How To Explore America

(This essay’s intended audience is individuals who want to explore, but don’t quite know how to do so. However, exploring is great fun, and everyone should want to do it.)

Defining Terms

Observation: anything you perceive about reality using any number of your five senses

Mystery: a question that cannot be explained using the information you currently have available

Exploring: doing something with the hope of making unexpected observations

Search: doing something with the intention of making a desired observation

Adventure: an exploration with an added element of danger

Exploring America

The subject of exploration in America is a touchy one, particularly for those in my social circles. America, or the North American continent, has been explored a number of times. It was explored by all of the indigenous peoples who lived here for the thousands of years prior to colonization, and then it was explored by the white self-proclaimed explorers. However this most recent round of explorations brought with it a very negative impact on the land, looking at the big picture. Now, people we once might have thought of as brave explorers, have more of a problematic quality to them, looking back. So, the idea of exploring America again might not be very well received.

To me, and maybe to a lot of people, the problematic aspect is to think that you are the first person to explore anything inside of America. Acknowledging the people who lived before you is a great first step in remembering, and hopefully learning from, the past.

But as a matter of fact, exploring America again is exactly what I’m proposing.

(Note to reader: I am writing about exploring America because I am in America and my audience is in America and I think there is a lot to explore in America. Keep in mind that you can take these concepts anywhere you go, America or otherwise)

The Human Desire To Explore

There is something within human nature that seems to produce a need to explore. Humans love to explore. The human desire to explore is largely why you can look around and see the things that you see. Exploration led to the different foods we have, the different modes of transportation we have, the different knowledge we can learn, the different recreational hobbies, the different places we can go. Humans like to find things out.

Now, in the year 2023, there is very little about our planet that has not been explored at least once. The places that have not been fully explored, or the frontiers, mostly include the arctic and the ocean, both of which are not very favorable environments for humans to live in. It should be noted that two of the greatest frontiers of our day, aside from those I mentioned, are in quantum physics, and astro physics, the very very small and the very very big. My point being, most things have been explored already.

There was a statement bouncing around public school when I was in attendance: “I was born too late to explore the world, and born too early to explore the stars.”

Everyone wants to explore. The trouble is that most people want to explore something for the first time.

After all, that is why some people become scientists, in the hopes of being the first to discover something. And, of course, there is plenty left to discover in the realm of the sciences. But what about the rest of us? What about the ordinary folks who don’t have the brains that one would need to have today to be a great explorer? Wasn’t there a time not too long ago when even the most normal of us could have been explorers too? I know I’ve felt that way, and I’m sure other people have as well.

The thing is, that time has not passed. In fact, it never will pass.

Hope For The Explorer

Consider this. Compared to the whole of human experience, there are very few things about the world that have not been discovered. If I go outside and find a strange tree, chances are extremely high that another human at one point or another has already discovered that tree (if this bothers you, go check out the Amazon rainforest, you might be surprised). But compared to the whole of my personal experience, there are very few things about the world that have been discovered. If I go outside and find a strange tree, chances are extremely low that I have already discovered that tree.

When we see the world through the lens of our own personal experience, there is so much more danger, mystery, and unknown.

A lot of things have been discovered up to this point. Humans have been making observations for years about the world. Not to mention all of the human inventions, applications, and innovations. Original ideas. We’re pretty smart. But of all the things that have ever been learned, how much of it do you actually know?

There is another question posed to the general public that you might be aware of: “If you were to travel back in time, what knowledge about advanced civilization would you be able to share to cavemen?”

The answer, for most people, is very little. Of all the information that we have learned that has contributed to our advanced civilization, most people don’t know that much of it. This is partly why Tik Tok and YouTube are so popular. Much of their content provides new information. And in a short, easy to digest form. This is great, but if the goal was to learn all of it, you would never have time to get up off the couch and use any of the information you had learned.

So, if you wanted to find a reason not to explore anything, you would have an easy time justifying that reason. It’s all been explored by someone else. But if you do want to explore, you can just as easily justify a reason for doing that as well.

To state it more concisely, if you want to explore, focus on the things you do not know, and not the things that nobody knows.

Knowledge

Now, a brief tangent on why I won’t go on a long tangent about knowledge. I could go into great detail about knowledge. Why it’s good to find and to have, what types of knowledge are better than others, or what to do with knowledge once you have it. But I won’t. If you want knowledge, you probably already have a good understanding of answers to these questions. If you do not want knowledge, you probably wouldn’t be reading an essay to begin with. If I’m wrong, please find me and we can talk about knowledge.

After all, this essay is for seekers, not necessarily knowledge seekers.

Key Principle #1: Search Parameters

The first key principle to exploring is understanding your search parameters. Based on the definitions I’ve offered above, searches and explorations are very similar, however there is a main difference. That main difference relates to the search parameters.

Consider a few scenarios:

A: “I am walking”

B: “I am walking, and I want to find something orange”

C: “I am walking, and I want to find something”

Scenario A is neither a search or an exploration. The person in scenario A is simply walking. No intention or hope that they will make observations.

Scenario B is a search. The person in scenario B is walking, but they have the intention of making a desired observation, in this case something orange.

Scenario C is an exploration. The person in scenario C is walking, and they want to make an observation, but they don’t know what the observation will be. It’s clear that they want to make an observation, because they used the word “find”, and you can’t find something without observing it. But their search is also not as defined as the person is scenario B. They want to make an observation, but the amount of things that they could observe is undefined. This means that they are not expecting a certain observation, and therefore whatever observation they make would be unexpected.

