A9. A dense fog freaked me out a bit. Dense enough that we could barely see the landmarks behind us that we'd need to get back. The trail was pretty hard to follow. I just turned the family around while we could still find our way. #ParkChat

Q11: What’s the greatest fear you’ve had to face while hiking in national parks, or the scariest trail you’ve hiked? Post a picture if you have one! Did that experience make you more cautious on future hikes, or more fearless? #parkchat

Q10: Have you ever had to push past your comfort zone because another hiker in your group wanted to keep going, or convinced a reckless friend that it’s time to turn back when they wanted to push on? How do you handle mismatched levels of fear amongst hiking companions? #parkchat

A8: #ParkChat “Be Prepared.” While you can’t fix, manage, and control every situation, and you can’t predict the future, you can increase your safety, odds of success, or at least comfort by packing, learning, and planning. Have an exit plan/plan B. Don’t go alone, at least not initially.

A1: Oooh great question! One park I've always had a bit of a fear is Arctic National Park & Preserve. The remoteness and logistics of visiting the park sounds daunting in itself! #ParkChat

Q9: Did you ever discover a fear you never knew you had, WHILE you were encountering it? How did you get through it, considering you wouldn’t have thought to prepare in advance? #parkchat

Q8: Beginning hikers can be fearful of all the unknowns out there. What advice would you give new hikers to help them gain more confidence on the trails? #parkchat

Q7: Spending the night in a tent out in the wilderness or even a campground can be a difficult task with odd nighttime noises. What tactics do you use to combat nighttime fears, especially at “things that go bump in the night”? #parkchat

A5 #parkchat I’ve always found it helpful to look ahead and/or “up” the slope next to me, rather than focus on that “dang high down” drop on the other side. If you’ve ever climbed Bear Butte since the fires, the wind lashes at you and you’ve got to not focus on how vulnerable you are!

Q6: What type of weather would you least like to get caught in while hiking in our national parks, and how have you handled it in the past? Are you more likely to encounter this weather in some parks than others? #parkchat

A5: #ParkChat 3 points of contact. Trustworthy, sturdy footwear. Calming conversations with someone I trust, or a “sorry, but don’t talk to me right now” with someone that’s not being helpful.

Q5: A fear of heights can bring some hikers to tears on exposed ledges. One tactic to manage that fear is to train your eyes on the feet of the hiker right in front of you instead of straying to the scenery off the ledge. What other tactics do you know that can help with a fear of heights? #parkchat

Q4: What do you carry on a hike that’s meant to mitigate your fears? Are you willing to sacrifice pack weight for safety, for instance in the form of bear spray or an emergency first aid kit? #parkchat

Q3: Mountain lions, grizzlies, snakes, oh my! What animal would you least like to encounter on the trails? Have you learned any good advice about what to do in that situation? #parkchat

Q2: When it comes to hiking in our national parks and wilderness areas, what do you consider to be a healthy challenge vs. too risky? How do you know when to listen to your fear and turn back, and when to push through? #parkchat

Q1: Are there any parks you’ve held yourself back from visiting due to a fear, or trails you haven’t hiked due to fear? Do you have a goal of overcoming it or are you ok with sitting that one out? #parkchat

I’m so excited to host #ParkChat tonight!!! Where my hikers at? #hiking #nationalparks

This Wednesday at 9 PM ET #ParkChat welcomes @beckyjlomax.bsky.social and @thedetoureffect.bsky.social as our special guest hosts. They are looking at a very interesting topic “Managing Fears While Hiking”. Please join us. @naturetechfam.bsky.social @camarowrx.bsky.social @tthrash.bsky.social

A near death experience 🥵

The list of 34 lease terminations includes Montezuma’s Castle and other beloved northern Arizona national park units 🥺 www.npca.org/articles/707...

You can get pasteis de nata at Reunion Bread in the Rino neighborhood in Denver, it’s been a long time since I had them in Portugal but based on my memory these stack up pretty good!

Seeing lots of slot canyons on the feed lately, here's my contribution! Cool hike out at Big Bend Ranch State Park:

Hey Bluesky - I'm still trying to figure out the logistics of it and I may be crazy but I launched a GoFundMe for fired rangers. You can find it here. Please share www.gofundme.com/f/support-pa...

Today there was a protest at Rocky Mountain NP to show support for park rangers who were indiscriminately let go. There were also protests nationwide as part of the 50501 movement. Glad we can physically get involved and not just seethe and feel doomed. Check out @50501movement.bsky.social #parkchat

One of my all-time favorite hiking viewpoints in one of my all-time fav national parks, Big Bend 🙌 Have you been? #parkchat One of my all-time fav TripAdvisor reviews also comes from Big Bend. "Chisos Mountain Lodge: 1 star. Mountain lion tried to eat my son." www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserRevi...

I’ve just moved to Denver and I’m loving the street art situation! Thankfully my neighborhood is walkable so I can enjoy finding things like this on any quick stroll #streetartchat

Omg it's finally done 😭 I uploaded my entire Instagram feed from 2012-2024 to my own self-hosted site, comments and all. Think I've got the bugs fixed for mobile view too. Feels incredible to get it done but the process suckedddddd detoureffectphotofeed.com

“The thing that I can’t get over is that the actual richest man in the world directed my fucking firing. I make $50k a year and work to keep drinking water safe. The richest man in the world decided that was an expense too great for the American taxpayer.”

