Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. (Illustration by Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times; photo from Getty Images) As I stroll along the shore, I'm hit by a mix of salty ...

An alternative to backpacking, inn-to-inn hiking lets you spend your days in the great outdoors—and your nights in a comfortable bed. Author Tom Courtney tells us about his favorite such hikes. Click ...

As I stroll along the shore, I’m hit by a mix of salty sea air mingles and the scent of coconut sunblock a beachgoer is applying. Kids squeal and laugh as they dive nose-first into the ocean from ...

(For a longer inn-to-inn hike, you might want a 30-liter or larger backpack, but if you're hiking on sunny days or know the inns have laundry facilities, you can still get by with just one change of ...