Next Adventure — About This Newsletter

My name is Jesse McEntee, and here I write about many topics, all focused on themes of resilience, place, and kinship. I started Next Adventure to share this writing with you.

You will quickly notice that the topics I write about reflect what is going on in my life, which is both static and dynamic; I generally return to similar themes, but through different experiences. It may be hunting whitetail deer, watching my children grow up, or sharing my frustrations with the screen-based existence. It’s broad, but I believe it’s relatable, even if you don’t share an interest in the surface-level topic. For example, hunting can sometimes be a polarizing subject. Yet the lessons we learn from this pursuit are applicable to everyone.

I hope you will consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-time contribution to this work.

The rest of this page briefly describes what you get when you join me. I often record my essays; you can listen to them on Substack or Spotify.


What you’ll get here

  • Essays — True story from the woods or water. Typically, 2 to 4 times per month. Essays focus on at least one of these themes:

    • Resilience (e.g., mindset)

    • Place (e.g., environment)

    • Kinship (e.g., relationships, connections)


Why this exists

  • Screens steal our attention; wild places and the outdoors give it back.

  • Next Adventure is an antidote: practical, personal.


Who sticks around

  1. Desk-locked folks craving non-cubicle-focused experiences

  2. Parents raising outdoors-first, screen-second kids

  3. Readers who’d rather risk failure than doom-scroll


My story in one breath

Horrible student → cross-country runner → UNH → PhD → freelancer who quits any “real” job after 18 months because adventure matters more.

I hunt, ski, and fish across Vermont and everywhere else. My two teenagers grew up answering the same daily question:

“What’s our next adventure?”


Subscribe to get:

  • Field-tested adventure essays that drop you straight into the moment—no inbox clutter.

  • Plus the extras – occasional gear picks, mindset mini-posts, and field photos in Notes when something truly useful or share-worthy pops up.


Quick proof I’m not new at this

  • Bylines in The Boston Globe, Northern Woodlands, Backwoodsman


Start here

Explore our northern border:

Why meritocracy kills spirit:

What a tree thinks about time:

Count me in →


Work with me & gear picks


If you’d like to support this work through a one-time payment, you can do so using this link or by scanning this QR code with your phone

P.S. Prefer listening? I sometimes do voiceovers of my essays. Catch the Next Adventure podcast on Spotify.

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Field essays on place and the pull of wild country from Jesse McEntee, a Vermont writer tracing the line between daily life and real adventure.

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