Now more than ever, travelers want their dollars to do more—for others, for the planet, for themselves. At least that's what we found while searching for the best trips of 2010. From wolf-tracking in Slovakia to rafting a forbidden river in Bhutan, here are 25 brand-new adventures, all of them just right for right now.

After a decade of civil war, the birthplace of adventure travel is back with a new 1,600-mile, trans-Himalayan trail. It may be time to re-rank your life list.

Bike until you?re breathless. Hike until your legs melt. Base jump (or don?t). Look out, Chamonix. Norway is Europe?s new home for all things action.

Our annual roundup features 16 places where the perfect powder day awaits.

Versatility is in; über-specialized, out. This season's top skis and boards will dominate the terrain you do best—and everywhere else too.

If Betty Ford treated wanderlust, actor Ewan McGregor would be the first admitted. The 38-year-old gets his travel fix by working on multiple movies (coming up: Amelia, The Men Who Stare at Goats), then taking off for extended motorcycle tours across Africa and around the globe. For our annual travel issue, we asked the actor to share his hard-won wisdom. All of it, by the way, applicable to non-movie stars.

Sled dogs, sure. But Quebec's superior cheeses will surprise you. Plus, the world's healthiest wine.

In a mere 150 miles Vermont?s Route 100 delivers 13 ski-ready peaks, hundreds of acres of XC glades, and a front-seat view of America?s long-standing obsession with winter sports. The first rope tow (predecessor to the ski lift) made its U.S. debut near the Green Mountains, and modern snowboarding was invented in Londonderry by a dude named Jake Carpenter, aka Jake Burton. Adventure in the land where winter legends were made? Now that?s a road trip.

Sure, you can take good video with still cameras. But if you want to make a full-fledged movie, a camcorder is still the only way to play. These three are at the top of their game.

In the ever more crowded field of point-and-shoot cameras, we're left craving innovative, one-of-a-kind machines. We found five.

A year ago, it was tough to find a DSLR with decent video. Now you'd be hard-pressed to find one without it. But only a few cameras shoot both formats well.

The upside of a down economy? It forces you to consider all your options--and our own spectacular backyard has never looked better. We've built the ultimate, state-by-state guide to top outdoor hubs across the country. These 100 adventure towns offer something for everyone, whether you love hiking, skiing, biking, kayaking, climbing, snowboarding, or a little bit of everything. Stay for a long weekend or the rest of your life.Use our click-and-go map to select a weekend escape. Browse our recommended places to play, stay, and eat, or post your picks. Then decorate your desktop with free wallpaper. And this is just the beginning: We'll continue to add towns and seasonal weekend trip ideas. So make this your first stop when planning your next out-the-backdoor escape.

Seek out life on Mars, battle mass extinction, fly a new breed of personal airplane, fight poaching (with DNA). This year's bold theories, big thinkers, and groundbreaking products aren't just changing our world--they're reinventing it.

After 333 days and 2,000 miles, wilderness savant Mike Fay found every last redwood. Now he wants to save them. ?I thought I?d be able to just Google it,? says biologist Mike Fay of locating the country?s southernmost redwood tree. Instead Fay and his hiking partner, activist Lindsey Holm, found themselves on the southern border of Los Padres National Forest in California, clawing their way up a steep-sided canyon.

Flying is a daring undertaking: Whether you realize it or not, you?re putting yourself in a Coke can full of explosive fuel going nearly three-quarters the speed of sound. When things go wrong?as several recent incidents have shown?they tend to go wrong rapidly and catastrophically.

Swim with sharks in Baja, fly-fish Hemingway's favorite Idaho spot, and drink like it's Bavaria in Georgia (or Washington). Still standing? We've got 12 more weekend adventures for peak fall season.

