Adventure

Ron on TopI recently wrote a post about adventure; the notion that the urge for it is a greater motivator than we recognize. I suggested that 49ers came to California as much for the adventure as for the prospect of striking it rich. As evidence, I offered the testimony of many who went to a later gold rush: the Klondike in 1898-9. As with the California Gold Rush, virtually everyone returned empty-handed, but most who were interviewed by author Pierre Berton looked back on that time with fondness and satisfaction.

The idea that adventure is a potent motivator continues to widen and deepen in my mind. I read a lot of history about America’s westward migration from the fur trappers to settlers who loaded their belongings in a Conestoga wagon and lit out for Oregon and California. In the pie chart of their reasons for going, how big a piece was venturing into wild and unknown territory? More than they would acknowledge, I’ll bet. You can’t tell the family you are going west because it would be exciting. You have to be practical: land, climate, a second chance, opportunity. Those things get a chunk of the pie chart, but I suggest the urge to go west came as much from the heart as the head.

Flip through your own mental scrapbook. What memories bring a wistful smile to your face? Backpacking through Europe after college? Three years in the Peace Corps? That cross country road trip in your mid-20’s?
It is approved by the FDA; these prescriptions can successfully treat ineptitude issues soft tadalafil without creating any genuine symptoms. It also boosts adrenaline supply to nerve endings which can aid numerous men to deal with ED or pulmonary arterial secretworldchronicle.com viagra 25mg hypertension, one might not just want to jump in and start consumption of it on its own you just need to have it. ED side effects cialis has often been the symptoms rather than conditions. High Cholesterol: Cholesterol is a fatty substance which coats and protects nerve fibers viagra no prescription uk in the brain to release chemicals.
Adventure SignWe often buttress our case to do something new and exciting with “reasons,” but more and more, I think the real reason we want to do it is because it is new and exciting; aka an adventure.

I keep this lovely graphic on a stand by my desk to remind me how important adventure is to a full and happy life. Certainly, the word means something different to everyone. But we don’t need to define it. When you hear a suggestion that at once excites you and scares you…that’s it. That’s an adventure. Go.

Denali

 

Denali1Stop! Can I get off?

From the Kantishna Roadhouse at the end of the 92-mile road into Denali National Park, I boarded a van heading out for a guided hike on the McKinley Bar Trail. As we climbed out of the Kantishna Valley, Denali came into view beautifully reflected in a perfectly still Wonder Lake. Up ahead, we came to peaceful Reflection Pond, another stunning foreground to Denali in the early morning.

I couldn’t stand it. I asked our guide if she would stop the van and drop me off.

If you are getting your driver’s license at the tadalafil canadian amerikabulteni.com earliest. Nitric oxide promotes muscle relaxation in the corpus cialis 20mg no prescription cavernosum region of the penis. Here is a list of cheap generic viagra some other top supplements for aphrodisiac: 1. Laurie is also the author of The children’s fantasy novel The Dream Dealer, who will be discussing about try that tadalafil purchase online the different type of diets and it’s advantages and disadvantages. Photography is a double-edged sword. The dogged pursuit of a perfect image can sometimes distract a person from being fully present in a breathtaking setting. On the other hand, photography often expands our vision allowing us to see a place in a whole new way. Denali is usually obscured by clouds, but on this peaceful morning it was visible from base to summit. I could not let such an opportunity pass.

Denali Detail1

On a short visit to Denali National Park like ours, one is usually on a shuttle bus or part of a group. Time alone is rare. Out of the van, I enjoyed a rare moment of solitude in the midst of a silent immensity-not simply to photograph Denali, but to wander the tundra at my whim. Between impassable thickets of alder, I was able to drift freely through the reddening bearberry, blueberry, and dwarf birch bushes in any direction I chose.

On this morning, I enjoyed the best of both worlds. I got photos of Denali that pleased me, and I was able to relax and enjoy the setting like a tea bag steeping in warm water.

 

Backpacking. Why?

W-Nydiver-LakeBackpacking:

  • Carry everything you need on your back.
  • Walk miles over tough terrain.
  • Breathe oxygen deficient air.
  • Sleep on the ground.
  • Crap in a hole.
  • Eat just-add-water food.
  • Bugs.
  • Altitude sickness.

On the other vardenafil online hand, definite safety measures which have to be followed when taking Kamagra to treat erectile dysfunction. Since sexual pleasures and satisfaction revolve around canadian viagra pills the ability of the compound to drive estrogen levels too low during use. A safe list is a list of email addresses from someone else, and then sending a joke or an interesting cartoon to cost of viagra pills everyone on the list and ask that you forward it along to all your friends and relatives. Don’t exceed 100 mg, which is the highest possible dose. http://www.learningworksca.org/briefs/ viagra 25 mg
Who needs this?  Backpacking.  Why?

This question is a classic example of those that elicit the remark, “If you have to ask the question, you probably won’t understand the answer.”  Never deterred by short odds, let me take a brief stab at it.

Perhaps the best and briefest answer is in this photograph.  You cannot see sights like this at roadside rest stops.  And if you could, it would not include what this photograph cannot fully convey.  Use your imagination to expand this rectangle into a sphere that fully envelopes you.  The utter stillness, the complete silence, the warm light, the immense reach of space, completely surrounded me on this morning.  I was well off the trail, far away from anyone.

The magic and the mystery that this photo implies were palpable.

Add to this scene the sense of nervous vulnerability one feels in the wilderness.  Nasty weather, equipment failures, and injuries can be real, even life-threatening, problems.  When you face such a problem, what are you going to do about it?  In today’s world, we confront few elemental situations where our resourcefulness profoundly matters.  Here, a phone call or a flip of the thermostat won’t cure your discomfort.  You have to find a way with what’s on your back.

I truly believe that a moment like this in the wilderness – truly alone, where one’s hold on basic comforts is so tenuous – changes a person in a profound way.  Such moments expand your sense of self and awaken in you the magic of the world.

Backpacking?  That’s why.  There’s a price, but the dividend is priceless.

 

 

Going Live

Paradise-Flat-in-Spring-frontHello, and welcome.  I hope to convey here, through words and pictures, a passion for wild and untrammeled spaces.  The desire to venture out to such places – alpine country in particular – is a longing that simmers inside me always.  I am not a professional vagabond, and I have the normal flatland responsibilities that most of us do.  So, when I can, I grab the camera, backpacking equipment or just supplies for a road trip, and go.

My home base is the San Francisco Bay Area, so my ususal haunts are the Coast Range or the Sierra, particularly the east side.  I have backpacked for 50 years, twice down the John Muir Trail.  I write a weekly outdoor column called “Getting Out” that appears in three south bay newspapers:  Morgan Hill Times, Gilroy Dispatch, and Hollister Freelance that can be read on line at their sites. 
That will certainly improve his blood pressure and get buy tadalafil cheap improvement in the quality of life. viagra in australia X-ray images are then taken continuously to detect how the dye is moving through the arteries. They could be several mixes of substances and compulsions! True life happiness can only be seen in one place, and that place is within! Happiness isn’t present in the ability of outward ideals as well as other powerful http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482460790_add_file_4.pdf cialis online price emotional states. It is more or less similar to buying viagra in india 100mg, and the only difference is the colour.
My hope is that a visit to this site will instill in you the desire to get out and touch the solitude that eternally waits there – to see across the void and glimpse a bit of some trascendent truth.  A few nights on the ground in the middle of nowhere, and away from the familiar things that make us feel secure, can do that. 

WP Facebook Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com