Should I Plan an Adventure Route or Just Wing it?

This article looks at the options of either preplanning an adventure route, or just winging it.

Winging It – Letting Life Take the Lead

A few years back a young German lad came over to New Zealand. He purchased himself a mid-priced motorbike and set off on a full month adventure to explore New Zealand’s South Island. His enthusiasm was brimming as he started his adventure and began sharing his experiences on an adventure riding forum. When he was quizzed about his planned route, his response was “an adventure is only an adventure when you don’t know where you are going”.

Even with this in mind, I reached out to the German lad to offer him some advice based on spending over a decade adventure riding New Zealand’s South Island myself. I let him know that there are some amazing locations, attractions, camp spots etc that are definitely worth including in his New Zealand trip, but that many of these spots are tucked out of the way and will be easily missed if there is no preplanning.

His response was polite but very clear, saying “I have never planned before, I won’t be planning now, and will likely never plan in the future”. I respectfully accepted his response, wished him well on his adventure, and watched his route with interest as he toured the South Island and posted updates to the forum.

As any New Zealander will know, the South Island has an abundance of great routes and attractions. It also has its fair share of mundane roads and so-so vistas – just like any other country. The German lad’s route was uncannily average to say the least. Not only did he miss most of the must-see locations, to top it all off he included the entire length of State Highway 1 south of Christchurch – better known as the butthole of the South Island’s roadways!

His closing comments when he departed New Zealand to head home, was that he had an ok time, but was unsure why other adventurers rave about the country.

I felt sad that he didn’t get to experience some of the truly magic places New Zealand has tucked away for those that know where to explore. The simple reality is, if he had done a little preplanning, it would have injected a serious level of awesomeness into his adventure, and unquestionably delivered a better experience for him.

Now you may be thinking I have picked a story that looks at “winging it” in a poor light. Indeed, I have. So, to be fair, it is worth acknowledging that there are many other great stories from adventure riders around the globe that adopt the “wing it” approach and have amazing times.  The real question is, which method has more overall risk of ending up with a dull and disappointing experience? Winging it, or preplanning?

Preplanning Adventures – Stacking up the Experiences

By this point, you will have likely gathered that I am a fan of preplanning an adventure route. Not because I am pedantic, not because I am a stickler for the details, purely because I know that 99 times out of a 100, preplanning a route will return a far better experience than just winging it – especially in countries where the gem locations are tucked away and require knowledge to discover them.

Here is an interesting question for you. When you consider the time and money invested into each adventure ride, isn’t it worth giving that adventure ride the best chance of being awesome? Adventure riding isn’t a cheap hobby when you factor in fuel, food, accommodation, plus the wear and tear costs for your bike such as tires, oil, chains, sprockets etc. The last thing you want to do is spend time and money on a dud route.

For many years I have enjoyed the experience of logging routes for AdventureGuide.co.nz. I feel fortunate to have explored some of the most amazing places New Zealand has to offer. The very basis of the Adventure Guide website stems back to 2005 when I had a string of disappointing trips due to dud routes. I knew there was a better way, so I decided to find a solution to ensure that each and every trip was going to be a memorable one.

This could only be achieved by the process of researching epic places to ride, noteworthy attractions, cracking little campsites, and then stringing them all together – this is how Adventure Guide was born. The process instilled the value of preplanning and demonstrated how it allows you to experience adventures that the “wing it” approach simply can’t achieve.

At the start, I found it difficult to find information on route planning. Back when Adventure Guide came to life, there were no other route planning websites out there and information was scarce. In addition, it was also a bit of a handful to come to grips with new technology such as GPS devices and route editing software. Eventually however, I got into the groove and became proficient at digging up information, putting together great adventure routes, loading them to a GPS, and setting off on epic adventures.

It must be said that preplanning doesn’t strip the fun out of an adventure as some adventure riders claim – not in the slightest. Preplanning simply lines up a series of great routes, epic destinations and magic camping spots. How can that possibly be looked at in a negative light? In short, all of the best adventures I have had, have all been preplanned.

Another benefit I have found with preplanning routes, is that you gain sound information about the area you are exploring. If for example you selected a DOC hut to stay at, but found it is at full capacity on arrival, your preplanning will have given you knowledge of backup huts or campsites in the area. The same goes with routes. If you encounter a track washout, the task of quickly assembling an on-the-fly detour and carrying on your way is so much easier with knowledge of the area.

Adventure Route Planning Summary

I get that this article is pro preplanning and that this may be hard to swallow (or infuriating) if you are a hardcore, wing-it kind of adventurer.

To be honest, it is easy to see the almost mesmerising alure of the carefree wing it method of adventuring. There are numerous cases of world explorers who have had the most amazing journeys, spanning many incredible months or years, all while flying by the seat of their pants and having no real idea of where they are going to next. However, as liberating as the wing-it approach may be, my personal experiences have seen far better success, and much more fun, with preplanning.

So, to those hardcore wing-it adventurers, please don’t feel I am trying to stuff my opinion down your throat. If you get out there and have a great time just winging it, who am I to tell you how to have a good time? If letting chance lead your adventure brings you joy, then ride on my friend, I hope to see you out on the trails one day!

As for the adventurers who are on the fence about preplanning, I hope this article has provided some incentive to at least have a go at preplanning, and evaluating for yourself how it can positively impact an adventure.

Whatever adventure riding method you prefer, I wish you all the best for your upcoming moto adventures!

Josh from Adventure Guide