Wilderness adventurer and passionate pioneer Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was born to an English Quaker family on this day in Reading, Pennsylvania. Raised on a farm, he enjoyed exploring his surroundings at a young age, mastering the rifle and how to trap and hunt.

He once described Nature as "a series of wonders, and a fund of delight."

With a life that celebrated heroic myth and fact, Boone bravely explored the mysterious and rugged territory beyond the original Thirteen Colonies. With courage, he helped trailblaze the Wilderness Road of Kentucky and the Ohio Valleys, cutting through the Appalachian Mountain's Cumberland Gap. The trail opened the west to future settlers.

"I was happy in the midst of dangers and inconveniences," he said.

Captured several times by American Indians, he rescued his captured daughter from the Shawnee and was adopted by their Chief Blackfish. Boone's respect and understanding of Indian culture saved many lives.

A source of folklore, his wilderness skill inspired the establishment of the Boy Scouts of America in the early 1900s. Of this unique spirit of freedom and discovery, politician Hubert Humphrey said, "There is in every American, I think, something of the old Daniel Boone—who, when he could see the smoke from another chimney, felt himself too crowded and moved further out into the wilderness."

Discovery is at the heart of bewilderment.