We're closing out the year with a flashback to some of the most artful outdoor videos we spotted in 2012.

The goal: Whittle dozen of choices down to a top 5. The reality: We found too many good clips worth sharing (9 below, with links to others). We’re hoping you’ll be knocked out by the all sights just as we are.

We arbitrarily created categories to showcase the range of our 2012 picks, and our overall favorite clip may not be the artiest in the bunch, but it gets the nod for its inventivness and spirit of fun. Have a look:

Best Creature Views

These glowing creatures are comb jellyfish, as explained by Scientific American.

A series of outtakes from a film by Louie Schwartzberg, Wings of Life.

Best View from Space

Photos taken by crews of the International Space Station as edited by Knate Myers.

Honorable Mention: Further Up Yonder, an alternate artistic take on NASA imagery.

Best Yosemite

The photographers behind Yosemite HD, Colin Delehanty, 25, and Sheldon Neill, 21, are profiled in a San Francisco Chronicle article.

Honorable Mentions: Yosemite: Range of Light by Shawn Reeder, and the ongoing work of Steven Bumgardner for Yosemite Nature Notes. Bumgarder released a trio of projects in 2012, including a look at Yosemite at night in the beautiful Night Skies.

Best Adventure Travel

Terra Scara: Timelapse imagery taken in 24 countries over 6 years by Sean White.

Honorable mention: Blowing a kiss to the forever-young joy of exploring new lands: A Story for Tomorrow.

Best Scenic Splendor

Celestial Lights was shot in northern Norway, Finland and Sweden (autumn 2011-spring 2012) by Ole Salomonsen. In this category we had to include at least one more clip:

The Atlantic interviewed Henry Jun Wah Lee, the photographer behind The Wild Heart.

Honorable Mentions:
• Anchorage by Winter by Zan Butler: fun with auroras, stars and tides.
• Purely Pacific Northwest by John Eklund: Mount St. Helens to John Day Fossil Beds.
• Night Skies by T-RECS, Germany-based timelapse specialists: star trails, constellations and clouds, from Yosemite to Indiana.
• Temporal Distortion by Randy Halverson: stars and auroras in the flatlands.
• Wonderland by Christopher Cauble: geysers and critters in Yellowstone.

Best Use of the Outdoors in a Music Video

"Crystalized" by violinist Lindsey Stirling, No. 8 among YouTube's top trending videos of 2012 (41+ millions views). Nice to see an artist digging some fresh air. Great tune.

Best, Period

A visual account of a 1,700-mile trek on the Pacific Crest Trail (north to the Oregon-Washington border) by Kolby Kirk, The Hike Guy, that won us over way back in January for its originality, cleverness and ability to visually capture the human essence of a thru-hike. In this post he discusses the clip in detail. Nice work, Kolby.

So what is your favorite outdoor clip of 2012?