“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – J.R.R Tolkien

Anyone who loves adrenaline will want to check these out. National Geographic just published their Ultimate Adventure Bucket List, and I must say that their ideas are crazy. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Summit Everest – “Ever since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first proved in 1953 that standing atop the world’s tallest peak was possible, the mountain has been synonymous with challenge and adventure. Now, each spring, despite the storms, avalanche hazard, bitter cold, and challenging technical climbing, dozens of people–from 13-year-olds to the blind and amputees–clamor to reach the summit and clinch a new record. Despite the hubbub, the mountain remains the pinnacle of mountaineering achievements, and standing on the top is indeed, quite literally, standing on top of the world.”

2. Hike the Triple Crown – “The length of the United States’ three longest trails combined–nearly 7,700 miles (12,391 kilometers)–is enough to stretch nearly a third of the way around the globe, which might explain why fewer than a hundred people have clinched this Triple Crown. Walking the Pacific Crest, Appalachian, and Continental Divide Trails generally takes years and multiple pairs of boots, as hikers hoof over some of the country’s grandest features, from the Appalachians to the Rockies and Cascades. But the payoff is a rare intimate knowledge of unfathomably diverse and wild parts of the country. Between the Atlantic and Pacific, hikers take in wave-battered coastlines, primordial forests, snow capped peaks, volcanoes, rain forests, the otherworldly geology of the desert, and, above us all, huge skies that change like moods, such as this one above Bishop Pass in California’s Sierra Nevada.”

3.  Descend into an Active Volcano – “As a general rule, lava is best seen from a great distance. That is, of course, unless you’re a group of daredevils who, led by Kiwi adventurer Geoff Mackley, descended 640 feet (195 meters) into Vanuatu’s Marum Volcano to witness the explosive bowels of the Earth firsthand in 2010. The resulting video, in which a man in a heatproof suit came within 300 feet (91 meters) of a viciously boiling lake of lava, went viral. It’s pretty clear that live volcanoes are unpredictable and their craters offer all sorts of inhospitable challenges: toxic gas, extreme heat, tumbling rocks, and unwarranted explosions. Just because it’s insane doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.”

4. Dive the Blue Hole – “When vacationing divers dip into the upper levels of Bahamas’ blue holes–flooded inland caves formed originally from limestone–to take a look around, they are unwittingly close to some of the world’s most dangerous diving. Farther below lies a kingdom of passageways that holds fossils and ancient formations. The very few who pass through the layer of toxic gas to reach these lower levels find pinhole passageways where a technical failure or wrong turn could spell doom and one errant fin could obliterate 10,000-year-old rock structures. But those who do venture into the watery veins of the Earth discover whole ballrooms full of tightly packed stalactites, prehistoric human remains, and fossils of now extinct crocodiles and tortoises. These caves are, quite literally, another world.”

For those who aren’t big time adventurers, this Bucket List also comes with a back-up plan, “The Next Best.” Anyway, I hope these pictures and descriptions got your adrenaline pumping!

Bon Voyage,

Ryan

Check out the full lists here.