The Ultimate Bucket List of Epic Adventures!
I heard one time that having a long bucket list meant you were a very optimistic person. Or, that you’re silly and delusional, I forget which. But the gist is that if you have a long bucket list, you are imagining a future full of life and experiences. And, while a 370 item (plus an extra 42 mountains to summit and 28 long trails to hike/run) bucket list is…more than a bit excessive…I like to think that this list is an aspirational guideline for when I need inspiration.
I think I wrote my original bucket list sometime in late middle school or early high school. It was on some paper printed with the 1997 USPS World of Dinosaurs stamp design (yep, I was a dino nerd as a kid and no, I didn’t grow out of it). It was the size of standard printer paper (8.5 x 11 inches) and I filled it margin-to-margin front and back. I’ve still got that original bucket list tucked away in a notebook somewhere, but I keep a digital copy now and added to it extensively about two years ago. I still add items to it (perhaps at an unsustainably faster rate than I check items off), but like I said, this bucket list is more adventure inspiration.
And because I haven’t written a blog post in a long while, and because it’s the end of the year and I’m reflecting on 2020 and looking forward to 2021, I figured it might be a nice opportunity to share my ultimate bucket list, note what I’ve achieved this year, and what to plan next.
So! Without further ado, I present to you:
The Ultimate Bucket List of Epic Adventures!
Write a book
Get an advanced degree (Master’s or PhD)
Complete yoga teacher training
Hike the Appalachian Trail (AT)
Hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)
Hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT)
Hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST)
Run a marathon on all 7 continents
Run the Polar Bear marathon
Run the Big Five marathon
Run Big Sur marathon
Kayak along Alaska coast
Explore ice caves
Take an award-winning photo
✓ Rock climb inside
✓ Rock climb outside
✓ Lead climb
✓ Lead climb outdoors
October 2020 (RRG)
Rock climb a desert tower
Climb Devils Tower
Climb sea cliffs/deep water solo
Go ice climbing
✓ Run a half marathon
✓ Run a marathon
✓ Run an ultramarathon (50K)
✓ Run a 40 miler
February 2020
Run a 50 miler
Run a 100K
Run a 100 miler
Do a 24 hour race
See Machu Picchu
See Egyptian pyramids
See Chichen Itza (Mexico)
Backpack through Patagonia
Hike Everest base camp
Climb Kilimanjaro
✓ Hike in the Alps
Climb in the Alps
Do a Via Ferrata
Hike the Jurassic Coast
Hike the Camino de Santiago
See the Acropolis
See the Monaco Formula 1 race
See the Baja 1000 race
See a rally race
See Red Bull Rampage
Go skydiving
Raft the New River
Raft the Nantahala River
Cowboy camp/Sleep under the stars
✓ Go to an active paleontology or archaeology site
✓ Study abroad
Live abroad
Spend a month in Australia
Spend a month in New Zealand
See Lake Wanaka
Explore Croatia
Explore Dolomites
Visit Lake Garda
Hike Cinque Terra
Hike Scotland
Hike Ireland
Visit Berlin
✓ Visit Paris
✓ Visit London
✓ Visit Rome
Visit Venice
Visit Morocco
Visit Amsterdam
Visit Santorini
Visit Dublin
Visit Edinburgh
✓ Go to a medieval city
Hike/explore Petra
Do an adventure race
See Ellora Caves
See a boiling lake (Dominica)
See the Iditarod
Do the human Iditarod
Visit Prague
Visit Nairobi
Visit Beijing
Visit Shanghai
Visit Bangkok
Visit Chiang Mai
Visit Phuket
✓ Go snorkeling
Scuba dive
Swim with manta rays
Swim with sharks w/o a cage
Swim with jellyfish (Jellyfish Lake, Palau)
See flamingos at Laguna Colorada (Red Lake)
See Andean flamingos at Chile’s Altiplano
See flamingos at Lake Nakuru (Kenya)
See Lake Hiller (pink lake)
See Lake Natron (Tanzania)
See Plitvice Lakes (Croatia)
See Lake Bled (Slovenia)
See Lake Baikal (Siberia)
See Door to Hell (Turkmenistan)
See Centralia burning coal seam
Climb K2
Hike 14ers
Visit the Amazon
Eat something really weird
Go skiing
Go snowshoeing
Go luging
✓ Go dog sledding
Go horseback riding in wilderness
✓ Bushwack with just a map and compass
2020 x 2! Ruben Mtn summit and NRG, WV
Get wilderness first aid training
Sail around the world
Sail the Mediterranean
Sail the Caribbean
See an oasis
Climb at Yosemite
Climb at Hueco Tanks
Climb at Joshua Tree
