When we're not outdoors, we're finding adventure by exploring social media and the web. Here are some of the best adventure links we discovered this week.
Out of the sky: Many people gather to watch a rocket launch into space, but very few come to see the astronauts return to Earth. Yet that's exactly what photographer Andrew McConnell did.
Designed in the 1960s, the Soyuz capsule has been carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station for decades. It launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and lands a few hundred kilometers away.
The Great Baltic Bomb Cleanup:Across the Baltic and North Seas, abandoned bombs from World War II are corroding. As their casings disintegrate, carcinogenic substances leak into the sea.
Three companies are attempting to remove more than 1.5 million tonnes of munitions from the seabed. The first stage, worth €100 million, will only remove 80 tonnes of munitions, but the teams hope it will prove their technology works and encourage further funding.
Bombs scattered on the seabed of the Bay of Lübeck. Photo: Geomar Helmholtz Oceanographic Research Center
Mansplaining while hiking
Keep your unsolicited adventure advice to yourself:Jennifer Malloy was out on a leisurely hike when a man stopped to ask her questions. Why was she trying to summit Little Lougheed with her two-year-old child strapped to her back?
It may seem like a small thing, but Malloy sees this behavior all too regularly. She says men feel the need to stop and explain mountain safety rules to her, even though she’s an experienced solo hiker, usually on a trail she knows very well. The advice may be well-intentioned, but it’s always unsolicited and infuriating.
New long-distance hiking trail in Jordan:Walking the Wadi Rum Trail will feel like you've stepped into a Star Wars movie. And you'd be right, its stunning landscapes have been the setting for many films.
A new trail opened in 2023, stretching 120km from Jebel Umm Ishrin to the protected areas of the region. You can walk the trail on your own, but it is recommended to have a Bedouin guide.
Lorraine McCall. Photo: Dan Bailey
The Triple Crown of Scottish Hills
Lorraine McCall completes the Grahams series continuously:On Thursday, Lorraine McCall completed her Grahams Round in a single round. She is the only woman to have completed all 231 Grahams in a single trip.
For four months, McCall walked and cycled from hill to hill. She took ferries to reach the hills on the Scottish islands. She has now completed the triple crown of Scottish hills: the Grahams, the Munros and the Corbetts. The Grahams were the toughest of the three.
The Women Travelers Who Shaped the Ancient World:Three women from the 1800s completely changed our understanding of ancient Egypt, but you've probably never heard of them.
Lucie Duff Gordan visited Egypt in 1864. Her work inspired Amelia Edwards to go, and Edwards' book in turn convinced Emma Andrews to go. All three went as tourists, but their books had a significant impact on the field of Egyptology.
Tyler Austin Harper and Brandon Sausele. Photo: Peter Fisher
Extreme fishing
The dangerous and secret world of extreme fishing: Striped bass is a very popular fish in America. You can fish for it during the day, but the bigger ones come closer to shore at night, especially in rough waters.
Wetsuit fishing is an extreme fishing practice in which a small group of fishermen don wetsuits and wade into cold, rough seas at night in an attempt to catch these “stripers.”
Retirement was out of the question: Quentin Roberts writes about his iconic first ascent of Jirishanca’s southeast ridge with Alik Berg in 2022. Learning from a previous trip to Peru, they gave themselves more time to acclimatize and tried to do things the local way. They spent days exploring the mountain’s east face. Then the snow came, forcing them to change their planned route.
