The Bold Adventurers

An abandoned lifeboat at world’s end

2011-06-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

I love the Sub-Antarctic islands but it will be hard to find an excuse to visit one.

https://allkindsofhistory.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/an-abandoned-lifeboat-at-worlds-end/#more-650

Amelia Earhart found?

2010-12-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZDWOqPZ23A&feature=player_embedded

http://news.discovery.com/history/amelia-earhart-castaway-finger-bone-101210.html

Explorer finds dead soldiers at lost battlefield in Papua New Guinea

2010-06-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7146669.ece

Youngest person to sail solo around the world

2010-05-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

http://jessicawatson.com.au/index.htm

The Man Who Skied Down Everest

2010-02-24T19:17:00.001-08:00

This I've got to see!

The last people living in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

2010-02-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

"In 1980, Jimmy Carter established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Alaskan Interior, cutting off 19 million acres of prime boreal wilderness from the mitts of fur trappers, oil tycoons, and would-be lodge owners alike. Only six families of white settlers were grandfathered in and allowed to keep cabins in the refuge -- of them, only one still stays there year -- round living off the land." See the documentary (via BoingBoing).

Could a Frozen Camera Dethrone Hillary and Norgay as the First to Summit Everest?

2010-01-26T17:00:00.002-08:00

I would love to be going on this adventure!

Argh! Too long between blog posts!

2010-01-26T17:00:00.001-08:00

A boarded-up shop in Lancashire was found to have been left in exactly the same state as when it stopped trading more than 40 years ago.

2008-10-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Not really a bold adventure, but a very cool find

Extreme ironing: no dumber than extreme knitting

2008-08-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Some feel that even ultra-mundane tasks like ironing can be combined with adventure. According to the Extreme Ironing Board the sport that is 'extreme ironing' is an outdoor activity that combines the danger and excitement of an 'extreme' sport with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt. It involves taking an iron and board (if possible) to remote locations and ironing a few items of laundry. This can involve ironing on a mountainside, preferably on a difficult climb, or taking an iron skiing, snowboarding or canoeing.

[via boingboing]

GOOD creates interactive map of historical adventure routes

2008-08-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

It's 'good' but needs more routes. link

unclimbed mountains

2008-07-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Because they're there.

The highest unclimbed mountain in a particular region or in the world is often a matter of controversy. In some parts of the world surveying and mapping are still not reliable, and there are not comprehensive records of the routes of explorers, mountaineers and local inhabitants [via wiki].

Adventures in space

2008-07-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

What really happened to Russia's missing cosmonauts? An incredible tale of space hacking, espionage, adventure and death in the lonely reaches of space and on the ground with the KGB.

Might be fiction, but it's awesome nonetheless [via the dailygrail]

10 months alone on an island with only a knife, machete, and solar-powered video camera

2008-05-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

That is Xavier Rosset's plan. His objectives are to survive and ultimately produce a documentary film about the experience. More details (in English) over at the Private Islands Blog (there's a private islands blog?!?!).

[via boingboing]

National Geographic's Braving Alaska

2008-04-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

This video is only about an hour long, but it tells the compelling stories of families that live totally Walden Pond-style off the grid lives deep in the Alaskan wilderness. I saw this film on television back in the early 1990s when it first came out, and watched without blinking. Because it's a short feature, video rental stores often rent it out at a discount (e.g., 99 cents). It's worth picking up.

Adventure Hannah

2008-03-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

No woman has ever made a solo, self-propelled journey to the North Pole. This spring, Hannah McKeand intended to become the first. She had planned to make the journey in the old-school adventure style, carrying all of her food and equipment with her from the start; while taking the most difficult route on foot from Ward Hunt Island. "This journey is one of the last great expeditionary firsts left in the world according" according to adventurehannah.com

Most unfortunately the plan was interrupted en route by a fall into a crevasse on Thursday--necessitating a satellite phone call to summon help in the form of a Canadian Forces rescue helicopter from Canadian Forces Station Alert, a Cold War-era radio eavesdropping and weather station on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island (now there is a life of adventure). Let's hope they don't slap her with an adventure-deterring bill for their services (or that she has adventure insurance), and that she plans to get right back to it as soon as she has mended.

