Jonathon ReedExplorer

Étretat is a small tourist and farming town on the coast of Normandy, best known for its coastal cliffs. It features wide pebbled beaches, natural arches and an eroded rock—and hiking trails connecting them all together. I didn't spend much time i...

Reynisfjara—one of the largest and most striking examples of Iceland’s black sand beaches—is a well-known stop for those exploring the South Coast. Be sure to hike to the east end of the beach to get a better look at the cliffs and the wide ocean ...

Lake Torneträsk lies near the western fjords of Norway in the heart of the Scandinavian Mountains. It is best known for being a destination to view the northern lights, but is also a beautiful area to explore during the day.Begin at the Abisko Öst...

NOTE: Starting September 18, 2020, visitation to Rock Dunder hiking trails will be limited to 30 groups per hour to manage the number of people onsite at any one time and allow for social distancing protocols to be followed. This will allow everyo...

The Creux du Van is found in the wilderness above the town of Noiraigue, a 20-min train ride from Neuchâtel in northwestern Switzerland. It features a magnificent vista ruled by the ibex and wildflowers of the alpine landscape—and it's only a shor...

For a few years, my friends and I made this a yearly tradition; grabbing the ferry across the St. Lawrence River and biking across Wolfe Island to Big Sandy Bay, where we'd swim, have lunch and watch the sun go down. I'm not sure if we'll get the ...

Trail Ridge Road is an incredible highway that crosses the mountains between Grand Lake and Estes Park, one of the most famous parts of Rocky Mountain National Park. It features incredible views of the Rockies and the Front Range, as well as the u...

Whether you're an east-coast local, a cycle tourist starting out on a journey westward or a veteran cyclist finishing a trans-Canada ride, Cape Spear is a must. Who wouldn't want to say they've bicycled the eastern edge of the continent? It's a gr...

The route for the Laugavegur Trail technically leaves the trailhead Landmannalaugar through the Laugahraun lava field—but if you choose not to detour over Bláhnúkur, you’ll miss one of the most visually stunning parts of the entire trail. If you’r...

A large part of the grandeur of Canyonlands National Park is the vast barren vista at Island in the Sky, but no visit to Canyonlands would be complete without the intimate and immersive desert experience that the Needles District offers. Drive two...

I put Dyrhólaey on my to-visit list because of the rock arch that gives the peninsula its name. What made it memorable, however, was its breathtaking view—the flat, treeless coastline jutting into rock shelves and glacier peaks is typical for Icel...

The Roselend mountain pass is known in the cycling world for being part of the Tour de France, but in the winter it is essentially deserted. There are a few old buildings, a small electrical station and you'll perhaps see some locals out for a ski...

The Uncompahgre Wilderness stretches out through the mountains and forests of southwestern Colorado, with worn trails lingering beside abandoned 19th-century mines and crossing old alpine sheep pastures. Dragon's Back is the unofficial name for Po...

Turn right on Highway 313 after Mesa Arch Trailhead and follow the road past Willow Flat Campground to Green River Overlook. Park at the parking lot. Climb over the railing onto the rock edge. Sit and breathe in that desert wind and distant sun. S...

Between Fort Nelson in northeastern British Columbia and Watson Lake on the Yukon border lies the Sentinel Range, a series of stony mountain peaks cut with blue rivers and lined with boreal forest as far as the eye can see. The Alaska Highway, als...

Québec is known across Canada, if not North America, for its high quality Route Verte bicycle route. Your route on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence won't quite be the highest quality of bicycling—you'll be on older highways than other parts o...

Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park is an undeveloped park with no maintained public facilities or services. The backcountry campsites are first come, first serve and non-reservable. It features rugged canoe routes through lakes and wetla...

If you've looked at travelling in northern Canada at all, odds are you've heard of the Dempster. It's a rough 740 km gravel road that runs from the Klondike Highway near Dawson to Inuvik in the Mackenzie Delta. It was started in 1959 and completed...

On the Ontario Parks website, Neys is described as one of the finest sand beaches on the north shore of Lake Superior, with Pic Island as it was immortalized by Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven, sub-Arctic plants, forest trails and pristine sho...

Newfoundland is perhaps best known for its outport villages on the coast, but in between the communities lies a beautiful and rugged island geography. One of the most visually stunning places to witness this is at the Isthmus of Avalon—where the A...

Tuktoyaktuk is an isolated hamlet on the east side of the Mackenzie Delta surrounded entirely by Arctic wilderness. For almost its entire existence, it has only been accessible by boat or airplane, or an ice road in the winter—but in 2017 an 187 k...

The trail along the Bisse du Ro has its origins in the 15th-century Swiss villagers who painstakingly carved water canals out of the mountainsides in order to irrigate the farmlands of the Valais. It hugs the cliffs all the way to the Ertentse Riv...

If you're travelling across Newfoundland, make sure you spend at least a little bit of time off the Trans-Canada Highway with a detour to the coast. Many travellers will visit Twillingate as an off-the-beaten-track coastal destination—so if you're...

Bon Echo is well-known for its deep, clear lake and the native pictographs that adorn the sheer cliff on the north shore. It is a well-sized park with 400 car-accessible campsites in Mazinaw Campground that are walking distance from the lake.Your ...