
![During the Q&A session at one of my recent book events, someone鈥擜dam, actually鈥攁sked me how I come up with ideas for my own DIY adventures. [SCREENSHOTS OF : 7 summits of my neighborhood, New York Pizza Marathon, NYC food marathon, Strava page for Mt. Sentinel Five Fingers of Death? ] I fumbled my way through a semi-coherent answer, which, if better thought through, might go something like this:](https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/templates-diy-adventures-2.jpg?width=730)
![I guess I realized a while back that anything we consider an 鈥渁dventure鈥 was, at the beginning, literally just an idea somebody had: [Drawing of person looking at a mountain, saying, 鈥淚 wonder what it鈥檚 like on top?鈥 [Drawing of people looking at a map, one saying to the other one, 鈥淭hink you can get to *here* from *here*?] [Drawing of people looking at a map, one saying to the other one, 鈥淪ee, this one, this one, and this one form a BIG LOOP!鈥漖](https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/templates-diy-adventures-3.jpg?width=730)
![And I was told, even longer ago, that I am somebody. Therefore: [drawing of index card reading IF 国产吃瓜黑料 = somebody鈥檚 idea And I = Someone Then My Idea for an adventure =adventure]](https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/templates-diy-adventures-4.jpg?width=730)
![So: What makes something a good idea? Answer: Who said it has to be a good idea? [drawing of piece of paper with title: List of People I have to convince that my idea is worthwhile: me friend (optional)]](https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/templates-diy-adventures-5.jpg?width=730)

![But if you鈥檙e just trying to figure out something fun or challenging or interesting to do, you don鈥檛 have to dream up some sort of 鈥渃lassic鈥 adventure. Or even something that anyone else would want to repeat. It doesn鈥檛 have to be particularly bold, or fun, or even make sense. It just has to be yours. [BOX: Some templates for DIY adventures: _______ summits in one day/week/life; circumnavigating the [insert name of geographic or man-made feature]; [well-known outdoor objective] but bicycle to the start; all the mountains higher than _______; big day of human-powered travel between donut shops/pizza places/taco trucks/etc.; seemingly random numerical goal](https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/templates-diy-adventures-7.jpg?width=730)


An adventure is an idea. It doesn't even have to be a good one. Here's a helpful guide to dreaming them up.
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