WELCOME TO CONNELLY OUTDOORS!

On May 10th, our lives change dramatically. We’ve been dreaming about this moment for several years and planning and working towards this goal in earnest for the past year – yeah, we’re finally making it happen!!!  The whole thing is surreal, and really exciting.  If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, John and I have decided to cut the tethers to our work-a-day lives and are setting out to experience some of the world’s most remarkable outdoor adventures.  We are going B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Basecamp) traveling by motorhome, towing our Jeep Wrangler and we’re equipped with sea kayaks, whitewater kayaks, whitewater raft and rowing frame, mountain bikes, road bikes, fly-fishing and backpacking/camping gear. Phew! That’s a lot of gear, but we’re ready for any adventure.

The goal of this blog is to share our passion for adventuring in the great outdoors, help us remember our experiences, keep our friends and families updated on what we’re doing and connect with other like-minded travelers and free spirits. We also hope that you’ll discover off-the-beaten-path adventures and see world famous adventure destinations like you’ve not seen them before. Along the way, we’ll share insider information on these unique and spectacular wild places and we hope you too will fall in love with them and will be inspired to get outside and enjoy the life-enriching benefits that are realized in the outdoors. We believe that, "You only save what you love." So by sharing our adventures with you we hope that you get out there and that the adventures foster support for resource conservation and for stewarding our natural resources for future generations.  We’ll be providing helpful resources along the way so you too can help protect these spectacular and one-of-a-kind places.

Please poke around the site, connect with us on Facebook and Instagram, and feel free to reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you!

Environmental Responsibility

It is impossible to escape carbon fuel consumption when traveling across the Americas by motorhome, so we are offsetting our carbon footprint by planting trees in Costa Rica to restore a tract of rainforest previously deforested for farming and timber. We report our fuel use and the proportionate quantity of trees are planted for us. When we return to Costa Rica, we will help with the effort, ourselves!  We hope to inspire other travelers to go Carbon Neutral and will provide resources for you to use that will help you offset your carbon footprint – it feels great and the polar bears will be among those who will thank you!

Meet John & Nicole

Nicole and John met 14 years ago on a 3-day sea-kayaking expedition on Chesapeake Bay and have been adventuring outdoors together ever sense. John, an outdoors industry veteran of over four decades has adventured across the globe. A sea kayak and whitewater kayaker and raft guide, mountain biker, fly fisher, backpacker and backcountry skier, John works remotely as an outdoors industry and adventure travel consultant focusing on safety, risk management, operations and customer experience. On the road, John does speaking engagements and book signings for his book about his 1500-mile 75-day solo canoe and kayak expedition, entitled Dying Out Here Is Not An Option, which is available on Amazon. Nicole recently stepped away from a development career in the conservation field to pursue a full-time nomadic life and to enjoy more of what she loves – spending time with John in the great outdoors!  An avid sea kayaker, whitewater rafter, fly fisher, backpacker and cyclist, Nicole is also an itinerary and trip planning wizard.