Recreation Geography

30 June 2026

Deer

I never get tired of seeing deer in our neighborhood. Here are some shots for you to enjoy.

Early June Birth

A tree fell in the back, and this friend decided to hide behind it.

Pretty cool, eh?

18 June 2026

Senses and SenseScapes Encompassing Tourism Destinations Research

Senses and SenseScapes Encompassing Tourism Destinations

Tourism offers countless global locations, providing a multitude of sensory experiences. These include commercialized tourism products such as saunas and floatation tanks through to natural phenomenon such as mountains and wilderness destinations. Consequently, sensory elements are a curious concept within tourism because every destination provides a sensory experience of one kind or another.

The first of its kind, this book examines holidays and tourism through sensory perceptions which either encourage or deter consumers. It studies sensoryscapes and how they effect and affect tourism at destinations and can be linked with the development of tourist niches, reflecting the segmenting of the mass market tourism into smaller segments. Finally, it reflects on how with increased urbanization there is a growing need to find quiet spaces, free from urban or anthropogenic noise, such as silent retreats and dark sky meditation holidays. Escape has always been one of the main components of tourism development together with attraction to spatial locations that match tourists' needs.

Structured to address each of the senses separately, this book provides:

• A wide range of case studies from interdisciplinary backgrounds

• Links amongst common themes across the various threads of research on sensory experiences

• Theoretical frameworks and practical application for sensory tourism.

It will be of interest to those studying tourism management as well as wider social science disciplines.

Preface

A short introduction to the book exploring the reasons for writing and where it fits into tourism literature.

Ian Jenkins and Robert S. Bristow

Section 1: Foundational aspects of sense in tourism

Ian Jenkins and Robert S. Bristow

1.1 Theoretical Aspects of Sense in Tourism

1.2 Sensory Disabilities

1.3 The Tourist Experience

1.4 Triggers for choice

Section 2: The Sensorial Aspects of Tourism

2:1 Sound in Tourism

Chapter 1 Music Festival Soundscape as a Tourist Allure The case of Tomorrowland

Aristeidis Gkoumas

Chapter 2 Sound and Sound Interactions in Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Experiences

Patricia Stokowski

Chapter 3 Urban Soundscapes for Tourists, with a Focus on Skyscrapers

Kate Terzano

Chapter 4 Soundscapes and Sonic Emissions in National Parks

Ian Jenkins

2:2 Sight in Tourism

Chapter 5 The Sensescapes of Drones in Tourism

Jaciel Gustavo Kunz

Chapter 6 ‘Looking Up’: Exploring Night Skies and Astro-Tourist Sensory Experiences

Deborah Slater & Philip R. Stone

Chapter 7 Sensory Tourism: Senses and SenseScapes Encompassing Tourism Destinations

Katrín Anna Lund and Gunnar Thór Jóhannesson

2:3 Taste in Tourism

Chapter 8 ‘More than a meal’: Sensescapes in narratives of a destination restaurant tasting experience

Velvet Nelson

Chapter 9 Edible heritage: the use of food and foodways in multisensory museum encounters

Sofie Scheen Jahnsen

Chapter 10 Gastronomic pleasure in an Atlantic Spanish tourist destination: the region of Galicia

Rubén Camilo Lois-González, Breixo Martins-Rodal, and Carlos Alberto Patiño-Romarís

Chapter 11 Gustatory Experiences and Its Interaction with Other Senses: Savouring the Destination and its Relevance in Food Tourism

Priyakrushna Mohanty, Bidisha Sarkar, Sharanya M, Chandru MC

2:4 Smell in Tourism (Olfactory)

Chapter 12 Smellscapes of Provence

Claudette John

2:5 Touch in Tourism

Chapter 13 Animal touch: Cuteness, tactility and wellbeing in Japan

Émilie Crossley

Chapter 14 Multisensory Experience in the Context of Melaka World Heritage Site, Malaysia

Nur Hidayah Abd Rahman, Nur Haizum Abd Rahman and Hairul Nizam Ismail

Chapter 15 Exploring the Transformative Role of Touch in The Touristic Experience: The Case of Japanese Thermal Philosophy in Ourense's Thermal Facilities

Elisa Alén González, Trinidad Domínguez Vila and Lucia Rubio Escuderos

2:6.1 Multi-sensory experiences in Tourism

Chapter 16 Bioception Interoceptive Sense: the missing link between biophilia, tourism and wellbeing

Sara Duarte, Tim Taylor and Carlos Ferreira

Chapter 17 Sensory Tourism: Preliminary contributions from the Neurosciences

Carla Fraga

Chapter 18 Echoes of Tranquillity: The Silent Appeal of New Zealand's National Parks in Tourism Research

Pola Wang

2:6.2 Extra Sensual Perception in Tourism

Chapter 19 The sixth of the senses and sensory tourism: proprioception and tourists’ search for the authentic self

Margaret E Kenna

Chapter 20 Using Astro-cartography as a tool for determining travel choice

Karen Davies

Chapter 21 Dark Tourism in New Orleans

Hilary Becker

3.1 Conclusion Ian Jenkins and Robert S. Bristow

For more information and to preview chapters see this link.

Also, check your library Senses and SenseScapes Encompassing Tourism Destinations - Search Results

12 June 2026

Fifty One Years ago today

It was on this date that I completed the 2,000 Mile Appalachian Trail at US Route 20 in Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, it was not on Katahdin, since the previous summer I started my trek on Springer in early June, too late to make it to Baxter State Park before the snow closed the mountain. So, my hike became a "Both Ends to the Middle," now called a flip-flop. It ended to be Both ends toward the middle, since I actually finished the middle on a couple trips in the spring of 1975.

It was a great trip. Unlike Bill Bryson, I could actually say "I had hiked the Appalachian Trail."

Here is the finished photo.

Notice the rain cover on my Trailwise Backpack. It was raining, of course, so I couldn't get a ride hitchhiking into Lee Massachusetts. I got my bus ticket at the local drug store, and the clerk, noticing my dirt, suggested I go across the street to the police station where I changed clothes to be a bit more presentable.

Here is the USGS topo map of the era (notice the road walking south of Goose Pond). I did not visit the cabin since it was on a side trail and US 20 was my goal.

Get Maps | topoView

Since 1975, I had returned several times to the area doing corridor monitoring, and swimming in the pond.

Wanna' read about the 2,000 mile backpack? Go to the Appalachian Trail Museum and get my book. All the money goes to the Museum.

11 June 2026

Fifty one years ago today

On this date in 1975, I was hiking north on the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts. I did 24 miles from Jug End Spring.

(photo taken 5 years ago, the Commonwealth had since dismantled the spring for public health reasons.)

I cruised along at 2.5 mph since a good portion of the trail followed roads. Here is a present day shot of Brace Road that I followed as I descended into Tyringham.

and the topo from 1973.

Plus an air photo from 1975.

At 5 pm I arrived in Tyringham, where I camped at the town park just north of the Post Office with Les (from New Jersey).

(Streetview of Post Office from 2019, the Pavillion has since be removed).

In the early 1990s, I became a AT Corridor Monitor and my first assignment was the area around Tyringham Cobble. The trail was now off the roads. I became very familiar with the AT in Tyringham over the next 3 decades.

03 June 2026

Random Pics of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia

Here are pictures from the seventies along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. Much of the trail is no longer there due to relocations in the 1980s and 90s to protect the trail corridor.

The photos are not in any order.

TN/VA Line.