I had a sense of rising anxiety in the lead-up to our remote river trip. I checked in with my wife, and she was feeling it too. 

We’ve spent a lot of time together in the wilderness over the last 25 years, but this trip was bringing up some new feelings. We were both running through potential hazards and contingency plans silently in our heads as we spent weeks packing and preparing.

I sat with these feelings for a bit and realized that I was responding to the uncertainty that surrounded this trip. Two weeks on a remote river in the Yukon brings a lot of uncertainty with it.

What I came to recognize is that this uncertainty is exactly why we go on adventures. We choose to put ourselves in these situations because they are completely different from our everyday experience of life. 

I was resisting the experience that I was looking for. Uncertainty and potential risks are part of the equation. Without them, it’s not an adventure.

With this realization, we were able to address the uncertainties. We acknowledged the risks, made decisions on ways to mitigate and prepare for them, and then we embraced the feelings that come with setting out on a new adventure.

We spent two weeks with our teenage boys and two other friends on the river. We didn’t see any other humans for the entire time. 

We experienced wind, rain, cold, thunderstorms, a grizzly encounter, our youngest ejecting from his boat mid-rapid and all sorts of other wonderful things. 

Some of the moments were uncomfortable. 
Some of the moments were new for us.
Some of the moments were perfect.

This experience shed some light on other situations in my life where I have veered towards certainty to avoid potential risk or discomfort. Some of those choices were definitely the right ones for the time. But there’s also the chance that I missed out on some wonderful opportunities and experiences because I avoided uncertainty.

There’s much more to this conversation as it pertains to adventure - perceived risk vs. actual risk, risk preparedness, pushing the edges of new experiences without endangering ourselves and others.

The takeaway from this experience for me has been that many wonderful things in life are waiting for me on the other side of uncertainty.

Joseph Campbell put it like this:

“The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for.”