Trails Magazine Issue 9

Issue 9 of Trails Magazine features 108 pages of high-quality journalism, photography, and artwork, including the inaugural Editors' Lists. These three lists—each highlighting a specific place and time to go backpacking—replace the outdated and unhelpful “best of 2025” lists so prevalent elsewhere. We’re lending more weight to the lowly packing list, reintroducing critical context to editors' picks, and working hard to earn the trust of skeptical readers. As always, this issue features delicious backpacking recipes, trip reports from amazing adventures, beautifully illustrated trail maps, tons of big photos, and the best backpacking stories you can find anywhere, and it's all printed on hefty 80-pound paper with fewer ads than any other magazine. Stories in this latest issue include: A look at a curious phenomenon taking place in the Northern Rockies where bears, humans, and moths meet,  A photo feature documenting one artist's work to preserve melting glaciers by sealing them in hot