When we’re not outdoors, we get our adventure fix by exploring social media and the web. Sometimes we’re a little too plugged in and browsing adventure reads can turn from minutes to hours. To nourish your adventure fix, here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.
Through the Heart of Scotland: Anna Blackwell was one of 200 hikers taking part in this year’s Fjallraven Classic, a 65km hike through Scotland’s Cairngorms. Despite high winds and rain by the second morning, spirits remained high. Even at the finish line, members of this new community were sharing stories about their highs and lows.
The Indigenous Tribes Reclaim Traditional Trails: Native and First Nations groups across North America are restoring their traditional trails for slow travel. As tourists come to bike and hike the trails, indigenous men and women tell the history of their people.
A Surfing Renaissance In Lebanon: During Lebanon’s civil war, surfing pretty much disappeared. When Ali Zeid Elamine returned to his home country in 2011, he saw an opportunity to create a community and improve people’s lives. Now, despite a financial crisis and the long-lasting effects of war, the Lebanese surfers are still out on the waves.
Surfing in Lebanon. Photo: Ali Elamine
A freak rescue, thanks to Fat Bear Week
Fat Bear Week Camera Saves Hiker’s Life: During the bizarre annual Fat Bear Week, cameras in Alaska’s Katmai National Park monitor the bears, and viewers vote for which bear they think will become the fattest before hibernation. A month before the start of the event, some were already tuning into the livestream and noticed something unexpected. A soaking-wet hiker was mouthing the words “help” and “lost” into the cameras. Viewers alerted authorities, and a rescue team managed to locate the distressed man.
Why True Kayakers Are Born, Not Made: Tim Shuff reflects on how he became a kayaker. For years, he wanted to go sea kayaking but lived nowhere near the water. He had pictures of kayaks on his walls and piles of magazines about the subject. A decade after first seeing a sea kayak on a holiday, he started to paddle. The drive to do it was seemingly innate. Many hikers and climbers say the same thing — that there was a single moment that triggered a lifelong passion in them.
A Hiker is Dead After Flash Floods Hit Bryce Canyon National Park: Last week, flash floods hit two canyons in Utah. The search-and-rescue team for Bryce Canyon National Park received a call that a hiker had not returned from an eight-mile trek as expected. On August 26, they found the body of Jeanne Roblez Howell. A few days earlier, they rescued a 38-year-old woman who had run from the floods to higher ground.
The price of freedom
1,600Km Alone Through Europe: Lea Page has solo walked 1,600km across Europe. Anyone hiking alone faces dangers, but the biggest risk for a solo woman is, unfortunately, men. Often, Page found herself feeling nervous and panicked in remote locations or when random men approached her. Eventually, she discovered that there is a huge difference between feeling afraid and feeling unsafe.
Katie Lamb Becomes First Woman to Climb 8C+: Katie Lamb, 25, has become the first woman to climb Colorado’s Box Therapy. It is the first female ascent ever of an 8C+. Since its first ascent in 2018, only three others have successfully climbed it. Lamb had sent three 8B and five 8B+ boulders before she decided to leap straight to 8C+.
