Cairn, a Bend, Oregon, firm, offers a subscription service that provides outdoor products to subscribers on a monthly basis. In this article I’ll explain how this works, describe the kinds of things you might get in your packages and the monetary value of the service. I am addressing the standard monthly subscription box rather then […]

We just replaced our iPhone 4 with an iPhone X.  It will be traveling with us everywhere, but it needed to be ready for adventure first.  To learn how we set ours up, you can . . .

I recently bought a Eureka Sunriver 2 backcountry tent.  I’ve been using an old REI Trail Dome tent for many years.  It still works just fine, but I started backpacking.  I have been using the Trail Dome, but it weighs around seven pounds and that’s a bit heavy for a two-person backpacking tent. I checked […]

There are many ways that nature benefits us.  These benefits go to the basis for the existence of EXPLORE! as explained on our Welcome page. We have written about some of these benefits in blog posts including: The Irish Green Prescription for Mental Health Healthy Parks Healthy People Trees and Health The Proper Dose of Nature […]

Introduction The Chief Scout and I recently got new backpacks. The Chief Scout is quite small, so even the women’s version of this pack, the Osprey Aura AG™ 65, would not fit her properly.  The owner of our local outdoor store, The Ledge (Klamath Falls, OR), helped us with choosing and fitting our packs and special […]

 Awhile back we wrote about Photo Exploration and used landscape photography, close-up photography and wildlife photography as examples of genres that would let you build your adventures around your photography hobby.  Photographing stars and the night sky is another way you can build an adventure around photography. Low light or nighttime photography takes special skills […]

Updated: November 25, 2011 – Whether tracking wild animals is your reason to explore or an addition to your other adventures, it’s a fun thing to do and can be a  wonderful learning experience.  When I was growing up,  I enjoyed finding tracks in the mud or snow and determining who made them, where the […]

by Richard Wiese, a Book Review . . . Richard Wiese has explored all around the world. He: skied to the North Pole climbed Kilimanjaro several times (and discovered 29 new life forms there) climbed the Oldonyo Lengai volcano during an eruption completed two expeditions to Antarctica explored the Colca Canyon in Peru (the world’s […]

Lava Beds Caves by Charlie and Jo Larson . . . I picked up this 56-page, paper-covered book at the visitor center in Lava Beds National Monument and have used it as the basis for exploring several caves there.  The book begins with twelve pages of background information including: the human history of the area […]

CamelBak Mule – Hydration Pack . . . My biggest problem when on the trail is water.  If I get enough,  I feel fine – if not, I run out of energy very quickly.  Thus, I thought, a hydration pack would be the thing for me. The main function of a hydration pack is to […]