The difference is very subtle, and ultimately matters very little. The real point I hope to make is about increasing your chances of finding things. Or, increasing your chances of making observations. And in order for an exploration to occur, there must be an observation made.

If the goal is to explore, then it is important to understand the easiest way to do so. That way, there will be as few things getting in your way as possible.

In scenario B, the person is looking for a particular thing. A more extreme example would be “I am walking, and I want to find a Star Wars action figure.” The chance of them finding something orange, amongst all the things that exist, is low. Not zero, but low. The more defined the search is, the lower your chances of success become.

Alternatively, in scenario C, the person is looking for something, and the chance of them finding something, amongst all the things that exist, is high. Almost a 100 percent chance.

Doing something with a 100 percent chance of success is far more enjoyable than doing something with a less than 100 percent chance of success, trust me.

Key Principle #2: Tool Kit

If this truly is an essay about how to explore, it would not be complete without a description of one’s exploration tool kit. Now, by tools I am not strictly speaking about objects, although I am speaking about objects as well. Tools are anything that an explorer can use to explore, and anything that will allow an explorer to explore more deeply.

Explorers need to be able to get places and find new information. Here is a list of some good tools to get started.

• Durable shoes. No matter what or where you are exploring, you will be spending a good amount of time on foot. Comfortable footwear is very important for this. I prefer to explore on foot as much as possible. My shoe of choice is my Blundstone boots. While rather expensive initially, they last a long time and hold up to different scrapes and splashes. As a matter of fact, Blundstones get cooler the more worn they are. They also get far more comfortable the more you wear them. They are also quite stylish. Lastly, if I need to switch to exploring barefoot (usually on sand), I can remove them quickly and carry them easily.

• A pen and paper. If you know me, you know I am very likely never to recommend you use your phone for anything that you can do without it. Therefore, when taking notes, or making observations, I prefer to use a pen and paper. Plenty of options exist that can fit in a back pocket very nicely. You can also consider finding a fanny pack, and wearing it around your waste, for incredibly easy access to an assortment of items.

• Navigation skills. Some people might have said map and compass here instead, but it largely depends on your location and skillset. I will expand on maps later, but compasses are only really needed if you don’t know how to orientate yourself without one. Having a good sense of direction is important to develop, but observing different types of landmarks while exploring can greatly decrease your chance of getting lost.

• Conversation skills. Exploring sometimes requires more information. What better source of information than other people. In fact, sometimes the thing you’re looking for might actually be a great conversation, or a piece of information. Therefore, it is important to have good conversation skills in order to communicate with the people you meet along the way. Asking good questions, knowing how to listen, and a touch of humor, can go a very long way. The difference between an explorer and a creep is often in the conversation skills.

• Reading. Being able to read is going to help you a lot. Reading can allow you to learn information from books, find street signs, or understand warning signs. Reading the signs of nature can also be invaluable. Reading the landscape to know where water might be, reading the roads to know which way downtown might be, or reading the sky to know what the weather might be.

Beyond this list there are many things that you might need in your tool kid, tangible and intangible. However the intensity of your exploration will help you determine what they should be. Other things might include:

• Backpack

• Binoculars

• Rope

• Food and water

• Proper clothing

Exploring takes many forms, but always requires at least some planning at the beginning. Plan well and your exploration will be more likely to succeed.

Key Principle #3: Forget Everything You Know

The last key principle, for exploring in the most basic sense, is that you have to forget everything you know. This includes everything you think you know about what you might be looking for, and how to look for it. True exploration often happens in ways you might not have expected.

If you want to go on an exploration to find the grocery store, forget about how you might usually find a grocery store. Leave your phone at home. Use a map, or compass, or your own intuition. Explore new ways to explore. The actual exploration might end up being something you found on your way to the original exploration.

If you want to go on an exploration to find a bug, forget about how you would normally look for a bug. Look for other stuff. Look for rocks, or trees, or dirt. Look for roads, or houses, or food. Chances are, you will find bugs in a place you never expected.

Ask people for directions, call ahead and talk to a person, find a physical map, write things down, draw pictures. Don’t use the tools you know how to use. Use the tools you don’t know how to use, the tools that result in exploration in and of themselves.

Conclusion

There is an invitation to explore being presented everywhere, all the time. To learn true exploration is to find a lifelong hobby.

Exploration is snooping around your aunts house, looking at things on bookshelves. It’s going thrift shopping without knowing what you need. It’s stepping outside your house and walking in a random direction, taking turns without thinking. It’s going to a city you’ve never been to and getting around on public transit. It’s talking to new people at your gym. It’s going to the library and pacing through the isles.

You can explore in the city, and I hope you do, but you can really explore outside.

To tie this back to the title, America is full of things to explore. Cities, sure, but also deserts, lakes, rivers, mountains, and forests. America, most notable in the west, is still full of the unknown, full of immeasurable beauty and wonder and new things to experience. Don’t travel with one place in mind. Please don’t limit your vacations to predetermined destinations. Go outside, get lost, explore. I hope that this essay will give you some tools to help you do so successfully.

Exploring is slow. Everything takes more time when you’re exploring. You get less done. But what if it’s not about the amount of things you’re able to do with your time, and the way you’re able to do them that really matters.