If you love to travel, play hard, explore wild places—and have the best gear while doing it—you need to read this month's cover story. It features the people, places, and paraphernalia everyone will be talking about in 2005. Also, find out about the explorers and trendsetters in the world of adventure.

On a rickety Royal Enfield motorcycle, writer Matthew Power set out to ride 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) over steep Himalayan switchbacks, through the Kashmir valley, and on to the world's highest motorable road. See outtakes from his trip >>

Host of the landmark National Geographic series Explorer, Lisa Ling talks to Adventure about how Colombian drug lords, female smoke jumpers, and impenetrable jungles compare to working with Barbara Walters and Starr Jones on The View. Read Q&A >>