Outdoor Adventures
• The natural world is a powerful teacher, get outside and explore! •
As an avid outdoor adventurer, I aspire to inspire my friends and colleagues to weave intentional and present time in nature–alone and with friends–into their lives. Time in nature is essential to health, wellness, and our connection to the Earth, and increasingly more important as our relationships with technology and the digital world deepen. This page contains resources my community frequently requests from me to aid them in their nature explorations.
Lists
Lists and resources I have developed over the years.
Emergency Preparedness
The last thing you want while adventuring is to be unprepared for an emergency. Level up your emergency preparedness.
- Check the weather - The most important thing to do before your trip is to know the extended forecast in the area where you will be adventuring. Use the point-forecast feature to pinpoint your exact route/location.
- Garmin InReach Mini Satellite Messenger - my recommendation for adventurers doing higher-risk or solo explorations out of cellular service who are desiring emergency satellite SOS/SAR communication capabilities and/or ability to communicate with emergency contacts. I purchased the additional SAR insurance coverage for $29.95/year.
- First aid kit checklist - see my Backpacking Gear List
- How to react to a wildfire (PCT Association)
- Lightning safety for campers and hikers (National Lightning Safety Institute)
- Wilderness Medicine Training
Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace is about making good decisions to protect the world around you - the world we all enjoy. There are seven core Leave No Trace principles:
- Plan ahead and prepare
- Travel and camp on durable surfaces
- Dispose of waste properly
- Leave what you find
- Minimize campfire impacts
- Respect wildlife
- Be considerate of other visitors
Tools
- AllTrails.com - find trails are near you
- Backcountry Navigator - offline topo maps and imagery for your Android phone, track your trip using GPS
- CalTopo - print your own topo maps; offline topo maps and imagery for your mobile device, track your trip using GPS
- Google Earth - satellite imagery to scope out potential adventures!
- HighSierraTopix - great forum for adventures in Sierras
- National Geographic Adventure Maps - beautiful, color maps with lots of great details
- REI Co-op Membership - dividend returns = more gear!
- Tom Harrison Topo Maps - beautiful, color, shaded-relief topography maps for California