Backpacker
U.S. outdoor/conservation-oriented, center-left on environmental issues
Background
Backpacker was founded in spring 1973 by William Kemsley in Bedford Hills, New York, with an early mission to educate hikers on Leave No Trace ethics and environmental stewardship at a time when the outdoors were becoming more crowded. Kemsley sold it to Ziff Davis in 1980; it then passed to CBS Publishing and later to Rodale Inc. in the late 1980s, settling in Emmaus, Pennsylvania alongside titles like Runner's World and Men's Health. In 2007, Rodale sold the magazine to Active Interest Media and it relocated to Boulder, Colorado. Pocket Outdoor Media (later rebranded as Outside Inc. in 2021) acquired Backpacker as part of an aggressive roll-up strategy that assembled more than 25 outdoor brands backed by over $150 million in venture capital. Outside ended Backpacker's print run in 2022, converting it entirely to a digital and video platform. The publication has faced instability under Outside Inc., which carried out multiple rounds of layoffs between 2022 and 2025 and drew criticism from contributors for allegedly pulling back from investigative and political journalism. Throughout its history, Backpacker has maintained a consistent editorial identity centered on wilderness conservation, trail access, and outdoor recreation — values that place it in tension with the Trump administration's second-term push to prioritize mineral extraction and logging on federal lands.
Sources
- Backpacker (magazine) — Wikipedia
- Outside Ends Monthly Print Runs of Backpacker Magazine Amid Layoffs — The Trek
- The Outsider: Outside Inc. expands as part of $150M effort — Colorado Sun
- Outside Owner Lays Off Large Percentage of Magazine Staff — Adventure Journal
- Inside Outside — Columbia Journalism Review
- Senator Proposes Reversal of Biden-Era Protections in Grand Staircase-Escalante — Backpacker
- Backpacker — Outdoor News & Events
- Why Outside magazine and its adventure journalism has been declining — KJZZ
Profile compiled 2026-07-11; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.