VR climb up Leaning Tower in Yosemite, catch waves with surfing therapy dog

From the USA TODAY NETWORK and YouTube, it’s VRtually There, a weekly adventure with three cool VR experiences.

Catch a wave in VR with Ricochet the surfing therapy dog!

What’s better than a good dog, which is pretty much already the best? How about a good dog… that surfs?

Meet Ricochet. She’s a registered therapy dog who surfs in a California program called Waves of Empowerment. Her job is to provide a positive, safe, compassionate environment for kids with special needs, people with disabilities and military veterans with PTSD.

“It not only brings us out of our shells but also brings all of us together as a community,” says U.S. Navy vet Janina Gardner of the program. “We all know that, hey, there’s someone else out there going through the exact same thing you are and you’re not alone.”

Can you say good dog?

Take a VR climb up perilous Leaning Tower at Yosemite National Park!

Leaning Tower at Yosemite National Park is a popular destination for rock climbers. It offers a strenuous 700-foot climb that typically takes at least two days – but Richard Miranda was determined to climb it in just one.

It’s not a challenge that Miranda takes lightly, as his teammates document his ascent up the sheer cliff face.

“There’s all different levels of fear,” said Miranda, “from the good fear where I know I can fall and everything’s fine, to the moments where I know I can’t fall. And that’s pretty intense.”

Strapped to a mountain nearly a thousand feet in the air, the trees below look like toothpicks. This journey isn’t for the faint of heart – or those with vertigo.

Float underwater in graceful VR among marine wildlife!

There are 27 oilrigs off the California coast. These mammoth man-made structures run deep into the ocean. But what happens to them after the oil stops flowing?

Nature has a way of reclaiming what man takes. Once these enormous oilrigs are abandoned, the concrete pillars are teeming with marine wildlife. Float in graceful VR amid this new marine ecosystem, where over 100 different species can live.

Take a breath. Take it in. And don’t forget to look around!

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Be sure to check out our premiere episode, where we launch you from an aircraft carrier and take you walking on a tightrope hundreds of feet above the bottom of an Arizona canyon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkUKHj9KBgw

See our second episode here, where we take you wing-walking on a plane and skateboarding with X Games pros: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TX03Pm9nO0

Our third episode, for those of you who want the thrill of skydiving without the risk to life and limb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiVB4d6cUxQ

And our fourth episode, where we take you on a trip to a beautiful place you've probably never been: the moon. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTl86BkPTs

Our fifth episode takes you to party in the desert with the wild and creative minds behind Burning Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp7AbAgC8No

Our sixth episode goes behind the scenes at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and puts you through the incredible trials and tribulations of the World’s Toughest Mudder: https://youtu.be/JIOwpbwlU_U

Our seventh episode pays respect to the fallen with a reenactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor: https://youtu.be/LFmUWaA0SRo

Watch USA TODAY 360 and VR videos: https://www.youtube.com/USATODAY or http://www.usatoday.com/vrstories/

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Read more about the series and our plans here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/10/20/usa-today-network-debuts-first-vr-news-show/92412428/

And here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2016/10/20/take-off-f-18-and-balance-100-foot-cliff-vrtually-there/92450952/