Day Three: Where the Magic Happens

Me, really tired but smiling ear-to-ear on Day Three of a really difficult backpacking trip in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska (July 2021)

I recently renamed my blog “Day Three”. So what the heck does that mean anyway?

I’ll keep this short and sweet because I’m going to dive deeper into the meaning in future posts. Simply put, Day Three refers to the point in any travel journey where you feel fully immersed. In the days (or weeks) leading up to your trip we all feel some stress and anxiety over the planning and packing. There are a million and one things to do before a trip: booking flights, finding lodging, planning routes, etc. Then the travel date comes. And a whole new set of stressors is ignited. Why? Because that first day of traveling means that you are leaving the confines of your home, your little space of familiarity, your comfort zone.

I’ve found through many years of traveling and spending time in remote wilderness that I am never able to fully relax and feel like I’m “in it” unless I spend a certain minimum number of consecutive days in my new environment. That magic number is always three. Without fail, I always feel a transformation on Day Three of my trip. On that third day I wake up with mixed feelings of fatigue and boosted energy. The previous two days of navigating a new place with new people, figuring out where to go and what to do and dealing with any inevitable problems that always threaten those well-oiled travel plans is, well, downright tiring. And if my plans happen to include some sort of physically-demanding exercise like backpacking, then the stress and strain of covering long distances over difficult terrain with heavy weight on my back crush my energy levels even more. So it’s easy to imagine where the physical and mental exhaustion come from but how could the stress of traveling actually give me, or you, more energy?

The boost in energy that I feel, and that you surely will as well, on Day Three arises from the simplicity of a singular focus that eventually develops. We humans have a tendency to seek out comfort. It’s a survival instinct that’s hardwired in our DNA. There’s nothing wrong with that per se. But in this modern age that we live in, we are rarely ever challenged to be uncomfortable. We have so many systems and safeguards built into our daily climate-controlled lives that we simply don’t have to be uncomfortable unless we want to. So? What’s wrong with that? Well, through modern technology we are so used to being comfortable nearly every minute of our lives that our brains try to prevent us from doing anything unfamiliar or uncertain. Being uncomfortable is hard. But being comfortable all the time is numbing. That’s because any routine activity allows the brain to go into autopilot mode. On autopilot you no longer have to think. So your mind starts to drift away from the present moment and focuses on all of the future chores and tasks that need to be done. And the consequence of this is that you often aren’t even able to enjoy whatever you are doing. It’s mundane. It’s easy. It’s boring.

There is no better way to add excitement to your life than to travel. Going somewhere new is exciting because it’s different than anything you know. It takes planning, studying and learning about your new destination. It’s an adventure! But…..there’s a catch. Now think about the first day of any trip. Are you still thinking about all of the things you have to do back home? Of course you are. We all do this. Our jobs, families, friends, chores and any number of things fill our daily to-do lists. And those to-do items that you left unfulfilled are still demanding your immediate attention at the beginning of your travels. Those unfinished, important tasks now can’t be attended to while you are away from home. Your brain just can’t stop thinking about them no matter how hard you try. This causes you to feel anxious. That anxiety quickly turns to stress. And that stress makes you feel uncomfortable.

I don’t know about you but I always can’t wait to get through the first day of a trip. My head just isn’t in it yet. I’m still checking emails and social media (if there is internet service) and I’m still thinking about the things I have to do back home. And the discomfort of not being familiar with my new environment only adds to the stress. But fast forward to Day Three. Now I’m just tired enough and far-removed enough from the comforts of my home that I start to embrace my new surroundings. I’m beginning to feel immersed in my trip. I’ve experienced this over and over and over in my travels. And, as a professional mountain guide for 12 years, I have witnessed this same Day Three-induced euphoric transformation in hundreds of people from all walks of life from all over the world. No matter your age, gender, culture, religion, political affiliation or whether you’re a cat or dog person, this phenomenon seems to be pretty darn universal.

