Here is the most important lesson you need to know no matter what kind of adventure you are planning.
There are many lessons I have learned over the years when heading out on any kind of adventure. It's not until I met Aaron, who is prone to making every trip an adventure, where I found out that timeliness and deadlines don't exist in the outdoors and something always happens that shouldn't happen. Whether it's a meticulously planned out trip, or one with the kids (especially with kids) something will always happen.
It's common for people to feel disappointed when something doesn't go according to plan. No matter how much you plan, how many times you check your hiking pack, it's going to happen. Sooner or later, something will go wrong. You'll break a strap, lose a shoe, get lied to by the meteorologist...it's all possible.
Last summer Aaron and I went on a hike with some friends. In the morning we hiked Wet Beaver Creek and were supposed to be hiking to Long Canyon by 6 p.m. to camp overnight in some ruins that are there. But that did not happen. We started four hours late, our phones died, we got lost and had to start from the start of the trailhead (twice) where two of our friends quit on us (it's ok guys), and we never found the final destination. But we looked around and thought, "How cool is this! It's summer, we get to sleep in cool weather, under the beautiful Arizona summer skies and wake up to an amazing hike back."
The moral of the story here is that:
Things never go according to plan, ever.
Give yourself permission to be flexible.
Acknowledge that you have zero control when in the outdoors.
Have fun, laugh at the wrong turns and dead phones, and start planning your next trip.
Every adventure that we have been on is an adventure. Aaron always says an adventure isn't an adventure without something going wrong. Take it all in and accept the things you cannot control.
Adventure: an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.