Doug is an avid adventurer, photographer and writer about all things nature. He enjoys off-roading, camping and extreme sports. He lives in Southern California but his travels take him all over the United States, and soon the world. His line of work happens to be advocating to people about his love for the outdoors and anything connected. Whether it happens to be protecting our publics lands for our responsible enjoyment, product reviews of products he actually uses on a daily basis or even write-ups of adventures you need to go on. He is currently studying Environmental Science to better understand our natural environment to document further what he is exploring. At only 21 years old he has a whole lot left to explore; be sure to follow along to see lots of rad places!
Where do you currently live? What are some of your favorite local spots for adventure?
I currently live in Mission Viejo, California which is in South Orange County. My favorite local spots happen to be Holy Jim Falls, Black Star Canyon Falls and Pearl Street Beach in Laguna Beach. All of these adventures are within 10 miles of my home!
Who do you look up to? How do they inspire you in the way you live your life?
I look up to my parents. They are two very hard working individuals that I couldn’t live without, their guidance has pushed me down the path I am on today. I was taught to always work my hardest at everything I do, it wasn’t a direct lesson either, they lead by example.
Also having a rad guy named Jason Fitzgibbon, he’s an all around great guy but helped me find my passion in the outdoors and environmental science! If it weren’t for him it would have taken much longer to find that photography, adventure and writing is my dream.
What are some of the most memorable stories from your adventures?
The most memorable story I have had from my adventures was actually from my first backpacking trip. My best friend Aaron and I decided to go on a random, spur of the moment backpacking trip in the Sierras. Having never backpacked before I was nervous, especially with having a gnarly snow storm coming in the day we would be returning back down the mountain. Anyways, after hiking up to a lake we decided that we would pitch our tents and hit the sac with a good amount of distance to cover the next morning. Waking up the following morning was absolute bliss, not having time to explore the night we pitched our tents we both woke up early and left our packs and decided to explore the surrounding area. Hiking up a hill side next to us we found that the other side of the hill was an incredible granite canyon, literally almost entirely granite and trees. No homes, no people, no noise but just serene beauty at our fingertips. This was and still is my most memorable moment adventuring to this day, it opened my eyes to the beauty that our world contains.
What have been some of the obstacles in your adventures? What did they teach you?
The type of adventuring I do most is called overlanding, being that you are basically extreme car camping. Overlanding is self-reliant travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal. Anyways, being that you are in a vehicle you are prone to having troubles especially when you are not on perfectly paved roads. I’ve had a fair amount of problems from hitting trees and denting body parts to blowing through a radiator and having to wait hours for someone to just contact me back about bringing one to where I was stuck at. Obstacles make our trips more interesting, they may make your trip or adventure more complicated but you have to factor in that you are spending your effort and time towards something small that you may take for granted. Whenever facing an obstacle be sure to have fun with it as stressing out about the trouble is only going to make it worse.
We at This Adventure Life want our readers to live life fearlessly in the pursuit of living their ideal life. What would your advice be for someone who wants to live fearlessly and pursue their wildest dreams?
Something I hold closely to me is the power that we have as humans to influence and connect with other humans. We all value certain things more than others, we all have our passions and we all have dreams. Learning to veer from the ordinary path is something that we don’t commonly do, we follow comfort, we don’t want troubles because we want the least bumpy path. Now, after attempting to follow societies guidelines of finish school first and then get an office job and hold that job until you retire was not my path. Adventure, travel and writing are my passions. Advocating to others about my love and passion for the outdoors is something I could do for free, I would do it just to get someone to see that the world really is a beautiful and special place. Taking a leap from a comfortable full-time and well paying job I decided to face my fear of failing and letting others down to do what I know my passion and dream is. Making that first step is the hardest, leaving your comfort zone is something most people wont ever do. My biggest piece of advice is close your eyes and just think of something that brings you an overwhelming amount of joy, now think about what is it that you can connect that to a job and my friends, that is your dream.
What is your next big adventure?
Check out his website: douglasrhall.net
Follow him on Instagram: @douglasrhall
At This Adventure Life we celebrate the lives and stories of the people who live life fearlessly. #livefearlessly