Outdoor Adventures

This page of resources belongs to the Adventure Living Library.

When our youngest was three we started hiking together regularly, and then it become once a week. The more we were outdoors together, the more we wanted to be outdoors together; hiking, camping, and backpacking. 

Then we moved to the mountains, started skiing and made our dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail together into a reality.  You can find and follow that adventure on YouTube.

Now we live in Montreal and family life is focused on accessing city resources (schools, employment opportunities, connections, etc) to help our kids launch into young adulthood. We no longer live in the outdoors, nor do we spend as much time in that space together, but having adventures together in natural places is a core part of our family culture and our pursuit of these activities has greatly enriched our lives.

Adventure trip reports and journals

I write trip reports and keep photo journals of our outdoor adventures at Outsideways.

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• A winter ski trip to the woods - A video of solo ski trip in Mont Tremblant National Park In mid-February 2023.
• October Solo Camping - 3 videos showing why I enjoy solo camping, addressing security/familiarity questions, and how I actually do it.
• Winter is my country (but then there's March) ~ Part two - My first solo backcountry ski trip.
• Backpacking as Vacation - Prior to this trip I had never imagined backpacking as a vacation.
• A return to Long Distance Hiking/Backpacking - This trip reminded me while I fell in love with backpacking to begin with.
• After the Appalachian Trail will I ever do long distance backpacking again? - A brief history of backpacking.
• Experiencing Yellowstone National Park - Recommended sites and stops in Yellowstone National Park.
• One Day a Week ~ You never know where it might go - A one day a week practice changed our family life, maybe it could change yours?
• Living Inspired: Post-trip Reflections - De-brief from our second winter backpacking trip.
• Our First Time Family Backpacking - This inaugural winter backpacking trip was a game-changer for our family.
• The hardest part is getting out the door - The physicality of backpacking takes one type of commitment, getting a family out the door to start that adventure takes another.
• Kid's Outdoor Gear Guide: Clothing Edition - There is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong gear.
• Kids Outdoors (is coming) & Backcountry Skiing (a brief intro) -
• Camping as the means to an end - Camping for us is a means of travel, enabling our family to go places and do things.
• Skiing on the Schedule ~ When Dreams Come True - We had a dream to ski with our kids but we weren't sure how how our resources of time, money, and location could be stretched and finagled to make this a reality.
• Sunday night thoughts about hiking and marriage - After working steadily for a year on getting out almost every weekend to hike, backcountry sled, or visit a lake or ocean we have quite a routine down.
• Camp character building - Just when I think I'm doing well; showering in the woods, using a glorified plastic bag to wash dishes and sleeping in a tent we go for a hike in the pouring rain.
• Seeking Winter Adventure - Wondering what kind of winter activity we can do that's cheap and gets us outdoors for a whole day together as a family.