The Spirit of Adventure

Have you ever desired to see what was over the next hill or around the next corner? Then you have the spirit of adventure. When most of us think of going on an adventure we imagine ourselves being some one like Sir Edmund Hillary assaulting the oxygen deprived heights of Mt Everest or Percy Fawcett exploring the jungles of the Amazon seeking the legendary lost city of Z pursued by cannibals, crocodiles, and mosquitoes or maybe Ernest Shackleton as he trudged across the frozen wasteland of Antarctica pursuing the glory of the south pole. The truth is each of us can have our own little adventure requiring far less time, commitment and danger. First let us look at what brought some of the greatest explorers of last century to seek their grand adventures.

So what drove these great explorers to seek adventure? Wanting to be the first, the fame, the desire to gain knowledge, all of these were probably on their minds. But mostly they just wanted to see something beyond their normal everyday life and experience. Hillary gained fame by being the first to survive and return from the summit, Shackleton's most famous moment came from rescuing his entire crew from a ship wreck in Antarctica, and Fawcett lost his life somewhere amidst the jungles of Brazil while walking over the top and missing what he sought. We too can get outside our normal everyday lives and enjoy a little bit of adventure without the extreme danger. 

As an adventurer you will not need to risk life and limb to find the thrill of discovery. A pair a walking shoes, a bike, a boat, or car, or even horse and buggy are all you need and a desire to just go some place you have not been before or just overlooked. Even better grab a family member or friend to go with you, there is nothing more exciting then sharing your adventure with someone else, a sort fellowship of exploration. Look around your local town for historical markers, trails, rivers, and museums. Just outside of the little town I live in in Eastern Washington can be found a historical marker for the battle of Four Lakes. Few people even know of it but many of the local names, Fort George Wright, Mullen Road, George Wright hill, Chief Garry Middle School all named after some of the major participant at this one battle. Without a little desire for adventure and exploration this treasure would never have been found and a little bit of local history never learned. 

So turn off the TV and the computer, put on the walking shoes or biking helmet and get out to look around for some adventure. Who knows, maybe you will find some long forgotten historical marker, or old building. Maybe you will climb a local mountain and feel as if you have conquered your own Mt. Everest, or walked into the local woods imaging you are tracing the course of the Amazon River. There are places to discover everywhere all you have to do is get out a look around and capture the spirit of adventure.