Investing in a high-quality sleeping pad was the game-changer. The old adage "spend as much as you can afford on what separates you from the ground" is true. A high R-value pad turned a freezing night into a cozy slumber. This is the one piece of gear where you should not cut corners.
You don’t need a wilderness. Finding nature within the city—like a morning jog in a park or coffee on a sunlit rooftop—infuses your routine with adventure.
Meanwhile, Stanford scientists discovered that a 90-minute walk in a natural area reduces neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain linked to rumination and depression. In other words, nature doesn’t just make you feel better; it literally changes the channel in your brain.