It turns out Hannah has been living an awesome life of adventure . In 2001 she joined a Hungarian-led expedition searching for prehistoric rock art in the mountains bordering Egypt, Libya and the Sudan ('The English Patient' theme adventure?). In 2004 she explored the Wakan Corridor in Afghanistan in search of the source of the River Oxus. She has skied over 1,000 kilometres from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole, and owns a Blizzard Expeditions -- an antarctic/sub-antarctic sailing expedition company--with her partner David Pryce.

Dustysensor.ca

2008-02-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

Combining his skills as a photographer and web-designer with his current vocation as a pilot working out of Inuvik NWT, Lee Thomas has been documenting his life of pure adventure at Dustysensor.ca

In addition to all kind of wild and wonderful (and well documented) northern and arctic scenes (with many photos taken during flight!) there are abandoned airplane wrecks and the amazing smoking hills--an unusual and little-documented phenomenon caused by the spontaneous burning of bituminous shale--which I first discovered when reading Don Starkell's 'Paddle to the Arctic'. Great stuff!

Wikimapia + Google Earth = !

2008-01-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

I just discovered that Wikimapia data could be viewed through Google Earth

Nice!

Canadian Canoe Routes

2008-01-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Canoe trips are always good for adventure. In fact, when is any ride in a canoe not an adventure? This Canadian canoe routes website seems entirely worthwhile. LOTS of routes are documented, many with photos and first-hand accounts from paddlers--even some very remote routes are described, which strike me as particularly interesting. Active discussion forums also.

There is a confluence within 49 miles (79 km) of you if you're on the surface of Earth...

2007-12-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

...and potential for adventure at every point in between. The Degree Confluence Project is amazing: The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. The pictures, and stories about the visits, will then be posted here.

Secret Chinatown Tunnels

2007-12-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

A formal search (ground-penetrating radar) is underway in Fresno CA. There is endless (often rambling, but engaging) discussion regarding their possible existence in Victoria BC with occasional glimpses provided by the urban exploration cognoscenti. The rumors and hearsay surrounding the tunnels in both towns are essentially identical. Must be true.

The South Atlantic & Subantarctic Islands

2007-12-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

The voyage of the JB Charcot has piqued my interest in this region. Paul Carroll has a great website on the subject.

Fifteen Thousand Miles in a Ketch

2007-12-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

I've been reading obscure adventures from another era: In 1907-1909 RAYMOND RALLIER DU BATY, author of Fifteen Thousand Miles in a Ketch, with a crew of four, sailed their ketch the J.B. Charcot on an adventure from France to Australia. But how to finance this little trip? Why, Hunt sea elephants for their oil on Kerguelen island in the subantartic of course!

The oil was sold at Melbourne to pay the crew and the ship was sold to cover other expenses of what was essentially a private voyage of exploration and discovery. Calls were also made at Rio & Tristan da Cunha. The author had been the Charcot's first officer on the Pourquoi Pas? expedition in 1903-5. Good reading!

What's interesting about the adventure is that even 100 years later, the perspectives of the author strike me as very similar to those of present-day adventurers--apart from the we'll-finance-this-with-seal-oil part.

The author also mentions the discovery of a cave that appeared to have been inhabited by ship-wrecked sailors at one point, with many interesting abandoned artifacts including a sea-elephant skull soup pot which the adventures wanted but were unwilling to be burdened with on the long hike back to the ship. I wonder if it's still there...

Abandoned Plane Wrecks of the North

2007-10-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Abandoned plane wrecks of the north! Sometimes bold adventure take unexpected turns / end badly. Exploring/discovering/salvaging some these wrecks would certainly make for good adventuring though. This gives me one more reason to get working on my pilot's license!

Into the Wild

2007-09-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

Over at Thepovertyjetset I stumbled across a reminder of something I've been looking forward to for about two years now (thanks Magdalenus). A movie based on Jon Krakauer's 'Into the wild' is set to be released on September 21st. The book is an excellent journalistic piecing together of the extraordinary (and last) adventures of Christopher McCandless. A 'must read' for all adventurers.

When contemplating adventures, I often think of one of excerpts from the book based on McCandless's writings (I'm paraphrasing): 'Don't kid yourself, a challenge isn't really a challenge if there's a good chance that you'll actually succeed.'

In a van down by the river

2007-09-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a recipe for adventure:

Sell most of our crap. Store the rest.
Find, buy, steal, or otherwise get a van.
Pimp out said van with a custom bed, office, LCD tv, etc.
Get a high speed internet connection
Get laptops, photo, and video gear to document this crazy thing.
Figure out what to take along for survival
Go!

