Baou de St jeannette - photo by D.Hennessey

A few years ago I was walking along a logging road looking for the start of a hike with a friend in BC, Canada and on the side of the road we found a car crushed by the weight of a huge log on top of it. A sign was placed on the car with words that are still burned into my memory. It read ‘Expect the Unexpected’.

I am sharing this story because on a recent hike I had a similar experience. I hiked up and around to the summit of the Baou de St Jeannette (pictured above). After I rested I decided to check out another small trail near the summit that looked like an animal path. On the little trail I found the unexpected shown in the second picture below. It is as you will see by the third picture a bus stop that somehow made it up to behind the 800m summit of the Baou. I don’t know how it made it there. I smiled when I saw the bus stop and it reminded me of something else.

Expect...

..the unexpected - pic by D. Hennessey

My whole life has been like this I don’t expect but the unexpected arrives. When I was born I never anticipated moving to a new country as a teen. I never anticipated what would happen when I came back from ‘globetrotting’ , I never anticipated what would happen when a friend got cancer. Plus there are a whole lot more things I never anticipated and after all these unexpected events I now know to ‘expect the unexpected’ and be the best prepared I can be.

This is why I am very proactive in how I take care of myself and my family. When I go solo hiking I bring overnight items just in case. When my family and I eat we eat the best we can afford. I also am passionate about sharing stress management ideas with you and your friends since I believe that it is better to have a ‘tool box’ of techniques that work BEFORE an event happens than have to seek out solutions when things have already hit the fan.

Your friend on the journey,

David

Jim Whittaker and myself 2005

In 2006 I met Alain Robert alias The French Spiderman at the Vancouver International Film Festival. In 2005 I had another memorable experience as I met a legend of mountaineering Jim Whittaker. Jim was the first North American to summit Mount Everest when he did it in 1963. Also, during the event I met the legendary rock climber Peter Croft author of The Good, the Great, and the Awesome.

Now I am a long term back packer but beyond having gone up dozens of peaks my experience in the outdoors is nothing compared to Jim and Peter. They are legends, I am simply a person who likes the outdoors but something happening during the festival that made me feel reassured that my approach to mental and physical health and wellness is actually ’on track’.

I had the honor of being on a discussion panel with Jim and Peter to answer questions on how to manage stress and prepare your mind and body for outdoors activity. Before the discussion at other events I had shared that to train for an intense physical activity you benefit from doing the same activity on a lesser scale frequently and train your mind to believe more is possible. This is what I practiced and shared with people. When I wanted to hike longer distances I simply did more hiking. But many people have suggested to me I need to work out at the gym too but I have resisted because I don’t like exercising I simply like to hike. I had always wanted a legendary source to verify or deny what I believe and Jim Whittaker is a legendary source.

What made me feel reassured that what I believed is ‘on track’ is the fact that during the presentations Jim Whittaker made it very clear to the attentive audience that the main part of his training was going up and down Mount Rainer and training his mind that he was capable of going up Everest. Everything else was supplementary. He trained by doing what he loved to do – mountaineering.

To me, I was reassured. For you I hope this helps reassure you that you can grow to be the best in what you love to do by doing more of it.

Enjoy a great day, David

P.S. You can read more about Jim Whittaker’s adventures by getting a copy of his book A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond. Inside is a history of this great man’s life plus lots of fantastic photographs. I have the honor of having a copy as you can see me proudly holding it in the picture above. Yes! Jim is actually 75 in the picture and in great health. If you like the mountains I recommend you get yourself a copy