Documenting a Hike With Sound

A few weeks ago I obsessed over a podcast called Uinta Triangle. It is about a hiker, Eric Robinson, that went missing in Utah. I practically binged all 18 episodes.

In the process of making the podcast, Dave Cawley, recorded the sounds of nature while recreating Eric’s hikes. Dave then used these recordings as ambient sound during the podcast.

Dave then provided the full audio recordings on the podcast’s website: http://uintatriangle.com. I liked how he presented the recordings. He used a blog format where he described the audio—location, animal sounds, etc.—then he provided the audio recording. The audio was recorded in stereo, which made it an immersive experience.

I liked the simplicity of it. Using the blog + audio format, it could be immersive as well informative. I found it less distracting than video. It allowed me to use my imagination, to close my eyes and find myself somewhere else. I especially liked reading a book while listening to the sounds. Sure there are apps and other places to go to listen to ambient nature sounds. But I liked knowing where the sounds came from, what I was listening to.

All of this to say, that I think I would like to incorporate some of this into my own hikes. To provide an audio-only immersive option. Something free from the fluff of video. It is fun to share the sights of the places I’ve seen. But I also enjoyed this screen-free experience to places unseen. You should listen to these recordings too and see if you enjoyed them as much as I did.