Using a paddle to guide my canoe through the rapids of the Allagash River in northern Maine, I thought of those who had passed through that area of unspoiled nature before me. The indigenous Penobscot tribe gave the 65-mile waterway its name, which means “bark stream.” In the 1840s dams were built to facilitate shipping…

Awakening after being hit by a truck while riding his motorcycle in Kona, Hawaii, Dustin Reynolds felt the bloody stump of his left arm, and instantly saw the hard road ahead, he said. The rest of his life would be difficult. Cellphone in his right hand, he had a choice to make—he chose to live….

After convincing her parents to let her embark on the biggest solo sailing venture of her life, a teenager became the youngest person ever to single-handedly sail 1,600 nautical miles around Britain. Katie McCabe, 14, is the tiller of her very own boat—the beautiful turquoise vessel “Falanda.” In August, she broke the record previously held by…