5 Ways Adventure Vacations Make You Feel Younger

When we get outside we feel younger. It’s that simple.

The visceral experience of existing in nature, directly connected with the world, opens the pipeline to those feelings we had when we were younger and the world was our playground. The best part? They flow directly from our national parks and rivers and wild places into our hearts.

Still not sure? Well, here are five ways an adventure vacation can make you feel younger.

1. Getting Dirty

When you’re tromping around in nature you can’t help but get dirty. And not caring. See, the adventure’s the thing. Doesn’t matter what you look like doing it (or how you smell). Getting outside is your license to, you know, let yourself go a bit.

A side benefit to a little trail dirt? The inevitable outdoor bath that follows.

2. Swimming

Immersing yourself in water, flowing with it, puts you in the moment, something that takes you back to when you were a kid spending all day at the pool or your local swimming hole.

And a dip in wilderness waters also ties us to a time earlier than our own beginnings, something a bit deeper, more primordial, the cycle of the earth that began turning in a much simpler age.

3. Fresh Air

If smell is the most powerful of all the senses when it comes to memory, the scents of the wilderness are like a time travel machine.

Wet earth and rock, hot dust and pungent plants will take you right back to those times as a kid when you romped outside, dug in the dirt and climbed trees and splashed in the creek.

4. Eating Outside

Let’s face it: Eating outside is awesome. From a well-set up camp kitchen to the aromas of meat and veggies cooking over an open flame, eating under the sun and stars brings with it a certain carefree attitude.

There are no dining room tables, no place settings, just good food, good company and the possibility of a good belly laugh at any moment–a sure-fire recipe for feeling younger.

5. Living at Mother Nature’s Pace

Remember waking up as a kid in the summertime? You’d roll out of bed, grab some breakfast and you were off. You might check in for lunch but were pretty much out of the house until supper time.

Adventure vacations are just like that. As you slip off to sleep beneath the night sky turning over your head, all you’ll think about is what adventures await tomorrow.

What are you waiting for?

Get out there, explore the wilderness, focus on the play, on being in the now. Ditch the alarm clocks and calendar reminders. Get outside where the only action items are the ones that get your body moving, send your blood coursing through your body and put a smile on your face.