"Older backpackers"-What concessions are you willing to make as you age?

[Michael Sagehorn]

I’m 58, but have had to accept some of the limitations my cardiac health creates. Lower miles, nothing over 9K ft, and no heavy loads. The large Dana Design Astroplane gets little use and I’ve return to a decades old red Kelly external frame. It’s lighter, rides well on the trail, and easy to organize. I’ve become retro: wear the same and re-soled Sundowners or Pivettas and cook my simple meals on a small campfire except where they are banned. My Marine Corps infantry service means I can sleep anywhere so a big mattress isn’t needed, just a closed cell Thermarest. Wool Pendleton, down vest, and a rain/wind jacket are the only real warm clothing I carry.  Some LL Bean wool trousers complete my clothing list. Hike in shorts and a synthetic T/shirt.  Down bag, poncho, and tarp proved cover at night. Bug net too. One pot and my Sierra cup. That’s it really.

[Martin Norris]

Damn it I am soon 61! And yes…age does become a limiting factor, but bugger if I am giving in gracefully, in fact, I think I can live with less than ever before; but I think the hills are getting steeper (climate change?). 40km+ (25m?) days are still doable! How to learn that 15km (10m) days are acceptable is the problem I have!

[Roger Caffin]

These days we find it is not the kms which count but the hundred of metres ascent and descent.
There was one day in Austria on the Via Alpina when we clocked up 3,000 m of up and down in one day. No idea about the km.

Going up to the Windschart Refuge.

Cheers

[Terry Sparks]

I’m 62, thru-hiking the CDT, In Lander WY. for resupply. I’m averaging 35 miles per day with a15 hour, 48 miles day behind me. I workout year around for hiking and have kept myself in good fitness my entire life.  I understand that I’m not going to be able to keep up  this level of hiking my entire lifetime so, I work hard at keeping it for as long as possible. I’m just not going to give up on what I love to do.

[Elliott Wolin]

A friend said he now starts out slow, then tapers off.

As for me at 64, mostly due to sports injuries my knees and ankles are sort of loose and worn out, almost bone-on-bone in some places, as are my L5 spinal joints.  So these days while hiking I have to look carefully at every step, if I take my eyes off the trail I risk rolling an ankle or twisting a knee.

So I take lots of snapshot breaks so I can get to see the scenery (and thus bring home lots of pictures, and bring up the rear of a group hike, which is all of them, since I always hike with at least my wife).

[Jenny A]

Does reaching the age of 60 qualify one as “older”?  My big concession is that I finally realized it was either two new hips or a wheelchair for the last third of my life.  I just had the first hip replaced and will get the other in early October.  I wasted 2 years thinking I could fix the constant pain in the groin area that was starting to limit activities, and this was the first summer of my life that I can remember NOT hiking, backpacking, or even walking, for crying out loud.  Trekking poles will become a necessity, and I’ll have to really be careful not to twist a foot or leg, but I think those are small prices to pay for another 20+ years of being out there.  Don’t know whether to finish the C.T. first or head to the Winds for some golden trout next summer!

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Jenny

‘Older’ maybe, but not ‘old’. :)

Sympathies for you. While we are not trekking pole aficionados, I think in your case they would be a very good idea. The extra stability would take a lot of stress off your hips.

Take care
Cheers

[Gary Dunckel]

Jenny, knowing you as I do, I’m willing to bet my next paycheck that you will totally kick butt in everything that you choose to do. Watching you pare down your base weight to the mid-lightweight category, hearing your great YNP stories, and just enjoying your company, I have come to know that you will find ways to handle any age-funk that might pop up for you. Your great spirit will pave the way…

I’m glad that you aren’t being a ski instructor any more, as that wouldn’t be great for your new hips (probably, but who can say?). Some new trekking poles will look great holding up your Solplex tent, for fording the small streams of Yellowstone, and to whap any pesky small critters that try to mess with your vittles around the campfire.

You GO, girl…!

(disclaimer: Jenny is a good friend of mine, and it’s a tossup as to which of us loves YNP more)

[Jenny A]

Aw, shucks.  Thanks for the confidence booster!  Yellowstone will wait for us.

