If you’ve got a wish to get outside and check out the great outdoors with friends and family, consider getting involved with the Great American Backyard Campout set for this upcoming Saturday June 28th.

Sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, they’re asking folks to register their campsite and take part in what may be the largest concerted camping effort in backyards across America since the Revolution.

Of course, you’ll need to provide the gear, s’mores and fun yourself, but there’s no doubt it could be a great way to bring out the kid in those around you while inspiring some of the real kids around you to take a new appreciation for nature itself. Don’t forget your tent and you always need a backpack and a sleeping bag.

Registering for the Great American Backyard Campout
To register just head over to the Great American Backyard Campout’s website and fill out the details of where it is you’re camping out, whether it’s in your own backyard or even your favorite campsite nearby. They promise to load you up with packing lists, recipes, wildlife guides, activities, and tips to help ensure you have a great time

More Green ideas here.

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Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running. These are all silent sports. None requires a motor; none delivers the cheers of a crowd. In each sport, reward comes in the form of hard-won grace and moments of connection between us and nature.

Our values reflect those of a business started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style they promoted. The approach we take towards product design demonstrates a bias for simplicity and utility.

At Patagonia, a love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet. We donate our time, services and at least 1% of our sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups all over the world who work to help reverse the tide.

We know that our business activity – from lighting stores to dyeing shirts – creates pollution as a by-product. So we work steadily to reduce those harms. We use recycled polyester in many of our clothes and only organic, rather than pesticide-intensive, cotton.

Staying true to our core values during thirty-plus years in business has helped us create a company we’re proud to run and work for. And our focus on making the best products possible has brought us success in the marketplace.

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On your first camping trip? Don’t forget these items:

• Hunting knife
• Compass
• Plenty of water
• Waterproof matches
• Portable Stove
• Pots/Pans
• Cooler
• Snakebite kit
• Medical Kit
• Non-perishable food
• Lantern/Kerosene
• Battery charger
• Hiking boots
• Sleeping Bag
• Air Mattress
• Backpack

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Here are some of the very important things that you need to pack for any trip.

Important documents to take with you are your driver’s license, passport/visa, and immunization records if you are going outside the US. Don’t forget maps, directions and a guide book to where ever you are going. Remember to keep important local numbers with you like your hotel, car rental, airline, and local customs.

When packing clothes for your trip, remember to research the normal weather for that time of year and check the weather reports for the type of weather for your destination. If it’s hot where you are going, remember to take shorts and sandals and short sleeve shirts. If it’s supposed to rain where you are going take an umbrella and rain coat. If you will have cold weather then make sure you remember your sweater and heavy jacket. Always remember a bag for dirty laundry so you won’t be mixing the clean stuff in with the dirty.

Remember to include all of your toiletries and medicine like painkiller, prescription medications, insect repellant, chap-stick, and sunscreen. Depending on how long your flight is you may need some music, books, magazines, playing cards or travel games. If you plan on bringing back any souvenirs then you’ll want to bring an extra bag for them. Also remember to bring enough batteries with you for your digital camera and a large enough memory card to hold all of the pictures that you take.

When I travel I love to bring a backpack because it gives me enough room to carry everything that I need and I can put it on my back so it’s not weighing my arms down.

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Backpacks are one of the most popular ways of carrying our “stuff” today. There are hundreds of styles and colors available to suit most anyone.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents look for the following when choosing the right backpack:

• A lightweight pack that doesn’t add a lot of weight to your child’s load (for example, even though leather packs look cool, they weigh more than traditional canvas backpacks)
• Two wide, padded shoulder straps - straps that are too narrow can dig into shoulders
• A padded back, which not only provides increased comfort, but also protects your child from being poked by sharp edges on objects (pencils, rulers, notebooks, etc.) inside the pack
• A waist belt, which helps to distribute the weight more evenly across the body
• Multiple compartments, which can also help distribute the weight more evenly

Check out all our backpacks.

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