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.
Riding the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350: Nine years after the pandemic cut short his bikepacking journey to Alaska, Nacho Pellejero returned to take on the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350. The 563km race is one of the world’s toughest winter endurance events. Battling temperatures as low as -45°C and the remote Alaska backcountry, Pellejero discovered that the greatest challenge wasn’t the cold or terrain, but the doubts and fears inside his own head.
The Snake-Wrangling 84-Year-Old Who Lives on a Remote Island: For over five decades, 84-year-old naturalist Carol Ruckdeschel has lived on Georgia’s remote Cumberland Island.
She first visited in her 20s as a biology researcher. Entranced by the island, she decided to move there. Ever since, she has been documenting wildlife, performing thousands of sea turtle necropsies, and fiercely defending the island’s coastline.
Known as the “Jane Goodall of sea turtles,” she hunts, gardens, scavenges, and lives in a cabin she rebuilt herself, while leading the fight against development and over-tourism on the tiny barrier island.
Carol Ruckdeschel walks along Cumberland Island. Photo: Alexandra Marvar
A fatal nap
Sleeping College Students Die After Tide Sweeps Them Out to Sea: Two California college students, Harshita Nair, 21, and Mahial Sran, 20, have died after being swept into the Pacific Ocean at Yellow Bank Beach in Santa Cruz. Authorities believe the friends were snoozing near the shoreline when incoming surf and powerful currents pulled them into the water. Despite rescue efforts involving several rescue swimmers and a helicopter evacuation, both women later died at local hospitals.
The First Woman to Fly Over the North Pole: In July 1963, Swedish pilot Ingrid Pedersen became the first woman to fly over the top of the world. She flew a single-engine Cessna from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Bodø, Norway, with her husband and navigator, Einar Sverre Pedersen.
Crossing the Pole after 17 hours in the air at just 900m, the flight earned her international recognition. Pedersen saw it as a test of skill rather than a significant achievement. She went on to spend decades working in polar aviation, transporting passengers and scientific equipment across Svalbard, landing on drifting sea ice, and working as a commercial pilot and flight instructor in Alaska.
Photo: ACC/Foster Denney
A history of summit registers
Imprints Left on Summits: Long before summit selfies to mark a successful ascent, climbers recorded their presence in summit registers. The weathered notebooks and scraps of paper hold signatures, names, and ages at the time of summiting. The registers evolved from simple proof of ascent into historical records filled with personal stories, wildlife sightings, weather reports, conservation campaigns, and decades of climbing history.
Behind the Rescue: Jeff Landers and Micah Barker were paddling Idaho’s North Fork Payette River when it suddenly turned into a dramatic rescue mission. From their kayaks, they saw a blue sedan lose control on the highway, swerve off the road, crash into a boulder, and flip upside down into the river.
Within seconds, they reached the submerged vehicle and pulled the driver, Will Flores, to safety. He told them his disabled partner, Sonya Valenzuela, was trapped inside the car. As more kayakers, raft guides, and an off-duty anesthesiologist arrived, the 20-person group improvised a rescue operation using a raft table as a backboard and formed a human chain to carry Valenzuela up the steep embankment before paramedics arrived.
Paddlers stop to help the rescue. Photo: Josh King
Forensic genealogy IDs hiker’s remains
After 26 Years, Investigators Identify Body Found in Olympic National Park: In 2000, a hiker’s remains were discovered inside a tent in Washington’s Olympic National Park. Investigators have finally identified him as Joseph Louis Serrao Jr.
Serrao remained unidentified for decades, as the decomposition of the body meant that investigators at the time were unable to take fingerprints. In 2024, they started using forensic genealogy, a technique that analyzes DNA to identify potential relatives rather than searching for a direct match. This meant they could find possible family connections and finally identify Serrao.
Yemeni Free Soloist Dies After Falling Into Volcanic Crater: Antar al-Abssi, a 30-year-old Yemeni climber known online as the Yemeni Spider-Man, has died after falling 90m into the scalding waters of the Hardah Dam volcanic crater.
Video footage shows him dangling from one hand near the crater’s edge before losing his grip and falling. Al-Abssi often climbed and performed high-risk stunts along the steep inner walls of the crater, sharing videos on social media. His body has been recovered.
