BackCountry Toys is a supporter of Leave No Trace and we encourage all outdoor enthusiasts to do likewise. To learn how to put these principles into action, you may find more information on their website at www.lnt.org or on our website as well.

Over years, I have tugged on countless things in nature. I have found out they are indeed attached to everything else - including me. As outdoor enthusiasts we understand importance of our relationship with backcountry and we are keenly aware of how our attitudes and our actions determine long term viability of these wild places. Here is another of my favorite quotes. This one is by Michel Montaigne. “Let us permit Nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we." Use this information and you’ll Get It Right The First Time. Get Outdoors!

If a GPS receiver isn’t in your budget right now, perhaps you might give Letterboxing a try. Letterboxing is similar to geocaching in that you are searching for a hidden treasure, but in this case it is called a box not a cache and you use clues versus coordinates to locate treasure. There are other components to Letterboxing game such as rubber stamps and log books. Letterboxing is inexpensive, loads of fun and addictive.

So what’s next? How about oldest of all outdoor hobbies? That’s right, stargazing. If you live in a large city and spend all of your time there, it’s easy to forget about night sky because you can’t see it. But it’s still there and provides breath taking views that are impossible to communicate. So grab a jacket, a pair of binoculars and a loved one and go somewhere nearby where you can have an unobstructed view of night sky with as little light pollution as possible. With a pair of binoculars you should be able to see man-made satellites, moons of Jupiter and craters on our own Moon. Once you catch stargazing fever you’ll move up to a telescope where you can point it virtually anywhere in night sky and be awe struck.

There is so much available to us outdoors. Try something new like bird watching, geocaching, letterboxing or stargazing. Each of these activities has a large on-line community ready to share its sport, its tips and its passion with you. Visit our on-line education center and we’ll point you in right direction.

Not everyone has skill or desire to climb Mount Everest, hike Appalachian Trail or sail world’s oceans. But there is something everyone can do near their own homes that will open eyes and their minds to beauty of nature. Take a few hours this week and spend it outdoors with someone you like. Use this information and you’ll Get It Right The First Time. Get Outdoors!