New Year's Bucket List for the Wild at Heart

In the spirit of dreading New Year's resolutions, I've decided to make a New Year's bucket list instead of all the adventures I hope to do and accomplish this year. Looking back, I've done this almost every year without realizing it, so if you're wild at heart, maybe some of these will be on your 2016 bucket list too!

1. DISCOVER A NEW NATIONAL PARK
I've spent an incredible amount of time wandering Rocky Mountain National Park, and of course, have barely tapped its wilderness, and while I plan to continue to explore this close-to-my-heart park, I've had the itch to see another one of the country's jaw-dropping landscapes. Yosemite? Joshua Tree? So many choices! Big Bend National Park in Texas is, in my opinion, underrated and below the radar, but boasts canyons that rival the Grand and a mountain range that's downright magical, so I'm making it a point to get there this year!

2. SUMMIT A COLORADO 14ER
Call me a peak bagger all you want, but I'll never forget the adrenaline and satisfying exhaustion of hiking my first Fourteener, Long's Peak, a class 3 mountain, and I'll always be chasing that feeling. ;) 2015 checked Mt. Bierstadt off the list, so I'm aiming for Mt. Huron, a classic Rocky Mountain range peak, or Mt. Elbert, Colorado's highest Fourteener at 14,433ft. Check out this list of Colorado's Top 10 Must-Hike 14ers if you're up for the challenge!

3. CLIMB, WITH INTENTION 
Okay, okay, this one is probably more of a resolution, I'll admit, but it's because 2016 will be my third official climbing year, and I've had the privilege to climb in the most beautiful places with the most beautiful people, but much of that time was spent flailing against rock instead of climbing it. I had some major victories and accomplishments, and while flailing is always a part of learning, I hope to be a more conscious climber with a sharper awareness of my body, like a dancer on a rock ;)

4. EXPLORE LOCAL TRAILS 
Adventures in the national parks is unrivaled for sure, but you just can't get out to them every day, and that's okay because chances are there are plenty of unknown parks and nature conversation areas in your backyard. Despite how close they are, it's always harder than it should be to take the time to seek them out. Recently, I've begun running on the foothills trails in Denver because I can drive there in 10 minutes and run alongside the Rockies if it's a day that I can't be running in them. Here's a "Quick and dirty guide to trail running near Denver" if that's your habitat!

5. PHOTOGRAPH WITH PURPOSE
Whoops, did I do it again? Is this another resolution? Oh well, here it goes! I'm beginning 2016 with a new photography kit, a Canon 5D Mark II, and a new photographic mission. For so many years, I've battled my cameras, frustrated with the buying and learning process of new be-dangled DSLR setups that boasted fancy features. This year, I'm going fancy-free, and focusing my photography on storytelling, on the portraits of people and places, and life's quiet, small adventures.

6. CAMP, JUST TO CAMP.
When was the last time you went on a camping trip for no other reason than to chill out in the woods or the desert or the shoreline, wherever the location? For me, it's been ages. I've camped at crags, on a climbing expeditions, river rafting and fishing trips, and don't get me wrong, these are all awesome experiences, but I've been missing the quiet, isolated, purposeless experience of just camping. Haven't you?

7. READ TALES OF ADVENTURE
Typically, I overdose on fiction, you know, the kind with a capital 'F'. In 2016, I'm craving some heart-stopping, soul-wrenching, epic-inspiring tales of real people conquering life's adventures. Here are the tales on my reading list!

The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko
Alone on the Wall by Alex Honnold
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

8. TELL MORE STORIES
Isn't a bucket list a resolution to do something, anyway? ;) This year, I'm excited to collect and tell more stories through photography and writing. Storytelling is a compelling method for preserving our environmental history and our culture, and I'm stoked to commit myself more to this humanistic necessity especially because of the upcoming changes coming to this blog! 


Photos by Daryl Love Photography 

Keep Sunday Strong

Sundays are the beginning of a new week, and should be a day of celebration (right?!), but most people see Sundays as the end of something: their weekend, and so, the day is terribly depressing. Sundays are shafted. They're delegated to readiness for the work week: grocery shopping, making meals because you don't have time to cook Monday-Thursday, doing laundry--I mean, you know the deal. 

BUT. I'm feeling a tad bit (have to admit, unusually) optimistic on this fine Sunday, and wish to make a proposition for Strong Sundays. That is: readiness of the mind and the body, and not of the work week. 

So today, I biked about 6.5 miles to one of my favorite coffee haunts, Black Hole Coffee House, and while I did work (the entire time I was there), I got out of the house and off of my couch to get there. I took a break and walked around the neighborhood, and stumbled across Mandell Park, an organic community garden and an oasis of green in Houston. 

I biked a different route back to explore alleyways and streets of the city I hadn't seen before, and when I returned home, I had a beer, and sat down, and took a minute. On Friday night, I had friends over for Family Dinner, and we made pizza, and it was a beautiful smorgishboard of tastes and toppings and swapping slices. 

I think I'll make Strong Sundays a tradition. I would love to hear about how you keep Sunday strong, so use the hashtag #keepsundaystrong to give this day of the week a little love!