It was the podcast you hope for setting out for a long walk: a tale of adventure and intrigue from a distant time that makes you think, Man, I wish I’d been there. That sense of longing fades to wistfulness when you realize you could have been there. Or some place very much like it.

The podcast was on Climbing Gold, titled “Dope Lake: Misfts.” The episode, the first in a series, was about by a plane that went down in a small lake in Yosemite’s high country in 1976. The plane wasn’t immediately located because of its remote location and the fact the lake it went into quickly iced over. One other thing: the plane was flying low to avoid being detected, because it was carrying 6,000 pounds of pot. (One quibble: The podcast claims the pot, the popular, at the time, Mexican variety, was valued at $4 million. In fact, Mexican sold for $10 an ounce at the time, thus making the haul worth just under $1 million.)

A pivotal part of the story is the misfit climbing community that existed at the time in Yosemite. A community defined by climbers who would stealth camp near the best climbs, and spent as much time avoiding eviction notices from park rangers as they did climbing. Climbers who arrived in the valley with little more than a dollar to their name. Climbers who were living large if they had a sleeping bag. Climbers, nearly all male, who were young and knew they didn’t have forever to live the misfit life.

Not my moment

I was nowhere near Yosemite when this scene was happening in the mid-1970s. Rather, I was 1,200 miles east, living along Colorado’s Front Range, which also had a lively climbing community. Writer/climber Jon Krakauer (“Into Thin Air,” “Into the Wild”) and other climbers who were soon to dominate the climbing world were honing their skills in El Dorado Canyon outside Boulder. I was introduced to that scene on a cold November afternoon when Bobby, my roommate and a climber, dragged me along to watch the canyon’s climbing elite spider their way up Bastille Crack, Yellow Spur and other routes that would become classics. I’d occasionally tag along to watch when Bobby would head up for an hour of bouldering at Horsetooth Reservoir outside town. Once he tried to convince me to climb Long’s Peak with him in February. Around 3 a.m., about the time he should have been breaking camp and starting his summit ascent, he instead stumbled back into our apartment. “Man, was it cold!”

Despite Bobby’s influence, the climbing bug didn’t take. I was, frankly, too lazy and unmotivated at the time. This was not my moment to seize.

I remembered this as I continued listening to the podcast. Good for the misfits for recognizing and seizing their moment. Conversely, it wasn’t my moment, so why rue it’s passage?

Rather, live in the present and seize the moments that comes along today.

A New Year’s deadline

For me, that moment won’t involve climbing. I dabbled in indoor climbing gyms for a few years, only made it to real rock twice. I liked it, but that was 15 years ago, and the physical difference between 50 and 65 is significant. I may not be able to muster the stamina or generate the muscle required to climb, but I am still physically capable of other outdoor pursuits, which brings us to the “thankful” portion of this post: I’m thankful I can still act on any number of moments out there to seize.

Which leads us to the, for lack of a better description, New Year’s deadline portion of the post.

I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s Resolutions. If you want to achieve something — drop 20 pounds, run a marathon — why wait until an arbitrary date to start working toward it?On the plus side, using January 1 as a goal gives you focus — and a deadline. And launching that search more than a month out gives you time to come up with something meaningful, time to recognize, to be open to, those moments worth seizing. 

Right now, I have no idea what that seize-worthy moment, or moments, might be. The last time I remember setting serious goals was when I turned 55 and seized on the number 55.  As in, do a 55-mile backpack trip, run 11 5Ks (55 total Ks), do a 55-mile trail run.

A moment worth seizing

Critical to seizing a moment is to be in a position to seize the right moment. In my case, I’ve ruled out climbing as being impractical for physical reasons. Another factor: time. I work full-time making, say, thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail a bit impractical. In fact, my goals likely won’t focus on feats of strength and stamina as much as they did when I turned 55.

Year of the Trail is next year in North Carolina, and I’m involved in helping to make that happen; if I’m smart, YOTT will play into my plans. We moved to a town near the Virginia border, so new adventures in the vicinity could be part of the plan as well. I’ve also become curiously interested in birding. Will 2023 be my Big Year? And, prompted by “Dope Lake,” I’ve also been thinking about moments missed, but that could still be seized in the future. Moments don’t necessarily have to be seized in the moment; if a moment continues to stick with you, it’s still a moment worth seizing.

Thanksgiving weekend is an appropriate time to begin watching moments to seize. For many, you have several days removed from the daily grind, freeing up mental space otherwise consumed with mundane functions. And, of course, Thanksgiving is a reminder to be thankful that you are capable of seizing the moment that resonates with you. 

When you discover that moment? Don’t wait until New Year’s Day to act. Seize it now.

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Anything but resolutions.

At the start of any new year we look at a blank slate and ponder how best to fill it. Traditionally, we’ve referred to these slate-fillers as resolutions. And over time, the term has become burdened with negative connotations. Primarily because “resolutions” tend to be things we don’t really want to do. They’re things we think we should do. Like lose weight.

Admirable and healthy as losing weight might be, in and of itself it’s hard to muster the motivation to see you through 10, 20, 30 pounds or more.

This is why I don’t make resolutions. Rather, I set goals. While you may think this is a simple matter of semantics, well, it probably is. But to me, “goals” has a more positive connotation. Something to cheer about when achieved. Think of the enthusiasm of a soccer announcer when the rare point is made: “GOAL!” Think about it: have you ever heard anyone shout “RESOLUTION!”?

