Sunday, November 17th is National Hiking Day, and it’s one of my favorite “made up” holidays!
Here’s an inspirational video about it that includes a bit of nice history.
On This Day (YouTube Channel)
On This Day (Official Website)
Celebrating is easy — just take a hike, or a walk, if that’s more your speed.
The U.S. National Park Service maintains this handy map to help you find a place near you.
Find a Park Map (U.S. National Park Service)
Now, perhaps you are someone who needs a bit more inspiration than watching a video and clicking a link to find a park, or maybe you’re not in a position to take a hike or walk at all.
In that case, perhaps a “virtual” hike might help you celebrate. There are actually a surprising number of ways to take those on the Web.
For example, the U.S. National Park Service maintains a page for that, too.
Find Your “Virtual” Park (US National Park Service)
In addition, many of the parks’ websites have “Photos and Multimedia” pages that include “virtual” experiences. Here is an example from the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon Virtual Tours (US National Park Service)
There are also many 360° videos on YouTube that provide virtual visits to National Parks.
For example, Air Pano has made quite a few of them. Here are links to pages on their website for three of them. Their home page has a map where you can find more.
Grand Canyon National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Here’s another YouTube Channel with a long playlist of great videos.
National Parks Virtual Tours — 360° Immersive Travel Experiences (Odyssey Visual Media)
Of course, Google doesn’t just make it so that you can immerse yourself in YouTube videos — they are also behind Google Earth. Here’s their “virtual visit” to the Grand Canyon.
There are also some neat custom made “virtual” experiences. Virtual Yosemite is an example. There is also a Virtual Yosemite Directory.
Finally, writing this post inspired me to create this 360° experience called Hiking Trails Hall.
Click the “doors” to enter 360° virtual parks and “i”s for information about them.
If you can’t see it, or it isn’t working, you can also see it directly on Kuula.
All of this nudged me to update the “nature” pages on Cosma. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I was inspired to create this entire Nature Center with three other spaces to explore in addition to Hiking Trails Hall. Again, click “doors” to enter 360° experiences, “i”s for information about them, and arrows to go to other areas of the Nature Center. Some objects also link to fun 360° experiences.
If you can’t see it, or it isn’t working, you can also see it directly on Kuula.
Enjoy & Happy Hiking!
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