I love technology, I love the outdoors, and I think the two go quite well together. I enjoyed a lovely little example of that earlier this month as I hiked The Whistlers on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The view from up there, above the tramway station, is really quite spectacular and it was something I immediately wanted to share with some of my family back east in Manitoba. When you come from the flatlands, I find, you tend to really appreciate the alpine.

I had been meaning to call my dad, anyway, and I figured: What better place than from the top of a mountain? So I fired up my Motorola Atrix smartphone and made the call. But simply describing the view didn’t quite do it justice, so while I spoke with my father – who not too long ago struggled to send an email – I walked him through the process of installing Skype on his new laptop. Within minutes he downloaded the software, created an account and located me online. Suddenly we were video chatting.

It was like a portal had opened up between me, on a snowy Alberta mountaintop, and my father, sitting in his den at my childhood home in Winnipeg. Despite being separated by 1,500 kilometres of distance and 2,200 metres of elevation, it felt like we were right there with each other.

I pointed my phone in different directions, showing him the peak of Mount Edith Cavell to one side and the bird’s-eye view of the Jasper town site to the other. He was enthralled by the views. Then he brought my dog, Oota, who has been staying with my parents temporarily, up to his computer’s webcam. I was elated to see the little guy again after being separated for more than a month. My dad and I chatted a while longer and then bid each other goodbye, before I hiked back down and he took Oota for a walk.

What I really enjoy about this fusion of technology and nature is that it makes it possible to share the wonder of outdoor experiences with others who can’t be there to take it all in first-hand. It’s no substitute to see an image of a majestic mountain vista rather than seeing it with your own eyes but it’s better than nothing. In this case, too, it inspired my dad to more seriously consider finishing the Great Divide Trail, which he began hiking several years ago from the south, but was forced to quit before making it as far north as Jasper. Seeing those mountain peaks got the juices flowing in him again, and I bet he takes another crack at it next summer. (The pressure’s really on now, Dad.)

It was for this reason I was glad last week to hear Colin Harris make a point of not over-vilifying technology when I interviewed him about his “Take Me Outside” initiative. Harris, who also grew up in Winnipeg, just completed a 10-month, 7,500-kilometre run across Canada when he arrived in Victoria on Tuesday after departing from St. John’s back in January. The gruelling journey was his way of encouraging young people, parents and educators to spend more time outdoors. He accurately describes Canada as having “one of the most amazing backyards in the entire planet” and it pains him to see so many people failing to get out there to enjoy it.

The problem, he points out, is that kids and teenagers spend an inordinate amount of time in front of screens – whether they be televisions, computers, portable video games, smartphones or other devices. He said the average teen now spends 53 hours a week in front of a screen and that’s not counting school hours, where computers, TVs and projectors are increasingly common educational tools.

That leaves precious little time to get outdoors, but Harris was careful to not blame the electronic devices, themselves, or somehow “pit them against” outdoor experiences. Rather, he said, it’s about finding the balance between enjoying video games, television shows or online time and also enjoying things like ski trips, ice skating and hikes.

Or, in my case a couple of Sundays ago, putting the two together to enrich the experience of both.

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writer’s own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.