If you flip through outdoor-recreation and wilderness-travel mags, the cover image usually involves some tiny paddler, climber or hiker being dwarfed by the majesty of some famous natural feature, such as Half Dome in Yosemite or the Moraine Lake in Banff.
The message conveyed by this sort of Outdoor Porn is that the wilderness lover is a loner: A person who wants and needs to get outside in order to get away from society.
For the majority of people who love being outdoors, there's probably some truth behind the stereotype. Heck, I'd consider myself a miserable misanthrope if I wasn't so in love with the sound of my own voice when I'm yapping to other people.
But on the other hand, there are many humans who love to get outside but aren't so crazy about doing it on their own, for reasons ranging from concerns about safety to a simple desire for camaraderie.
Since 1999, Winnipeg's Prairie Pathfinders have countered the loner stereotype of the wilderness enthusiast by organizing tours involving dozens or even hundreds of people at the same time.
Correctly surmising some Winnipeggers want to get outdoors but don't want to do it by themselves, the non-profit organization began holding walks in the city and across the province. They now have more than 500 members within their ranks have sold tens of thousands of copies of their guidebooks to hiking routes across the province.

The Pathfinders' four founding members -- Leone Banks, Wendy Wilson, Kathleen Leathers and Sheila Spence -- originally intended to merely promote hiking in Manitoba, originally only to women. But they wound up filling a

niche in the provincial ecotourism business, as they discovered a pent-up demand for Winnipeggers to see their own province the same way they would more exotic locales.
On top of their guided hikes, the Pathfinders are holding four bus tours this summer -- three daytrips and one five-day, 2,100-kilometre jaunt up through the Interlake to northern Manitoba and back.
The longer tour encompasses some of the more dramatic natural features in the province: the limestone cliffs at Steep Rock on Lake Manitoba, Wekusko and Pisew Falls along the Grass River and the Porcupine Hills north of Swan River. Many Winnipeggers never see these places because of the time it takes to drive to northern Manitoba.
"Nobody's ever done anything like this," said Wilson of the July 5-9 tour, which involves hotel stays in Thompson, Flin Flon, Virden and Swan River. "We're always taking people to places where they're amazed at the wonder of the scenery."
The group's other bus tours are daytrips to the Pembina Valley (June 27), Brandon-area historic sites (July 24) and a literary-themed tour of western Manitoba (Aug. 14). All of the tours involve only moderate walks of about 10 kilometres a day.
The group is also organizing guides slightly more strenuous hikes in Whiteshell Provincial Park (Aug. 20-22), the St. Claude Area (Sept. 12) and Riding Mountain National Park (Sept. 17-19). The latter trips are catered but require participants to find make their own transportation and accommodation arrangements.
Wilson and Banks say group walks can be less intimidating for people who are not used to hiking, as the camaraderie allows them to focus on the distance they're walking. The group's members tend to be older, although they do have people in their 20s and 30s.
While the wilderness ethics popularied by Leave No Trace suggest people travel in natural areas in groups of no larger than six, the routes visited by the Pathfinders typically are well-worn. But