Finding a Little Adventure in the Most Unlikely of Places
There is something about the predictable patterns of modern life that can really get you down. Unlike our heroic forefathers who scratched out an existence from a harsh landscape, nearly everything in the modern world is made to be easy.
Want a meal, throw something in the microwave. Want a steak for dinner, then head out to your local grocery store and pick out a winner. Even if you wanted to go “old school” and go forage on your own, I doubt the local authorities would appreciate you walking down the street, rifle in hand, ready to throw some lead (at least they frown on that here in the People’s Republic of Northern Virginia)!
Recently (on a typical Tuesday) I decided that I’d overdosed on spoon-fed comfort and that I needed a little adventure ASAP. Fortunately, at the exact moment I was having my adventure nicotine fit, I was given an unusual gift, a serious “no screwing around” rainstorm. I know what you’re thinking, what kind of a gift is a rainstorm? At best, they’re good for helping you avoid watering the lawn. At worst, some well timed rain might jump out and crash that big “first-date” with the cute girl you met at the climbing wall (unless she likes seeing you drip moisture like a tired, old diaper)!
The whole situation reminded me of a rare moment that I was actually paying attention during a freshman English class in college. You probably sat through the same lecture, the mind-numbing one where the professor describes the various types of conflict in literature. Now I certainly don’t recall all the specifics, but I seem to remember a few of the big conflicts like man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society and man vs. himself. What a gift it was to combine a rainstorm with a fleeting vision from college! Suddenly I realized that it was within my power to jazz up a potential boring chapter in my life and replace it with something that was, dare I say, cool.
As I prepared to “cowboy up” and escape the bonds of suburban comfort, I headed out into the driving rain with at least 3 of the 4 aforementioned conflicts at work (wish I could have covered all four, but it would have been a little Neanderthal to pick an argument with another person just for the sake of a check-list)!
At last I loaded up every piece of foul weather gear I own and headed out the door. Also, please remember, this was not your average little summer shower, as we used to say in Kansas, this sucker was a real “gulley washer.”
So what’s the point of this rambling soliloquy?
As I walked past the traffic on the side of the road I felt an immediate surge of excitement. There was nothing easy about the hike down to the grocery store, which was a little over a mile away. Massive rain, driving wind, horrible visibility, and the fantastic looks from the people in their cars who were thinking, “that dude is friggin nuts.” However, I’ll tell you the funny part about the whole process, the more times I received the “asylum is missing a patient” look, the better I felt.
It is so convenient to take the easy path in life. How often are we really tested, either by ourselves, our peers, or our environment? Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, all on the same hamster wheel of comfort and risk avoidance. I’m assuming that you want to make a change, or at least share experiences with a community of folks on this site that are interested like you are in “Experiencing Adventure.” Sometimes we all make life too complicated. Sometimes you just need to get out there and live with a little attitude.
Maybe living the adventure life at its most basic level is choosing to live adventure every day. Some days that might be a great climb, run, conversation, cultural activity or expedition. Another time it might be as simple as choosing to hike a couple of miles in a big-time rainstorm. At a minimum, I got out of my comfort zone, I got to utilize a lot of cool gear that was just crying out to escape the closet, and I got half my neighborhood to pass me by thinking I was nuts (sounds like a hat-trick to me)! I can tell you, for any of the options I had available on that particular Tuesday, this was as close to a summit attempt as I was going to get. Adventure can show up in your life in a lot of different ways, even in ways you might not have expected, so get out there and try something new, the looks you’ll get and the way you’ll feel are priceless!
Making Time for Adventure
One of the hardest things we all face is finding the time for things that really matter in our lives. Whether it’s quality time with your family, making time to hit the gym, going for a run, catching up with an old friend, or a hundred other worthy goals, there are so many things that often get in the way. Let’s face it people, the world is complicated and only getting more so. Think of how many things grab at your attention on a daily basis. As much as we would like to clean out ALL of this clutter like we’re taking out the trash, we know that many of these distractions aren’t going away and are here to stay.
While I spend a lot of my time thinking about my next great (or small) adventure, I also realize that I exist in the same cluttered, distracting and occasionally draining world that we all share together. Have you ever felt like a couple of months passed by like it was only a week or two? Or maybe one day you’re having a birthday party and then in a blink of an eye you were a couple of months from another one? These are the moments that generally freak us out! Where did the time go? Did I move forward in the direction of my dreams and passions? Do I even know what I am trying to do with my time? Am I just letting weeks slip by in a non-fulfilling job and then wandering the suburbs on the weekends filling my car with more junk that I don’t really need?