On a recent flight to Idaho, I was deep into The Dark Knight when the guy sitting in front of me rocked his seat back so hard that my laptop crunched shut and nearly took my face with it. That was the moment I first longed for a netbook, the nascent class of micro-PCs that are half the size, weight, and cost of traditional laptops. Even in an industry slump, netbook sales are booming. Market research firm ABI expects 35 million units to be shipped worldwide this year and 139 million annually by 2013. Not bad for a product that virtually didn?t exist until late 2007. And that?s a crucial point: Netbooks are not just smaller laptops. They are a new breed of electronics, designed primarily to get online, view photos, watch videos, and do a little processing?in other words, the basic functions that occupy about 75 percent of our screen time. If it?s a sophisticated computer you?re after, look elsewhere. But for those of us who spend our lives in transit?for business or pleasure or both?a lightweight, no-frills machine with a screen that?s bigger than a smartphone?s is a godsend. If you really crave computing power, limited memory is offset by free online storage services. And netbooks offer peace of mind that laptops don?t: While $500 isn?t pocket change, you wouldn?t be devastated if the thing broke or got lost. If I were planning an extended trip—a month of trekking, say—I?d pack a netbook, rely on Wi-Fi, and avoid Internet cafés altogether. There are dozens of options out there, but if you ask me, it really comes down to these three.

Swing State: Hot, cold, in between?the best fall trailwear can handle it all. Here's a look at this season's top performers.

Perhaps it?s too predictable: Experts find the world?s longest-living people in a remote mountain village on a tiny island in an exotic sea. They party hard, work into their hundreds, and still have sex into their 90s. But then the twist: Their secret isn?t red wine or yogurt or young lovers. The key ingredient to living and loving longer, it seems, is growing right in their gardens.

After a dozen years living and working throughout Africa?studying monkeys in Kenya?s Samburu National Park, directing Peace Corps operations in Uganda, and passing through nearly every other nation?I learned one indispensable truth about travel here: There are no sure things. The animals may or may not appear; the terrain may or may not be navigable; and the weather can be as unpredictable as the elections. But I also discovered a few places in East and southern Africa that deliver nearly every time I visit. (And these days, who really wants to gamble their hard-won travel dollars?) Within these two vast regions, you?ll find the best parks, the most game, and (no kidding) reliable infrastructure. It?s a dizzying variety, which is why I?ve selected my 12 favorite places?from the slopes of Mount Kenya to Zimbabwe?s Mana Pools?as well as the top outfits to get you where you need to go.

Dive into the world's richest marine resource: the Coral Triangle. Here are our picks in Malaysia, the Solomon Islands, and the Philippines.

Wedged between two of California?s great ranges (to the west, the Sierra Nevada; to the east, the Inyo Mountains), the Owens Valley is a lush catchment basin buttressed by the tallest peaks in the lower 48. It?s also a high desert oasis?or at least it was until Los Angeles began diverting the valley?s water almost a century ago. (The ensuing California Water Wars inspired movies like Chinatown and books like Cadillac Desert.) But recently, thanks to a long-overdue water restoration program, the Valley has started to look a lot like its old self, and the fall colors offer reason enough to get reacquainted. Try fly-fishing the clear-running Owens River or sport climbing a sunny crag, then soak in natural hot springs near Mammoth Lakes?the best are just off Warm Springs Road?while basking in the alpenglow of the big peaks.

Survive Almost Anything: It's the one-year anniversary of the financial meltdown, a low-probability, high-impact event or "black swan" that hardly anybody thought about ahead of time. Well, we've been thinking. In the spirit of not getting caught off guard again, we uncovered a few more never-say-never scenarios. Don't say we didn't warn you. Learn about how to survive a tsunami, avalanche, pandemic, failed state, GPS shutdown, and much more.

Check out the season's best weekend trips near you. A moonscape hike in Colorado; biking a retired railway; Carolina canyoneering, and 15 more late summer sojourns.

No one could have seen it coming. The sea that day was calm, the sky clear. For the seven men aboard a small chartered fishing boat in the Atlantic, conditions were ideal. Then the ocean rose up.