Nat Geo's Ultimate Adventure Bucket List

Looking for some suggestions on where to go and what to do on your next escape? Then check out the Ultimate Adventure Bucket List courtesy of National Geographic Adventure. The list was compiled by Nat Geo editors who asked past Adventurer of the Year winners to share their biggest, best and most outrageous expeditions from the past. The result is 20 great stories that will have you plotting your next excursion as well.

Some of the epic adventures include surfer Maya Gabeira traveling to Alaska to ride big waves off the coast of that state. If that doesn't get your adrenaline flowing that perhaps Dean Potter's account of Free climbing the Eiger in Switzerland or Trip Jenning's paddle down the Pandi River in Papua New Guinea is more your speed. For polar explorer Borge Ousland the dream trip was a solo expedition to the North Pole and for climber Cory Richards it was a trek to the top of Gasherbrum II in Pakistan.

Each of the Dream Trip listings also includes a bio of each of the Adventurers as well as their pick for a single piece of gear that they take with them on their expeditions. Those gear items include everything from GoPro cameras to sunglasses and backpacks and so much more. I found the gear picks to be particularly interesting as it gives you some insight into what these daring men and women value while they're out on the their adventures.

Now obviously these dream trips are beyond the means for many of us, but they can also serve as a source of inspiration. For instance, you may not be ready to try to take on an 8000 meter Himalayan peak, but perhaps Kilimanjaro is the mountaineering adventure you crave. Similarly, you may not have the means to go hiking trails in Iceland, but there are probably some excellent backpacking trails within driving distance that might prove interesting as well. The point is, we can all gain inspiration from this "bucket list" even if we don't have the opportunity to do the same journeys ourselves.