News / Class

April was a typically busy month as we split our time running the shop, teaching class and getting out for adventures. 

Last weekend was a fun little local adventure, we headed to the Turkey Tune Up held at Lake Henshaw this year. With Spring Turkey Season right around the corner, I jumped at the chance to check it out when our buddy Gary from the San Diego Hiking Network planned the trip.

So, it has been a couple weeks since the last blog post and for a good reason, I was up in Colma California getting my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) with Sierra Rescue International.

Survival Starts at Home: Tools, well there are a million and one ways to address this and I will start off with this one, make sure your tools are in good repair and ready to go. So much of what we do in the outdoors is seasonal and because of that a third of our gear can be shelved for the season at any given time. So, we should be aware that what we need to make sure we might need to keep our backcountry adventures safe and fun might need some periodic maintenance and a check out before we grab it and go.

Survival Starts at Home: Signaling, one of the more underused, carried and understood concepts of backcountry travel is signaling. Like what am I talking about when I even bring it up, who are we trying to signal and how are we doing it. Well like we say Survival Starts at Home with planning, training and communicating a plan.

Survival Starts at Home, Shelter; when we are talking “survival” we love to jump right into the worst case and learn the cool skills (which are important) but the true mark of a backcountry pro is not having to use those skills because of things that they can control.

So, first Blog post in a little over a month, sorry about that. It has been a really trying time and we are rolling with it.  But we have been working to adjust to the new way of operating and getting into routines as I’m sure all of you have by now. I’m getting back int to the routine of writing Blogs, haha.

Last weekend’s 4XFAR fest was epic! One part music fest one part outdoor adventure show and one park Land Rover new and old made for an amazing trip in to the Coachella Valley.

Exploring nature and the backcountry should be a fun experience for everyone. San Diego and Southern California offer a wide variety of opportunities for every one of all abilities.  One of the most important aspects of enjoying your self is a strong base of backcountry skills and a drive to constantly learn new things and then practice and reinforce the basics.