5 Wonderful Hikers To Watch On Youtube, While Working From Home
When I am painting, I love watching Youtube videos. These are some of the hikers that I have been following. I find are relaxing hiking videos relaxing and not intrusive to my work. For this blog entry, I tried to find diverse people to follow, but it is difficult to find Youtubers that are not of Western, European descent or part of minority group. In this instance women are included as minorities because, as a woman I can understand why females would feel unsafe, solo camping. Women have spoken of being followed or had unwanted advances. It has been stated that people who are non white in Western Countries feel unwelcome in the hiking, of course this experience is different depending on each person, but only a few months ago a Native American named Darrell House was tased by a Park ranger. This was because Darrell went off track as he has done previously pray on his ancestors land. It is not the hike itself that is challenge, but dealing with the people that are around you, that make people feel unsafe and unwelcome.
Kraig Adams
Kraig is an American hiker, who hikes all around the world. Many of the places he has hiked include multiple trails in Adirondacks, Hornstrandir in Iceland and Tour Du Mont Blanc in Switzerland. Since his video Hornstrandir, Kraig has adopted a style of not speaking through the hiking portion of the video. After the hike portion, Kraig speaks about the specific hike, his gear and other useful information. He adds little clips that may not have been included. For the hiking part, there is music, with beautifully captured drone shots of the scenery and apart from the moments Kraig finds some dogs on a trail to greet excitedly, there is no speaking. This style was based on the beginning of the movie “There Will Be Blood“. Watching his videos is a meditative experience, to such a degree, that it takes you aback when he starts speaking at the end of the video. He has a great eye and ability to capture stunning scenes, while keeping a vibe going with music choices, that are not intrusive. Kraig had a large Youtube account, which was called Wedding Film School. His hiking videos have that professional look to them as he has a strong background in editing and cinematography. Kraig is constantly going to interesting places and, his last video as of this time was hiking to a Acatenango Volcano in Guatemala.
Erik Normark
Erik is Swedish who likes to camp. He is not averse to camping in the Swedish Bush, in just a sleeping bag, in the middle of winter. From time to time he speaks to the camera about his gear and hiking related topics. Most of the time he is contemplating the area around him. Sometimes he just gets his tarp and sits during a rainy day out in the bush. Erik will canoe or pull a sled to destinations around Sweden and has ice skated to a chosen location on a frozen lake. He goes all over Sweden while camping in a tent under the stars in Bothnian Bay, camping in summer for five days along the Ruonekjåkk river, then sleeping in an exposed shelter under the Aurora Borealis in Bothnian Bay and sleeping in mid winter outside with just a sleeping bag. Watching Erik, who has a calm and contemplative manner, you feel that still of nature. His music choices are not intrusive and are composed by him. Often there is no talking or music in his videos. But Erik likes to record the sounds of nature, which adds to the atmosphere. If you enjoy snowy climates, his videos are full of wintery scenes. Watching many of Erik’s videos, you see how good he has become at composing scenes and just allowing you to experience that moment.
Scotty’sGoneWalkabout’s
Scotty is an Australian hiker, who started his channel to promote the Australian Bush. He camps around New South Wales, such as the Tablelands or The Budawang Ranges. Scotty likes to mix a bit of bushcraft into his videos without overwhelming the audience with too much information. He is quite talkative to the camera bar a few videos that have no speaking, such as TALES FROM THE SOUTH || Surfing, Fishing, Exploring Australian Coast. Australia had a horrific bushfire season a year ago, you see the effect and regeneration of the bush in many of his videos including when he visited the Blue Mountains. For people that are into bushcraft, Scotty has completed courses. He likes to explain what he is seeing around him, speaks about his gear and gives knowledge about the area. Scotty likes to cook interesting meals while camping, that have involved stir fries, tacos, risotto and Mexican rice bowls. He loves canoeing or hiking for hours to a spot. He has slept in beautiful spots, on top of cliffs, in hammocks and in a caves such as this video, Cave Camp in Mountain Oasis | Favourite Hike 2020. But he has camped for days Is a firm believer in leaving no trace behind. Australia is an ancient land, it has a unique geological look, with its position in the world, sunrises look different and Scotty loves capturing them. He is as well a keen, but often unlucky fisherman, but he doesn’t fish in all the videos if you are opposed to it. But Scotty’s easy going and capable manner is nice to watch, while you learn a bit about bushcraft.
Magnus Lindbom
Magnus is different to the people on this list, he is a photographer, who camps in the Swedish wilderness to capture stunning photos. His videos follow his quest and the wait to get that perfect photo. Not only are his photos spectacular, but so is the cinematography. Magnus is similar to Erik in that he doesn’t speak much and he doesn’t put intrusive music on his videos. You feel as if you are waiting with him for that magic moment that he can take a photo. He camps in places such as Sarek National Park, where there are no people and where the weather changes quickly from one moment to another. He camps all year round, in Autumn in the Ráhpa Valley (Sarek) and other seasons. Magnus camps for weeks as he shows in 17 Days Alone in The Wilderness (Sarek & Padjelanta) and October Light (Sarek & Kvikkjokk-Kabla). During these videos from time to time hear what he is thinking whether to go or wait for the weather to clear. It is an interesting perspective to see a photographer’s point of view. If you need silence, watching Magnus’ videos is incredible, because he has an amazing photographer’s eye. If he had started on Youtube earlier, he would have been noticed quickly.
RADY ITSUKI
Rady is a Japanese Hiker who only just recently started posting videos from August last year. There are only four videos. His first video was Hiking in Japan Inspired by Kraig Adams, hiking up Mt. Kinpu. There is absolutely no speaking and just chill music to go with the sounds of nature. If you look at the height of Mt Kinpu (2599m tall) and the following mountains he hiked, each video shows a progression to a higher altitude. There are more challenges with the increase in height. In this video of hiking the Northern Alps Chogatake,【登山】北アルプス 蝶ヶ岳 2677mへ, Rady showed how dedicated he is to hiking up this mountain. It was raining for much of the hike and foggy at the top, but he did the climb in only shorts and a t-shirt. The next video Hiking Japan's Northern Alps Mt Tsubakuro 2763m, Rady shot some beautiful drone footage along the way as he does in all his videos and uses his drone to wonderful affect. This video had beautiful shots of the sun rising on top of the mountain. It is abundantly clear how polished Rady’s videos are. Admittedly I only just found Rady, but he is now part of the hikers, that I love to watch. I hope the he grows bigger and the algorithm helps him to be found more easily. It took many different search queries to find him. Popular Youtubers are great, but you want to find new people, especially people that are underrepresented in the hiking community. In the end if you are not getting views, it is easy to be discouraged. So I will keep looking for more people as I am inspired by hiking videos.
