Michael Lanza

Michael Lanza is a freelance writer and photographer, author, public speaker, Northwest Editor of Backpacker Magazine, and creator of The Big Outside, where he blogs about his outdoor adventures, including many with his family. His most recent book, Before They're Gone—A Family's Year-Long Quest to Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks, winner of a National Outdoor Book Award honorable mention, chronicles his wilderness adventures with his wife and their young son and daughter in national parks threatened by climate change. An avid backpacker, climber, backcountry skier, and cyclist, he has hiked and climbed extensively in the U.S. West and Northeast and published stories in several magazines about adventure travels on four continents; his articles about global warming helped Backpacker earn a National Magazine Award for general excellence in 2008. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.