At times it seems as if lists run our lives. Lists of chores, of errands, of work duties, groceries; calendars of meetings, on and on. But there are fun lists too. Lists for Santa, guest lists for celebrations and, of course, bucket lists. The name comes from a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, a comedy that was surprisingly touching. A bucket list can consist of places, activities, any kind of experience that one desires to accomplish once in a lifetime. I have trouble with bucket lists. For every one thing that I accomplish, I think up at least two others while I am in the process. The list becomes longer rather than shorter. I never seem to reach even halfway. But maybe that is the point. There will always be something else to look forward to, then to try.

I have a friend who has visited all of the U.S. National Parks, even the almost inaccessible ones in Alaska that have no roads. Knowing her, this is just a sub-list. She will come up with a new challenge. I need to tell her that in a random Google search, I found five parks that were demoted from full National Park status to other classifications. She could add those to her list and sally forth.

When I recently returned from a backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon, my wife Ruth and I began discussing other trips. We are lucky to be able to spend our winters in Arizona. We recalled that Arizona has many units in the National Park system, and are now off on another list. The state has three full-on National Parks: Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Saguaro. There are also eighteen national Monuments. And there are 48 National Historic Landmarks, 633 Heritage documentation sites, and eleven million objects in the National Park museums. This is getting out of control right at the start. Still, we are not going to run out of things to do and see. The never-ending bucket list strikes again.

Maybe Montana will be less overwhelming. Montana has eight National Park units — Glacier and Yellowstone, of course. The others include Native and pioneer sites including Big Hole, Little Bighorn, Grant-Kohrs Ranch, and Fort Union. We have traveled to and toured all of these, so that is finished. Well, not exactly. There are 28 National Historic Landmarks,1252 Historic place listings, and the usual couple of million objects in museums. There is just one Wild and Scenic River and one Historic Trail, but the first is the Missouri and the second, Lewis and Clark. Though they overlap for much of their lengths, they are hundreds of miles long. Not a day trip, nor a week’s jaunt, but a lifetime of study could be undertaken.

That brings up another aspect of travel and bucket lists. Is it okay to simply show up, tag a place and move on to the next, or is it necessary to become more immersed? I am reminded of the literature of some attractions which make recommendations based on time available; A couple of hours, half a day, a full day, multiple days. The answer, of course, is that the timeframe and depth of experience depends on the person. Some sites will fascinate one to the point of a lifelong interest. I never tire of the swirl of waters at the confluence of the Jefferson and the Madison, where they form the Missouri River at Montana’s Headwaters State Park. We usually go to the Park at least once a year to ride the bike trail, and I always walk over to the confluence overlook. Other places I am satisfied to drive through, read a few markers, and proceed on. One person’s fascination will be another’s indifference. The best way to figure out which places are most interesting for you is to try everything. At times, I envy specialists, those who focus on a specific area or topic and become experts: geologists and genealogists, botanists and biologists. Rocks and trees, family and forest, bears and wolves and bison. I tend to skim along the surface, making shallow dives into the things that grab at my imagination for a time, then moving on to the next wonder. No matter, the key thing is to keep at it, and lists are good for that.

That can bring on a real pitfall of lists; the desire to finish. Once I escaped from the midwest to the Rocky Mountains, I have spent nearly all my time west of the 100th meridian. At some point, inspired by my friend, I decided to visit all of the National Parks also, but as I slide into my mid-seventies, I have only been to about half of them. (They keep adding new ones, either a frustration or a delight.) The reason is that I just cannot seem to organize trips east when there is still so much to do in the west. The result is that I have been to a couple of Parks, Yellowstone and Teton, literally hundreds of times, while only looking at photos of Acadia or Everglades. Someday those eastern trips will occur, although, with age, the word ‘someday’ becomes both quaint and useless.

Since each person is the boss of their own list, all kinds of caveats and exceptions can be made. I don’t think it is generally possible to cross a destination off the bucket list simply by planning the trip, watching some videos, and having fun with the anticipation, but all of that is still fun. Ruth and I had actually planned a trip to the east coast for next spring, but it looks like that outing will be canceled in favor of a grand adventure with our kids in New Zealand.

Many of my own trips have been solitary; while those are fun, the best ones are those done with family and friends. Not only do we get to spend time with people we love to spend time with, but their ideas and destinations can combine with our own. Backpacking Rim to River to Rim was not high on my list (though it was there somewhere), but when my brother-in-law Mike got the permit, and our son Scott and his wife Arianna were able to make the trip, it turned into a classic. Bike touring through the Otago region of New Zealand was definitely nowhere on my list, but when our son Chris and his wife Heather suggested it, we were enthusiastically on board for next spring.

Almost all of the entries on my lists involve driving, hiking, and biking, which are my favored activities. But there are many other possibilities. Fishing, golf, running marathons, major league baseball parks, visiting foreign countries, even airports. There are booklists to read, selfie spots to photograph, articles to write, and shows to binge. There are taco trucks and ice cream parlors. Hey, there’s an idea! There could even be a list where a person did things each so unlike the next that there was no comfortable way to place them in a category. This would be a non-list.

Sometimes a list or sub-list can be completed, like my friend did with her National Park journeys. However, there are some that will never be finished. I have climbed quite a few state highpoints in the west but, though I have been to Alaska, I will never climb Denali. I never had any desire to do so. Sounds like a suffer fest. Still, the mountains I did ascend were grand adventures. Just last night I watched a video about the five most difficult books to read. I had read two of them, and am pretty sure the other three are on a shelf somewhere in the house. But sitting down to open up Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce is not going to happen. I plan to spend that day at an ice cream parlor. In other words, have fun! Challenge yourself, but do not get too obsessed. That old saying about the journey rather than the destination is true.

After my trip to the Grand Canyon, I spoke with someone who had also just returned from there. They said they had seen nothing, since it was full of clouds. Well, the Canyon full of clouds is pretty amazing in itself, but I just said that they could always go again. They replied that it was a long way and they might not have time. On with the rest of the bucket list. I thought that it would be a shame for them to miss that particular hole in the earth. Still, where one goes or what one does when they get there is not the point. The point is to keep movin’. Because if you don’t keep pedaling, you will tip over.