The UPDATED Ultimate Bucket List of Epic Adventures! (2026)

The (Updated!) Ultimate Bucket List of Epic Adventures! - 2026

Back in December 2020, I posted The Ultimate Bucket List of Epic Adventures! blog post. And while that blog post is evergreen, I was reflecting on my adventures this year and working on what I want to do next. I’ve been keeping a bucket list since I was a little girl, and I’ve been setting and tracking annual goals since 2019 either online or via my bullet journal. It was interesting to see my past goals and what has consistently been on my list and what new adventures I’ve checked off in the past five years, but I also was reflecting on what new adventures I want to add to the list.

So, without further ado, here’s the updated bucket list with notes on what I’ve checked off since 2020 (in bold) and what new things I’ve added (starred **)!

The Ultimate Bucket List of Epic Adventures!

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Backpacking adventures!

• Write a novel

• Write and illustrate a children’s book**

• Publish a book of poems**

• Go on a writer/artist retreat**

• Create “a room of her own”**

✓ Show art in a gallery**

I did this! I had a painting included in this fall’s student/teacher gallery at the Durham Arts Council!

• Have a solo art exhibit**

• Get an advanced degree (Master’s or PhD)

• Complete yoga teacher training

• Hike the Appalachian Trail (AT)

• Hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)

• Hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT)

• Hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST)

• Run a marathon on all 7 continents

• Run the Polar Bear marathon

• Run the Big Five marathon

• Run Big Sur marathon

• Kayak along Alaska coast

• Explore ice caves

✓ Take an award-winning photo

A photo I took for the Wake County Parks project back in 2017 was submitted by the parks staff to a competition and I won my category! (It was something about best photo for children’s education or something; I was informed of the win after the fact, lol)

I’ve also had a photo included in a NY Times bestseller — Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky’s Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow* recipe book includes a photo I took from their original book tour for Run Fast East Slow*

✓ Rock climb inside

✓ Rock climb outside

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Rock climbing!

✓ Lead climb

✓ Lead climb outdoors

October 2020 (Red River Gorge)

• Trad climb

• Rock climb a desert tower

• Climb Devils Tower

• Climb sea cliffs/deep water solo

• Go ice climbing

✓ Run a half marathon

✓ Run a marathon

✓ Run an ultramarathon (50K)

✓ Run a 40 miler

February 2020 - Uwharrie 40

✓ Run a 50 miler

I’ve run multiple! I’ve done Highball to Thurmond (the inaugural year in 2022) and Antelope Canyon 50 Miler (2022)

• Run a 100K

✓ Run a 100 miler

I’ve done two! I did Yeti 100 in 2021 and Pinhoti 100 in 2022!

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Crossing the finish line and getting my buckle at Pinhoti 100!

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The finish line of Yeti 100 and getting my buckle!

• Do a 24 hour race

• See Machu Picchu

• See Egyptian pyramids

• See Chichen Itza (Mexico)

• Backpack through Patagonia

• Hike Everest base camp

• Climb Kilimanjaro

✓ Hike in the Alps

• Climb in the Alps

• Do a Via Ferrata

• Hike the Jurassic Coast

• Hike the Camino de Santiago

• See the Acropolis

• See the Monaco Formula 1 race

• See the Baja 1000 race

• See a rally race

• See Red Bull Rampage

• Go skydiving

• Raft the New River

• Raft the Nantahala River

• Cowboy camp/Sleep under the stars

✓ Go to an active paleontology or archaeology site

✓ Study abroad

• Live abroad

• Spend a month in Australia

• Spend a month in New Zealand

• See Lake Wanaka

• Explore Croatia

• Explore Dolomites

• Visit Lake Garda

• Hike Cinque Terra

• Hike Scotland

• Hike Ireland

• Hike Wales**

• Visit Berlin

✓ Visit Vienna

Done in December 2023!

✓ Visit Salzburg

Done in December 2023!

