There are only a few more days til Chirstmas and we still have two more gift guide left. This one for products under $100 and the next one for products over $100. It was hard to pin down just a few great pieces of gear for these two guide but I hope that it will help you finish any of your last minute shopping. It might just give you some ideas of what you are going to buy for yourself after Christmas.
Out looking for the perfect gift but don’t want to spend a ton of money? This guide is full of gear and products that you can get for under $25. A lot of these products can be used as stocking stuffers or just great gifts on their own.
I was just going over the 2009 Participation Study by the Outdoor Foundation. It is a interesting report covering what is happening in the outdoors and who is participating. The report showed that there were increases in outdoor activities and that more people were returning to nature. Both hiking and camping showed increases of 9% and 7% respectively. 48.6% of Americans ages 6 and older participated in outdoor recreation and 43% of the outdoor participants are female. One of the sad statistics showed that “43% of outdoor participants get out less than every other week — shedding light on America’s current obesity and inactivity epidemic.”
The report shows that the most popular outdoor activities by participation rate are:
I think the most discouraging statistic is that outdoor participation among youth ages 6 to 17 dropped by 6%. This has been a trend for the last three years. The greatest decline was among the youngest (ages 6-12) surveyed. This shows that it is important for all of us to try and help get children outdoors earlier. Children also said that “fun” was an important part of motivating them to get outdoors. So it is important to remember to take it slow and make it fun for kids will want to do it again and again. I believe as we do this, children will learn to love playing outside and the obesity rate will decline.
There are many programs to help children get outside and play.
This is just a few. There are many more in your local area. If you have would like to read the full report please visit Outdoor Industry Association. Also if you have any great ideas of how to get kids outside, please comment so we can help each other get kids outdoors.
Well the last few days I have been roaming around the Salt Palace here in Utah at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Show. It is like a giant candy store for adults who love the outdoors. Over the next week, I will be posting the latest gear that I came across during the show. Some new gear as well as some that just really caught my eye. I hope you check back and see some of the new and excited gear that will be coming out.
There were a bunch of different bands playing at the show. I caught some of Joey and Rory sing their song “Cheater, Cheater”.
At the beginning of each new year, new goals are set. I have been thinking about this coming year and trying to figure out what goals I would like to set for myself. I thought if I posted it here, then I would have others to support, remind, and prod me into reaching my goals. Last year, was the first year that I can remember sitting down and writing out goals. I did fall short in most cases but I know because of a least one goal, I went climbing more. I am good at coming up with excuses at why I can’t reach a certain goal or maybe why I haven’t been able to go outside as much as I would have liked (Kids, work, family, tired). But when it is all said and done, these are just that, EXCUSES. I would love to hear from all of you. What are you planning this year? What goals do you have? Please reply to this post and by doing so we can all help each other succeed.
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