As a company, we love to show people the great outdoors and offer the opportunity to explore locally. The outdoors, as we know it, is a place to learn and grow, to go on wild adventures, meet new people and push outside of your comfort zone. While it’s great to talk about our side of it, we want to invite others to share their stories; why they go outside, what it has taught them, tall tales from mountaintops and riverbanks. We want to create a space for people to be raw and honest, a spot right here to share and learn. Today’s post comes from Cheryl MacLennan, someone who was raised exploring Cape Breton and carries that spirit of exploration all over the United Kingdom, where she has lived for the last 16 years.

We are probably all familiar with Google Maps and Google Earth. These platforms are useful when sharing general location data however the downside is their off-line versions are not always reliable. There is nothing worse than being in the middle of the words without any service when your map refreshes and you have no idea where you are. Below we have created a list of some of our favourite apps for planning backcountry and off-line excursions so that you don’t get lost on your next adventure!

And then I see the woman wave her hand for her friend to join her. She’s still dancing and laughing and she’s wiggling her fingers at a friend. The friend stands up, starts dancing, makes her way toward her friend and they dance out of view. I look behind me and see that others have started to dance where they are, with their groups, in their spots. I think about how this has been such a longtime coming. We’ve been waiting for months to hug our friends and go to concerts and, my gosh, to just dance.

Sometimes it’s so easy to congratulate a benchmark in other peoples lives when that benchmark is tangible: a ring, a graduation certificate, a birthday, the purchase of a house. But it had me thinking about how many things we don’t celebrate. How many milestones are people passing every day with a Goliath-sized strength and that we don’t even applaud?

We’re coming out the other side of a long year and a half (I think I’ve been saying that for months but hey, a girl can only hope), and there are some things worth celebrating, here. Things that don’t have a nice ring on it or a piece of paper to acknowledge all of the hard work.

Last week my friend, Ally, and I went camping. The weather is finally warming and the ground isn’t soaked through with soggy snow, so we packed our backpacks and set out into the Margaree valley. We ended up pitching our tent next to a set of tiny, cascading waterfalls on the side of one of Margaree’s mountains. We gathered up fallen tree branches, started a fire and ate dinner. We spent the rest of the evening laughing, writing and reading books as the smokey smell of the fire settled over us.

…As you’re packing we know it can be tempting to think what if I need this. Chances are if you’re questioning it, you probably won’t. Below is a list of five basic necessities to check your items against the next time you’re preparing for a hiking trip.

I’ve seen it too many times to count. I’m out on a hike, surrounded by so much natural beauty that it takes my breath away. I look up at towering trees, listen to the bubble and babble of the river beside me, breathe deep to take in the ocean air and then… what’s that on the ground? But I already know. We all do, don’t we?