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An online outpost for those who'd rather be outside.


One Camping Printable, Four Ways to Play: Turn Your Campsite Into a Nature Quest
The Field Trip Camping Quest: one printable, 24 little reasons to pay closer attention to what’s happening around you.


Out and About with Scout: Outside Inn Campground
Outside Inn is a family-run campground and working farm in Santee, South Carolina, spread across more than 60 acres of pasture, pines, trails, and animal-filled goodness. There are full-hookup RV sites, tent camping and glamping options.


I Kept Five Honeybee Hives. I’d Ask Different Questions Now.
Previous studies have found evidence that managed honeybees can compete with wild pollinators for floral resources, particularly when flowers are limited. More recent work has also found changes in wild-bee foraging when managed honeybees are present.


If a Bat Dies When a Tree Falls, Does It Count?
Imagine someone knows protected bats are roosting in a tree and cuts it down anyway because they want the land cleared. They did not cut the tree because they wanted dead bats. Dead bats were simply a foreseeable consequence of getting the tree out of the way.
From the bat’s side of things, this distinction is admittedly not very useful.


Campfire Chat: Life Is Heavy. Pack Light.
The world has been pretty heavy around the Field Trip campfire lately.
Many of us are carrying hard things: difficult diagnoses for loved ones, sudden deaths of friends, financial hardships, relationships needing extra care, threats of wildfires and data centers in our communities, and the death of a pet.


Tiny Field Trips for Heavy Days: Depression, the Outdoors, and Starting Where You Are
I’ve had depression off and on since my early teens. Sometimes it has lasted a few weeks and sometimes much, much longer. Long enough to know there is a difference between “I feel sad” and “I need help.” Long enough to know that when someone well-meaning chirps, “You should get outside. Maybe go for a walk!” it can feel less like advice and more like being handed a kayak during a flood.


The National Park Service Is Turning 110 — Here’s How to Join the Party
On August 25, 2026, the National Park Service celebrates its 110th birthday, and this year the party is bigger than the usual ranger-program-and-cupcake situation. The birthday falls smack in the middle of National Park Week, August 22–30, which means nine days of events, programs, outdoor adventures, history, wildlife, Junior Ranger activities and plenty of reasons to go play outside!


The Smarter Supply List: Better Back-to-School Picks for Classrooms, Backpacks, and the Planet
Give me a fresh notebook, a pretty pen, and an excuse to wander past a wall of colorful folders and I am suddenly eight years old again.


Asking for a Friend: Shells, Secondhand Clothes, Hotel Shampoo, and Other Awkward Questions
Awkward questions. Answered without the guilt trip.


Out and About with Scout: Mammoth Cave National Park
Hey. I’m Scout! Welcome to Out and About with Scout, an ongoing Field Trip series where I roll into parks, campgrounds, trails, visitor centers, scenic overlooks, and wonderfully weird roadside stops to report back on what’s actually worth knowing before you go.


The Ocean Isn’t Far Away: Why It Deserves More Room in Our Conservation Story
There’s just something about the ocean. The sound. The scale. The salty air. The way you can stare at the waves, doing the same thing over and over, and somehow not get bored. The ocean has this sneaky ability to make me feel both very small and very okay with being small.


Trail Mail: Deforestation Isn’t Just a Loss. It’s a Leak.
Dear Field Trip,
I always thought the reason deforestation was bad for the climate was that we need trees to absorb carbon dioxide. But I recently heard that cutting down forests can actually release greenhouse gases too. Is that true? —Stumped
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