✓ Climb at New River Gorge, WV
June 2020
✓ Climb at Red River Gorge, KY
October 2020
✓ Climb a 5.10 outdoors
October 2020
Climb a 5.11 outdoors
✓ Learn German
Learn French
Learn Italian
Learn Spanish
In progress 2020
Learn Chinese
Learn Japanese
Learn Swahili
Learn American Sign Language
✓ Donate to charity
Build something
Live zero waste
Save a life
Change a law
Change someone’s mind
Share experience with someone in need of mentorship
Backpack through Europe
✓ Go whitewater rafting
Go on a safari
Visit a European Christmas market
Visit Japan
Visit Fiji
Visit Borneo
Visit Turks & Caicos
Go to Costa Rica
✓ Go to a bioluminescent bay
Go cliff jumping
Go to Norway, stand on edge of Trolltunga and Preikestolen
Go to Iceland
See the Northern Lights
Spend a night in an igloo
Spend a night in an ice hotel
Spend a night in a yurt
✓ Spend a night in a houseboat
Spend a night in a tiny house
Spend a night in an airstream
Spend a night in a treehouse
Spend a night in an over-water bungalow
✓ Spend a night on a swamp platform
Go to Giant’s Causeway
✓ Get close to a volcano
Get reeeeeeallly close to a volcano
✓ See a volcano erupt
See a volcano explode!
Go volcano boarding!
Walk on lava!
✓ Swim in the Atlantic Ocean
✓ Swim in the Pacific Ocean
Swim in the Indian Ocean
Swim in the Arctic Ocean
Swim in the Southern Ocean
✓ Swim in the Mediterranean Sea
Swim in the Red Sea
See Grand Canyon
Run R2R2R
Raft the Grand Canyon/Colorado River
Raft the Ocoee
Raft the Chattooga
Hike Angel’s Landing
Hike Cotopaxi
Hike Na Pali coast
✓ Go to a coffee farm
Learn how to roast coffee beans
Learn how to make latte art
Go to a pineapple farm
Mountain bike in Moab
Explore Badlands
Bike across America
See a coconut crab in the wild
Trail run Art Loeb Trail
Trail run Shut-in Trail
✓ Go to a luau
Attend High Tea
Attend a traditional Chinese tea ceremony
✓ Attend a Native American Pow Wow
Visit Galapagos
See baby turtles hatch
See Old Faithful erupt
See Grand Prismatic Spring
See Blue Grotto
See Marble Caves (Chile)
✓ See a castle
✓ See Biltmore Estate
See Neuschwanstein
✓ See a black sand beach
See a green sand beach
See a pink sand beach
Go to the equator
Go to the South Pole
Go to the North Pole
See Nazca lines
Hike in a bamboo forest
Feel zero gravity
See wolves in the wild
See a snow leopard
Walk on a frozen body of water
✓ Do an overnight backpacking trip
✓ Do an overnight paddling trip
Do an overnight climbing trip (sleep on the wall)
See the Great Wall of China
See terracotta soldiers (Xi’an)
Climb the Stairway to Heaven
Mountain bike in Whistler
See Angkor Wat
Go bungee jumping
Go base jumping
Jump into a cenote
Slide down a waterfall
Go canyoneering
✓ Go spelunking
✓ Go spelunking in Mammoth Caves
Go spelunking in Carlsbad Caverns
See an atoll
See a ghost town
See the running of the bulls
See a BPL soccer game
See a German Bundesliga game
See a La Liga game
See an All Black game
Bike through Tuscany
Bike through Provence
Bike the Danube Bike Trail
See lavender fields in Provence
See tulips in Amsterdam
See Holi
See Diwali
See an eagle huntress in Nepal
Go hang gliding
Go skateboarding
Hike a knife edge ridge
See Watkins Glen
See Thor’s Well
See Erawan waterfalls
See Multnomah Falls
Touch a dolphin
Touch a whale
Touch an elephant
✓ See a lunar eclipse
✓ See a meteor shower
✓ See a solar eclipse
✓ Feel an earthquake
Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway during peak fall foliage
See synchronized fireflies
✓ Touch a glacier
See Glacier NP
Hike in Yosemite
Hike in Alaska
See a wild Komodo dragon
See a spirit bear
See grizzlies catch salmon
See a narwhal
See a mustang round-up
Explore Dominica
Explore Reunion Island
✓ See Mont Blanc
See Matterhorn
Run UTMB
Run Hardrock
Run Leadville
See where oceans converge
Go to the top of a lighthouse
Go glamping
Collect honey from a beehive
Forage wild mushrooms
Stomp grapes
See wild chimpanzees
See wild mountain gorillas
Kayak the Everglades
Explore the coast of Maine
Go surfing
Follow the Tour de France
✓ See a Women’s World Cup game in person
See the Olympics in person
See a Wimbledon game in person
✓ Visit Pompeii
✓ Visit the Vatican
✓ See the Coliseum
Visit the Sagrada Familia
✓ Visit Notre Dame cathedral
Visit MOMA
✓ Visit British Museum
✓ Visit Louvre
See glow worms!
