"Ordinary Adventurers......."

"We are all in some sense, mountaineers... and going to the wilderness is going home." J. Muir

"Some follow others expectations; a traveller out here awakens their own expectations."

Grey Wolf

Adventure is not just about the choice of activity, nor only about wilderness talent, or just one's outdoor skills, and is not really at all about age... I used to think that to be an adventurer it was necessary to bag summits, count climbs, record stats, accumulate kayak exploits, even tally up many epics... but that kind of collecting, while serving a purpose, doesn't always sustain us...

Adventure can be about being the person you want to be in a geographic place... as in what we may find in Geomancy... and that gets us closer to the essence of being an adventurer... as in what is reflected in our attitudes, desire, enthusiasms, and motivations... These things are more about energy, feelings, and emotions...

A. Hobson wrote: "The real goal. It wasn't, oddly enough, the summit of a mountain or the top of a cliff at all. That's because the goal wasn't really a place, but a feeling. It was an emotion deep inside him, and inside all of us; a sentiment we all search for, but which always seems so elusive." I believe this gets us closer to the essence of adventure regardless of the chosen activity of hiking, climbing, kayaking, canyoneering, rafting, whatever... And in this sense we are all very much alike... We are, as the Greeks write about, 'ordinarius', in that we are both middling and remarkable at one and the same time...

M. Thomsen wrote to: "There is daring in the adventure of being ordinary...".

So many think we have to be like the adventure stars out there, they miss just being out in the wilds and enjoying the stars... I've often thought, being a middling person of very ordinary wilderness skills, that... If I can enjoy such adventure; anyone can...and if anyone can; then I can enjoy even other adventures...

Anon writes; "Being an adventurer is in your state of mind which is not bound by age, performance, or place in the pack...".

It is a wonder that I've even tried so many adventure experiences, let alone kept going all these years, but from the seed of such ideas has grown over thirty years of fun and adventure out in the wildlands...

DSD

"Adventure Musing....."

"I have found power in the mysteries of thought, exaltation in the changing Muses..." Euripides

"Muse on nature with a poet's eye..." T. Campbell

When we ponder the meaning of our adventures; they become more potent for us; regardless of if we hike, climb, kayak, canyoneer, canoe...whatever...

Anon wrote: "To be in a state of wonder is to be an innocent forever..."

Consider that reflecting upon and better understanding where we have been, inherently may illuminate any chosen path before us, and the passion we create when we begin that new journey... I'm beginning to muse about this past year and also to muse about the next seasons...

DSD

Kayak Is A Verb.....

The word, the very concept of 'Kayak', is most often thought about as a noun...

But the essence of the meaning is found to me in how 'Kayak' is a being word, a verb of its own kind... To kayak is to feel the experience; to know it on so many levels...

S. Olson wrote, "Paddling along watching the skies, clouds, and horizons, there is time to mull such thoughts deeply and translate them not in one's own mind, but in the timeless background of hills and distance, the eternal and the immutable."

I remember... Northern lakes; Gulf Islands; the Broken Group; the San Juan's; and endless flowing memories that form a river in my mind.....

DSD

Some Passing Forward Thoughts.....

"There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave the most in life - happiness, freedom, and peace of mind - are always attained by giving them to someone else."

P. March

In a comment posted here by Traxx... a mention was made of passing an 'Adventure Muse' forward to someone else... which gave me pause to ponder again how people are receiving this endeavor...

I did indeed invite finders of a 'Summit Stone' and an 'Adventure Muse' to pass something along to another they might see on their own journey, if they enjoyed these gifts themselves...

To hear that folks are doing just that resonates greatly...

The one picture above shares another experience of this. It is of a 'Summit Stone' tucked into the wood on the large board sign atop Kilimanjaro; the roof of Africa. While I have been to Africa, I did not climb that peak. This 'Summit Stone' was carried there by MR & SR, who having more than one 'Summit Stone', decided to pass another forward... They then posted this picture and left the stone in the summit register for another soul to discover...

As F. Burnett wrote; "Nature has made you a giver...your hands are born open, so is your heart." And if finding a 'Summit Stone' or musing over the quotes in the 'Muse' puts a smile on your face, invites a bit of mystery to your life, even adds a touch of wonder to your adventure experiences..... then just maybe you too will discover a wonderful paradox... that what we give away, often returns to us in many other forms, and often with greater inherent values within it... (And is that not really a hidden gift that we surprise ourselves with...)

Passing things forward, like experience, hope, simple gestures, a few minutes of time, a moment of consideration, or even a little bit of our efforts and energy... gathers a strength of its own like a wave travelling across the face of an ocean. As O. Mandino said: "Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."

And as I have said in my intentions, doing so anonymously, is a special experience as well.....

DSD