Trails Near and Far: Adventure Is Calling, Will You Answer?
All you have to do is open your door, step outside and start walking. It really is that simple if you have the right mindset, motivation and training. However, if you are like me, you spend a lot of time thinking about adventure, reading books and magazines about adventure, watching TV shows and movies about adventure, but spend very little actual time adventuring in the real world. It has become so easy to live vicariously through other people’s exciting lives, be they real or imagined, that we put our own aspirations for adventure on the back burner until “the time is right,” or until ” I am better prepared.” There are many other excuses, some good and some not so good that we tell ourselves in order to put off the things we want to do but are either too scared to try or too overwhelmed to even know where to begin. Good news! That is what this category is all about. There are numerous forms of adventure, think sky diving, scuba diving, mountain climbing, and sailing to name a few. They are all great, but they involve a high degree of training, time and money. We are going to focus on way more accessible methods of adventure; walking, running, and biking on trails both near and far.
Okay, sounds great, but where do I start? This very good question can be the most overwhelming of them all. They are so many amazing places to hike, backpack, trail run and bike in this country and all over the world, that you could spend months researching your big adventure, which is great, but unnecessary if getting started with adventure sooner rather than later is your goal. The next question, “what do I need to bring with me?” Another potentially overwhelming question that could lead to more months of research and lots of money spent on gear you might not need. “What if I will be bored?” Many aspiring adventurers end their journey before it even begins due to misinformation, misunderstandings, and misconceptions of what hiking, backpacking, trail running, and trail biking is all about. “Wait, so all we are going to do is walk in the woods?” “Won’t that get old fast?” If you have no training and little understanding of the wonders of nature, you might think like this. “How do I learn the skills to feel comfortable on the trail and not get bored?” Why should I even do this? ” I mean I have heard that spending time in nature is good for me and all, but is that the only reason?” Exercise is great, but I can do that in the gym. Why bother with all the mud, bugs, heat, cold, rain? We will address all these questions and many more in this blog category.
Where should I go? You can actually start your adventure right in your own backyard! This is a great place to begin your training. What do I bring? We will get to that in time, but the more important question to address first is the how. How do I learn the skills to acquire the mindset that allows me to feel comfortable outside and connected to the natural world so I will never be bored while hiking or backpacking? If you have a backyard or live near a park, that is where your adventure training will take place. More to come in our next post. Thank you for reading and for sharing.