I’ve been there too! Anybody else have pics from the Bradley and Taggart Lakes hike in Grand Teton? #parkchat #nationalparks

It looks crap on mobile and I'm still working out a lot of kinks (like how the video popup won't do a vertical orientation), but what do you guys think of the desktop version of my self-hosted "Instagram" photo feed so far? Only missing 2021-2023 but so close to done... detoureffectphotofeed.com

Inuit snow goggles and seal hunter eye shades at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen I loved checking this museum out before visiting Greenland; they have several relevant exhibits including “Arctic Treasures,” “People of the Arctic,” and their Viking exhibit has some Greenlandic artifacts

Anybody ever climb Weaver's Needle in the Superstitions? I've only admired it from the Dutchman/Peralta Loop hike. The sides look so vertical, it's crazy to me that people climb it!

You know about Little Italy and Chinatown neighborhoods in places like NYC, Boston, and San Francisco, but how about Little Sweden and Little Paris? Lindsborg, Kansas was populated by Swedish immigrants and their descendants still keep up with traditions. Little Paris is an area of SoHo in NYC.

I'm migrating all my Insta photos to my blog so I can host them natively on a special page and get rid of Insta...it's a nightmare. Started w/2012, only made it halfway through 2018 so far 😭 We all know the closer I get to present day the worse it'll be b/c I started posting way too many travel pics

Everybody knows of the beautiful church on Bled Island, but I think my fav church scene in Slovenia is in Drežnica 😍 I took a detour off the Alpe-Adria to visit Kobarid, then had to climb back up to rejoin the trail. Was a real slog until I came over the hill and this idyllic view revealed itself

Stehekin, Washington ❤️ You can only reach this little village on Lake Chelan by foot or boat - take a long ferry ride or backpack in on an overnight hiking trip. I love that there's no cars! Know of any other places like this? I believe Mackinac Island is another similar spot, but I've never been.

I love Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, but it's annoying seeing so many people post pics standing on top of the Fire Wave. Brochure says "to preserve this fragile and unique area, please stay on the trail and do not walk on the wave formation at the end." Yet it's freakin CONSTANT on Insta 😡

The first time I ever saw a bear on a hike was on the trail to Colchuck Lake near Leavenworth, WA. It was a little cinnamon-colored bear that scurried away as I approached. Since then I've also seen bears in Grand Teton (and the Smokies but I was driving and not hiking). Where was your first bear?

One of my fav parts of hiking in the Blue Ridge Mtns was watching the mist burn off as the sun rose (much of this region is a cloud forest). Pics are from the Roan Highlands; the hike started out with low visibility, but I sat on a rock and just waited for the view to open up (see view in reply)...

My favorite sign from hiking Hadrian's Wall Path back in 2019. Every other stop along the trail has some kind of historic information plaque about the Roman ruins, but the Twice Brewed Inn just has a good sense of humor 😂

Do you think living in Svalbard would suck or be the coolest experience ever? I can't decide. Wonder if I could hack it

Ever see unique staircases on your travels? The first ones that come to mind for me are Da Vinci's double helix staircase at Château de Chambord and the spiral staircase at Château de Blois, both in the Loire Valley in France #travel #architecture #castles thedetoureffect.com/blog/castles...

You ever take a class on Coursera? I just did one called "Arctic Peoples and Cultures" from UiT The Arctic University of Norway and it was awesome. Learned about the Sámi and Nenets, problems people face due to climate change, etc. Know of any other cool anthropology-esque courses I should take?

Did you guys know you can do a virtual online 360° tour inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault? Can go underground and look at the boxes to see which countries have sent seeds to be stored. Pretty cool: seedvaultvirtualtour.com

I had so much fun researching for this article about unique trip styes and tour operators to book with in 2025! I already knew about half of them, but went down rabbit holes and found more. Know any cool multi-day tour companies I missed? thedetoureffect.com/blog/unique-... #traveladdicts #travel ✈️🗺️

If the new year has you reflecting on your life goals and you're looking for a new adventurous job change to kick off 2025, try using these outdoor industry/adventure travel job boards instead of the typical Indeed or ZipRecruiter: thedetoureffect.com/blog/outdoor... #hiking #traveladdicts #travel

Happy NYE! Not sure which long distance #hiking trail to do in 2025? Why not consult the stars? 😂 I'd never written a horoscope article before but I found it really fun to connect personality traits to different trails. Think you'd like the ones I picked for you? thedetoureffect.com/blog/best-hi...

Slab City is fun, and unique -- kind of Burning Man meets Quartzsite meets LA meth-heads :-). If you're still in the area, the sculptures at Borrego Springs are cool, too. I think the dragon was my favorite, but there are lots.

Do you know of other places around the world that are similar to Slab City, the "The Last Free Place in America"? Chris McCandless introduced it to me ofc. Later I met snowbirds who stay there in winter, Alaska in summer. Finally visited myself: thedetoureffect.com/blog/slab-ci... #roadsideamerica

Would you be more likely to do a Colorado hut-to-hut trip in summer or winter? The 10th Mountain Division huts near Leadville can be skied to; that's really their main purpose, so they'll get a lot of use in the next few months. But I hiked to them in the summer: thedetoureffect.com/blog/hut-to-...