10 Best Adventure Blogs Still Going Strong

Is there any dream more enduring than running a great adventure blog? Travelling the world, meeting new people, and serving it all up with epic visuals and hard-won tips is the stuff of social media envy, though the reality is usually closer to laptops, cold dinners, and long drives to the next trailhead. The best adventure blogs still sit in that sweet spot between vicarious fantasy and practical guidebook, pointing you towards your next hike, ride, paddle, or overland route. Many of the personal blogs that boomed a decade ago have since gone quiet, so we have pruned the list, added a few newcomers worth your time, and flagged the ones that are no longer updating. These are the best adventure blogs still putting in the hard yards.

How We Chose the Best Adventure Blogs

We reviewed more than 30 adventure, travel, and outdoor publications, then scored each one on editorial depth, update frequency, originality, and usefulness to a reader actually planning a trip. Blogs with multiple posts in the last six months sit in the ranked list. Publications that still offer useful archives but have slowed down are called out in Worthy Mentions. Sites that have stopped publishing, lost their domain, or been taken over by unrelated operators are listed separately in Closed or Dormant so you are not wasting clicks. All links were verified in April 2026.

1. Adventure Journal

Editor Steve Casimiro launched Adventure Journal after stints running the biggest names in outdoor publishing, and nearly two decades in, it still reads like the considered editor’s cut. Expect thoughtful essays on climbing, surfing, skiing, and conservation alongside striking photography and the occasional long read about life in the mountains. It is the adventure blog to visit when you want something more substantial than a packing list.

Founded: 2008
Based: Ventura, California
Covers: Outdoor culture, essays, photography, conservation
Standout for: Editorial craft and original photography
Owned by: Steve Casimiro

Check it out

2. We Are Explorers

Founded in Sydney by Henry Brydon, We Are Explorers is the most consistent voice for adventure storytelling in Australia and New Zealand. The team publishes trail guides, gear reviews, first-person trip reports, and the occasional opinion piece, most of it written by explorers who actually live the lifestyle. If you want to find a weekend hike within driving distance of a capital city, or a proper multi-day mission in Tassie or Aotearoa, start here.

Founded: 2014
Based: Sydney, Australia
Covers: Hiking, camping, climbing, trip reports across Australia and NZ
Standout for: Community-driven local trail coverage
Owned by: Henry Brydon

Check it out

3. Expedition Portal

If your idea of adventure involves a rooftop tent, a locker full of recovery gear, and a continent to cross, Expedition Portal is the reference publication. Founded by overlander Scott Brady, the site sits alongside print magazine Overland Journal and covers vehicle-based expedition travel in obsessive detail, from hardware reviews to route planning and long-form trip reports. It is the rare outdoor blog where you will find as much on drivetrain geometry as on campfire philosophy.

Founded: 2005
Based: Prescott, Arizona
Covers: Overlanding, vehicle-based travel, gear, expedition planning
Standout for: Depth on 4WD and overland adventure
Owned by: Overland International (Scott Brady)

Check it out

4. ExplorersWeb

ExplorersWeb, known to most readers as ExWeb, has been covering serious expeditions since the late 1990s. Originally built to track polar crossings and high-altitude climbs in near real time, it has broadened into a daily news engine for climbing, mountaineering, polar travel, oceans, and the people attempting genuinely difficult things. Less lifestyle blog, more expedition wire service, and all the better for it.

Founded: 1999
Based: Online, international
Covers: Mountaineering, polar, climbing, and expedition news
Standout for: Breaking expedition reporting
Owned by: Tina and Tom Sjogren (founders)

Check it out

5. Semi-Rad

Brendan Leonard has been turning the mundane realities of outdoor life into quick-witted essays, cartoons, and charts on Semi-Rad for well over a decade. The Friday Inspiration posts round up the best links in adventure each week, and the hand-drawn infographics that helped make the site famous keep appearing in regular rotation. If you want a break from gear-heavy how-tos, this is where to go.

Founded: 2011
Based: Denver, Colorado
Covers: Outdoor humour, essays, illustrations, weekly inspiration roundups
Standout for: Personality and visual storytelling
Owned by: Brendan Leonard

Check it out

6. REI Co-op Journal

The in-house publication of American outdoor co-operative REI is far better than a house blog has any right to be. Staff and freelance writers file pieces on hiking, cycling, camping, conservation, and advocacy, often tied back to gear the co-op sells but rarely reading like a sales pitch. It is a solid resource for how-tos and a reliable pipeline for adventure photography.

