Wildsam

Montana's Missouri Breaks country preserves a wild, far-flung vision of the American West—remote, alluring and, of course, controversial. Journalist Boyce Upholt and photographer Ben Ward set out to find a story as big as the land itself. Boyce Upholt writes: There’s a place in Montana, where, more than a thousand miles from its mouth in St. Louis, the Missouri River turns shallow. So shallow that steamboats, in the pioneer days, had to grind to a stop.

Presented by Mazda Soaking up the sunshine in Coastal Georgia. The South’s coastal Lowcountry is a unique intersection of land, sea and fertile abundance. The complex interweave of coastal waters, forests and age-old towns makes it a landscape suited to endless exploration—those road trips where time slows down, screens fade out and the textures of the real world come into fine-grained focus.

Across the New Mexico desert, not on horseback, but a moto or Jeep will do. There’s a Buc-ees in Amarillo, Texas, where we stopped for quick brisket sandwiches and other provisions to take along on our way. Buc-ees is a Lone Star State-based, modern, mega-sized convenience store somehow fused to classic American roadside kitsch by way of sheer outlandishness.

Rory Edwardsis the general manager for onX Offroad, the overlanding navigation app from pioneering outdoors wayfinding brand onX. In keeping with onX’s exploratory mission—“The call of the wild is in all of us,” as the company asserts—he tackles backcountry expeditions and other far-flung adventures from his home base in Ennis, Montana.

Outdoors A GUIDE TO THE DESTINATIONS AND EXPERIENCES ON OUR RADAR this season SPONSORED The fertile earth found in Alabama’s Black Belt region has long yielded an abundance of wildlife, creating a destination that’s widely known for its diversity of nature-based activities, one of which has its roots in the blue sky.

Seasonal road trips to discover culture, history & nature.

Presented by Explore Butte County This California locale is a hotspot for eye-catching autumn hues. Fall colors in California? If your vision of the Golden State starts at the coast, you might be surprised to learn that inland foothills and mountain communities see a spectacular autumnal show starting around mid-October through early November.

Wisconsin’s Northwoods region is a slow-paced travel treasure box of backroads, small towns and summer idylls. The Northwoods is an ecological region, stretching across Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. But it’s also a way of life, defined by connection to nature and small town living—or, to be less poetic, lakeside lounging and clutch ice cream stops.

BY JEREMY LLOYDPHOTOGRAPHY BY WHITTEN SABBATINI From every point on the compass, this is prime time to visit the People’s Park. The past speaks in the Great Smoky Mountains. These are among the oldest mountains in the world—so listen closely to their trees, streams and critters as they rustle, rush and sway. That creaking sound? Maybe the old beams in a cantilever barn, a church or homestead still visited by the descendants of people who once lived in them.

Words by NNEKA M. OKONAIllustration by Matthew Hook Candacy Taylor writes and makes films about life on the byways. For author and cultural documentarian Candacy Taylor, there is no greater thrill—and no greater inspiration—than traveling for months on end. She only takes the backroads, never the highway.