Do you want a GPS Unit? Win one!

Are all of your friends sporting a GPS unit, yet you are still trying to use a magnetic compass? It's time to get out of the stone age, and enter the digital age. Backcountry Secrets is giving away a Garmin eTrex GPS Adventure Pack.

There are literally hundreds of things you can do with a GPS unit. In case you really do not know, here are just a few of those things:

1. Get lost and then find yourself.
2. Know when that exit is coming up on the interstate.
3. Track every step of your life.
4. Estimate arrival times.
5. Let the cops know that you REALLY were not speeding and have proof!
6. Find cool stuff on web sites like Backcountry Secrets or Geocaching.
7. Remember where that great fishing hole is.
8. Know when the sun will rise and set.
9. Locate your Grandma's grave site that you only visit once in a blue moon.
10. Strap it to the dog and prove to the neighbors that those really are not your puppies.
11. Go golfing and determine distance to the hole.
12. Determine your speed on the ski hill.
13. And best of all, have fun with your kids!

Now is your chance to gain fame and fortune! Ok, so we really can't promise any fame, but it could save you a few Benjamin's. The rules are pretty simple and basic. Submit a valid point to Backcountry Secrets, have it approved by a member of our staff, earn an entry to our drawing, and start praying your point is selected as the winner.

We are accepting entries until October 31, 2008. There are some official rules and such we had to write up, but if you live in the US or Canada, head on over to Backcountry Secrets and submit a point for your chance to win. The more you submit, the better your odds! All I have to say is, if you win, you better use it because this used up all of our revenue from 2007 and then some...

July is perfect for camping and just around the corner

July is the apex of summer. The month starts out with a bang and ends with kids dreading having to go back to school at the end of August. There is not a better month to enjoy the great outdoors with your family. Pack up the gear, head out on a camping trip this July and enjoy warm nights, lakeside swimming and priceless family memories.

Winter camping requires great skill and lots of gear to stay warm. The best part of camping in July is being able to pack light. The warm summer nights of July allow one to sleep with minimal covers and enjoy fresh crisp evenings. Tents, expensive sleeping bags, and fires are optional. Everyone can camp in July and enjoy it.

From skinny dipping in the local pond to swimming in the city pool, summer time swimming has become a national past time. A great feature of July camping is having the option to swim. The hot weather allows campers to take a dip and cool off. Swimming is fun and provides entertainment close to camp. If you really want to be “adventurous”, take a couple canoes and have swamping wars. Just remember, everybody needs a swimming buddy.

Society today seems to be doing all it can to degrade families. This is why it is important to spend quality time together as a family. July camping can be quality family time. Remember to drink plenty of water, rest in the shade, and use sun screen. A few small things will help summer camping trips to be much more enjoyable and memorable for years to come.

Break away from the television and the rush of everyday life. Spend some quality time with your family this summer. Go camping! Warm summer nights, lakeside swimming, and family memories are awaiting you at a campsite this July.

Our new sport - Canyoneering or Canyoning

Do you like to swim, rock climb, walk, jump, and rappel? If you do, you need to know of a sport called canyoning or canyoneering. (Depending upon where you live.)

Canyoning is the sport of travelling through a canyon using different techniques such as swimming, rappelling, and more. This sport is often done in remote locations and requires ultimate wilderness travel skills.

Most canyoneering is done in mountain canyons with flowing water. Countries all around the world have areas for people to participate in canyoning. The Rocky Mountains have numerous canyoneering locations in the US. The majority of canyoneering trips can be completed in a single day.

A word of caution. Canyoneering can be very dangerous. Canyon walls can be steep making rescue extremely difficult and time intensive.

One of our great members suggested this sport to us. I had never heard of it, but it sounds like a lot of fun. We have added this as a sport to Backcountry Secrets. Head on over and add your routes or search for some adventures!

A few weeks ago I was surfing the web and came across a page with a giant sculpture on it. I thought it would be fun to use Google Earth and see how many giant sculptures I could find. This video is the result of my boredom. Here are the coordinates if you want to examine closer:

Giant Stamp (41.505411573, -81.692457496)

Ketchup Bottle (38.662918939, -89.982383508)

Bow and Arrow (37.791521261, -122.389989817)

Ice Cream Cone (50.936455030, 6.948690859)

Bowling Pins (51.445331000, 5.480611000)

Big Bottle (54.574815724, -1.231978576)

Giant Spider (43.269220376, -2.932930972)

Checker Board (51.913074117, 4.472107467)

Garden Hose (47.999729921, 7.830358741)

Pickaxe (51.310555997, 9.503194892)

Button (39.952229114, -75.193698905)

Noah's Ark (37.783276752, -97.464872569)

Airplane on Road (36.109354066, -115.150417173)

Umbrella (41.587398462, -93.621451805)

Baseball Bat (41.881976590, -87.643125562)

Pool Balls (51.956976100, 7.618386775)

Giant Sundial (33.824449271, -111.921772867)

Statue of Liberty (40.688995748, -74.044564691)

A new feature to track points

We have had a few requests to make it so our users can see what points were added most recently. So to oblige we are reformatting the home page to include the last 10 points added.

We are also excited to announce the release of our first RSS feed. The RSS feed will contain the last 10 approved points with the following information:

1. Point Name and State/Province the point is located in.
2. The member who submitted the point and the date of submission
3. Directions to the point
4. All of the sport descriptions at the point.

Subscribe to Backcountry Secrets' RSS

Road Side Hiking for the Kids

For the first time in 5 months the temperature gage read above 50 degrees! I'm so excited for the fun weather to be back. To kick off the good weather we went "hiking".

Have you ever stopped at a rest stop on a long trip and noticed one of those signs for a "trail" and thought to yourself, "How much of a trail can there be at a rest stop?" I have plenty of times, but my attitude was changed this last weekend.

My sister left some soda in her camp trailer this winter. One of the cans exploded and leaked all over her floor. Last Friday was the first day in a long time that felt nice enough to clean it up. So she gathered her 4 kids and husband to help her clean out the camper. They cleaned and cleaned, but when her kids found out that they weren't heading camping they were bummed and upset. They decided to take the trailer for a "test-run." They called us up and asked if we wanted to go hiking at the rest stop on Interstate 15. I figured we had nothing better to do so we met them at the rest stop for lunch and a little spring warm-up hike.

The entire path was paved, gained a total of 50 ft in elevation, and was .8 miles long. It was not what I would call strenuous. However, the kids LOVED it. They used the GPS to "find" their way around the path, searched for snakes on the lava rocks, viewed dormant volcanoes from an observation tower and even saw a lion in a cave. (Ok so the lion wasn't real, but don't try to convince them otherwise.)

So what did I learn from this exciting trip? I learned that some of the best kept Backcountry Secrets can be found 100 ft from an Interstate. Next time you're travelling a long distance, it might just be worth taking that nature trail hike at the rest stop.

A consuming society

Backcountry Secrets has been running on the web now for almost 2 years. I finally feel like the site is starting to get to the point I envisioned it may one day reach. The only problem to date, the web site has too many consumers and not enough producers.

I think I have the solution, a simple requirement. From now on, we are going to require users to submit one point before they can read the details of the hundreds of other points available. I figure it is a small thing to ask for. We've all been told that nothing in life is really ever "Free". Well, this is the price we are asking our users to pay. I figure it's better than $5.95 a month.

Guess we'll have to watch and see if it works or not. Hopefully everyone is not too selfish and they'll share some basic points.