Who is your daddy and what does he do?

[Juston Taul]

Haha! I'm tired.

Seriously… what do you do for a living, and how do you find time to get to the outdoors?

I'm a commercial pilot for the airlines. I'm off 4 days per week which allows me time for the outdoors. I also use my vacation time every year to plan 2 or 3 big trips consisting of at least 1 to 2 weeks in the outdoors.

I'm not a rich man, but my quality of life is good. I enjoy my time off.

What about you guys?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

My sugar daddy works in tech. Keeps me in the manner I would like to become accustomed to.

;-P

[EndoftheTrail]

I was a CPA — worked 20 years and socked away 50 cents on every dollar earned — and retired about 7 years ago (I will be 49 this year). I am not rich but my time is my own and I really like that.

I am blissfully single. I spend too much time here on the forums, and the rest of the time, I like to hang with friends, travel and hike.

[Kier Selinsky]

project manager in the internet biz in northeast ohio. Finding time to get lost outdoors is tough because it's a 3+ hour drive to the nearest trail that is longer than 5 miles, average trip is 8 hours drive away. So I use all my vaca time (which I thankfully get 3 weeks/year of), and do some trips where I'm arriving at the woods at 9 or 10 at night.

[BlackHatGuy]

Okay, don't laugh. I'm the director of strategic communications for the Defense Department's largest logistics agency. I never have enough vacation time, so all of my trips so far have been weekend/long-weekends trips. But I do so enjoy them!

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

I'm a ski bum & I work @ a bar in Whistler

[Mary D]

I'm retired so get to hike on weekdays and avoid the crowds, hooray!

I'm also a granny, so try to spend a lot of time with grandkids. Lots with one set (who live only 200 miles away), but unfortunately very little with the ones who live back east. The second batch is all grown up, too!

The best part is when I can combine the two hats, and take the grandkids hiking!

[David Ure]

I am a Partner in a Financial Services Firm that structures mid and higher ticket commercial equipment lending in several different industries.

[Juston Taul]

>>> was a CPA — worked 20 years and socked away 50 cents on every dollar earned — and retired about 7 years ago (I will be 49 this year).<<<

Smart man. I wish I could do that, but there are a lot of toys floating around this site. :D

[EndoftheTrail]

I "discovered" backpacking the year I retired — so toys weren't a problem then. Whew!

Hard to believe the first 42 years of my life, I never hiked out in the wilds — not once! No one in my family hikes to this day. They're more the 'Conde Nest' type.

[obx hiker]

57; married for 25 years. Daughters 21 and 19

Run a small vacation property management business. Check it out http://www.obxcola.com/ It is similar I would think to many of the "cottage " shops we discuss on this site, ( hence my sympathy and appreciation)filling a niche made possible by the internet. We do about 900 "sales" a year but ours average @ 1,000.00 ea. Before you get excited a large % of that is O.P.M. ( other peoples money) The minimum acceptable accounting standard is perfection. It's about like running a small bank with @ 40 accounts and 1000 depositors ( except I think the accounting rules are probably more stringent)

I know; website needs a tune-up… So much to do so little time.

Basically on call 365 days a year but the real crunch; the 90 day war… is @ June 1 to September 1. Easiest time to get away is January and February.

Blue Ridge in Virginia is @ 5 hours to a trailhead but with a brother in the Triangle area of NC I usually go there the night before a trip and leave for the Mts. in the early Am. Shaves 3 hours off the commute. Direct from the OBX the Blue Ridge PW in Asheville is 6.5 hours of hard driving, and there are precious few options in between.

I fly out to Bluff Utah any chance I can get.

[BlackHatGuy]

"They're more the 'Conde Nest' type."

LOL. Great pun!

[Laurence Beck]

I manage a firmware development group in a semiconductor company in Newport Beach, CA. I get 5 weeks per year in vacation plus, they are very lenient if you go over your balance. Right now I am at negative 11 hours but it will be up plenty by spring time.

I learned to love backpacking as a kid in the Boy Scouts. My dad, now deceased was an electrical/Electronic Engineer working aerospace. He was really involved in Boy Scouts with my brother and I as well

[David Lutz]

+1 for the ski bum! Right on!

