Sierra Club Outings offer envrionmentally responsible adventures

by Kraig Becker on

The Sierra Club is an outdoor institution in the United States. Founded in 1892, the club has grown to include more than 1.3 members, and has evolved into the environmental grassroots organization that is the model for all others to follow. Each year, the club organizes events and works with legislators on a national, state, and local level to safe guard wild places and promote environmental important environmental causes.

But what most people don’t know is that each year the club organizes a number of outstanding wilderness adventures known as Sierra Club Outings. These outings take place all around the globe, offering activities for just about everyone, including individuals, families, beginners, seniors, women, and more. On these adventurous trips you’ll find yourself backpacking, kayaking, and biking your way through some of the most outstanding wildernesses in the U.S., Canada, and beyond.

Each year over 4000 people elect to travel with the Sierra Club, and with more than 350 itineraries in their catalog, there are plenty of adventures to choose from. Options include excursions to 34 states and more than 27 countries around the globe. Better still, these adventures are easy on the pocketbook too, with more than half of them priced at under $1000.

Some of the exciting options to choose from include backpacking through Escalante National Park in Utah, rafting the Owyhee River in Oregon, or catching the Summer Solstice in the Brooks Range of Alaska. And for those looking to add a new stamp to their passport, there are a host of international adventures as well, such as cruising the Galapagos Islands or spending a month trekking through the Upper Dolpo region of Nepal. Additionally, the Sierra Club volunteer vacations give travelers a chance to enjoy the great outdoors, while giving a little something back in the process.
While the Sierra Club Outings are amongst the best outdoor adventures around, the organization has some other great options available as well. For instance, each year the club sends more than 14,000 urban youth and adults out into natural environments as part of their Inner City Outings program. They also have a number of great lodges and huts, including the famous Clair Trappaan Lodge, located in the Sierra Nevada, available for members to use. And for those who can’t get away for one of the bigger adventures, check out your local chapter for outings in your own backyard.

For 109 years the Sierra Club has led the way in the area of promoting outdoor activities and environmental responsibility. Their outings uphold that same agenda, offering affordable adventures that are safe, sustainable in nature, and fun for the entire family.

10 things you probably shouldn’t do in a kayak (videos)

by Gadling Staff on

Thought to have been in use for at least 4000 years, kayaks are amazing little boats — and amazingly simple. Capable of holding a single person (or sometimes two), kayaks consist of a hull, a covered deck, and the cockpit in which a kayaker sits. These rugged little boats are designed for all kinds of adventures. Well, perhaps not all kinds of adventures…

The videos below demonstrate some of the best (and worst), and some of the cleverest (and stupidest) stunts anyone has ever attempted in a kayak.

Whale-watching can be an amazing, relaxing experience. It can also be a terrifying, body-crushing experience if a whale decides to breach … and land on top of you.

Buoyancy is one of the traits that make kayaks special. Therefore, jumping off the high dive in a kayak may have repercussions.

Just add water. Seriously: water + kayaks. They’re made for each other.

Pro tip: do NOT add a long, bumpy stair case to the mix. It will end badly.

Who said you need water to kayak? These innovators figured out how to kayak — while staying completely dry. Introducing “Urban Kayaking!”

Kayaking is an Olympic sport. Gymnastics is an Olympic sport. Why not merge the two for one extreme sport: kayak-nastics?

Snow is water, after all, so these kayakers aren’t taking too many liberties with the sport. On the other hand, they are taking a lot of liberties with their bodies … and with their fellow snowkayakers’ bodies.

If you were thinking snowkayaking would be safer if you just removed other people … think again. This guy breaks the world kayaking record by hurtling downhill at 46mph — but does that seem safe to you?

Never kayak alone. Because there’s no “alone” like the alone of being upside-down in the undertow of a waterfall.

Did we mention that you shouldn’t kayak alone? Unfortunately, friends aren’t always that much help, either.

Just keep it in the water and everything will be okay. Right?

Well… “okay” means different things to different people. Check out this last clip for a montage of some of the best kayaking wipeouts, rolls, and tooth-rattling splashes.

Want more? Don’t miss 10 Hilarious (and Painful, and Frightening) Ski Lift Videos.