✓ Visit Munich

Done in December 2023! (And also in 2007 back in high school, ha)

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The Salzburg fortress in December 2024

✓ Visit Paris

✓ Visit London

✓ Visit Rome

• Visit Venice

• Visit Morocco

• Visit Amsterdam

• Visit Santorini

• Visit Dublin

• Visit Edinburgh

• Visit Tokyo**

• Visit Hokkaido**

• Visit Seoul**

✓ Go to a medieval city

• Hike/explore Petra

• Run Wadi Rum Ultra (now called Ultra X Jordan)

• Do an adventure race

• See Ellora Caves

• See a boiling lake (Dominica)

• See the Iditarod

• Do the human Iditarod

• Visit Prague

• Visit Nairobi

• Visit Beijing

• Visit Shanghai

• Visit Bangkok

• Visit Chiang Mai

• Visit Phuket

✓ Go snorkeling

• Scuba dive

• Swim with manta rays

✓ Swim with sharks w/a cage

• Swim with sharks w/o a cage

• Swim with jellyfish (Jellyfish Lake, Palau)

• See flamingos at Laguna Colorada (Red Lake)

• See Andean flamingos at Chile’s Altiplano

• See flamingos at Lake Nakuru (Kenya)

• See Lake Hiller (pink lake)

• See Lake Natron (Tanzania)

• See Plitvice Lakes (Croatia)

• See Lake Bled (Slovenia)

• See Lake Baikal (Siberia)

• See Lake Tanganyika**

• See Door to Hell (Turkmenistan)

• See Centralia burning coal seam

• Climb K2

✓ Hike 14ers

In October 2024 we went to Colorado and did some 14ers! We first drove Pikes Peak to check off a bucket-list item for McCrae and to acclimate to the elevation. A few days later, we attempted Quandary, but McCrae felt poorly from the start and turned back 3/4 of the way up. I kept going, but just a couple of hundred feet from the summit, I started coughing so badly I couldn’t continue, so I had to turn back. But finally, a few days later, we attempted Mt. Sherman and summited!

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Summit of Mt. Sherman 14er!

• Visit the Amazon

• Eat something really weird

• Go skiing

• Go snowshoeing

• Go luging

✓ Go dog sledding

• Go horseback riding in wilderness

✓ Bushwack with just a map and compass

2020 x 2! Ruben Mtn summit and NRG, WV

• Get wilderness first aid training

• Sail around the world

• Sail the Mediterranean

• Sail the Caribbean

• See an oasis

✓ Go whitewater rafting

• Go on a safari

✓ Visit a European Christmas market

In December 2024 we went to Austria and Germany and explored several Christmas markets! We saw the markets at Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich.

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Vienna Christmas Market!

• See Anne Frank’s house**

• Visit Japan

• Visit Fiji

• Visit Borneo

• Visit Turks & Caicos

• Visit Spain**

• Visit Portugal**

• Visit Greece**

• Ride a hot air balloon in Turkey (Cappadocia)**

• Go to Costa Rica

✓ Go to a bioluminescent bay

• Go cliff jumping

• Go to Norway, stand on edge of Trolltunga and Preikestolen

• Go to Iceland

• See the Northern Lights

• Spend a night in an igloo

• Spend a night in an ice hotel

• Spend a night in a yurt

  ✓ Spend a night in a houseboat

• Spend a night in a tiny house

• Spend a night in an airstream

• Spend a night in a treehouse

• Spend a night in an over-water bungalow

✓ Spend a night on a swamp platform

• Go to Giant’s Causeway

✓ Get close to a volcano

Get reeeeeeallly close to a volcano

✓ See a volcano erupt

• See a volcano explode!

• Go volcano boarding!

• Walk on lava!

✓ Swim in the Atlantic Ocean

✓ Swim in the Pacific Ocean

• Swim in the Indian Ocean

• Swim in the Arctic Ocean

• Swim in the Southern Ocean

✓ Swim in the Mediterranean Sea

• Swim in the Red Sea

• Float in the Dead Sea**

• See Grand Canyon

• Run R2R2R

• Raft the Grand Canyon/Colorado River

• Raft the Ocoee

• Raft the Chattooga

• Hike Angel’s Landing (Zion)

• Hike Bryce Canyon**

• See Havasu Falls**

• Stargaze at Arches**

• Hike Cotopaxi

• Hike Na Pali coast

✓ Go to a coffee farm

• Learn how to roast coffee beans

• Learn how to make latte art

• Go to a pineapple farm

• Mountain bike in Moab

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✓ Mountain bike in Arkansas**

We went mountain biking at Bentonville in spring 2024 hitting up some classic routes!

• Explore Badlands

• Bike across America

• See a coconut crab in the wild

✓ Trail run Art Loeb Trail

I actually set the FKT for the southbound route in 2021! (It’s since been broken but hey! I did it!)

• Trail run Shut-in Trail

✓ Go to a luau

• Attend High Tea

• Attend a traditional Chinese tea ceremony

✓ Attend a Native American Pow Wow

• Visit Galapagos

• See baby turtles hatch

• See Old Faithful erupt

• See Grand Prismatic Spring

• See Blue Grotto

• See Marble Caves (Chile)

• Climb at Yosemite

• Climb at Hueco Tanks

• Climb at Joshua Tree

✓ Climb at New River Gorge, WV

June 2020

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The famous bridge at New River Gorge!

