Hello and happy Friday! I'm sending positive thoughts your way.

I've added a weekly nature fact to this newsletter. More natural history content will be rolling out soon.

I hope you find it interesting. :)

Weekly thought...

It’s nearly impossible to get stronger if you don’t rest after pushing yourself.

In exercise science, a period of rest after a stressful training session allows your body to repair itself and get stronger in a process called overcompensation.

The same process works for mental stress.

Know when it's time to take intentional rest.

Now, here are this weeks tips:

1. How to get turn-by-turn trail navigation instructions on your smartwatch‍

Did you know that your smartwatch can give you direction on the trail similar to how smartphone can help you navigate on the road?

If you have a smartwatch like a Garmin Fenix, you can upload your trail route to your watch and get directions when you start your activity.

Using this feature can save you a lot of time and effort when hiking and trail running because you won’t have to pull my map out every time you hit a trail intersection. 

This video shows you how to do this specifically for Garmin watches, but I think most smartwatches (e.g Suunto) have this capability.

All you need is a GPX file for the trail you plan on hiking, which is a file that contains the route’s GPS data.

You can download the GPX file of your route data for free from most trail web apps like AllTrails and Gaia GPS.

2. How to protect your car from hitchhiking marmots

Yellow-bellied marmots, the largest members of the squirrel family, are adorable, highly social mammals that are commonly found in high altitude ecosystems. 

In Colorado, they live mostly in the upper foothills up to the alpine tundra, and you will often seem them when hiking above treeline in the late spring and summer (when they are not in hibernation).

If you are hiking in the mountains this summer, you may want to do a vehicle check before your roll away from the trailhead.

Apparently, marmots like to sneak into your car while you are hiking and secretly hitch rides to your final destination.

They can also do some not-so-adorable damage to your car if they decide to chew through your vehicle's wiring. 

3. What the UTM coordinate system is and why hikers should understand it‍

Coordinate systems are used to precisely measure your location on Earth.

They are important because you can use them to identify your location on a map in order to avoid getting lost. 

Knowing your coordinates will also allow you to communicate your precise location to search and rescue teams if you ind yourself in an emergency situation in the backcountry. 

There are two standard methods in which coordinates are used to pinpoint someones exact position on the planet:

1. The latitude and longitude coordinate systems
2. The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system

You are probably familiar with latitude and longitude, but UTM is equally important to understand for reading maps and navigating in the backcountry. 

The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) system is commonly used by land navigators and has some advantages over the the latitude-longitude coordinate system. 

The UTM system divides the Earth into 60 equally sized zones. Each zone stretches vertically from the North to the South pole and is 6-degrees of longitude in wide.

Your coordinates when using UTM system are described by the intersection of easting (north-south) and northing (east-west) grid lines, similar to how the intersection of latitude and longitude lines are used to express an exact location. 

This topic can be confusing, so I recommend this guide as a great introduction that will help you understand how the UTM system works.

Friday's Nature Fact

Did you know? When in hibernation, the body temperature of a marmot can drop to 41 degrees Fahrenheit and its heart beat can drop from 200 to 30 beats per minute. This helps them survive harsh alpine winters with enough energy to make it to the spring and reproduce. Learn more...

Talk to you next week, friends.

Meredith