So what’s going on here anyway? What is so special about Day Three of your trip? There’s something liberating about gaining just enough familiarity with a new environment that you no longer feel like a complete stranger in a strange land but you also don’t feel completely at home either. The adventure starts to feel less intimidating and more enjoyable. But it still demands your full attention because you’re still in a new environment. This is the moment that you stop thinking about home and start focusing entirely on your new place. Instead of having a thousand things to do in your normal, daily life at home you now only have one thing to think about. You now only care about how to survive in your new environment and how to have fun doing it. Your life goes from being complex to simple. You’re still uncomfortable, but you are getting more comfortable with being uncomfortable. And that feels good. It’s a load off your shoulders. It just takes a few days to get there. And that’s the catch. The brain is a machine that is constantly processing information 24/7. And through our busy technology-filled daily lives our brains can start to feel overworked through overstimulation. Your brain just needs time to adjust, to relax and to forget every now and again. It needs to reboot. And that rebooting takes a certain amount of time. One day isn’t long enough. Not even two days will do. Three days is the sweet spot.

Day Three is where the magic happens in a trip. It’s the moment where you’ve pushed past the boundaries of your current comfort zone and stop feeling overly worried about the unknown. You stop fretting over all of the many stressors of your normal daily life and and start reveling in the simpler pleasures you experience during your new adventure. You are learning new things, picking up new skills and becoming more confident in your abilities. In turn, you start to feel stronger, you feel more prepared to deal with uncertainty and you ultimately feel a deeper sense of satisfaction with life. I’ve found traveling to be the most reliable way to achieve this. And the further you get from the modern conveniences of urban civilization, i.e. going into a wilderness area, the better and more gratifying the result. So I urge you plan at least one challenging trip each year that is a minimum of three days long. And when you get to that magical Day Three just sit back and smile. Trust me, there’s nothing else you’ll want (or need) to do!

There's a Place for Wild Spaces

Taking a break while backpacking through Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

I’m back!!! The past two months have been so busy that I haven’t been able to pick up my camera much or even get outside and enjoy the mountains as I normally do. But now the smoke is finally clearing and I am gearing up for Spring and Summer travels. As my excitement is brewing I thought I would start by spotlighting Alaska since it has been such an integral part of my life for the last decade.

As I am planning my next Alaska adventure I realized I have only revealed a handful of my photos from last summer. So I am going to start finally showing off the many reasons why I think that 1) Alaska is one of the most special and incredible places on planet Earth and 2) why I think that you should visit Alaska at least once in your lifetime.

To accomplish this task I will be publishing new photos every week and highlighting different yet unique features of Alaska. It is truly one of the most wild places you could imagine. Although it’s becoming more and more difficult to find “true wilderness” for various reasons, mighty Alaska is a bastion of freedom in the form of places so remote that you can go for days or weeks without seeing another person. These places are so beautiful and hostile that they will take your breath away and force you to confront the thoughts and feelings stirring in the deepest confines of your primitive brain. Simply put, Alaska is the place where you WILL lose yourself and find yourself at the same time.

We as human beings need wild places like this to exist. Join me over the next several weeks as I guide you through America’s Last Frontier and hopefully inspire you to finally buy that plane ticket to Alaska!!!

“Sunset” behind Mt. Blackburn as viewed from the Kennicott Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Where Do You Want to Go?

Backpackers on a glacier in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska (Summer 2019).

Where do you want to go? Where have you always dreamed of traveling? What are those things and places that you have seen in books, photos, movies, etc. and always wanted to see?

I know that you all have an answer to those questions. We all have that dream vacation that we’ve been wanting to take. Well, we are at the very beginning of a whole new decade: 2020. I hope to encourage you to travel this year and start the new 20’s off with a bang. Make it epic. Make it that once-in-a-lifetime trip. Make it that trip that makes you want to quit your job!

I’m going to do my part in helping you to make that dream trip come true. I have been fortunate to have traveled to a lot of other-worldly places that most people have probably only seen in the pages of National Geographic. I quit my job a long time ago so that I could see all of the epic places on my list and I have even been a mountain guide in Alaska for ten years. So I am going to use my travel knowledge to help you plan your adventures by writing weekly blog posts about various topics.

I will start things off by highlighting my favorite place on this planet: Alaska. Join me for the next several weeks as I guide you on a tour of America’s Last Frontier!