After many years of not running, I started again. I live in a hilly part of Los Angeles without sidewalks, so to maximize my visibility I bought this inexpensive Freemove reflective vest. It weighs almost nothing and has a pocket to hold my phone. It also comes with a pouch so I can pack it for traveling. — MF

Wandermap is a website with thousands of user-submitted hikes (and bike routes) all over the world. My favorite feature lets me draw a route on the map to see how far it is and the change in elevation along the route. The desktop website generates a QR code of my route so I can easily transfer it to my phone. — MF

Here is a “sometimes humorous, but mostly accurate” chart of how to identify that light in the sky. In Sedona, Arizona, I went on a UFO tour where the guides taught us how to identify all the various lights we see in the sky. I wore night vision goggles and saw a lot of non-blinking lights moving fast and veering off straight paths. We had lasers that we used to point them out (never directly at). One even beamed back brightly at us in response. — CD

Multi-day bike touring is way under appreciated. Touring by bicycle is inexpensive, not difficult, covers a lot of ground and is very satisfying. Great with small groups, too. You can use almost any bike, including ebikes. If you are new to touring on a bike, try following a proven route. For the US go to Adventure Cycling for many detailed annotated routes (where to go, eat and sleep). There is an increasing number of no-vehicle, bikes only routes, which are a fabulous experience. For bike touring in Europe, this overview article Cycling In Europe by Adventure Cycling is the best place to start. — KK

Get three-day weather forecasts for any city by entering ​​http://wttr.in/city in your browser’s URL bar (e.g. http://wttr.in/boston or http://wttr.in/portland_maine). The page loads fast because there are no ads or graphics. — MF

My first stop for hiking trail information is AllTrails. This free website has the best trail maps, access location of trail heads, dog notes, elevation profiles, user reviews — almost anything you want. And they cover trails in most of the world. Their Pro version gives you mobile maps you can follow on trails outside of mobile service. — KK

My dog Pablo and I have been taking random walking journeys using the Randonautica app. Each day before our walk, I use the app to generate a point (anomalies or blind spots) within whatever radius I choose, and then google maps will direct us there. One of the tenets of randonauting is that you are testing “the theory of quantum randomization and the possibility to change a life path or shift into a new, better space and time.” To be honest, I don’t really understand how it works, but what has changed is that my walks have become more meaningful to me. Pablo is enjoying all the new plants and flowers he gets to smell, and I set an intention before all my walks and stay open for answers from the Universe. — CD

A Google engineer made this cool website where you can track satellites that crawl across your neighborhood sky. It will give you times and names of the satellites that are coming your way and even show you how it’ll appear in the night sky with Google Street View. I’ve been setting alarms on my phone to go outside and look. Of course, it’s made me realize how much light pollution we have. Hopefully, you don’t have as much. — CD

I wish I had realized years ago that you can get scuba masks with inexpensive prescription lenses. My wife needs heavy duty glasses, with severe -10 corrections, and was otherwise blind underwater. But she got a great simple diving mask with -10 lenses for $60. This Promate Slender Mask is available with Rx lenses from GetWetStore. Now she can snorkel with the rest of us. — KK

In the US southwest you can legally vehicle camp on certain areas of public land, rent free, for up to 7 months. You need a self-sufficient RV type vehicle (no hookups available), and a permit for camping in a Long-Term Visitor Area (LTVA) from the BLM. There are currently 7 LTVAS. — KK

I read a Cool Tools review of the Nada Chair S’portbacker from several years ago, and since my back has been sore from sitting at my desk so much lately, I bought one a couple of weeks ago. Basically, it’s an adjustable strap that goes around your knees and lower back, which allows you to lean back without slouching. As the maker says, you wear the chair. My back soreness is gone, and I don’t get as drowsy while working when I wear it. It also allows me to sit cross-legged on the ground comfortably for the first time in my life. — MF

iPhones have a built in Air Quality Index (AQI) which will tell you the air quality in your present location. Go to the default Weather app, and just below the week forecast is the AQI, which is measured by local sensors. —KK

I am saddened by how few bicycles have bells. A bell, even a small one, will throw a warning further than your voice. No matter what your mood, its sound is polite and cheerful. A small one weighs little, and takes up almost no space on your handle bar. I prefer a bell with an external striker, like the brass Zotemo ($12). Its all-metal construction won’t wear out. Operated by your thumb, it’s loud! One quick ding on the Zotemo from a long ways off, and pedestrians instinctively know a bike is cruising behind them. A bike without a bell is like a car without a horn. Get a bell. — KK

Electric bikes are improving so fast that they are becoming an option for most people. But the field is young, flooded with startups, and gear changes so fast, keeping up with the best one is hard work. I recommend newbies go to the “Affordable ebike” playlist of the YouTube channel of EBR (Electric Bike Review), and start at the top (most recent) for in-depth, impartial, video reviews of ebikes that cost between $1,000 to $1,500. — KK

We have one of these collapsible trash cans (Camco Collapsible Utility Container, $13) that we use when we have barbecues – I still end up picking up beer bottles and cups the next day but not as many as I would if we didn’t have this. These are also perfect to take camping, because they take up virtually no room. — CD

There is utility and pleasure in being able to identify wild creatures and plants. But it’s a steep learning curve. The fastest way I found to learn is via the iOS app Seek, which will identify flowers, plants, fungi, animals, bugs instantly. It’s kind of magical. You point your phone at the specimen and it tells you the species about 95% of the time (in North America). The other 5% it can often identify the family. Someone called it Shazam for nature. The app is patient; you can keep asking it to ID the same thing you asked about before and it will will answer again with no judgement. Seek is free; it was developed by folks who did iNaturalist, an app that uses crowdsourcing to identify species, but Seek uses machine learning to render the ID instantly. I’ve been impressed by how well this magic works. Kids and teachers love it. It gives them a superpower to name everything around them. — KK

I recently went camping in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park and was so happy we brought along this Mac Sports portable fold-up hammock. I fell asleep staring up at the giant redwoods and napped so comfortably. It’s really easy to put up and take down, and it comes with a sun shade. — CD

This made a huge difference to our family when we discovered them: you can get swim goggles and snorkeling masks with corrective lenses. Same price, see better! — KK

Sunshine.fyi is a simple webpage that tells you how many hours, minutes and seconds of sunlight are left in your day. I keep it in my bookmark bar, but it’s now available as a chrome extension, so that every new tab serves as a reminder to go outside and make the most of your day. — CD

Now that its summer, I’m seeing a lot of reviews for the best daypack to buy and I feel like I have to give my Patagonia Nine Trails 14L a proper shout out. I tried on every pack they had at REI and ultimately decided to order this one online because of all its features. It’s smaller than most other packs (1lb), and includes a 2-liter HydraPak so I can hike and drink hands-free without having to stop and pull out a water bottle. Aside from the main compartment where my HydraPak lives, there’s two more large compartments (one zippered, one stretch pocket) where I keep an extra layer of clothing, snacks, trauma pak, pStyle, and more. The waist belt has zippered pockets where I keep my keys, pepper spray, chapstick and a small bottle of sunscreen, but the most essential features are the two quick-stash side pockets where I keep my phone and sunglasses since I’m always sliding those in and out. My friend has an older version of this same backpack without the quick-stash pockets and is really jealous of mine. — CD