See Mont-Saint-Michel
See Forbidden City
Hike Haiku Stairs
Hike in the Black Forest
Visit Medina
Float in the Dead Sea
Explore Greenland
Bathe in a hot spring
Summit a high mountain
Mountains to Summit:
Aconcagua
Andrews Tarn
Annapurna trek
Aoraki/Mt Cook (New Zealand)
Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia)
Cerro Chirripo (Costa Rica)
Cotopaxi
Denali
El Capitan
✓ Flatirons
Fuji (Japan)
Half Dome
Kilauea
Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)
Kirkjufell (Iceland)
Longs Peak
Maroon Bells
Matterhorn
Mauna Kea
Mauna Loa
Mont Blanc
Mount Saint Helens
Mt Mitchell
Mt Elbrus (Russia)
Mt Hood
Mt Katahdin
Mt Kosciuszko (Australia)
Mt Logan (Canada)
Mt Temple (Banff, Canada)
Mt Toubkal (Morocco)
Mt Whitney
Mt Washington
Pikes Peak
Presidentials
Shasta
Snowdonia (Wales)
✓ Table Rock
Torres del Paine (Chile)
Vinicunca (Peru - rainbow mtn)
Vinson Massif (Antarctica)
✓ Wilson Ridge (Grayson Highlands)
Zhangjiajie (China)
See Great Barrier Reef
See African Rift Valley
Explore Marieta Islands, Mexico
Hike the rainbow mountains
Hike Antelope Canyon
See Niagara Falls
See Victoria Falls
See Kaieteur Falls
Hike in Sahara
Hike in Death Valley
Hike in Kalahari
Hike in Gobi
Hike in Sonora
Hike in Namib
Visit every state in USA
Run a marathon in every state in USA (aka 50 States/50 Marathons)
Run an ultramarathon in every state in USA (aka 50 States/50 Ultras)
Run all the World Majors marathons
Do an Ironman
Run a 5:30 mile
Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Go to Carnival in Venice
Go to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
Go to Oktoberfest in Munich
Go to Dia de los Muertos in Mexico
Drink absinthe
✓ Drink Pernod
January 2020
Go to a burlesque show
✓ See a Broadway musical
✓ See Wicked
✓ See Hamilton
See a space shuttle launch
Chase a tornado
Ride Amtrak across America
Go fly fishing
See the red crab migration at Christmas Island
See the Seychelles
See the Redwoods
See the Taj Mahal
See Christ the Redeemer
See Stonehenge
Visit Easter Island
Explore Turkey
Visit a Tibetan monastery
Visit the Wailing Wall
Explore Iguazu Falls
See salt flats
Skinny dip
Learn archery
Learn sabrage
Learn how to lockpick
Learn jumpers (on a horse)
Long Trails to Hike:
Appalachian Trail
Pacific Crest Trail
Continental Divide Trail
Mountains-to-Sea Trail (NC)
Long Trail
Lost Coast Trail
Ice Age Trail
Foothills Trail
Benton Mackaye Trail
Wonderland Trail
R2R2R
Camino de Santiago
Allegheny Trail
Art Loeb Trail
Bartram Trail
Colorado Trail
Florida Trail
Iditarod Trail
John Muir Trail
Long Path
Oregon Coast Trail
Ouachita Trail
Ozark Highlands Trail
Ozark Trail
Palmetto Trail
Tahoe Rim Trail
✓ Uwharrie Trail
Virginia Creeper Trail
Conclusion
So what do you think of the list? Okay, yes, this list is very excessive, but like I said, it’s more aspirational/inspirational than achievable, lol. But out of this list, what have you done? Or, what did I miss?! Let me know in the comments!
Tips and tricks to prevent your water from freezing during your run or hike adventure during cold winter