German woman kayaks solo around Australia

by Kraig Becker on

A 45-year old German woman named Freya Hoffmeister completed an eleven month odyssey on Tuesday as she paddled into the harbor at Queenscliff, Australia, finishing a successful circumnavigation of that continent by kayak. In the process, she became just the second person to complete that journey, and the first woman, while setting a new speed record as well.

Freya set out from Queenscliff, paddling counter-clockwise around the continent, last January, and returned to that point 332 days later. Of those 332 days, 245 were spent in the cockpit of her kayak, covering more than 9400 miles. Perhaps the most difficult and treacherous part of the expedition was when she paddled across the Gulf of Carpentaria, along the northern coast of Australia. That bold move shaved 680 miles off of the journey, but to achieve the crossing, Freya has to spend nearly eight days in her kayak, going so far as to even sleep there. She is just the second person to make that crossing by kayak as well.

This isn’t Freya’s first major kayak expedition, although it is by far her longest to date. Back in 2007 she spent 33 days circumnavigating Iceland, and then later kayaked around New Zealand’s South Island in 70 days, achieving a new speed record on that adventure too.

The only other person to successfully circumnavigate Australia by kayak was Paul Caffyn, a New Zealander who made the journey 27 years ago. Caffyn took 360 days on his journey, and Freya bested him by nearly a month. Upon reaching the finish line, the German kayaker said, “I promise, if anyone will paddle around Australia within the next 27 years, I’ll be at the finish line.”%Gallery-7921%

SkyMall Monday: Transparent Canoe

by Mike Barish on

You wouldn’t suspect that the world’s preeminent authority on all things SkyMall would be an adventure travel enthusiast. You probably assumed that I just sit in the SkyMall Monday headquarters in a lab coat kick-ass sweatshirt looking in the mirror and calling myself the preeminent authority on all things SkyMall. But, I do get out into the world and attack it with more vim and vigor than a 14-year-old girl at a screening of “Twilight.” I’ve raced camels in the Moroccan desert, jumped out of airplanes and eaten at a Waffle House at 3:30am. I’ve risked my life. I like staring death in the eye and waiting to see who blinks first (Hint: It’s me, but only because my contact lenses get dry). In other words, I’m not one to shy away from danger. In fact, I like to see the perils that surround me so that I can flip them off and disparage their mothers as I conquer them with ease. That’s why I’ve always been frustrated by the opaque nature of my adventure vehicles. Planes, cars and boats only have windows. How can I moon danger through a tiny window? Leave it to SkMall to understand this very specific problem. They understand that I must envelop myself in danger. That’s why I am thrilled that I can finally taunt all the risks that await me when I’m on the water in my new Transparent Canoe.Sure, canoes are small vessels and seeing 360-degrees around you involves little more than minimal neck movements. But, if you crane your neck too much while attempting to sleep with danger, you could wind up treating massive spinal cord injuries. Save yourself the anguish and just look down. No, not at your junk, perve. At the menagerie of sea creatures that would love to eat your junk. You can see them all through the hull of your transparent canoe.

Think you can see right through my attempts to sell you on this amazing product? Well, it’s so clever that it’s more than just a transparent canoe. Just take a look at the product description:

This canoe-kayak hybrid has a transparent polymer hull that offers paddlers an underwater vista unavailable in conventional boats.

What makes this canoe a kayak? I assume the kayak part is invisible, so we can’t tell. Isn’t that amazing? If you can’t see how much you need this boat, it’s because its amazingness is also transparent. Did I just blow your mind? Good!

So, the next time you see me out on the water, don’t be surprised when I’m gesturing wildly towards my crotch and yelling, “I don’t care how big you are, sea snake! I own you!” I’m just yelling at the wildlife below my transparent canoe. Because I dominate danger.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.

Exploring a remote river in India by kayak

by Kraig Becker on

Some of the last unexplored places on the planet can only be reached by kayak, with explorers making a first descent on rivers that are wild and untamed. The video below is an example of such an expedition through the Tawang Valley located the remote Arunachal Pradesh in India. The journey was expected to take two weeks, with the team going completely self supported over 130 miles of river that, up until that point, had never been seen by man. Along the way, they experienced Class V rapids, deep canyons, perilous rocks, and plenty of adventure.

Enter Tawang Chu Part: 1 from Ben Stookesberry on Vimeo.