I look forward to following this one!

Drainsploration: Adventures in the drains of Canada

2007-08-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

Fine underground urban adventure in Toronto: The explorers' website, The Vanishing Point, provides some great photos and very detailed contextual documentation. There is a really engaging interview with one of the adventures over at the BLDGBLOG.

I'm going to have to look into exploring some local drains.

bumfuzzle!

2007-08-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a great sailing adventure travel blog that I recently re-discovered. It's about a couple who abandon yuppy-hood in order to sail around the world. I love how they've documented all the costs in detail (looks like about $20-25k USD per year), and how they keep a page where they quote "internet critics" who imply that their adventures are reckless. Discussion of their (mis)adventures have even been banned on a popular cruising forum. Sounds like some folks are jealous. I know I am!

Now it seems they decided to sell the boat in favor of driving around the world in a vintage VW bus (and some vintage porsche x-country racing as well). It great to see people devoting them selves to adventure.

Solar Powered Circumnavigation

2007-07-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

Kati Rutz of transatlantic21 wrote to let us know that plans are indeed in the works for solar circumnavigation.

www.planetsolar.org

ghost towns = adventure

2007-07-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.ghosttownpix.com/

http://www.ontarioabandonedplaces.com/

I really enjoy visiting ghost towns. A trip to an abandoned town pretty much ensures that you'll get off the beaten track.

This Fab Trek

2007-07-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

A great (ongoing) multi-year travel adventure blog. Staged from a Foley.

Maximog!

2007-07-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

A totally maxed out Unimog with kinked-out minimalist trailer and jet-boat, motorcycle, UAV and ROV accessories. It's totally over the top, but perfect for adventure. Unfortunately there is no sign that it has actually been on an adventure yet (aside from being exhibited at MoMA)...have to track it down.

Paddle to the amazon; Paddle to the Arctic

2007-07-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

I recently finished reading Paddle to the Acrtic, and re-reading Paddle to the Amazon. These are amazing stories. In 1980 a man and his two sons embark upon a truly bold adventure. The plan: canoe from Winnipeg Manitoba, CANADA, all the way to the mouth of the Amazon River--completely under their own power. It takes them two years, countless encounters with extreme danger, and one son heads home early, but they do it! About a decade later, as if to prove that he is indeed complete and totally (and wonderfully) crazy, that same man, sans sons, attempts to paddle the Northwest Passage (Churchill Manitoba to Tuktoyaktuk NT) and though it takes him a few seasons, and a few friends, he ultimately awakens to find that he has pretty much propelled his half-frozen-amputation-requiring-carcass to his destination. Best of all, the book is written in diary format, and partway though he starts recording GPS coordinates with each entry! Reading the book while connected Google Earth makes you feel like you are right there, only warmer.

Mmmmm...infiltration

2007-07-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Abandoned: sites; churches; boats; drains; catacombs(!); hotels; hospitals; utility tunnels; subways!!

http://infiltration.org/transit-subway.html

So bold and yet so dangerous!

2007-07-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Oregon man 'flies' his helium balloon-levitated lawn chair across the state.

Of course it's been done before.

Around the world on a motorcycle on about $10 per day!

2007-07-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

"Makiko Sugino from Japan has been traveling solo around the world on her motorcycle continuously for the past five years. She has logged over 250,000 miles; has toured every continent, most countries, and has been hospitilized three times due to accidents, and yet she still keeps going."

Thanks to Swan for posting this encounter with this bold adventurer!

First solar-powered transatlantic crossing

2007-07-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Humans have been crossing the world's oceans in zero-emission vehicles thousands of years, but Sun21 appears to be the first to make a photovoltaic-powered crossing.

Exporing ghost railway bridges--by air!

2007-07-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a neat website by a fellow explorer who is interested in abandoned places. Exploring abandoned places always has the potential for great adventure. Not having access to a plane myself (yet) I'll have to explore these with some other conveyance. The included GPS coordinates will help.

2007-07-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Bold Adventurers Blog.

The plan is simply to post storys/links about adventures that we find interesting and unusual.

Send us storys and images from your adventures, or adventures you have heard about. They don't have to be exotic/expensive, they just have to be cool!