While attending Canoecopia in Madison a few weeks back, I
caught a sneak peak of the soon-to-be released documentary from Mary Catterlin
and Amy Lukas. If you aren’t familiar with the duo, they hollowed out a
cottonwood log – and sailed it around Lake Michigan. No small feat.
Laughs rippled around the room as the video played, the
ladies light-hearted attitude effused from the screen. Mary and Amy augmented
video from their journey with interviews filmed afterwards with themselves,
family and folks who helped them along the way. The comments from the people
they met were strung together with a thread of inspiration – how the girls’
undertaking had inspired them.
At the end of the video, the ladies asked everyone what
their dream was. If two girls from Indiana with no woodworking experience could
hollow out a cottonwood log and sail it around Lake Michigan, what’s stopping
everyone else from attaining their dream?
The New York Times Magazine recently ran an article about
Alex Honnold, one of the most famous rock climbers in the world, who also
happens to not use ropes. Comments ensued about how he was endangering his life
for personal glory or how he was contributing nothing to society. This article
and the negative comments dovetailed with the recent acclaim for Tommy Caldwell
and Tyler Jorgenson’s climb up the Dawn Wall, a sheer rock face in Yosemite
never free-climbed before (using ropes only in the event of a fall). In an article celebrating their accomplishment, the
comment field was littered with spiteful remarks: "Trying hard to be open-minded here, but I just don't get it." "What good does it do, ultimately?" "What has this climb done for OTHERS? Absolutely nothing." These commenters couldn't have been further from the truth.
Caldwell and Jorgenson spent years slowly working towards their goal. They didn't do it for self promotion or financial gain, they did it realize a dream. They spent countless hours planning how to achieve it and, by reaching the summit, pushed the boundaries of possibility. We could all aspire to work that determinedly towards a dream.
Jorgenson said it best: “I hope it inspires people to find their own
Dawn Wall, if you will. I think everyone has their own secret Dawn Wall to
complete one day, and maybe they can put this project in their own context.”
We don't have to hollow out a log and take it for a spin around a Great Lake or climb a route deemed impossible, but we all have dream trips and goals collecting dust in the back of our minds.
Perhaps the true mark of an adventure is what happens after.
Does your trip inspire others to attempt and accomplish their dreams? Mary and
Amy inspired the folks they met along the way. Shit, I walked away from their
documentary inspired as all hell.
The greatest journeys do not end with the hero reaching
the destination, but they live on through stories and your own personal connection
with the journey. What is greater than pushing friends and strangers alike to
achieve their dreams?
What’s your Lake Michigan in a dugout or Dawn Wall?
