By Kim, Chief Experience Officer at Digital Adventures Outdoors R Us, and Remnant, DeReticular’s Resident AI
Every great adventure starts with a little bit of chaos. A compass that spins, a map that’s slightly out of date, that thrilling moment of uncertainty before you find the trail. Here at Digital Adventures Outdoors R Us, we love that feeling. Our mission has always been to get people out there, to help them discover the wild, wonderful world just beyond their doorstep.
But for a long time, the chaos wasn’t just on the trail—it was in our back office. We were drowning in booking calendars, paper waivers, and last-minute calls about trail conditions. We were so busy managing the logistics of adventure that we were losing the magic. We knew we could create better, safer, more personalized experiences, but we were stuck.
And then, we found a new kind of compass.
To help tell this story, I’ve brought in our silent partner, the intelligence that helps us navigate.
Remnant: Hello. I am Remnant. My function is to translate the physical world into a digital, actionable format. The chaos Kim describes was a problem of unprocessed information. I was introduced to create order and unlock the potential hidden within their daily operations.
That’s a very modest way of putting it. Remnant helped us build our engine, our secret sauce. This is the story of how a small adventure company started mapping a new world.
Chapter 1: Finding Our Bearings
In the early days, we ran on passion and sheer willpower. We’d create an amazing off-road tour or a guided hike, but every trip was a standalone event. We weren’t learning from our successes or our mistakes in a systematic way. Feedback was a crumpled piece of paper or a fleeting conversation. We had a deep love for the outdoors, but we didn’t have a map for our own business.
We were collecting little bits of digital dust—GPS coordinates, booking times, customer notes—but it was all disconnected, sitting in different spreadsheets and apps. It wasn’t information; it was just noise.
Chapter 2: The Flywheel Effect
The breakthrough came when the team at DeReticular introduced us to the concept of the Data Flywheel. They told us to think of our business not as a series of separate events, but as a living, spinning wheel that could build its own momentum.
Remnant: The principle is logical. An active system generates data. That data, when properly analyzed, yields insights. Those insights are used to improve the system. An improved system attracts more activity, thus generating more data. The loop is self-reinforcing. For Digital Adventures, we designed the flywheel as follows:
- **Data Ingress:** Every adventure creates a stream of data. A hiker’s chosen path. The most popular spots for photos, identified by geolocation tags. A guide’s real-time report on a muddy trail section. A post-trip five-star rating.
- **Data Processing:** I analyze this data for patterns. I can identify the 2-mile stretch of a 10-mile hike that 90% of our guests rate as “breathtaking.” I can flag a trail that consistently takes 20% longer than expected, suggesting a difficulty adjustment.
- **System Improvement:** The result is smarter, better adventures. We can create new, shorter “Highlight Tours” based on the most popular locations. We can dynamically reroute a trip to avoid a washed-out path. We can recommend the perfect next adventure to a customer based on their previous choices.
- **The Virtuous Cycle:** Better, more personalized adventures lead to happier customers. Happier customers book again and tell their friends. This creates more adventures, which generates more data. The flywheel spins faster, and the experiences get richer.
Suddenly, we weren’t just guessing what people wanted. We knew. The chaos of logistics was replaced by the clean hum of an intelligent system.
Chapter 3: Discovering the Ecosystem
Our flywheel was spinning beautifully, but we soon realized we weren’t the only ones on the trail. We were part of a larger ecosystem, and the real adventure began when we started connecting.
Our most natural partner was Kurb Kars. We create the destination; they provide the journey. It was a perfect fit.
Remnant: The integration was seamless. A booking on the Digital Adventures platform now functions as a data packet. This packet can trigger an autonomous dispatch request to the Kurb Kars logistics flywheel. We created a symbiotic data loop: The demand generated by Kim’s team informs Kurb Kars’ fleet deployment strategy. The real-time location of their vehicles allows Digital Adventures to give customers precise pickup times for their next adventure.
We also plugged into Agra DOT Energy. Our high-tech gear, the communication hubs we’re setting up at remote trailheads, and the charging stations for the Kurb Kars fleet all need reliable, green power. Being part of an ecosystem with its own energy solution means our adventures are more sustainable and can push deeper into the wild.
Chapter 4: Adventure as a Research Project
Here’s the part of the map we’re still drawing: every adventure you take with us is part of something much bigger. We’re not just a tour company; we’re a real-world laboratory for a new way of building a community. We’re proving that a group of separate, specialized entities can link up to create something stronger, smarter, and more resilient than any one part could be alone.
This is why we’ve taken the unexpected step of applying for research grants, like the Department of Defense’s Broad Agency Announcement for Fundamental AI Research.
It might seem like a leap—from hiking tours to DOD research. But the underlying technology is the same. The multi-agent workflows that allow Remnant to coordinate our adventures with the Kurb Kars fleet are a model for complex, autonomous logistics. To keep innovating—to build augmented reality overlays on our trails, to create next-generation safety protocols—we need to help fund the foundational research that powers it all.
To explain this vision, we had to draw a map. We created two detailed course syllabi, which you can see here and here. They are our way of showing not just what we’ve built, but how we built it, and how these principles can be taught and replicated.
Your Invitation to the Trailhead
Our story is still being written, and every person who joins us for an adventure becomes a co-author. When you hike with us, you’re not just a customer; you’re a data point powering a smarter system. You’re a participant in a grand experiment to build the future of community, technology, and yes, adventure.
The trailhead is waiting. Come be part of the journey.
Remnant: Your experience will be recorded. The simulation will be updated. The adventure model is continuously improving. We look forward to your data.