Sunday, May 29, 2011

My Ten Big Adventures

I think everyone has a little inner adventurer in them. For some people, that adventure might be as simple as getting on an airplane for the first time. That adventure might be gathering the courage to quit a job they dislike and move on to something new and more rewarding. For others, that adventure might be in the classic, “Indiana Jones” style, bush whacking through the jungles of South America or seeking treasure in the West Africa.

Everyone has a different concept of adventure and everyone has a little bit of adventure somewhere in the back of his or her minds.

I suppose I have an adventure bucket list so to speak. There are certain adventures I’ve dreamed about taking one. These are various things I’ve thought about throughout my adult life. These are the things I hope I can do before I’m too old to do them!
Here they are, the adventures I hope to someday have (I only chose 10 and they are randomly ordered):



1. Mt. Fuji – about 300,000 people hike this mountain every year. I would like to be one of them. It’s not that far away from here and it is very doable!



2. The Dempster Highway – the most northern highway in Canada. 736km from Dawson City, Yukon (about 40km from there) to Inuvik. I want to drive this highway in September.

3. Appalachian Trail – 3510km hiking trail in the United States. It goes from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. This trail is famous for the number of hikers who hit it every year and its thru-hikers (what I would want to do), hike the entire trail in a single season. I have been reading about this hike for years. I especially loved Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods.”


4. Marathon Des Sables – 243km ultra marathon across the Sahara desert in Morocco. It is a 6 day staged race in which you must carry your own food, water and supplies! Wow! I get hot and steamy just thinking about this one!

5. Cross Canada Drive – St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia. If we had a nice comfy ride, this would also be a great family trip (my wife might want to kill me half way through though…I’d probably drive her nuts!).

6. Sail on a tall ship – lots of tall ships would stop by my hometown of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia when I was a kid. I always imagined spending a few weeks on one. I know that you can actually drop some coin and often join the crew for a week or two. I would love to sail around on a tall ship. I could throw up over the side of a ship the old fashioned way!

7. Spend a month on an archeological dig – I realize that this would mostly entail me moving wheelbarrows filled with dirt, sweating and being eaten alive by bugs (or freezing my backside off depending on the time of year), but it would be interesting. I suppose a lot of that might have to do with what type of site we were excavating.



8. Cycling Ireland – I would love to spend a summer slowly cruising around rural Ireland by bicycle. I’d love to sleep in tents, pubs and country inns. The whole time, Guinness would fuel my ride. This would be a great family trip!

9. TGO Challenge (Hiking across Scotland) – this is an annual, non-competitive coast-to-coast hike across Scotland. The walk is between 288-320km and you have 15 days to complete it. Coming from Nova Scotia (New Scotland) I suppose I have always had an interest in the history and geography of Scotland.

10. Cycle Across Canada – I’m not a big cyclist, but I like bicycles and I like camping. Why not!


Do you have some adventures planned or still in the dream stage?


Follow my daydreams and adventures on Twitter: @jlandkev

8 comments:

Samurai Running said...

Nice list Kevin.

Ireland sounds nice! And while I'd like to do a bit more and see a few more palces. I reckon "adventure" means a lot more than simply doing interesting things and going places.

In means making the most of the seemingly mundane! Which I attempt on a daily basis!

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking about this topic a lot recently and dreaming of my own wee adventures - it's always someday, someday, but I really want to start doing some of them soon!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome list! Fuji is amazing! You should definitely get that one done first! ^0^ I am not quite as outdoorsy as you (though I do adore nature... just not so much of nature getting on me... haha) but I also have an adventurous side. I've hiked Pike's Peak in Coloardo, USA and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya. My next biggest goal is to visit every single continent before I'm 35. I've only got Australia, South America, and Antarctica left!

Unknown said...

Nice list!
Fuji is on mine for sure. I hope to do it this summer.

Touring Ireland on a bike actually is quite a feat, with all the wind, but it would certainly be a great trip.

Kaori said...

Great list. I haven't heard of many of them but Mt. Fuji is definitely on my list, too! Also want to hike in Yaku-shima :D

Esper Ranger said...

Whoah, I didn't know you liked Bill Bryson too. I just finished his newest book "At Home" and thought it was pretty interesting. Fuji is an awesome hike, especially if you do it at night to arrive at the summit at sunrise. I want to do the Appalachian Trail someday myself, especially since I'm stuck here in Kentucky anyway.

Kevin O said...

I made this a very personal list. I assumed most folks might not know all of them! These may not be the "Rock Star" of adventures, but they are ones that speak to me on many levels I suppose!

Thanks for the comments folks :)

Anonymous said...

we can cycle ireland together & have lots and lots of beer!