Do you plan out your years adventure objectives down to the fine details? Or just go where the wind takes you?

I find myself somewhere in the middle. I have my agenda if you will. My big ticket items squared away. The ones that require some forethought. The ones that are multiple days, or hella logistics. The one I end up cashing in Alpine chips for. Yet a descent amount of my trips throughout the year come from “off the cuff” type conversations that grow into projects. Reading about an area, and not being able to get it out of my head until I tackle it, or catching a snapshot of a place on someone’s youtube channel or whatever.

Is one approach better than the other? I wonder?

On one hand, it’s always great to look forward to these large projects. Climbing in Mexico, hiking the West Coast Trail, cycle touring the Sunshine Coast. The prep work of sorting through what is needed to make it happen, the inevitable increase in one’s gear when these trips happen, the anxiety of getting everything to line up for that exact moment.

And yet on the other hand, there are these fly by night adventures that come out of beer infused zoom calls with your mates. These adventures that hurl you into a trip that you hadn’t anticipated, or going to a place that you know nothing about. You scramble to get your gear together for the unknown.

Both have (for me) had the same results. Shit eating grin ear to ear on the side of a mountain or the end of a long cycle. The victory beer, congratulating my mates on a worthy epic adventure.

How do they differ? One is a maticulously planned trip, where perhaps expectations are built in to the trip itself. Deadlines, travel time, etc. And the other is kind of a “free pass” approach. Open ended. Free.

I’m not certain one brings more to the table then the other. Both approaches have there up and downside to them. Restrictions, or perhaps lack of objectives? But I was curious how others approach there yearly adventures?

Cheers.