✓ Climb at Red River Gorge, KY

October 2020

✓ Climb a 5.10 outdoors

October 2020

• Climb a 5.11 outdoors

✓ Learn German

• Learn French

• Learn Italian

• Learn Spanish

• Learn Chinese

• Learn Japanese

• Learn Swahili

• Learn American Sign Language

✓ Donate to charity

✓ Build something

At this point, McCrae and I have built a few things, from something as simple as raised beds for the garden to our MVP (“minimum viable product”) adventure van! We’re still working to improve the van, but yeah! We built it!

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Purchasing our adventure van!

✓ Live zero waste

This is tough, because it feels like “zero waste” is a moving target — there’s always more you can do. And while we’re not going to completely eliminate having a car or NEVER buy store-bought clothes (we do, sometimes, have to look professional) or never use plastic again, we are generally near-zero and very minimal with our waste. This has been a process since 2012 when we got our first compost tumbler and some potted herbs at our apartment to building out a mini-homestead at our last house. Since we just bought a new house, we have to reset and rebuild all the compost bins and the garden, but over the years we’ve been able to eat fresh from our garden and from local farms, can and preserve food, and compost most of our waste. I’ve also been working on a handmade wardrobe by knitting, crocheting, and sewing home goods and garments. And while this isn’t something I just check off and say “done!”, it’s something I feel confident we’ve made real effort into, and I’ll continue to improve and reduce our footprint on the world.

• Have a handmade wardrobe**

• Have fresh flowers weekly from my garden**

✓ Save a life

Okay, maybe I haven’t saved a life very directly like I thought I would when I thought one day I would practice medicine. But I’ve indirectly saved lives. First, in college, I was taking an anatomy and physiology lab, and one of the classes was doing EKGs. We partnered up, did the EKGs on our partners, and had to measure and read the output. Well, my partner’s EKG looked funky. As in, it looked like she was having a wave contraction prematurely. I measured and re-measured and was like, “it really looks like this funky thing is happening, but I’m probably wrong.” Well, turns out she’d been having heart palpitations for years, so she met with a cardiologist. I got an email from her later saying she was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome and had a catheter ablation to correct it, since it was so severe.

I’ve also indirectly saved lives by building tech used for clinical research. One study I supported early in my career was a pivotal peanut allergy study that actually changed the pediatrics guidelines internationally. This CNN article describes how, ten years later, it appears to have helped prevent 60,000 kids avoid allergy. Other studies I’ve supported with the tech I’ve built have led to the approval of drugs like Kybella, Kisunla, and many other biologics. My tech has also supported studies around new tuberculosis interventions, as well as transplant and diabetes studies, including studies that compared efficacy and outcomes of existing drugs on the market. While these may not have saved lives directly, they have certainly improved quality of life.

✓ Change a law

My professional career is product management, with a focus on large, complex systems for clinical research (EDC platforms) and clinical care (eMR platforms). A particular area of expertise for me is eConsent, and I co-led an industry working group on eConsent via the European Form for Good Clinical Practice. Specifically, I authored (with group input) the Glossary of eConsent Terms and the eConsent Fit for Purpose Study Framework, as well as several journal articles and the webinar content. This all ended up influencing international law through the Swiss Association of Research Ethics Committees.

• Change someone’s mind

✓ Share experience with someone in need of mentorship

As I’ve advanced in my career, I’ve mentored others earlier in their product management careers, and I have been so grateful to see their professional lives grow.

I also started offering coaching services to trail and ultra athletes. This started in 2021 when I began coaching the Fleet Feet trails training program. That was the first training program set up after the pandemic shutdown, and since then I’ve been organizing and coaching the trails program year-round — spring, summer, fall, and winter — and it sells out each season! I am so grateful to have this group every Sunday morning, and the wonderful mentors who lead all the various pace group from speedies to speed hikers. And it’s so fulfilling to support the athletes at their target race and see them cross the finish line, whether it’s their first of 20th trail race.

I also studied through the Lydiard and UESCA ultra coursework, and took on a limited number of 1:1 athletes starting in 2023. Since then, I’ve helped many people with their first trail race, a big 5K PR, or tackling their first 50K or 50 miler! This has been such a fulfilling part of my life, and I’m eager to continue this and build this aspect of my life. (If you’re interested in the trail program, you can register on the Fleet Feet website for the current season! Or if you’re interested in 1:1 coaching services, you can reach out on my “About” page! Which, I know, needs an overhaul like all my other pages, bear with me please :) And thank you!)

