Wishing you had a little more excitement in your life? A microadventure is just the thing to shake it up in the best possible way. When planning a microadventure, you take to the natural surroundings just footsteps from your daily world.
Of course, you have to put a plan into motion. You can’t just walk out the door with your backpack and rations and hope for the best. These 5 tips will help you get ready for that epic microadventure that you and your friends will talk about for years to come!
1. Make a list of what you want to do
Depending on where you live, your list will vary. However, your microadventure preparations should always begin this way. Creating a travel notebook is a great idea because you can list all the ideas of what’s nearby that are feasible. It’s great to brainstorm, even if you can’t do it all due to the season or the current weather because it keeps you organized and gives you a plan of action.2. Get prepared
While a microadventure seems spur of the moment, you’ll have to plan where to go and what to take ahead of time. If it’s your first micro adventure, it’s best to start thinking about it about a month in advance and then get your route planned out. In addition to planning for supplies, you’ll want to research where you’ll take shelter, get water, food, and other things.Guidebooks are a great place to get every detail of your microadventure cemented. This way, you can make a checklist for what you will pack so that you’ll have everything you need when you step out the door.
3. Bag it up
The key to successfully packing for any microadventure is to find balance. You’ll need the essentials of course as well as things for those “what if” moments. Yet, you don’t want to overload your bag. How do you prevent that? Simple! Just think like a minimalist when packing.For example, on other travel adventures, you might take along a book to read. But with a microadventure, you likely won’t have any time to crack it open so leave it behind (and take your travel journal instead!).
4. Keep an eye on the weather
While a little precipitation shouldn’t stop you from your microadventure, there are certain conditions that could pose a severe danger. There’s no shame in postponing your plans when this happens as you shouldn’t have to prove a point. In terrible weather, your camp setup could be destroyed, leaving you with nowhere safe to ride it out.5. Always have a backup plan
Even if the weather looks good for your microadventure weekend, keep listening to the weather forecast. Microadventure is part planning and part adapting. For planning, you’ll want to come up with a backup plan that contains nearby sheltering, shortcuts, and other options should something come up. And should something come up, you’ll be able to adapt with ease.Start planning your microadventure weekend and soon you’ll wonder how you ever lived this long without walking about the territory just outside your normal world. The term microadventure was made common by British adventurer and author Alastair Humphreys and is defined as an overnight outdoor adventure that is "small and achievable, for normal people with real lives"