I've posted this before on this blog but it continues to inspire me daily and I thought why not share it again? I read Aron Ralston's book
Between A Rock & A Hard Place a few years ago. It is a fascinating read into the mind of a fellow adventurer with the misfortune of becoming trapped in a slot canyon in outdoors mecca of Utah's canyonlands.
He ended up having to amputate his own arm to escape his six day entrapment beneath a shifted boulder. Ralston does not regret the choices he made in exploring that cabin and shares in the book that he is a better man for having gone through the experience. I think the story illustrates well the innate desire some of us have for adventure. Ralston quotes Jon Krakauer's book
Into The Wild as being sort of a manifesto for his life:
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances & yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
This quote ties in well with my own lifestyle choices and perhaps explains my desire to mountain bike even during hunting season. Since my days as an adolescent I've been an adventure-seeker and it has resulted in a few mishaps & close-calls in my day but I have no regrets because I have lived a full life.
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