Heading into the great outdoors used to be about getting away from it all, facing nature head on and enduring – even relishing – all the hardships that came along with it. While the latter is still partly true (we still face nature head on, but we’ve found ways to make the hardships less… hard), today’s outdoor enthusiast can (and oftentimes does) stay just as connected with the world as they would in a downtown net café.

The fact is, hiking doesn’t really take you off the grid any more. Hand-held devices let you stay in touch with family, send updates to friends and blog about your whole trip. There’s the important stuff too, like calling for emergency help and checking weather, maps and all that. The major enabler is the ability to do it all without bringing extra batteries or plug into wall outlets, and letting wi-fi and GPS satellites take care of the rest.

The big business of outdoor gadgets and gizmos was clearly evident at a few of the world’s larger outdoor equipment trade shows this year. Over 30,000 visitors browsed the latest wares on display at the UK’s 2010 Outdoors Show, and post show figures found that 74% came to see the latest products, while 86% plan to spend the same or more on outdoor gear, equipment and activities in the coming year. Meanwhile, in the US, the latest Outdoor Retailer Summer Market has just wrapped up, drawing around 40,000 people to check out the latest innovations in wilderness technology. This includes technology like the vast range of personal hand-held GPS devices, which use dozens of satellites to pinpoint your location within a hundred feet or so, as well as offering 3D and aerial displays in addition to a shopping list of other features.

Synovate’s syndicated DuraTrend study, which tracks sales of household durables in the US, is keeping a close watch on what’s happening with these types of products.

And of course, there’s the iPhone. Along with the huge number of outdoor Apps available, hiking technology has created a slew of new products to support it. North American hikers can enjoy the signal boosting power of The Sleek, a device that detects and amplifies weak signals and speeds up data transfer, so you can still make that call or upload that new scenic pic you just snapped.

Of course, all of your technology is bunk once the power runs out. That’s when you roll out your Brunton Solar Roll, a flexible solar panel that can be furled into a backpack and used to charge any electronics from satellite phones to video cameras. Or even more compact, the nPower PEG is about the size of a flashlight, easily fitting into a backpack, and will charge up with the kinetic energy you generate while bounding up the mountainside.

Yet purists tend to believe that nature and technology are best kept separate, and with every gadget you bring along or mid-hike tweet you send, you kind of miss the point – it’s about connecting with nature, not the internet. Besides, there’s always a chance your gadgetry won’t work. If that happens when you’re off the beaten track, you’d better have more survival skills than just knowing how to use an iPhone App.

In the other camp, many believe that gear and technology have always been a part of outdoor activities. Sure, you can clamber up the mountaintop with nothing but a rope and a knife in your teeth – but having tomes worth of maps and weather warnings all compacted onto your phone can certainly be helpful. And with the emphasis on solar power and other alternative energy equipment, this is an industry that welcomes interesting advances in green technology.

And it might be somewhat ironic, but sometimes a fun outdoor gadget can be enough to encourage you to get out there in the first place. How else would I be able to use that new stargazing App I just downloaded?