You know those top 10 lists you see on magazines covers? The 10 best adventure hotspots! 10 places you must ski before you die! 10 most scenic campsites in the country! Yeah, those lists. I’ve penned my fair share of those lists over the years and I always feel a little guilty about it. The locals who love those places have to deal with the random magazine readers who actually show up in their private stashes. And putting something on the map and telling people where to go eliminates that feeling of exploration, like you’re actually discovering something on your own.

I wrote an essay about this very subject for the summer issue of Mountain Magazine, on stands now. And in case you still need a little direction on where to start your next adventure, I’ve also written up a few of my favorite off-the-beaten path spots. But the moral here? Don’t take my advice. Go out on your own, chart your own path.

Oh, and that photo above? I took that of my friend Drew on a mud-clogged road en route to a volcano in Iceland (we were trying to go skiing). It was pouring rain and the van eventually couldn’t continue on down the road, so we stopped, had a picnic in the rain and then turned around. An epic time, on a road you’d never find in a magazine…