Read the text and answer the following question.

    Hexa and I camped in the mountain last weekend. It was very beautiful and very quiet there. The air wash fresh. The location of our camp site was on the top of a hill, so we could see the scenery around us. It was amazing, It was green everywhere. It was also easy to get water as it was near a small river. You see the water is as clear as a crystal. We brought a lot of food from home. There were some noodles, cans of sardines, soft drink, and biscuits. Hexa brought cooking utensils for cooking noodle.

    On the first day, we spent our time setting up tent and exploring the surrounding area. I was happy to find that there were many campers there. At night, after we had dinner, we met other campers. We catted and played guitar. It was fun meeting people who had the same hobby. It was not frightening at all at night in the forest as it was very noisy that night. We laughed and sang, and some campers even danced. We went to bed almost dawn. No wonder we got up late the following day. We hiked with others campers until afternoon. We did not realize that it was almost 5 in the afternoon and we had to go back home soon. It was really nice. I planned to go there again on the next long holiday. I would ask other friends to join.

"...we spent our time setting up the tent and exploring the surrounding are." (paragraph 2)

What does the underlined word mean?