Danger is often unavoidable. Sometimes the best way to prepare for it is to let go of life.

When someone you know dies in the wilderness, it's not always the end.

One hundred and fifty miles across the Namib Desert with the world’s surliest conservationist.

Big ideas come easy to John McAfee. First he pioneered antivirus software, then instant messaging. Now the mercurial magnate thinks he’s onto something truly extraordinary: personal Icarus machines.

My father suffered from chronic wanderlust. When I was 14, he set out on a yearlong road trip across Europe and Asia—and decided to take me along for company. Beside a remote desert lake in the heart of Afghanistan, I finally got the chance to prove that I wasn't just along for the ride.

From Canada to Mexico—past seven national parks and 1,700 miles (2,735 kilometers) of the promised land—on the West's most Western highway.

Arizona's Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge used to be a pristine desert. Now it's the front line in America's immigration battle, rife with garbage, drug runners, and illegal aliens. Welcome to the nation's most troubled wilderness.

First impressions are often wrong—and other hard-won lessons from the road.

Despite a steep learning curve and some harrowing instructional moments, Tom Clynes conquers a Cessna and is cleared for takeoff into the big wide open.