As tools for ecology and conservation, greenways and trails help preserve important natural landscapes, provide needed links between fragmented habitats and offer tremendous opportunities for protecting plant and animal species. In addition, they can allow humans to experience nature with minimal environmental impact.

The Economic Benefits of Trails Trails allow communities to increase commerce, support and create jobs, increase property values, reduce commuter costs and provide low-cost health benefits.

National parks, trails define public good.

Griffith Park, one of the top filming locations in LA, is one of the best spots to hike in the hills and see celebrities! Home of such movies as “La La Land,” “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” and more, this park also features miles of hiking trails packed with visitors and film stars alike.

Why Hike with Friends: The Role of Social Support The National Institutes of Health reviewed various studies that connect the benefits of social support to improved health and well-being. Regular nature hikes strengthen our heart, lungs, and muscles, as well as our mind.

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• Improves overall fitness, and builds muscles.
• Helps you lose weight (sure to be one of the popular benefits of hiking!)
• Improves blood pressure, and lowers the risk of heart disease.
• Makes you more creative.
• It can help your body heal.
• Improves overall mental health.

Hiking is a powerful cardio workout that can: Lower your risk of heart disease. Improve your blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Boost bone density, since walking is a weight-bearing exercise.

Discipline ranges from the physical to emotion and to mental approaches. Orienteering even helps in improving the social skills of participants, thus creating a huge possibility of establishing meaningful relationship with other participants and exercise camaraderie despite the competitions.

Swimming Improves Social Well Being Even if you have a pool at home, it is where you gather with your friends and family. A study revealed exercising and socializing together leads to improved mental health. Participants in the study had lower levels of anxiety and depression than their peers did.

Orienteering involves walking, jogging and running, often in rough terrain. All three of these activities increase aerobic capacity and cardiovascular strength.

The golden rule of orienteering is you must report to the download tent whether or not you complete your course. If you don’t, the organisers will spend hours out in the forest looking for you after the event has ended.

Basic Orienteering Skills

• Folding the map.
• Thumbing the map.
• Orientating the map to north (with ground or compass)
• Reading features on the map.
• Taking a compass bearing.
• Following a compass bearing.
• Pacing.
• Judging Distance.

Increases fitness levels: Most orienteering terrain is quite hilly and rugged, providing the perfect environment for athletes and nonathletes alike to develop strong hearts, legs, and lungs. Increases cardiovascular capacity: Orienteering requires walking, jogging and hiking, whose health benefits we wrote about.

The most important skill in Orienteering is orienting the map! You can also use a compass to assist, but it’s more important to learn how to orient your map using the terrain. A compass comes in handy when you’re on more difficult courses and the terrain is complicated.

How to Improve Your Orienteering

1. Before you start study the map and legend.
2. Don’t think of the competition as a race.
3. Never run at absolute top speed.
4. Try not to stop.
5. Don’t stand still if you’re lost and can’t work it out.
6. Don’t run on ‘feel’.

Orienteering (“O” for short) is a timed event across a mostly natural landscape, where participants navigate through a series of checkpoints along the way. The route from one checkpoint to the next isn’t marked: Each participant decides the best route on the run (or walk).

No special equipment is required to start orienteering. You can borrow a compass, electronic punch, and emergency whistle (if required) at the event. You’ll receive a map at the start. Typical equipment includes running/hiking shoes, comfortable clothing, compass, electronic punch, and emergency whistle.

Orienteering training combines technical skills development to efficiently navigate unfamiliar terrain with confidence and the physical conditioning necessary for speed, agility and endurance.