I ask this because last night I went on probably one of my most rigorous explores to date. I put up a thread about it, but long story short, it involved walking 2 miles over rugged ground, climbing down about 50-75 feet a steep incline (I haven't done much climbing, as in any, so I'm quite sore today), crossing a very wide creek with a VERY slick bottom, climbing UP the incline on the other side again, then doing it all over again to get back to the car. Then, at our second location we ended up climbing eleven flights of stairs...twice (and then some). Originally I had wanted to hit the gym, but by the time we were done, I was EXHAUSTED. So I guess I'm just curious if anyone ever considers their explore their workout, and, if so, do you do it often, or just once in a while?

A few of them i've said "fuck it" and took the day off from the gym, usually explores that involve a lot of climbing.

But most of the time, I find them below my fitness level.

I agree with rz. If it's below my fitness level, which most of my explores are, I wouldn't consider it a workout. But in your case, since you are feeling sore the next day, I would call that a workout