Founded: 2006 (as Co-op Journal)
Based: Seattle, Washington
Covers: Hiking, cycling, camping, conservation, gear
Standout for: Practical skill guides backed by experienced staff
Owned by: Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)

Check it out

7. NOMADasaurus

Australian couple Alesha Bradford and Jarryd Salem started NOMADasaurus to document a two-year overland trip from Thailand to South Africa. More than a decade on, the site has matured into a deep archive of adventure destination guides, slow-travel essays, and practical advice on places most outlets skip. Publishing has slowed from its peak pace, but the destination coverage, especially through Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Antarctica, remains some of the best you will find.

Founded: 2013
Based: Australia, on the road
Covers: Overland travel, off-the-beaten-path destinations, sustainable tourism
Standout for: Central Asia and expedition cruising coverage
Owned by: Alesha Bradford and Jarryd Salem

Check it out

8. Alastair Humphreys

Alastair Humphreys rode a bicycle around the world, rowed the Atlantic, walked across India, and helped popularise the idea of microadventures, the concept of squeezing a proper adventure into a single evening and morning close to home. His blog pairs that big-expedition pedigree with an insistent, practical push for readers to just get outside and try. It is part essay collection, part nudge towards your own backyard.

Founded: 2001
Based: United Kingdom
Covers: Expeditions, microadventures, creative living, outdoor writing
Standout for: Making adventure feel accessible from your own doorstep
Owned by: Alastair Humphreys

Check it out

9. The Broke Backpacker

Will Hatton built The Broke Backpacker around the idea that you can travel hard and far on very little money. Today it sits somewhere between a hard-working travel guide and an adventure blog, with country-by-country budget breakdowns, route ideas, and gear reviews written for people whose expedition is as much about finding cheap beds as big views. Good for trip planning, better for motivation to actually book the flight.

Founded: 2013
Based: United Kingdom, widely nomadic
Covers: Budget travel, backpacking, hitchhiking, adventure destinations
Standout for: Long-haul travel on a small budget
Owned by: Will Hatton

Check it out

10. Bearfoot Theory

Kristen Bor started Bearfoot Theory to help people who did not grow up in the outdoors get comfortable doing trips of their own, and the site still leans into that approachable how-to register. Expect detailed posts on van life, national park itineraries, hiking gear, and camping setups, all with the kind of specifics that genuinely help a first-timer plan their next trip without guessing.

Founded: 2014
Based: Salt Lake City, Utah
Covers: Hiking, camping, van life, US national parks, women in the outdoors
Standout for: Beginner-friendly national park itineraries
Owned by: Kristen Bor

Check it out

Other Worthy Mentions

A handful of adventure blogs did not make the main list but are well worth bookmarking. Never Ending Voyage, run by British couple Simon Fairbairn and Erin McNeaney since 2010, is a quietly consistent long-term travel blog with strong destination archives for digital nomads. Cool of the Wild, founded in the UK in 2016 by Mike and Joey, focuses on outdoor skills and gear for hiking, camping, and mountaineering with a useful, plainspoken editorial tone. Both sites update less often than our ranked picks but publish with enough regularity to stay on the radar.

Closed or Dormant

The adventure blog scene saw a heavy wave of dormancy after 2020, with many personal-travel sites going quiet or disappearing entirely. We have pulled the following blogs from the main list because they have either stopped updating or lost their domain.

The Adventure Junkies

Antonio Cala and Amanda Zeisset’s outdoor activity guide has not published a new post since May 2021 by our checks. The archive is still useful for gear and how-to research, but the site is no longer actively maintained.

Uncharted Backpacker

Stephen Gollan’s long-running adventure travel site appears to have gone dormant after April 2024 and now sits behind a Cloudflare challenge that blocks most readers from reaching the content. A pity, as the archive covers more than 90 countries.

Young Adventuress

New Zealand-based Liz Carlson posted prolifically through the 2010s but has not published to Young Adventuress since July 2024. The archive remains online and is still worth a scroll for her South Island and Patagonia writing.

Lyfx

The Lyfx adventure network launched in 2018 but the original domain no longer resolves and the platform appears to be fully shut down.

Dirtbag Darling

Johnie Gall’s outdoor and sustainability blog is no longer operating on its original URLs. Both dirtbagdarling.com and johniegall.com now redirect to unrelated third-party sites, so there is no safe reading archive to link.

You’ll also like:
Best Australian Whisky Blogs
Best Watch Blogs and Websites
Best Australian Lifestyle Blogs

Adventure Blogs FAQs