Enough with Just Walking—What's the Most We Can Do?

Austria

The point of this Outside 365 project isn't simply to do the minimum amount required, by only walking one mile per day, day in and day out, year in and year out. No, that's not the point at all, even though most of my articles up to this point have focused on this minimum recommended dosage.

While the minimum-recommended dosage of Vitamin N may have the most profound impact on our lives compared to a base level of no exposure, the research shows that increasing our exposure to the outdoors also increases the benefits we derive, although not necessarily linearly. Going on longer day trips into the woods boosts all of the mental and emotional effects, and going on multi-day backcountry adventures in true wilderness areas takes all those effects and raises them to an entirely new level. In my mind, the purpose of the minimum recommended doses is to bridge the gap between longer, more intense exposures to nature.

My soul doesn't long for a simple one-mile walk down a greenway. It longs to spend hours upon hours pedaling singletrack through rolling hills, across desolate deserts, and up steep-sided mountains. It longs to scale the tallest mountain peak in the region. It longs to arc endless turns down an alpine bowl filled with powder. It longs to paddle down a raging river through a narrow canyon.

It is precisely these experiences and these moments that prompt the desire to spend as much time outside as possible, living closely attuned to nature.

Unfortunately, most of us cannot go on an epic all-day adventure every single day. Even if we have the time for it, our muscles need time to recover from intense efforts by mixing in shorter, more relaxed days. So, I like to construct my weekly schedule with a mix of long days in the mountains and short days walking close to home. This allows me to get my minimum recommended dosage every single day while also increasing my dosage to the optimal level when I have time... ideally, five or so days per week.

When we start thinking about fleeing civilization in pursuit of the wilderness, other points I've made in the past begin to break down. While it might sometimes be easier to get outside and get that minimum recommended dosage in some cities, it's dramatically more difficult to access a true wilderness experience.

It's vitally important that everybody, everywhere, realize that they have the opportunity to go outside and experience a small bit of nature every single day—and that doing so could transform their life. But if you want to dive deep into the wilderness and live a life that's intimately connected with the few remaining wild places in this world, you will very likely have to change your life. Living a life that allows you to routinely head deep into the mountains or untrammeled forests, far from the noise of traffic and the smog of the city, can require a dramatic re-framing of your entire existence.

As this blog moves forward, I will continue to discuss the benefits of the minimum recommended dosage, but simultaneously embrace the tension between the minimum and the maximum. It's time to give more air time to the sacrifices that need to be made in order to truly live an Outside 365 lifestyle.

But if escaping the tiny boxes and living intimately connected to nature is actually one of our core life values, those sacrifices will be easy to make.