This episode of the Outside Podcast is brought to you by Travel Texas, which invites you to visit a place where you can find authentic adventures at every turn.

Over the years at Outside Magazine, we've covered many of the unique experiences that you can only have in Texas.

From camping in Big Bend National Park to world-class kiteboarding and wind surfing off South Padre Island, what comes through in all these stories

is that Texas is really what you expect.

I feel like it's a place of discovery, and as an editor, there's nothing more exciting than surprising and delighting my readers with something they don't see coming.

This is my colleague John Dorn, who found himself totally unprepared. For the spectacular environment, he encountered on his first trip to Texas, when he visited Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

It's a remarkable place. It's got a range of ecology and fossil history and wildlife and bird life that is truly stunning.

There's something really special about the colors in this northwestern corner of Texas. The contrast of the yellows and the reds and the oranges that are flaming in fall color

are against the backdrop thousands of feet below you of Chihuahua Desert, where you look out and see sand dunes and salt flats and acres and acres of cacti.

It holds a special place in my memory among the hundreds of backpacking and hiking trips that I've taken in my lifetime.

Learn more about the many unique adventures you can find all across Texas at traveltexas.com

From outside magazine, this is the outside podcast.

It is officially summertime and that has me and a lot of other folks in a good mood, especially this summer.

When we find ourselves spending time in the flesh with the people we love and really missed hanging out with over the last year.

To celebrate this, we here at the outside podcast are kicking off a new short run series that we're calling the Summer of Love.

It's made up of stories reported by outside magazine contributing editor Florence Williams.

Flow, as I think I'm allowed to call her, is probably best known for the nature fix.

Her 2017 book that investigates the science behind nature's positive effects on the brain.

For years, she's explored the intersection of human health and the outdoors.

Earlier this year, she came to me with an ambitious idea to explore how our relationships with each other are catalyzed or intensified or maybe dissolved when we head outside.

For the first episode in the series, she brings us the tale of a man who found the courage to share his true self with the world.

After climbing a very big granite wall with a new friend.

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