Police Urge Hikers To Learn Orienteering Instead Of Relying On Smartphones

by Sean McLachlan on

Police in northern Scotland have issued a call for hikers to learn orienteering rather than relying on their smartphones for navigation, the BBC reports.

Grampian Police have had to lead four separate groups to safety in the past week. The latest rescue included the use of mountain rescue teams and a Royal Navy helicopter to retrieve 14 hikers. The hikers were in the Cairngorms, a rugged mountain range with some of the UK’s tallest peaks.

Police said that the growing use of smartphone apps for navigation can lead to trouble. People are relying too much on technology without actually understanding the world around them. Police then have to rescue them at taxpayer expense.

Hiking with an app sounds to me like the antithesis of hiking. Basic orienteering with a map and compass is not difficult to learn. I’ve been teaching my 6-year-old and his brain hasn’t melted. Not only do a map and compass not have to rely on getting a signal, but they help you understand the land better and give you a feel for your natural surroundings.

So please folks, if you’re going out into nature, actually interact with it!

15 Super Shots Of Nature Reflected On Water

by Jessica Festa on

The richness I achieve comes from nature,
the source of my inspiration. – Claude Monet

It’s true. There are not many things on this planet as inspiring as nature. Vibrant colors, enormous peaks, crystal lakes, animals in the wilderness and natural phenomena you have to see to believe exist in a world far away from the intimidating skyscrapers and chaotic lifestyles of busy cities. Spending time in these uninhabited areas can calm your mind and help get your positivity flowing.

While beautiful to look at on its own, there’s something extra moving about viewing a mountain, forest or sky as a reflection on the water. It adds to the aesthetics as well as makes the setting that much more majestic and intense. Luckily, for those who don’t have time to take off work and head into the wilderness, the photographers in the gallery below were able to capture moving shots of nature reflected on water to share with others.

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[Image above via Jessie on a Journey; Gallery images via Big Stock, Beverly & Pack, slobirdr, marissa_strniste]

Video: ‘Wild Love’ And The Adventure Stories We Rarely Share

by Jessica Marati on

Here at Gadling, we often tell stories of adventure: of traveling to far-off lands and meeting fascinating locals and sampling unpronounceable foods and returning home with bug bites and slipper tans and tales to be told over cocktails at dinner parties.

But the stories we less often share are the stories of what we sacrifice for those adventures: the patterns we disrupt, the worries we create and the often heartbreaking agony of being apart from the people that we love.

That’s why this short film from the Wild Love Project was familiar and somewhat painful to watch. The film follows a couple, Jake Norton and Wende Valentine, as they try to reconcile Jake’s love of mountaineering with the obligations of family life. Though it’s difficult, the couple makes it work so that they can impart to their children the importance of pursuing what makes them come alive.

In a release for the film, which premiered last month at the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Jake discussed some of the questions at the heart of the film:

In my experience, the climbing community has some topics, which they generally don’t want to discuss… how does climbing fit in with love, life, family? How do climbers evaluate risk and continue climbing when the responsibility changes and a spouse and children are added to the mix? Is continuing to climb simply selfish, or is there another explanation, a philosophy about life and passion and living which explains the need to keep climbing?

I’m sure most travelers can relate. I sure do.

15 Bizarre Natural Wonders

by Jessica Festa on

Here at Gadling, we love finding the quirkiest, most bizarre and out-of-the-ordinary aspects of travel from around the planet. While we’ve told you about some of the world’s strangest natural wonders before, there are just too many unworldly aspects in nature to uncover in one list.

Have you ever witnessed hot pink lagoons littered with feeding flamingos in the desert? Or enormous frost-covered trees that look like menacing monsters? How about waterfalls so red they look like blood? There are no limits to what you can find when you begin to roam the Earth.

To help make your next trip a little more unique, check out 15 bizarre natural wonders in the gallery below.

[image via Brocken Inaglory]

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Video Of The Day: Huayna Picchu Offers Bird’s-Eye View Of Machu Picchu

by Libby Zay on

Standing on the mountain ridge of Machu Picchu, the most recognized site of the Incas that sits high above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, is an experience sought after by people from all over the world. Walking around the UNESCO World Heritage Site, one can’t help but wonder what life was like for the Incas who lived there in the 15th century. As visitors take a moment – or in some cases, several hours – to sit and soak up the surrounding peaks of the Andes Mountains, one gets a sense of the kind of connection the Incas must have had to the breathtaking landscape that surrounded them. One of those peaks, Huayna Picchu, or “Young Peak,” is the emblematic sugarloaf mountain that rises over Machu Picchu in most photos. The Incas paved a trail up the side of the mountain and built temples and terraces on its summit – where local guides say the high priest and local virgins lived. Today, 400 tourists can enter Huayna Picchu each day by purchasing advanced tickets for 152 Peruvian neuvos soles, or around $57 U.S. dollars. The one-hour climb to the top isn’t easy; it’s a steep ascent the equivalent of 253 flights of stairs that includes some dizzying hairpin turns where climbers must use steel cables for support and – in certain spots – leaves climbers exposed on the side of the mountain on tiny steps. In this video, Mike Theiss takes viewers to the summit, showing how hikers must squeeze through a cave at one point and demonstrating just how harrowing some of the stairs can be. But the best parts about the hike (and the above video) are the 360-degree view from the top and the bird’s-eye view of Machu Picchu. Watch closely to see the switchback road the buses take to transport travelers from Aguas Calientes, the town below the Inca site, to Machu Picchu. Believe me, the views are worth braving your fear of heights and the soreness that results from the climb!