Is All Adventure Really Over?

Werner Herzog is attributed with saying" Adventure is over. All the white spots on the map have been discovered. It belongs to differenet centuries than ours." Tom Vanderbilt wrote the article about this gifted film director who did Grizzly Man and Rescue Dawn . I beg to differ. We may know something or some place exists, but there is always a new way to experience it on a personal level. Like the guy who circumnavigated the globe using human muscle power alone. I wrote about that on http://thefemalesurvivalist.blogspot.com
on March 28, 2011. Pretty amazing stuff. We know the world exists, that's not the point. The adventure began and continued until 13 years later Jason Lewis completed the journey.

Many are heading down the Appalachian Trail right now. To each it is an adventure. The people, the food, the gear, each town stop, each trail shelter. I can visualize it. Even though its already been discovered the adventure remains. Lives will be changed, mellowed out, gaining new aches and pains, meeting crazy wonderful people.

People are sailing around the world,a couple teenagers have done this alone, breaking records, meeting waves to shatter a pirates resolve. Now, don't say that ain't an adventure. Its an adventure for me just to take a ferry up to Alaska.


So many adventures, so little time.

The Narrows of Zion

Rainmaker and I hiked up into the Narrows today. The Narrows of Zion National Park begin (or end depending on your perspective) where the Riverside Trail ends. They were closed due to high volume of water until just last week. Now, with a day off work I looked forward to experiencing the reality of this trail heading up through the North Fork of the Virgin River into a narrow passage through the canyon.

We hiked upstream, cliffs rising majestically on both sides, the water a cool 61 degrees. At times it was waist deep, other times we merely waded. Once in awhile we walked on boulders, other times dry sand.

Most wore shorts, a few of us long pants, a very few wore bikinis. There were a couple small girls, lots of teens and mostly young fit adults. One can rent shoes and poles from a Zion Adventure Company for this very purpose. I wore my New Balance trail shoes.

Cameras in tow, we fought a strong current while crossing side to side, following groups of people who were following others. Actually, I was surprised how many were on this trail.

I hope to go again this summer, work permitting. As the water level drops and the temperatures climb, it should be possible to get all the way back to the waterfall, past which one can not go upriver.