• Backpack through Europe

✓ See a castle

✓ See Biltmore Estate

• See Neuschwanstein

✓ See a black sand beach

• See a green sand beach

• See a pink sand beach

• Go to the equator

• Go to the South Pole

• Go to the North Pole

• See Nazca lines

• Hike in a bamboo forest

• Feel zero gravity

• See wolves in the wild

• See a snow leopard

• Walk on a frozen body of water

✓ Do an overnight backpacking trip

✓ Do an overnight paddling trip

• Do an overnight climbing trip (sleep on the wall)

• See the Great Wall of China

• See terracotta soldiers (Xi’an)

• Climb the Stairway to Heaven

• Mountain bike in Whistler

• See Angkor Wat

• Go bungee jumping

• Go base jumping

• Jump into a cenote

• Slide down a waterfall

• Go canyoneering

✓ Go spelunking

✓ Go spelunking in Mammoth Caves

• Go spelunking in Carlsbad Caverns

• See an atoll

• See a ghost town

• See the running of the bulls

• See a BPL soccer game

• See a German Bundesliga game

  This one is heartbreaking. We FINALLY got tickets to see Bayern-Munich play while we were in Germany in 2024! And then there was a record-breaking snowfall and they cancelled the game. Dang it.

• See a La Liga game

• See an All Black game

• Bike through Tuscany

• Bike through Provence

• Bike the Danube Bike Trail

• See lavender fields in Provence

• See tulips in Amsterdam

• See Holi

• See Diwali

• See an eagle huntress in Nepal

• Go hang gliding

• Go skateboarding

• Hike a knife edge ridge

• See Watkins Glen

• See Thor’s Well

• See Erawan waterfalls

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Multnomah Falls!

✓See Multnomah Falls

I did this with friends in September 2025! We went to the Pacific Northwest for a 50K race around Mt. St. Helens which ended up being cancelled due to lightning (it was in very exposed backcountry with multiple mountain summits, so that was very unsafe). That was super disappointing, but we made the best of it by going to Hood River and Columbia River Gorge and doing this fantastic river-to rim-to river route that included Multnomah Falls!

• Touch a dolphin

• Touch a whale

• Touch an elephant

✓ See a lunar eclipse

✓ See a meteor shower

✓ See a solar eclipse

Double or nothing challenge! McCrae and I also saw the solar eclipse in spring 2024 in Arkansas!

✓ Feel an earthquake

• Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway during peak fall foliage

• See synchronized fireflies

✓ Touch a glacier

• See Glacier NP

• Hike in Yosemite

• Hike in Alaska

• See a wild Komodo dragon

• See a spirit bear

• See grizzlies catch salmon

• See a narwhal

• See a mustang round-up

• Explore Dominica

• Explore Reunion Island

Hiking up Mont Blanc up to La Jonction (where the Les Bossons and La Taconnaz glaciers meet!)

✓ See Mont Blanc

• See Matterhorn

• Run UTMB

• Run Hardrock

• Run Leadville

• Run Black Canyon**

• Run Cayuga**

• Run Ouray**

• Run High Lonesome**

• Run Hellbender**

• See where oceans converge

• Go to the top of a lighthouse

• Go glamping

• Collect honey from a beehive

• Forage wild mushrooms

• Stomp grapes

• See wild chimpanzees

• See wild mountain gorillas

• Kayak the Everglades

• Explore Key West; see Hemingway’s house**

• Explore the coast of Maine

• Go surfing

• Follow the Tour de France

✓ See a Women’s World Cup game in person

• See the Olympics in person

• See a Wimbledon game in person

✓ Visit Pompeii

✓ Visit the Vatican

✓ See the Coliseum

• Visit the Sagrada Familia

✓ Visit Notre Dame cathedral

• Visit MOMA

✓ Visit the British Museum

✓ Visit Louvre

• See glow worms!

• See Mont-Saint-Michel

• See Forbidden City

• Hike Haiku Stairs

• Hike in the Black Forest

• Visit Medina

• Float in the Dead Sea**

• Explore Greenland

• Bathe in a hot spring

• Summit a high mountain

• See Great Barrier Reef

• See African Rift Valley

• Explore Marieta Islands, Mexico

• Hike the rainbow mountains

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Antelope Canyon 50 Miler!

✓ Hike Antelope Canyon

I did this when I ran the Antelope Canyon 50 Miler in 2022!

