Turning 25, 50, 75? Consider taking an ‘extreme’ vacation
Summary
Many people choose to mark major milestone events with luxury vacations that are all about pampering. But for a select few, it can be an opportunity to push themselves to their physical limit on epic hikes.
By the time we made it to the water fountain at Havasupai Gardens, about 3 miles up from where the Colorado River lacerates the Grand Canyon, I had started questioning the choices that had brought me here.
We had trained on long-distance hikes in the summer heat, kitted ourselves out until we looked like walking REI catalogs, printed maps and studied routes, but my cousin Jeremy had hit a wall. With the energy I had left, I located an alarmed park ranger, who pointed out the salt stains on Jeremy’s shirt and told him to cool off in a nearby creek. Helicoptering out, Ranger Rick said, might be a reasonable option. Then he left us to make our decision.
Jeremy had hatched the harebrained plan of hiking into—and then back out of—the Grand Canyon in a day (known as a “loop hike" and not advised by the National Park Service) back in December, when he reached his 50th birthday. Mine was approaching swiftly behind so I had agreed to join. He had completed the daylong, 17-mile trek when he was 23 and was certain we could do it again.
We invited spouses—mine offered an immediate “no way," while Jeremy’s graciously appointed herself designated driver. We hired trainers, booked flights, rented a satellite phone and planned a night at Sedona’s Enchantment Resort for post-hike indulgence.
Still, as Jeremy lay near-naked and prone in a 3-inch-deep creek, I wondered: Why celebrate a major birthday with punishment rather than pampering?
Turns out I’m not alone in putting a tough physical challenge at the top of my birthday wish list. Jack Ezon, founder and managing partner of the travel advisory Embark Beyond, said his company has seen a 57% growth of “endurance milestone" trips between 2022 and 2024, including groups who celebrated life events by hiking Peru’s Inca Trail, crossing the Greenland ice sheet on skis and cycling from California to New York.
“Health is the new wealth, and people want to prove that they are not 50 the same way their parents were 50," Ezon said.
Testing one’s own fitness to mark a milestone adds an element of tenacity and pride to a celebration. And the trend isn’t limited to older travelers, according to Kevin Jackson, founder and chief executive of EXP Journeys, a travel company that orchestrates customized outdoorsy itineraries across the Americas and in Antarctica.
Jackson recently planned a bachelor party with a survivalist spin, where his team created an “Amazing Race"-style competition on the outskirts of Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Each team of two received its own Jeep and a map and had to build fires, create shelter and navigate the wilderness.
“Most of our clients used to say, ‘We’re going on a yacht, or something as lavish,’ for a big birthday or milestone event," said Jackson. “But in the past few years, people have been saying they want to be active and really push themselves."
Prepping is part of the appeal, when excitement and fitness level up. “The trip itself is hard—it’s almost more fun pre-trip and post-trip," he said. Completing a big endurance trek, Jackson believes, permanently connects groups of friends and family.
Austrian photographer Christian Oth recently joined 20 friends from across the globe to hike Kilimanjaro for everyone’s 50th birthdays. Oth spent months hiking in upstate New York to get in peak shape, and all that discipline paid off.
“Making it to base camp after five days of hiking, then setting out at midnight for the summit was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done," said Oth. “But to see the sunrise over the mountains was incredibly rewarding. To complete something so physically demanding with friends at my age was a great experience and bonded us all forever."
I certainly imagined bonding with my cousin. But reality—especially in 109-degree heat—can be a punch in the gut. After cooling off in the creek, Jeremy and I made our way to a nearby campsite where we found Jillian Buckley, a guide from Wildland Trekking, and the group she was leading on a three-night, rim-to-rim trek.
The group included a medical doctor traveling with his daughter to commemorate her upcoming departure to university. They gave us their salty snacks, fed us chili and assured us there was water ahead. At 6:30 p.m., with 4.7 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation left to go, we set out for the rim.
At 11 p.m., we at last reached the car park. Buckled into the passenger seat, with Jeremy’s wife Stephanie steering our rental car south toward Sedona, I had the best sleep of my life—sitting upright, backpack at my blistered feet, a smile spread across my dirty face.
For me and my cousin and the thousands of other endurance milestone travelers, pushing ourselves physically beyond what we believed was possible helped us achieve escape velocity from our quotidian lives, especially as we hit a life-stage shift. Setting our sights on accomplishing a superhuman goal kept us enthused for months prior to departure, and had us buzzing for days.
After the massages at Enchantment, and Martinis and steaks in Phoenix, the three of us discussed what to do for our next big milestone: sending our kids to college. Hike to the South Pole? Summit Everest? An ayahuasca retreat in Peru? Cousin Stephanie, always the realist (and concerned about Jeremy, who could barely walk at that point), chimed in: “We can do hard things, but maybe better we don’t."
I argue, however, maybe better we do. Hut-to-hut hiking in the Dolomites is top of my list in three years. Training starts now.