Goals excite us. The following goals, for instance, the one’s I’ve set for 2024. And because I love a good gimmick, we’ve borrowed from “The Happiness Project” author Gretchen Rubin and her 24 for 2024 List, which looks at goals based on a format involving the numbers 2 and 4. You’ll see.

• 2 backpack trips of 4 days each. I got out once this year, for a two-night trip on the Appalachian Trail. That’s unacceptable. I have no idea where these two trips will be, I just know they will be.
• 1 weekly hike of at least 6 miles (2 +4). I’ve gravitated to shorter hikes over the past couple years, and I love them. Still, I need a good leg-stretcher on a regular basis. My first weekly long hike was this past Sunday at the Butner Game Lands. Not sure where this week’s will be.
• 24 books read. Good thing I like a quick YA novel every once in a while.
• 24 new trails. This is the one I’m most excited about. It’s so easy to get stuck hiking the same trails over and over — not that a hiking rut is the worst rut you can dig. Still, I love discovering a new trail, new either to me or new period. The latter was the case with my first new trail of 2024: the 1.8-mile Fox Trail at Mayo River State Park, which was inaugurated as a First Day Hike on New Year’s Day (see photo). 

I have other goals for 2024 — 24 total, of course — but these are the outdoor-relevant ones (most of the books — say, 8 [2×4] — will be adventure related). And they’re good, goal-worthy goals, no? The kinds of goals that will motivate a person to make 2024 a satisfying and, more importantly, memorable year.

The post Goals for a memorable 2024 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

New Year’s Day is filled with hope, and these folks had already taken a first step toward  seeing that hope become reality. Their secret? They’ve made it a habit over the past several years to make plans early, so they didn’t wind up on December 31 thinking, “Where did the year go?”

For a variety of reasons, not all of us excel at planning ahead. Sometimes, we simply don’t know where to start to plan an adventure. Sometimes, we hesitate because we aren’t sure we’re up for the challenge, and sometimes we pick a challenge that may not be realistic, at least in the way we envision tackling it. Sometimes, we aren’t even sure what it is we want to do. Here are four thoughts on how to make 2019 a year to remember:  

• What’s realistic? You say you want to spend 50 nights in a tent, but is that feasible? What about your other obligations, your family, for instance? Do you have enough time off from work to get 50 nights in? You can quickly derail a goal by setting it, realizing it’s not possible, then abandoning it altogether. Better to set realistic, but still ambitious, expectations. Start with, say, one night a month in a tent.
• Where do I want to go? Let’s say one of your goals is to take a weeklong backpack trip. Here are some questions to ask: Where do you want to go? Do you want to go alone? Would you like to go with locals familiar with the area? What season is best? And what specific gear will you need for where you’re going?
• I want to experience “the best.” Maybe you want to hike the best trails in the state. So, er, what are the best trails? And by “best” do you mean trails with the best views? The best waterfalls? The best old growth forest? Try to define what’s most appealing to you to find your personal best.
• How do I prepare? Here’s a popular goal: Climbing a fourteener—that is, a peak that tops out at 14,000 feet or above (there are 54 in Colorado, prime country for achieving this goal). So ask: Where can I find trails around here that will prepare me for the elevation gains I’ll face? What about the altitude issue — how do I prepare for that? And what’s a good fourteener to start with?

For some, the thrill of the adventure includes wrestling with these questions and issues on their own. But if you continually find yourself at year’s end lamenting the trails not traveled, the adventures not taken, you are not one of these people. Odds are you could use a little help. Here are two options we offer:

Backpack Trip Planning Series. You love to backpack, but you always go with other people, and you go where they want to go because they plan the trip. In February, our GetBackpacking! component is offering a three-step Backpack Planning series, which will work like this:

• First session. Participants come with an idea for a two-night backpack trip they’d like to take. The instructor will go over the basics of trip planning, things to consider (finding camp spots, water sources, clothing, gear), as well as resources to help plan the trip and a strategy for how to come up with a trip plan. Then, at home, you will devise a trip plan based on the template provided by the instructor.
• Second session. A week later, participants return with a trip plan. The instructor facilitates a group discussion about each plan, offering comments and suggestions.

Adventure Coaching. We offer an Adventure Coaching program that helps people achieve their adventure goals. The goals may range from, say, a through-hike of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail or the John Muir Trail to climbing Kilimanjaro. The focus of the coaching will be to help you train with the resources available locally. With GetGoingNC Adventure Coaching, you get:

• Initial consultation. After filling out a questionnaire identifying your goals (general or specific), we’ll meet virtually or in person to discuss them in detail. We will create an initial plan of action, which outlines various options and what will be required of you to fulfill each option. Then we’ll devise a plan that’s realistic and meets your goals. 
• Follow up. Once a month, we’ll touch base by phone to see how your goal is coming along, making adjustments, if necessary. You can check in with questions via email as needed, with a follow-up phone call if necessary.

We’re three days into 2019; you’ve got 362 days left to make 2019 your best year yet. Let’s get started.

Happy trails,

Joe

To get started

For additional information on our Backpack Trip Planning program, email Joe at joe@getgoingnc.com

For additional information on our Adventure Coaching program, go here.

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