Hello adventure seeker. I hope that 2023 is empowering you thus far. Thank you again for being a loyal reader and pushing me to always discover the best off-the-beaten-path spots for you.
I was recently listening to a podcast where the host talked about a growth plan. He said that you can have all the goals you like, but if you don’t implement a growth plan, that’s like building the top of the ladder without adding in the bottom steps. You won’t get to the top if you don’t build the steps you need to get to your goal.
I want to give you a goal this year that changed my life and that I hope will change yours.
My friend and mentor Dawnelle, had called me in December a few years ago and said she felt like adventure was missing in her life. She asked me if I would make an adventure pact with her. Her goal? 52 adventures…one for every week of the year.
Now maybe you’re saying to yourself, I can’t possibly have an adventure every week? How will I schedule that into my life? Here’s where we started building the steps to our goal.
Step one: pick a day every week to meet. For us it was a Wednesday which was a day we could both commit to. Maybe you only want to do one adventure a month or perhaps only twice a month. Whatever it is, pick a day and stick to that day and don’t schedule anything on that day each month.
Step two: The terms of our adventure week were as follows: we rotated who picked the adventure each week. We didn’t tell the other what we had picked until the day before. We also decided it had to be something the other person had not done. It could be something neither of us had done, but if Dawnelle picked then she tried to pick something new to me and I did the same for her.
Step three: Implement the adventures and keep it realistic. We knew we couldn’t drive hours into the mountains each week so we tried to keep everything within a 1-2 hour distance of Denver. We also tried not to spend money when we could by choosing things that were free like hiking or trail running.
Step four: Have one big adventure goal for each of us. For me, I wanted to complete the Four Pass Loop and hike the 14er Culebra peak which costs a $150pp permit fee. For Dawnelle she wanted to run the Breath of Life race in Alaska and get matching tattoos.
Step five: Have a way to pay for our big adventures. Fortunately, Dawnelle owned a yoga studio so we ran bootcamps to bring in money to help pay for our trip to Alaska. You can find a similar side hustle for any big ticket items so it doesn’t come out of your household budget.
So what were some of the adventures we picked?
Try a new fitness studio (Krav Maga and Muy Thai Boxing and Orange Theory come to mind as some we did)
Cross-country ski pulling our kids in sleds
I tried snowboarding for a day at Loveland Ski Resort and she taught me
Rented bikes and biked up Lookout Mountain
Tried new restaurants
Hiked Saint Mary’s Glacier in the snow and practiced self-arrest with ice axes
Hiked to Royal Arch
Went trail running
Manitou Incline
Snow shoe hiked in RMNP on their free day
Had a pedicure and massage day
Paddleboarded
Went to Comedy Works
Went to the driving range at the golf course
That’s just a sampling of some of the adventures we had together. One of my favorite parts was coming up with a new activity when it was my week which meant I would research hiking trails or fitness studios or even a class that we could take like painting.
What if you have a family and you simply don’t have time for 52 adventures? Then plan one a month with your family by simply narrowing down what’s in a 1-3 hour driving distance from you. My husband and I frequently do this when we don’t have time to dedicate a whole weekend to camping or hiking, but want to explore. We look at what is within our max driving distance for the day (6 hours roundtrip is the most we will reasonably do in a day) and then pick something based off that and the weather. This has led to us exploring slot canyons, finding great camping spots to pin for the summer, exploring new (to us) areas in Utah and having a wonderful day out of the house.
Whatever your goal is this year, the best advice I can give, is what the podcast gave me: start with a growth plan. You don’t have to have the whole plan mapped out in order to execute, but you do need to start building the steps on your ladder to get there.
Stay tuned for more inspiration to come in 2023. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, browse my archives for some ideas. Maybe your goal is to visit all the hot springs in Colorado or the surrounding states…?
Have fun and be safe and take only photos and leave only footprints!