I’ve had the opportunity to backpack in the Amazon Basin of Brazil, many places here in the USA, and in the Italian Dolomites. I would love to trek in a number of remote locations around the world. I would like to backpack a hut to hut route in the San Juan Range of southwestern Colorado and would like to revisit the Grand Canyon on a multi-day adventure.

I have also visited the Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala, and Costa Rica with a backpack on my back. In fact, I took my son—who was only 12-years-old at the time—on a two-week backpack adventure of Costa Rica. I will talk more on international travel later in this article.

Bikepacking

I took up bikepacking particularly during the time that I couldn’t backpack. With my ankle not fully healed, I found that pedaling a bike put less impact on my injury. I purchased a used Trek 1120 fat tire bikepacking bike off of Offer Up and outfitted the bike with all the necessary gear storage packs. I used my ultralight backpacking gear and I was off. Interestingly, I ended up only taking two bikepacking trips since purchasing the bike primary due to the purchase of the cabin and subsequent renovations.

This May, we will be purchasing a bikepacking bike for Heather and I hope that we find the sport something we both truly enjoy.

I hope to one day bikepack in other countries such as Mongolia, Croatia, and on trips around Europe. One such trip would be the Noir Valley of France.

Though I declined the offer, I was invited this summer to bikepack the entire Continental Divide trail. With the wedding and honeymoon scheduled and the fact that the gent that invited me is an ultra-biker, I felt that I not only didn’t have the necessary free time but that I would need significant training in advance.

Nonetheless, I hope to take at least one bikepacking adventure this summer which will likely be no more than three or four days in length.

Paddle Sports

Some of you may recall that I enjoy multi-day standup paddle adventures. A few years ago I purchased an expedition SUP by a company called BOTE. My rig is a flyfishing-ready inflatable board with a mounted bucket cooler, a fly pole rack, a sand spear anchor, and two 35 liter dry bags that I stuff with all of my ultralight backpacking gear. The entire setup deflates and stuffs into a large backpack for easy transport.

A few years ago I flew to San Francisco and rented a camper van on Outdoorsy.com. I drove the van to the far northern reaches of the California coast and explored for two weeks alone. I brought my paddle board along on the plane (it weighs less than 50 lb in the backpack). When I arrived in Mendocino, California, I parked the van and paddled 25 miles up the Big River. It was an epic experience. The mouth of the river feeds into the Pacific Ocean and upstream it meanders through redwood forests often shrouded in fog. Along the way one can experience sea otters and other amazing and unique wildlife.

I bring the board on every extended road trip I take as I don’t necessarily know when the opportunity may present itself for a paddling adventure. Any road trip we take this summer will include stops along bodies of water for padding. And, in some cases may include overnight paddle trips.

One SUP adventure I have been wanting to take is on Lake Powell. There is a way you can get dropped off in the far northeast portion of the lake along the south shore and paddle the many slot canyon inlets back to the marina. I’ve read articles about others doing such trips and it looks truly remarkable.

I also have enjoyed multi-day sea kayak trips in the San Juan Island chain and hope to return to the area for another amazing paddle trip. Depending on the time of year, paddlers can find themselves floating among Orca whales. Camping on the remote islands is a magical experience.

Motorcycling

I could probably classify motorcycling as a road trip or overland sport if embarking on a multi-day excursion but I will reserve those categories for four wheel vehicle travel.

For the record, I have yet to take a multiday motorcycle trip with my KTM 390 Adventure dual sport motorcycle. I have yet to totally outfit the bike with paniers for gear storage and a GPS system.

A few years ago right as the pandemic was ramping up, my friend Brian Schott and I had planned to take a multi-week long moto trip to Canada. We had considered a trip all the way to Alaska or possibly to the Arctic Ocean through Yellowknife in Canada. Unfortunately, as we all are aware, the border closed and we were unable to execute on that plan.