[Juston Taul]

>>>I get 5 weeks per year in vacation plus, they are very lenient if you go over your balance.<<<

5 weeks! Now you are starting to sound like me. :D Time off is great.

[Devin Montgomery]

I'm a law (JD) and business (MBA) student. I also write and edit for an online legal new service: JURIST. Returning to the schedule of a student has been nice because it gives me a good amount of time off to be in the outdoors, but that's all going to end in December when I graduate.

Speaking of which, anybody hiring? :)
No, seriously.

[Miguel Arboleda]

I teach at a university here in Japan. The school periods are grueling and exhausting, though having my research day on a Friday gives me three days off a week, so enough time for a proper walk. I get out at least once a month, mostly to the North or South Japan Alps or the Yatsugatake Range, all west of Tokyo. I also get three vacations, a month in summer in August, two weeks during the Christmas period, and a fuzzy, indeterminate period between fall and spring semesters of about two months long (officially the university doesn't allow people to leave the country, though why is still beyond me… nothing happens during this period). I also work as an illustrator and writer on the side, but it's more just for my own pleasure than to put bread on the table. I can't complain about the time off and the pay is good enough that I can actually get out and enjoy it.

[Lynn Tramper]

I'm in medical research. I get 5-6 weeks off per year, and live close to where I play ;)

[Ali e]

I dont work but somehow its still hard to find enough time to do everything I want. My record is 125 days skiing in one year. I have had many homes over the years but have always lived out of my backpack, its at my side right now ready for our next adventure. Ali

[Michael Crosby]

Retired from U.S. Army after 25 years. Now a Clinical Social Worker working at Ft. Knox with the soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD. I get 7 weeks off a year and a paycheck from the goverment for as long as I can stay alive. I spend as much time outside in the woods as is possible. To me a good vacation is 14+ days walking in the wilderness.

[George Matthews]

Congrats Ben!

Quite an impressive example of hard work and saving. I believe your blissfully singleness helped you reach your goals. I hope all the young hikers reading your story find inspiration in it. Work hard + Save alot + Ultralight family = Retire very early.

Or else…

If married, then that would have meant only socking away 25 cents per buck.

Then a kid, -.08 and a second, -.08, and out of state tuitions, -.04.

Let's see that'd have been only 5 cents on $1 earned socking away.

You'd then be looking at working hard and saving for 30 years and thinking, well, maybe retiring around 60.

Ben's Way is a better path to hike life. Light and simple.

[EndoftheTrail]

Thanks, George. My way benefits not just myself but the whole world too — if everyone follows my example. Consumption will go way down, savings way up — and solves the whole population problem too — although maybe a little too well…

[Joe Clement]

I'm jealous Ben. I was so, so close to retiring last year, and I missed again. I should have been saving, instead of working to make the big score. Anyway……..I started working last Monday as a consulting engineer. Too bad it's 500 miles from home.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Pffft! Having a family doesn't have to be expensive nor need get in the way of having a life.

I'd not change having kids for being able to not work. The trade off is just not there – for us.

Yet, as long as one lives within their means and socks away a lot they can still retire within a good range of years.

See Ben, you could have had a family…if you started in your early 20's! One child and still lived frugally. ;-)

The problem is that many with families buy big expensive houses and then go into further debt putting their kids through college later…..you just have to avoid that. And hey, 47 is young for men. You still have time to have a Mini Me. Lol!

PS: And I might add that getting married and having kids does not mean a person puts less into savings. That only happens if one spends money. For example: we are having child #2. Am I building a nursery for him? No….babies don't "need" it. I will spend a couple hundred on things and call it a day. Same when we got married, we didn't go into debt. We spent around $1,500 for everything and still had quite the party for our friends. One can have a good life, a family and a wife and still live within budget. If everyone is on the same page!

[Adam Rothermich]

Wow, I see a lot of you are retired or on the verge… I, on the other hand, am trying to break into the workforce. I just graduated with a B.S. and haven't been able to nail down a job in my field yet. Maybe if I had spent as much time trying for an internship as I did hiking and building/maintaining trail I would have an easier time getting a job :).

So right now I'm working a couple of part time jobs while my fiancee decides if she is going to do grad school or not.

Adam

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