George Mallory, on climbing Everest: Because it’s there.
Levison Wood, on walking the length of the Nile: I wanted to follow in a great tradition, to achieve something unusual and inspire in others the thirst to do the same.
Nate Damm, on walking across the United States: This is just something I need to do.
Kieth Foskett, on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: Adventuring for an extended period of time opens one’s eyes. When we look back as an outsider to the lives we’ve left, we can act as an impartial observer and see what we are doing wrong, what we can improve on and what we are doing right.
My why:
I have wanted to walk across Canada since I was eight years old, when my father placed a map of Canada before his children to show them where we lived in the world.
I will do this walk, not because I’m particularly jazzed about the idea, but because I must.
To say ‘no’ would mean a lifetime of regret.
Regret is a more powerful motivator than desire.
It’s an itch that needs to be scratched.
It’s a way of providing meaning in my life.
Action will always answer the question of, “What is my purpose right now?”
I will be the choreographer of my life.
I’m doing the walk for the sheer poetry of it.