Why, some ask, do we go off on such expeditions?

We venture forth because something in us yearns for fun and adventure, for a break in the routine, for the chance to live more freely. When you shuck off the frills and disguises, the digital timers and electronic noisemakers of modern life, you leave yourself open to something more natural. Not easier, but more real: to rise with the sun and crawl into your sleeping bag at dusk, to eat when you're hungry, to shelter yourself from the rain, to swim in mountain streams, to stare into a campfire and listen to woods sounds, to stretch out on a rock beneath a dark sky full of stars, to hear the call of a loon across still water. These are insignificant moments, perhaps, but cumulative - we hope - in the minds and imaginations of your growing children.

- Pete