Category: Wilderness Travel

Leveraging Augmented Reality Games for the National Park Service

I wonder if a public-private partnership with Niantic that creates a whole new game where people can collect real flora and fauna and learn about science rather than the Pikachu.

At the beginning of the furlough, the George W. Childs Park, two minutes from my home, had only 3 Pokémon Go stops and only one route. I wanted to use the furlough productively, so I walked the park trails daily for fitness. I discovered that users above a certain level can recommend new poke stops, so I tried. I was able to add nearly 10 new poke stops and a half dozen routes.

More than one billion people have played Pokémon Go worldwide. It is an augmented reality game, which means it is played on a map that mimics the world we live in. Players can collect goodies by spinning poke stops, incubate and hatch eggs by walking, jogging, biking, or riding a skateboard or scooter. Driving in a car does not contribute. The game encourages exploration and movement. The game prioritizes poke stops with unique historical, artistic or cultural value. As such National Parks Service sites are perfectly aligned with the goals of the game.

Today, the pocket park (a little less than a mile from the parking lot to the bottom of three waterfalls) has a nice concentration of poke stops, poke gyms and Pokémon routes which I hope would encourage more visitors to visit more often and help parents like me get their kids off the sofa.

Currently the most popular videos games for my daughter’s age group are Minecraft and Roblox. However, both are sedentary games that require no movement. My daughter’s latest eye exam indicated that she is spending too much time looking at objects too close to her. The eye doctor recommended she at least take breaks and focus on distant objects.

Although 350 million active users play Roblox regularly and the bulk of them are ages 9 to 15, I’d prefer my daughter play an augmented reality game like Pokémon Go or Monster Hunters, both by Niantic, because these games encourage movement, exploration and only require users to glance at the screen instead of staying glued to it.

I wonder if this increase in poke stops will increase traffic to the park. I wonder if it will help parents get kids into the wilderness. I wonder if a public-private partnership with Niantic that creates a whole new game where people can collect real flora and fauna and learn about science rather than the Pikachu.

This is the website where Pokémon Go players track their poke stop recommendations.

Here are the 10 poke stops at Childs Park now. They just added one more at the bottom left of this image at the bottom of the pond.

George W. Childs National Park which is located in the Delaware Gap Water Recreation Area is a stunningly beautiful place to enjoy nature.

Dress Right for Cold Weather Fun

I grew up in the northwest and did cold weather training in Wisconsin, but you don’t have to enlist in the Marine Corps to have fun in the sun when the world is a beautiful, blazing white covered with snow and ice. The secret is to understand that water + wind = extraordinary cooling.

Understand the different kinds of fabric, specifically the difference between natural and synthetic. Polypropylene and fleece are made from tiny plastic threads. This means while the water can get trapped between threads, the actually base element of the clothing cannot absorb water. As such, there’s no need to put a fleece jacket or pants or polypro long johns in the dryer. Just hang them over a chair and they’ll be dry within a half hour. They’ll dry even faster on your body since your body heat will help the water evaporate.

Avoid cotton and wool in the winter because the threads can trap and keep moisture for hours, even days. This moisture will rapidly cool your body. Put a moisture wicking layer against your body, like polypro. Depending on the chill factor, add a layer of fleece. Always interlock the layers. Tuck the polypro top into the polypro long johns, pull the fleece pants over the polypro top, etc.

Finally, add a wind stopper to the top. It can be Gortex, but basic near plastic windstopper will work. Be sure to layer feet, hands and head with moisture wicking and windstopping layers.

Also, see the book Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills for indepth discussion on staying warm, happy and having fun in the wilderness. Enjoy!