Urban Outdoors Launches App to Help City Trailblazers Get Outside

January 5, 2023

Looking for an outdoor adventure buddy? Now, there's an app for that

January 5, 2023 – Washington, DC /OUTDOOR SPORTSWIRE/ –The team behind Urban Outdoors, the premier online resource for city-based outdoor adventures, is thrilled to announce they are launching Outerly, a social networking app for outdoor enthusiasts. Now piloting in the Washington, DC metro area, Outerly will expand upon the website’s initial local outdoor destination guides platform and be a go-to source for urban locals to find close-to-home green spaces and connect with adventure buddies.

Since 2019, Urban Outdoors has given over 4 million urban fresh air seekers the freedom to break out of their concrete jungle and find natural spaces around them to recreate in. Through its highly researched and curated guides, outdoor enthusiasts from diverse backgrounds and skill levels have been introduced to local hiking trails, ski resorts, climbing crags, and rivers to paddle, as well as gear guides from expert outdoor testers. Now, with the launch of Outerly, they aim to help their community of urban outdoor enthusiasts connect, gather, and explore, in nature.

The Urban Outdoors team found there were two main things stopping people from getting outdoors regularly; a lack of knowledge of where to go and a lack of people to go with them. After several months spent talking to customers, the Urban Outdoors team took its learnings and built its current Outerly beta app. The app’s earliest features include a curated database of local outdoor activities, discussion forums to chat about specific places and activities, and features for connecting with existing friends and meeting new ones. Those who want to uplevel their outdoor experiences can opt for the app’s paid subscription, which offers pre-planned outdoor itineraries and access to a more robust set of community features. Instead of a social platform that revolves around mindless scrolling and followers, Outerly connects its members through saved activities they have in common.

“It’s obvious that people are craving in-person experiences and relationships in the outdoors. With the recent rise in outdoor participation, we wanted to provide a space that makes the outdoors feel safe, approachable, and easy to navigate for people of any skill level,” states Rodriguez. “In simple terms, we want to be the go-to resource for people to find outdoor activities and others to go with them.”

Currently, in public beta, Outerly will be running its pilot in Washington, DC for the next several months to learn from its early members and rapidly scale its community base. In addition to the launch of the app, the team plans to host regular events in the DC area to bring its community together in person.

“We envision a world where it’s as normal to go for a hike or a paddling session with friends as it is to go to the bar for a drink,” Rodriguez noted. “At Outerly, we want to make it easy and natural for people to get off their screens, leave the house, breathe some fresh air, and experience the beauty and benefits of an outdoor lifestyle.”

Outerly is now available to users in Washington, DC. For more information on Outerly, please visit https://outerly.co or send any direct inquiries to Kay Rodriguez at kay@outerly.co.

###

About Outerly

Outerly is a social discovery app for outdoor experiences. Built for and by city dwellers, Outerly provides a curated, hyper-local database of outdoor activities, with social & community features unparalleled by any other outdoor industry app. Outdoor enthusiasts of all experience levels come to Outerly to find the best trails, parks, and waterways in their city while connecting with like-minded people nearby. On the platform, users can search for local activities, read and write reviews, track and share outdoor experiences, and start conversations with other members in their city.

Currently piloting its beta app in Washington, DC, Outerly aims to capture and expand the urban segment of the quickly-growing, $688B outdoor industry. Outerly’s founder, Kay Rodriguez, has previous work experience in corporate strategy at Bain and National Geographic and most recently won the Early Stage pitch competition at DC Startup Week in September 2022.