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We at Field Mag know better than most that the world of publishing is a tough one to travel. Dig into its dirt and you'll find news of shutterings, layoffs, and venture capital buyouts. The attention economy is competitive, and, we get it, scrolling TikTok is a lot easier than subscribing to monthlies. But there's hope—in the world of outdoor- and design-oriented storytelling, it comes from a small and growing(!) group of outdoor magazines that prize quality over clicks.
These intrepid few publishers know what the tech companies and financiers don't; that enthusiasm and passion exist among hikers, campers, climbers, surfers, skiers, and gearheads—enough to support high-quality storytelling in quarterly, biannual, and annual installments. Within each of these publications' pages you'll find good old fashioned ink-on-paper text, bold images, and sound design. If you're tired of the endless feed and value a deeper connectin to all things outside, consider subscribing to one of these indy mags.
Trails
Subject Matter: Backpacking, hiking, running
Founding Year: 2023
Frequency: Quarterly
Subscription Fee: $70
Founded from the ashes of Backpacker magazine, Trails continues the documentation of backcountry adventure in North America. Its photo-filled pages bring tales from the trail—think trip reports, trail beta, recipes, features, and outhouse reviews—to armchairs everywhere.
Summit Journal
Subject Matter: Climbing & alpinism
Founding Year: 1955 / 2023
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: $60
Summit was a classic climbing rag for decades before it ceased printing in 1996. Thankfully as of 2023, it's back in biannual form thanks to editor Michael Levy. The new version is large-format and archival quality, and full of stories from and of climbing's most intrepid.
Adventure Journal
Subject Matter: General Outdoors
Founding Year: 2008
Frequency: Quarterly
Subscription Fee: $60
Adventure Journal launched its quarterly print edition in 2016 and since then has been a go-to for outdoors lovers tired of the typical print format. The coverage is broad—skiing, camping, surfing, mountain biking; it's all here—and its roster of contributors includes heavy hitters like Terry Tempest Williams and Chris Burkard.
Sidetracked
Subject Matter: Adventure
Founding Year: 2011
Frequency: Three issues per year
Subscription Fee: $42
Epic is the best word to describe Sidetracked, a UK-based publication that puts out a coffee table-worthy magazine book three times a year. Expect photos from the farthest reaches of the globe, and stories that range from documenting an Antarctic sailing trip to portraying the way of life of South Korea's diving women.
Mountain Gazette
Subject Matter: Mountain Culture
Founding Year: 1966 / 2000 / 2020
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: $70
Relaunched for the third time, this storied publication is alive and well in the hands of veteran journalist Mike Rogge. The large format (11x17"!) biannual print magazine celebrates all visions of outdoor life and storytelling. Past coverage included a piece on skinny dipping in alpine lakes and fighting wildfires in the American West.
Beside
Subject Matter: Nature & Culture
Founding Year: 2016
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: $40
Beside is a Canadian publication that covers the space where nature and humans meet. It's not all hardcore adventures outside, it's living sustainably and thinking about our place on Earth. The publication also operates a micro-hotel called Beside Habitat in a forest outside Montreal.
Daybreak Magazine
Subject Matter: Outdoors & Creativity
Founding Year: 2020
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: $35/issue
Publishing at the intersection of the creative and outdoor realms, Daybreak's pages are filled with photographs and stories highlighting musicians, painters, musicians, designers, and adventurers who operate closely with nature. In a past interview, Daybreak founder Tommy Moore told Field Mag, "The general idea behind it all is trying to take the gritty content of your standard adventure magazine and then juxtapose [it with] the airiness and simplicity of the museum-grade art book."
Ori
Subject Matter: Travel
Founding Year: 2023
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: $60
Ori's tagline is "travel from the source" and its mission is "to tell local stories on a global scale." To do that, it taps local journalists and creators rather than rely on parachute-in writers and press releases to bring unique stories to its twice-yearly, coffee table-quality books. Ori's Creative Grant means that 2% of revenue goes back to one of the magazine's contributors for future creative work.
Les Others
Subject Matter: General Outdoors, Travel
Founding Year: 2012
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: €50
Printed in France, each issue of this biannual magazine touches on a different theme surrounding and celebrating the outdoors. The team operates out of Paris and aims to highlight the intersection of the outdoor industry with creativity and design as well as other surprising themes . With unique and beautiful photography this is definitely one for the coffee table, even if you haven't brushed up on your French in a while.
Hard Pack
Subject Matter: Skiing
Founding Year: 2023
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: $25/issue
Hard Pack exists on the edge of skiing, covering the sport from angles that old-school ski magazines (many of which are no longer in print) can't. Experimental photography, fashion, design are open terrain in each issue of the twice-yearly book.
The Surfer's Journal
Subject Matter: Surfing
Founding Year: 1992
Frequency: Bi-monthly
Subscription Fee: $84
Founded in '92, The Surfer's Journal is almost "tradtional" media. Almost—it's two-decade run is still going because the publication is wholly devoted to the quality of the words and photos it publishes six times a year. SJ is reader-supported with minimal ads from a core group of sponsors, leaving each issue clean of clutter.
Emocean
Subject Matter: Surfing
Founding Year: 2023
Frequency: Biannual
Subscription Fee: $22.50/issue
In the past, the face of surfing tended to be the blond California boy, but that's chaning. Emocean is a publication that aims to show diversity in surfing focusing on BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women in the surf industry. Through creativity and storytelling, Emocean paints a broader picture of what surfing means to different people.
Amateurs
Subject Matter: General Outdoors & Travel
Founding Year: 2023
Frequency: TBD
Subscription Fee: $15/issue
Amateurs is the print progeny of gear maker FSP Outdoors. Like the limited selection of high-quality gear the company produces, the magazine is design-minded, thoughtful, and unexpected, with stories you won't find anywhere else.
Techhunter
Subject Matter: Techwear & Outdoor Fashion
Founding Year: 2015
Frequency: Annual
Gearheads, this one's for you. Germany-based Techunter is all about exploring the edges of outdoor gear and performance apparel. Now back in print after a digital-only hiatus, Techunter brings stories about brands, designers, and gear.
Whalebone
Subject Matter: General
Founding Year: 2010
Frequency: Bi-monthly
Subscription Fee: $15/issue
Whalebone isn't technically an outdoor magazine, but its pages are filled with the same spirit of adventure and optimism that defines the category. Actually, it's diffcult to fully define Whalebone; there's been an issue dedicated to pizza, another to snow, and one guest-edited by Bill Murray (no joke).
Published 03-16-2021
Updated 04-10-2024
