Life Outdoors

I love how different life outdoors can be: a camping festival with hundreds of people, friends cooking around a fire, a family weekend, or quiet time on my own. I enjoy the crowds and the quiet, the sharing and the solitude—and the freedom to build, try an idea, gather around the fire, or simply lie in a hammock. That freedom is what I like most.

Life outdoors

The Outdoors, My Way.

Trying blacksmithing at an outdoor camping festival

I like the slower, more hands-on side of outdoor life. Give me a piece of wood and enough time, and I’ll probably start carving it into a spoon or a bowl. I enjoy cooking over a fire, trying different camping techniques, and swapping ideas with other campers.

Camping festivals are especially fun because everyone brings something different. At one of them, I tried blacksmithing for the first time. I enjoyed it enough that I later found a blacksmith and arranged to forge two camping knives of my own that winter.

In 10th grade, I started a small camping blog to keep track of what I was trying, learning, and designing outdoors. I wrote about camping experiences as well as some of the gear ideas I was working on at the time.

An old camping blog from 10th grade

Time with my sister

My Little Adventure Partner

Camping with my sister beside a handmade tripod hammock bed — From our camping videos · Tripod hammock bed

bamboo rice video thumbnail — bamboo rice Trying an old-school way to cook.

Tripod hammock chair video thumbnail — Tripod hammock chair Three poles, one hammock, two readers.

When my parents are busy, I often look after my younger sister. Over the years, she has become my most loyal fan and my favorite little adventure partner.

I bring her along when I head outdoors. We’ve built shelters, stools, tripod chairs, hammock stands, and even a little rope ladder for her to climb trees. She likes to be my assistant—holding things, handing me tools, and watching everything I do.

And building is only half the fun. I cook for her too: roast chicken over the fire, bamboo rice, popcorn, and whatever else we feel like trying. We’ve made far more things together than we ever remembered to film. These are simply some of the moments we happened to capture.

Explore Our Outdoor Moments

A place of my own

Building My Own Outdoor Space

The wooden framework of my cabin in the woods — The Cabin Building a place of my own from the ground up.

DIY Solar Power System video thumbnail — DIY Solar Power System Built from individual components to bring electricity to my outdoor cabin.

DIY Mini-Fridge structure diagram — DIY Mini-Fridge Built from scratch to keep food cool at camp.

I wanted a place outdoors that I could truly make my own, so I started building one. I built a wooden cabin, then added a bed, tables, shelves, hammock stands, and spaces where friends could gather for holidays and barbecues.

As new needs came up, I kept building: a solar power system for electricity, a thermoelectric mini-fridge for food, a cooling cup when the fridge wasn’t cold enough, and even a small speaker for music.

What started as a cabin gradually became my own little outdoor world—built, tested, and improved one project at a time.

Explore My Secret Base