• See Niagara Falls

• See Victoria Falls

• See Kaieteur Falls

• Hike in Sahara

• Hike in Death Valley

• Hike in Kalahari

• Hike in Gobi

• Hike in Sonora

• Hike in Namib

• Visit every state in USA

• Run a marathon in every state in USA (aka 50 States/50 Marathons)

• Run an ultramarathon in every state in USA (aka 50 States/50 Ultras)

• Visit all the National Parks**

• Run all the World Majors marathons

• Do an Ironman

• Run a 5:30 mile

• Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans

• Go to Carnival in Venice

• Go to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

• Go to Oktoberfest in Munich

• Go to Dia de los Muertos in Mexico

• Crochet toys for kids**

• Run in Flagstaff**

• Hike in Sedona**

• Drink absinthe

✓ Drink Pernod

January 2020

• Go to a burlesque show

✓ See a Broadway musical

✓ See Wicked

✓ See Hamilton

• See a space shuttle launch

✓Chase a tornado

Okay, technically we FLED a tornado. In March 2025 we were camping in Tennessee and went into town for coffee and an event. While we were in town, a tornado ripped through the campground we were staying out, and we fled in our van all the way to Nashville where we camped out in a truck stop before heading home. Yikes.

• Ride Amtrak across America

• Go fly fishing

• See the red crab migration at Christmas Island

• See the Seychelles

• See the Redwoods

• See the Taj Mahal

• See Christ the Redeemer

• See Stonehenge

• Visit Easter Island

• Explore Turkey**

• Visit a Tibetan monastery

• Visit the Wailing Wall

• Explore Iguazu Falls

• See salt flats

• Skinny dip

• Learn archery

• Learn sabrage

• Learn how to lockpick

• Learn jumpers (on a horse)

Long Trails to Hike:

• Appalachian Trail

• Pacific Crest Trail

• Continental Divide Trail

• Mountains-to-Sea Trail (NC)

• Long Trail

• Lost Coast Trail

• Ice Age Trail

• Foothills Trail

• Benton Mackaye Trail

• Wonderland Trail

• R2R2R

• Camino de Santiago

• Allegheny Trail

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At the southern terminus of the Art Loeb Trail after my FKT in 2021!

✓ Art Loeb Trail

See related: My southbound FKT in 2021!

• Bartram Trail

• Colorado Trail

• Florida Trail

• Iditarod Trail

• John Muir Trail

• Long Path

• Oregon Coast Trail

• Ouachita Trail

• Ozark Highlands Trail

• Ozark Trail

• Palmetto Trail

• Tahoe Rim Trail

✓ Uwharrie Trail

✓ Virginia Creeper Trail

See related: Yeti 100 in 2021!

Mountains to Summit:

• Aconcagua

• Andrews Tarn

• Annapurna trek

• Aoraki/Mt Cook (New Zealand)

• Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia)

• Cerro Chirripo (Costa Rica)

• Cotopaxi

• Denali

• El Capitan

✓ Flatirons

• Fuji (Japan)

• Half Dome

• Kilauea

• Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)

• Kirkjufell (Iceland)

• Longs Peak

• Maroon Bells

• Matterhorn

• Mauna Kea

• Mauna Loa

• Mont Blanc

• Mount Saint Helens

✓ Mt Mitchell

I’ve done this a couple times now from Black Mountain Campground! Unfortunately that area was wrecked by Hurricane Helene, and it will be a long while before trails are re-opened.

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Summiting Mt. Mitchell in March 2024

• Mt Elbrus (Russia)

• Mt Hood

• Mt Katahdin

• Mt Kosciuszko (Australia)

• Mt Logan (Canada)

• Mt Temple (Banff, Canada)

• Mt Toubkal (Morocco)

• Mt Whitney

• Mt Washington

✓ Pikes Peak

Teeeechnically we drove up it, but driving it was a bucket list item for McCrae :)

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Pikes Peak after we drove to the summit!

• Presidentials

• Shasta

• Snowdonia (Wales)

✓ Table Rock

• Torres del Paine (Chile)

• Vinicunca (Peru - rainbow mtn)

• Vinson Massif (Antarctica)

✓ Wilson Ridge (Grayson Highlands)

• Zhangjiajie (China)

Conclusion

It’s been a wild five years since the last time I posted this bucket list, and it’s exciting to see a few items checked off the list (even if I added even more, ha!) Are there any items on this list that you’ve done or really want to do? Or is there anything not on my list that’s a top bucket list item for you? Let me know in the comments!