I was hanging out with my son and a couple of his buds in Idaho. The topic of Type 2 Fun came up. They defined type two fun as something that was challenging and perhaps uncomfortable in the moment but looked upon fondly afterwards. Type one fun is enjoyable in the moment. I think I’ve had my share of type two fun over my lifetime. As I’ve aged and mellowed out, the type 2 days are less frequent now.
Type 2, for me, often included challenging weather, swims in big rapids, and “exploring” seldom run places. I do miss it a bit but a loss of agility, and a weaker roll, has me rec paddling more and “pushing it” a bit less. In fact, I haven’t done any drag-a-thons or much portaging this year. I’m just getting soft with very little desire to even boat class 4 ww anymore. What’s wrong with me? I’m thinking of maybe getting a sea kayak to keep things fresh, engage some new learning and embracing the challenge of trying out some “textured water” in a forgiving environment. What kind of fun are you into?
You’re still more adventurous than me. I like my confort zone. I prefer demanding over challenging. With demanding, I can always turn away from the challenge.
I like this concept. Do I understand it correctly?
Type 1 fun= just fun. It’s fun as you do it and not scary
Type 1.5 fun= still just fun but some occasional discomfort… think ski touring or Nordic skiing rather than lift-served. Trail running instead of hiking.
Type 2 fun= lots of hard work + some potential danger. Parts of it might be fun as you do it but it’s mainly hard work and scary until youre done and proud of getting through it.
Type 3 fun= not fun at all in the present tense. Some times you start out expecting some good type 1 or type 2 fun but conditions turn on you and things get weird. You may feel pride telling people about your trip afterward but most people respond to your story with “why would you do that? That doesn’t sound fun.”
Yup - three types of fun - seems to have originated with the hiking/climbing community, but it certainly applies to paddling.
Type 1 Fun - enjoyable while it’s happening .
Type 2 Fun - might not be “fun” while it is happening, but it is “fun” in retrospect.
Type 3 Fun - not “fun” at all – not even in retrospect. Afterward, you think “What was I doing?” and “I’ll never do that that again!”.
This past weekend I took a rock gardening class in my sea kayak. I was nervous about it, but made it through fine - type 2 fun.
Personally, I find that type 3 fun happens when I get too ambitious and too far out in front of my skills. Unfortunately, it can be tough to know what that point is until you are there.
In the Army, we used to say “embrace the suck”. I’m not really looking for that when I paddle. Although, sometimes during a miserable portage a little of that thought process comes in, but it is a little different because I know camp is going to be in a beautiful spot, have good food (not MREs) and be comfortable.
On weekdays I’ll have mostly type 1 fun on the road bicycle with mostly older, retired folks. On the weekends I’ll bike with the younger losers who still have to work on weekdays. It gets way more 2 ish.
At my recent physical , I asked the Doc the same question. " What’s wrong with me?" He gave me the answer I deserved in a look.
I’ve used that same look to answer stupid obvious questions.
A useful concept. We learn more when we start going down the scale.
I have led a lot of trips over the years. It is vitally important that your crew matches up with the Fun Type Level. Over expose people and they can get really tweaked.
I have been an adventurous paddler over the years running some difficult rivers in canoes, and some dangerous rivers in rafts and driftboats. Now I am older and much less interested in the hard stuff.
So my latest adventure was type 3 but as time goes on it will become a 2. I’m still on my road trip in Espanola NM. I helped my bro assemble some patio furniture. Using an Alan wrench I totally tweaked out my elbow and so I r2ed the Chama with a barking elbow. My brother picked up most of the slack. One of the disadvantages of a permitted river, you have to launch when your permit says you can go. We floated a lot, letting the raft spin out. The goal was simple, float the river with as few strokes as possible. The ache was enough to prevent me from getting any good sleep. Add some 100 degree heat and I found myself counting down the miles to the take out.
The Rio Chama