If we really open our eyes to the ways that we invest our most precious resource, our time, it’s an amazingly convoluted and occasionally sad spectacle. Not trying to cast any judgments at all, if someone is happy in their life then I am happy for them; we all get to paint our own pictures. However, if you’re like me, you want something more than that, a lot more than that! So what are we going to do about it?
Let’s start with the basics. How about making a list of all of the different things you would like to experience, learn, visit, share, discover, explore and otherwise devour in the next several months. I know this might sound like incredibly basic advice, but it’s funny how we tend to forget about all of this great stuff on a regular basis. How else can we explain the repetitive patterns we all get into? How many weeks a year do you spend living the exact same week of your life? You pick your own example, but if it was something like one of mine it would consist of working the same job, eating the same meals at the same restaurants, going to the same bars or movie theater and spending time with the same group of people. Evaluated on its own, there is nothing wrong with this at all. But if you find yourself “living” the same basic week 30 or more times a year then I think we need to shake things up a bit!
So grab your new adventure list we just created, circle a couple of options that you can take action on in the next 30 days and fire it up. Invite your friends as well. Since they’ve probably been sharing the same “time warp” week with you they’ll be excited to do something different. I’ve found that in my group of friends there are 5 or 6 individuals that take the time to put stuff together, be that person!
Creating a life of adventure comes in small steps. People too often focus on making HUGE changes in their lives and ignore the value of incremental improvement. While big changes are sometimes necessary, we can often improve our situation quite a lot by making it 20 or 30 percent better than it is today. Baby steps my friends. We know that you’re a rock star, let’s help you find a few new gigs!
Great Sand Dunes + Colorado Gator Wrestlin
Every year for Memorial Day I take that weekend off and head south to the Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa, Co. Located 35 miles northeast of Alamosa, it can be reached by U.S. 160 and Colorado 150 from the south, or from Colorado 17 and County Lane 6 from the west.
To get there, take I-25 to Walsenburg then head west on US 160, north on state highway 150. For a more scenic drive from Denver or Colorado Springs, you may also get on US 285 south, then state highway 17 south, then County Lane 6 east. From Albuquerque, drive north on I-25 to Santa Fe, then north on US 285 to Alamosa.
If you are camping on a busy weekend like Memorial Day, I recommend going up on Thursday afternoon as by Friday morning, most if not all of the campsites will be occupied. There are some small shade trees in the main campground which you will appreciate during the day. There are bear boxes provided and the campground is very strict on cleanliness of the site (particularly when it comes to food and coolers) as they don’t want Yogi coming around.
While at the dunes, there are several activities that keep your days filled with fun things to do. Tackling the dunes themselves are an accomplishment of which I recommend attempting in the morning while the sand and temperatures are cooler. Afternoons can be scorching but the cold water of Medano creek will cool your toes. Depending on your fitness level, it could take between 30 mins and 1.5 hrs to make it up the first mountain of sand only to realize that once on top, you will see dunes for miles.
http://www.nps.gov/grsa/parknews/upload/visitor_guide_screenview.pdf
Other things to do there…..
Medano Pass Trail is 4WD only and is a fun wheelin trail with several campsites to it’s side with creeks and beaver dams.
Zapata Falls is a short drive outside of the park and is a 1/2 mile hike from the parking area. Water is cold with a nice ice glacier just under the falls. Swimming isn’t allowed and I don’t anticipate your feet could stand the chill for more than 15 mins.
Colorado Gator Farm is a 20 min drive where you could spend most of the afternoon looking at the fish hatchery and the hundreds of gators that they have. For a fee you can enroll in their Gator Handling class http://www.gatorfarm.com/class.html and Wrestle a gator.
The UFO Watch Tower is 5.5 miles up the road. An interesting place to visit although I didn’t quite see any UFOs during my trip. Chances are better at night I suppose.
Finally, there are several hot spring pools around the area and then there’s Alamosa for lunch.
