I recently was reading an article about how TomTom has been developing a way to show tourists and hikers a way of avoiding the heavily visited areas and locates less frequented places for the traveller to see.

There are hundreds of photos of the same areas in National Parks and it seems there is a rush to go and visit only those places, but in truth, National Parks are unique landscape that ‘lifeboat’ some of our precious wildlife and give it place to roam freely. Visiting the common locations, will generally leave you with the ‘typical’ shot but you will not have experienced the real nature of the these wonderful national parks.

Now I am all in favour that paths and hikes need to be managed in theses wild spaces. I can very quickly see that 1 million pairs of feet trampling over every inch of ground will have it ruined but why not step out your comfort zone a little. Take a different route to the common quick 5 minute up to the site, snap and then leave again. Stay a while. Appreciate the wonderful nature that surrounds you and enjoy that life has given you the opportunity to visit such beautiful areas.

The GPS TomTom wearable allows you to download a number of small maps and TomTom have decided they will add to the collection as time goes on, opening up even more of the natural world around us.

My advice, take a paper map too (Amazon has plenty to buy) in case your wearable fails, be prepared and enjoy the wonderful outdoors that you have on your doorstep.

Article seen on Condé Nast Traveler