Just before Rob’s sixty-first birthday, his dear friend Steve Edwards died of cancer. Steve was a fitness legend who helped develop P90X and was known for creating grueling birthday challenges. To honor Steve’s life, Rob devised one of his own:

In 61 hours over the next 6.1 days I will attempt to:

—Photograph 61 different species of birds

—Ski downhill 61,000 vertical feet

—Bike and hike 61 miles

—Run 6.1 miles

—Do 61 push-ups each of the six days

—Do 61 sit-ups each of the six days

—Rock climb 610 vertical feet at 5.10 or higher difficulty …

And try to have fun doing it all.

Harlan Taney spends as much time as possible in the Grand Canyon. Based out of Flagstaff, Arizona, his company, 4 Corner Film Logistics, has worked with the BBC on a reenactment of the Powell Expedition, a production on the condors of the Vermilion Cliffs, and projects to save the Grand Canyon from proposed mega-development. “It’s a wild and sacred place,” said Harlan, “one of the Natural Wonders of the World, and I intend to keep it that way.” Recently, while working on a conservation film in the canyon, Harlan had a revelation. “The Grand Canyon,” he said, “is only one of countless threatened environments around the world, and media content could be a powerful tool to preserve them all.” As a result, he recently founded an organization to capture video footage of natural habitats that are endangered worldwide and archive them in an open-source database—all to create awareness for their protection. As Harlan excitedly told me the news, I remembered the story of his first trip down the Grand Canyon as a little boy, and I pictured other children tossing sticks into other sacred and wild rivers, watching them drift away, and having the chance to dream about where they go.

Besides my kayaking team, there were so many others whose lives had intersected with mine over the last fifteen years. It was quite a list.

For Kyle Maynard, making history on Kilimanjaro wasn’t quite enough. On February 21, 2016, Kyle crawled to the summit of Aconcagua, at 22,841 feet the highest point in South America.

Emma continues to volunteer at a rescue organization for stray dogs and cats. She’s now fostered and found homes for seventy dogs. Notably, one, whom she named Duncan, was cracked in the head with a mallet soon after birth by his owner and thrown in a trash can. Somehow he lived. When Emma received the dog, he had a dent in his skull and stared straight ahead. Duncan had to be guided to his food and water dish. Yet with love and care, one week later, his tail was wagging, and he was running and barking in the backyard. Emma said, “Hey, Dad, Duncan is a No Barriers dog.”