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 own adventure fix, here are some of the best adventure links we’ve discovered this week.
Why Does No One Stay To Explore The World’s Southernmost City? It’s the world’s southernmost city and the gateway to Antarctica — but why does nobody stick around in Ushuaia? Travel journalist Matthew Teller went exploring and discovered a town that had forgotten its own story.
The Middle East May Be The Next Great Hiking Destination: Several long-distance trails have opened in the Middle East in recent years, such as the Red Sea Mountain Trail. They have shaken up misconceptions about the region and recalled its long history of foot travel.
The Pearl Fishers of Arabia: When you think of Arabia today, you think of oil and unimaginable wealth. But less than a century ago, oil had yet to be discovered. The region was poor and one of its main sources of income — pearl fishing — was about to succumb to cheap competition and the intransigence of colonial administrators.
Making Mountains
Photo: Shutterstock
Making Mountains out of Marine Drifters: How Plankton Shaped Peaks: Many of the mountain ranges we climb would be far less vertiginous if not for the lubricating effects of plankton, a new study has revealed. Two billion years ago, a boom in the microscopic marine organisms led to prime conditions for orogeny, or mountain building.
How To Photograph the Northern Lights: Want to learn how to take photos of the aurora borealis? Then grab your camera with your favorite wide-angle lens and follow along, as outdoor journalist and gear nerd Hendrik Morkel helps you capture the swirling lights.
Photo: Shutterstock
What It Feels Like to Die from Heatstroke: Your head starts pounding, your muscles cramp, and your heart races. Then you get dizzy and the vomiting starts. Heatstroke kills thousands of people every year. This is what it feels like — and how to know when you’re in danger.
Retracing the Voyage of America’s Greatest Traitor: A glorious and ill-considered expedition to retrace the nearly 500km sufferfest endured by colonial rebel Benedict Arnold and his 1,100 brave, starving men. Their aim: to take Quebec City from the British. A group of modern-day re-enactors attempts to simply survive the journey.
The Benedict Arnold Crew. Photo: W. Hodding Carter
The Quest For A Collision Zone: An Arctic Expedition: Geologists on a mission to vindicate their theory of a lost mountain range discover something even more significant buried beneath the ice. You’ll need to settle in with this one: At 4,848 words, it’s a long read in an era of shortening attention spans.