Dirt Trail Riding in Colorado
717
Just minutes from Colorado Springs are some great mountain trails for jeeps, ATVs, dirt bikes or mountain bikes. Some of the more popular trails are 717 and Rainbow Falls. 717 is a 30 mile loop favored among seasoned riders with water crossings, rocks, tree roots and tight turns for ATVs. There are numerous other trails that intersect 717 that are wider, less technical, and open to jeeps/4 wheeled vehicles and recommended for those less experienced riders. 717 can be accessed from several locations with more popular trailheads in Woodland Park, Divide, Painted Rocks, and West Creek.
Rainbow Falls Park
Past Woodland Park up Hwy 67 towards Deckers is Rainbow Falls Park. This is a popular camp and ride area for all levels of riders. Main road trails are rougher with more rocks but if you jump on to other smaller trails you will find smoother, loose sand to brake free on. The USFS Rangers have a more visible presence there so make sure you are up to date on your OHV and have a spark arrestor. Per Colorado law, all non licensed vehicles should have a current OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) sticker and Forest Service Approved Spark Arrestor. OHV stickers can be purchased for around $25 at your local motorcycle shop. Spark arrestor add ons/inserts can be ordered online or purchased at bike shops around town or if you prefer, spend the extra dollars (roughly $100 or more) to completely replace your stock muffler with a USFS approved pipe for your ride.
A free trail map can be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/recreation/north_divide_rainbow_falls.pdf Otherwise for a fee you can also pick up trail maps online, at bike shops, or soft maps for your GPS at places like REI.
Living the adventure
I made a promise to myself in January of this year. I promised that each and every day I would attempt something new - no matter how large or small the effort was. It’s been simple things that have made the biggest impact.
For instance, I have a nagging history of ankle injuries on my left ankle. Some of the type 2/3 sprains have hurt so badly I wish I had broken a bone instead. So this year, I decided I would do my best to work out the ankle daily. Simple stretching daily for five of ten minutes in either direction. Much to my surprise the ankle feels more stable and for the first time in YEARS I’ve felt comfortable on it. So a little stretching adventure every day has yielded positive results in stability.
Most of the little adventures have been like this. Try something different, exam the impact. Food, entertainment, exercise, social time - all have been the source of experimentation and so far each of those adventures have come out well giving me a more “rounded”experience. I guess what I’m saying is that this year I’ve tried a bunch of little things and I’ve gotten a bunch of unique and mostly positive results from these little adventures. I think I will keep this up. Who says that adventure has to incorporate sweeping change? Sometimes, it really is the little things in life that matter most. At least, that’s my experience so far.
Transitioning to the Cessna Cardinal
Moving into this new plane has presented a myriad of challenges. First, the Cessna 177 Cardinal is a plane I’ve never flown before and all of my flight training and most of my flying prior to this involved aircraft with the traditional horizontal stabilizer and elevator. The Cardinal has a “stabilator” which combines those features into one control surface. Technically, it is supposed to give you greater control forces because it moves more air.
Here’s the truth: I’m learning to fly her in Colorado. Field elevation is 6,874′ and once the temperature rises a little there’s significant density altitude to deal with. Add to this that my Cardinal has a Lycoming 0-320-E2D engine (150 base rated hp) and you’ll see that getting used to flying up here is, well, unique. The good news is that she has the Powerflow exhaust system which pick up an extra 23hp or so … but the bad news is that I’m already probably only putting out 130 horses at altitude so you can see that the Powerflow exhaust is helping, but not like 180 horses or more would.
It’s all good. She’s the plane I always wanted so I’m very happy with her. It’s just that I’m working three factors right now: new aircraft and type, mountain flying and high altitude. Other than that, “Gar” says I’m on track and since he’s cleared me for solo flight — I guess that I’m okay. It’ll still be a while before I’m totally comfortable, but as with all adventures, it takes a little time.
Thank you
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for coming to visit this travel journal. I’ve had an extraordinary amount of fortune in my life, from my friends and family to my work and lifestyle. I’ve been given the chance to see and do things that I could only dream about as a young boy.
Today, I’ve been afforded the opportunity to live in a place that has a tremendous amount of options available for adventure. I’m sure where you live is the same, if you will only seek it.
I will do my best to share anything I find interesting here in my notes area. I know the rest of the staff will too. Keep the sunny side up!
Shawn
Hello adventurers!
Welcome to the Travel Journals on experienceadventure.com
Thank you for your visit today. I hope that you can always find that adventures lives where you live.