Currently my bike needs a new rear shock but I do hope to find myself on a longer trip at some point. Heather grew up racing dirtbikes and has experience riding. Currently when we ride, we take one bike. A long range adventure may require her to have her own bike especially if the adventure includes any significant off-highway riding. The 390 Adventure is a 400cc bike. We are both pretty light weight and so the bike can perform reasonably with us both aboard. But, the bike is a very agile ride and shines in off-road and even muddy conditions. And, in the future we may opt to purchase a second bike if she were to ride along.

I do hope to outfit the bike for full adventure sport in the future.

Road Tripping/Overland Travel

I tend to blend these two sports together primarily because every overland oriented adventure requires significant on-road travel. As many of you know, I’ve had several capable vehicles for overland adventure from Jeeps with Adventure Trailers to an off-road enhanced Subaru Outback to a 4×4 pickup with a truck camper. Currently we have the RAM 1500 Rebel 4×4 and no specific overland setup. My plan later this year is to rig the vehicle with a shell such as a RSI Smart Cap mounted with a Rooftop Tent and kitchen slide-out in the rear. This seems to me to be the most realistic option due to the fact that most truck camper companies specify a lead time of more than a year. If lead times weren’t an issue, I would be seriously considering a Super Pacific Switchback X1. If the Smart Cap isn’t available in time I will look to purchase another camper shell with both side and rear flip up doors.

This will be the overland setup that Heather and I use to get back to the road trip-oriented adventure travel we intend to experience later this year. What is nice about such a setup is that I can still load our mountain bikes and my inflatable paddle boards in the rear cargo area or even in the crew cab rear seat area of the truck (which I have done in the past). And, even more, I can mount my motorcycle tray on the rear hitch and bring along our adventure moto. This allows us to road trip with all the gear we need to experience the adventure sports we enjoy and then camp wherever we see fit.

Heather and I will very likely find ourselves on several road trips later this year. Quite possibly a trip up the California coast, several trips into Colorado (as it is so close to home now), maybe a trip down to Texas, and likely a trip to my homeland in Wisconsin in October. All of these trips will include side adventure sport excursions in some way or another.

International Travel

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to some remote locations around the world. I’ve spent a great deal of time in Central America, a bit of time in Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. I’ve also spent some time in Europe and many of the islands in the south Caribbean.

After the wedding in June, we will be traveling to Tulum, Mexico for our Honeymoon. This will be the first trip out of the country we’ve taken together but most certainly not the last.

As we both have a strong tendency toward adventure travel, we have opted to simplify our lives to allow for more of what we enjoy. Though my list is long for international travel, some of the tops on my list include touring Portugal, hiking the Milford Track—one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, Rover Overlanding in Iceland, paddling the fiords of Norway and British Columbia, Overlanding Vancouver Island, sailing the barrier reef islands of Belize, cycling in France, backpacking and castle hopping in Scotland and Ireland, getting spiritual in Bali, Rover Overlanding in Africa, Exploring in Alaska, Road Tripping to Nova Scotia and a revisit to Quebec, cycling in Croatia, exploring the streets of Prague, backpacking in Austria and Switzerland and more.

Needless to say, there is a lot of adventuring to be had and my list is long. This is why I have opted to live life the way I do. Though I have spent the last year doing almost nothing other than cabin build and renovations, we have found a way to pay off the property so we can focus more on funding the lifestyle we both enjoy.

Though I plan to continue adding more and more to our property here at Mantle Rock to make it a place where I can generate revenue as a source of income for retirement, I also plan to maintain a balance in order to continue adventuring.

There is also something to be said about simplicity when it comes to adventures. As I have often shared on 4XPEDITION Adventurer, a weekend getaway can often be just as memorable as a longer excursion. Thus, any of the categories outlined above can easily be experienced in just a few short days. And, in so doing, one can schedule many short adventures to a wider variety of locations utilizing different sports.

Other than our honeymoon and a few family-centric trips planned for this year, I would suspect 2022 will likely center on shorter excursions to a wider variety of locations.

I would love to hear from you about your upcoming travels. Share your comments by clicking on the link below. It will take you to the forum where you can share your plans.

Comment here > https://4xpedition.com/community/travel-talk/summer-adventure-plans/