The Adventure Circle

I’ve had this formula of sorts for a number of years. The formula relates to how much driving should I do compared to spending time outside, adventuring. There are two levels. The ideal level and the threshold level. Both relate to the amount of time you spend adventuring compared to getting there and back.

The ideal ratio is 2:1. You spend twice the amount of time adventuring as driving. [I’m mentioning driving because this is the most common way for us Americans to get around.] So, if the drive is one hour one way, two hours total; I would want to spend at least four hours doing whatever that adventure is. The shorter the trip, the easier is is to make the ideal ratio.

The Threshold ratio is 1:1. So if it was a two hour one way, then it would be four hours adventuring. I used to be a lot harder on myself about hitting the ideal ratio. But over the years, I found it was giving me excuses not to go places. The better choice is to just go.

Because of this travel/adventure ratio, I really stopped skiing and boarding in the high country of Colorado. Google maps might tell you it only takes two hours to get to I-70 skiing; but, the reality is that it might be five hours of hell getting there or back. Unless you live in the high country, it is really out of your range for day trips.

This is how I developed my Adventure Circle. it is the driving distance that I can get in less than two hours. Two hours is good. That means, at minimum, four hours of adventure. Using time works better than miles. Once you hit the mountains, travel slows down. Just like it does through busy urban centers. But if you are out in open, flat country the distance is even greater.

Living in Fort Collins Colorado, I have a really good adventure circle. Two hours gets me well into the mountains. It also gets my dang close to the Eastern border of Colorado. You can’t say that about Denver. And Boulder is so busy to the West of it that you have to get to a trail head at 4 AM. Traveling west up to the mountains seems like the most obvious idea. But I’m starting to think that going East might mean finding a few gems.

This also plays into the idea of slow travel, or visiting places people don’t go. Just think about exploring those towns and villages that might be close. The ones that you can see everything in a day. You might even find some hidden gems.

So how do you make your own adventure circle?

You could use an old school paper map, and just estimate out what would be the longest distances you could drive in one hour, and two hours. You can make a circle in a circle for one hour trips if you are short on time. But the more tech savvy method would be to use map apps. It could be Google Maps, or if you are old Mapquest.

Plot out in all four directions what is the furthest city, town, village you can make in one hour, two hours. Then plot out distances in the ordinal directions (the NE, SE, SW, and NW). This is a good time to use that paper map, and fun too. Connect a curved line between all the points. Interesting huh? Unless you live in Kansas, it’s not going to be a perfect circle. It might not be any sort of round-ish shape.

But that’s the beauty of it. It shows just how varied the place where you live is.

So what do you put in the circle?

This is up to you. But my answer is everything. Museums, attractions, open spaces, trails, whatever you think you might want to do. You are making a local bucket list. It might seem overwhelming. So it might be a good idea to just tackle one town at a time. You might end up with years of local travel. And new places that you would want to go back to.