If you happen to live where it’s still cold enough, ice skating can be a great outdoor adventure.  As a kid,  my weak ankles didn’t help me as an ice skater, but with a hockey stick in my hands I  did alright.  Each year, a spot in the park behind our house would be flooded to […]

Frankly,  I enjoy cross country skiing (XC) more than snowshoeing.  It takes a little more skill, but getting through the countryside is much faster and requires significantly less energy per mile than snowshoes.  I began enjoying cross country skiing as a kid when my grandparents gave me a set of wooden skis with bamboo poles.  My […]

Snowshoeing is a great winter activity for families or anyone that wants to extend the hiking season through the winter.  It takes very little skill to use modern snowshoes.  They are designed to fit your feet and not interfere with your normal walking gait.  Further,  the cost of getting into snowshoeing is much lower than getting […]

When I was a kid I came across a book titled Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft by Thor Heyerdahl.  In the book, Heyerdahl tells the tale of his 1947 adventure setting off from South America with a small crew on a balsa raft headed toward Polynesia. The idea was to ride the Humbolt Current […]

One front in the effort to get kids outdoors enjoying natural play is kindergarten.  The idea is that if pre-kindergarten and kindergarten-aged kids spend everyday exploring outdoors they will develop the ability to truly play and learn important life lessons and skills along the way. Switzerland Several years ago a public school effort in Switzerland was proven successful. […]

Route verte (“Green Route”) is a bicycle route system that covers the province of  Quebec, Canada with 3300 miles of bikeways, and growing.  Vélo Québec, a bicycle club, developed the idea in 1992.  In 1995, the government of Quebec decided to work with the club and invested $88.5 million (Canadian) over ten years to make the system a reality.   […]

If you are looking for a major water-based adventure,  the Great Loop may be for you.  All it requires is a boat (maximum draft 5 feet, maximum height 19 feet, minimum fuel range 250 miles), some time (like six to nine months), some money and a longing for a great adventure. The Route There are […]

  I recently took a hike on the Badger Lake Trail in the Sky Lakes Wilderness of south-central Oregon with a group of friends.  Nothing unusual about that and we’ll have a story and video about the trip in the eMagazine before too long.  What was unusual is that, as a group of six, we […]

Historical exploration can take many forms.  If you are a member of the Discover Club, you can download our ebook on one approach.  However, before we can enjoy historical exploration we must have some appreciation for the history that is all around us. The National Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation have partnered to develop a […]

Waterfalls make a great object for outdoor exploration.  If there are hills or mountains and rivers,  there are probably waterfalls.  I written about several in the eMagazine including: Sun Creek Waterfalls Vidae Falls Plaikni Falls Stuart Falls These are all in or near Crater Lake National Park, but you don’t need a National Park to […]