lands. Nowhere else on the Eastern seaboard stretches farther into the wide Atlantic Ocean than the long, arm-shaped, glacier-carved peninsula of Cape Cod, home to some of the oldest Colonial settlements in North America. Out here, you will find rolling country roads lined by seaside homes, antique shops, lobster shacks, bike trails and beaches.

Fun, fast, and powerful, this luxury SUV sets the standard for everyone else to follow. Editors’ Note: This review is part of an ongoing Wildsam series, testing out new road-trip rides on the kinds of journeys we tend to favor. When Rivian first burst onto the scene way back in 2018, the electric vehicle market was still largely just a curiosity for most car buyers.

Words by by Brenda Colladay “Oh you love my travel itinerary? Thanks, it’s vintage!” The origin of the scrapbook Carmon Unruh found in her mother’s estate was a mystery. The bound volume detailed a month-long road trip taken by four friends from Kansas in 1950, but nobody knew who they were. Carmon’s first instinct was to post on social media, hoping to find one of the travelers’ relatives who might want the book as a keepsake.

Photo courtesy of Ted Turner Reserves Wildsam Road Trip Awards 2026 These far-flung outdoor destinations are worth the effort it takes to reach them. When we went looking for outdoor destinations worthy of a Wildsam Road Trip Award, we knew we had to find places that were special.

Presented by Visit Central Oregon The high-desert region’s dark skies reveal the cosmos. Around the world, the night skies are brightening at an alarming rate. Experts say that nearly everyone in the United States lives under light-polluted skies, and around 80 percent of North Americans can’t see our home galaxy, the Milky Way. But in Central Oregon, tucked away behind a mountain range from large coastal cities, stargazing opportunities abound.

Wildsam's Road Trip Awards We scoured the map to find people, places and projects taking road-trip travel to new destinations. For the 2026 edition of our Road Trip Awards, we headed out to discover and celebrate the most intriguing destinations on our wide, crinkly, marked-up mental map of America. We looked for places rethinking what certain kinds of travel are all about; we searched for ideas, initiatives and even vehicles that could inspire us all to hit the highway. What did we find? Hop in.

Presented by Red Cottage Ease into the river town rhythm of Livingston Manor and the wider Western Catskills, places deeply woven into the Red Cottage story. The Hudson Valley and Catskills have a way of drawing you in like that. Not all at once, but little by little, until you find yourself moving at a different pace. Here, a good day might begin with coffee on a wide porch as morning fog lifts.

Megan Eaves-Egenes hopes her new memoir, Nightfaring: In Search of the Disappearing Darkness, inspires readers to get out at night and connect with the dark in new ways. “A lot of people simply don't think about the dark,” she says. “We can’t protect what we don’t understand or know.” The Wildsam contributor and London-based writer takes readers to starry skies across the globe to explore darkness and its essential role in our lives, physiological and creative.

Presented by Trailborn A new breed of lodging runs a little bit wild. In recent times, American lodging has embraced road-trip travelers in ways both new and reminiscent of the old. (Wildsam covered the comeback of classic motor lodges last year.) And this year, we noticed one trend in particular: New spots, tuned to nature, designed to put guests in closer touch with their surroundings. Sometimes, these efforts look like hotels; in other instances, they stir together cabin living and camping.

The coming of spring means a new season of knockout views and alpine wonders on the legendary Beartooth Highway. The Beartooth Highway is one of those storied routes: about 68 miles of Highway 212 that carry travelers up, up and up to almost 11,000 feet above sea level. Typically open from May to October, the road connects Red Lodge, MT, with Yellowstone National Park, zagging through northern Wyoming.