When we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the web. Here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.
Tear of Europe: Gerhard Czerner describes his five-day loop through Montenegro’s Durmitor National Park. He had always wanted to see the Tara River, and his new hobby of bikerafting seemed the perfect opportunity.
After mountain biking to the Tara River, Czerner and a partner strapped their bikes onto packrafts and paddled 78km through Europe’s deepest canyon. The real test came in the final 18km, a section that contains 21 rapids. With their bikes lashed to their bows, the pair were thrown through the large waves and rapids. Hours later, they emerged exhausted and triumphant.
You’d Want One As A Pet: A tiny sea slug the size of a grain of rice, which looks like a tiny neon-green Pokémon and can run on solar power, has been nominated for Invertebrate of the Year.
The leaf sheep, found in shallow tropical waters around Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines, has a novel way of keeping itself going. It grazes on algae and then steals its chloroplasts, the structures plants use for photosynthesis, storing them inside the leaf-like branches on its back so it can harness energy from sunlight, all by itself.
The leaf sheep. Photo: Petra Korlevic
A cold case solved
Bill Ott Vanished 14 Years Ago. I Was On The Team Sent To Find Him: In 2012, Bill Ott set out on a three-week solo journey into Arizona’s Mohawk Canyon to look for ancient rock art. He had spoken to anthropologist and friend Scott Thybony about his route and the trip.
Twelve days after his planned final stop, he had still not arrived. Thybony joined the search for him. Teams looked on foot, horseback, with ATVs, and by helicopter. They found clues, possible boot and sandal prints near a water source, but nothing that could explain where Ott had disappeared.
Then, in December 2025, human remains were discovered at the foot of a low cliff in Upper Mohawk Canyon. They have now been identified as Ott’s.
First Rare Tiger Released in 70 Years in Kazakhstan: A female Amur tiger has been released into the wild at a nature reserve in Kazakhstan. This is the first such release in the country in 70 years. The project aims to restore the tiger population in Central Asia. Footage shows the tiger sprinting from a transport cage into the tall grass of the reserve.
Kayaking Patagonia
First Light At Caleta Maria: George Shaw writes about his 10-day sea-kayaking expedition into the remote fiords of Chile’s Tierra del Fuego. As they set off, Patagonia served up a stubborn headwind, and its rapidly changing weather persisted for the entire journey.
The aim of the trip was not mileage but simply to explore the wild region. As the team paddled deeper into the fiords, fragments of ice knocked against their boats, condors and albatross flew above them, and elephant and leopard seals rested on passing beaches and slabs of ice.
The biggest complication arrived when they heard that their minibus driver would not return to collect them from the icy wilderness.
What It Took To Thru-Hike The Great American Rail-Trail: Bernie Krausse has become the first person to thru-hike the 5,955km Great American Rail-Trail. His 130-day achievement is especially remarkable because the trail is only 56% complete and has only previously been tackled by cyclists, not hikers.
While logging 10,000 waypoints, he had to contend with a bridge closure on the Ohio River that forced him to improvise a route through three states in a single day. Wildfires repeatedly blocked his path, he endured 60km waterless stretches, and crossed U.S. Army live-fire ranges.
Chris Sharma on ‘Biographie’ in 2001. Photo: Roberto Fioravanti
The untold story of climbing ‘Bibliographie’
Chris Sharma Reveals The Untold Story of the World’s First 5.15: Chris Sharma discusses his landmark climb of Biographie/Realization (5.15a). A teen prodigy, Sharma was accustomed to succeeding almost immediately. His first experience of failure came on Biographie at Céüse, France.
Then a serious knee injury further hindered his climbing. During his recovery, traveling through Asia and leaning into meditation and the teachings of the Dalai Lama, Sharma began to see climbing less as a competition or collection of grades and more as a personal and spiritual pursuit. All of this led him back to Biographie. Though he refused to grade it, the route later became recognized as the world’s first 5.15.
Aiming For My Fastest Marathon: At 43, John Eligon went to Iten, Kenya, hoping to beat his 14-year-old marathon personal best. The high-altitude village has produced Olympians, world champions, and some of distance running’s biggest names.
Instead of finding a secret workout or sophisticated training technology, he encountered a surprisingly simple philosophy that transformed his mindset. The only thing left to do was put it to the test at the Cape Town Marathon.
