Greetings everyone! We hope the end of 2014 is treating you well and that you're finding time to explore the wintery outdoors.
2014 was Outdoor Blueprint's first official full year and I wanted to take a minute to recap some of the most exciting and popular things have happened this year.
First, let me give you a glimpse of what's going on behind the scenes... I started this project back in 2012 because I was receiving a lot of questions about many aspects of the outdoor recreation industry. After trying to point people towards not-so-great online resources, I decided to create a new place for visual, interactive, and jargon-free outdoor content where aspiring and expert outdoors people alike could learn something new. Along the way I've been able to pull in some great articles from other industry professionals, guest blog on other popular sites, and get a better sense of the type of information that you - my online community - find helpful.
This year saw a lot of changes to Outdoor Blueprint. We completed a site wide redesign so that things look good on mobile devices, added sixteen new articles about hard and soft outdoor skills, rounded-out a database of thirty-one common pieces of gear, and launched our first product.
Here are a few of this year's highlights:
- - The Road Trip Planner - Decide where to go, plan a route, and create a budget in this three article series.
- - A different approach to Leave No Trace - brought to you by Outward Bound Instructors David Moskowitz and Darcy Ottey.
- - This year's most popular gear included backpacks, climbing ropes, sleeping bags, and shelters.
- - We have also added our voice to the popular hiking site Modern Hiker.
While 2014 was pretty awesome, there are even better things in store for 2015. We have been working hard on creating a new approach to planning a National Park trip. Within the next two months we are going to launch a comprehensive guide to Joshua Tree National Park as our charter park, with many more to follow.
Thank you for being a part of the Outdoor Blueprint community. If you ever have a question about any outdoor recreation pursuit I'd love to hear it! You can reach me personally at brian @ outdoorblueprint.com or send us a tweet (@Outblueprint).
What do you want to learn this year? Where do you want to go? How are you going to challenge yourself?
Have a happy New Year and I wish you an exciting start to 2015.
Brian Eagen