As I get older, I am more in awe of the 70 and 80-yr olds who are still out there skiing, hiking, backpacking, cycling than of the 20-somethings doing the same things.  The Grandma Gatewoods, Dale Sanders, Gudy Gaskils, Alan Carpenters, Gary Dunckels, and Sally and Hueys are my heroes these days.

[Roger Caffin]

You either keep going, or you stop.

Cheers

[AK Granola]

Based on this thread and others like it, there are a lot of older hikers. But not many selfies in our trip reports! I guess we think the landscape looks better.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Yep, I should post pics and comments on my November 2017 Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim backpack. Not that it’s an unusual hike except that both of us were over 70.

One thing I don’t think was mentioned by any of we geezers is that we, (at least I) have tehknowldge that the ability to continue on with backpacking has a time limit.

I’m 75. Say I’m still healthy at 80 and still stay in shape as much as humanly possible. Will I still be strong enough to hump 25 pounds for a summer trip? WillI be able to navigate steep trails at 9,000 feet? AND… will I be able to find backpacking partners willing to go as slowly as I must at 80? At 85?

So I’m counting on unobtainium for tent and hiking poles (oh, wait, we have carbon fiber already, never mind). Will Dyneema tent fabric drop 50% in price? Will we have solar powered, robotized exoskeletons to assist us up a hill? Will a decent dehydrated IPA EVER make to market?? Inshallah, God willing, may the Great Spirit make it so.

Can you imagine having a good IPA made from a packet of powder and cold creek or spring water while watching a beautiful sunset over the Smokey Mountains, the Wasatch, the Presidentials, the Rockies, Cascades, Sierra Nevada, etc.? He!!, I’d just settle for that “scientific advance”.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Eric

Go hut walking on one of the GRs in Europe. You will need:
Day pack
WP Jacket or poncho (Euros are never seen without one)
Fluffy for evenings
Towel (small)
Toothbrush (soap is optional!)
Liner for sleeping (hut requirement)
Credit Card

Cheers

[Hubert Wieland]

 

Inspirational,

https://www.instagram.com/p/BliJ216D3We/?taken-at=1022571897

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Now THAT’S what I’m talking’ about!

Roger, One piece of toilet kit I always take to Europe is a facecloth, known here in the colonies as a washcloth. Euros don’t seem to have a clue about them. They washing yer face with a hand towel…

[Roger Caffin]

We call them washers in Oz, and you are right: include.
Just a thought: even in the very high Refuges, 1 or 2 euros will get you a token for the HOT showers. (Pays for the gas.) Oh lovely!

Cheers

[obx hiker]

A couple of gear related “sacrifices” that are probably mentioned up thread.

I bought my first ever full size pad for backpacking (as opposed to car camping), the xtherm large, and used on a recent 7 day Wind River Range hike with @ 5 of those days “off-trail” The difference was wonderful!

I’m also moving into mostly hammock hiking for lower elevation trips especially if they are shorter duration. I can’t quite manage to get the weight to work out equally but there’s not that much of a premium. Maybe 8 – 12 oz. A full sized underquilt would bump that a bit!

As Newton used to say “Carry on!”  (where is Newton anyway?)

[Elliott Wolin]

A bit off topic, but I recently realized my (casual, non-serious) rock climbing days have turned out to help a lot in my old age.

When climbing you use tension between parts of your body and the rock to stabilize yourself, enhance balance, and allow for secure movement.  I find I do that all the time now, e.g. simply to get out of bed w/o straining my back.  I use the back of my heel against the side of the bed to help sit up.  Bending down I always press some part of my body against something for stability and a place to push off of.  I do this mostly without realizing it.

I suppose everyone does this, I speculate that years of climbing have helped.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Elliot, How your outdoor hobbies affect your everyday life is part of this thread.

My wife noticed other guys at church, even ones in their 60s, move much more stiffly than I do. I told her, “Aren’t you lucky you’re married to such a ‘young’ guy?”

But it’s true that if you try your best to remain athletic into geezerhood you will be healthier and move more effortlessly. It has been proven that exercise improves one’s immune system – and there are a lot of immune disorder diseases out there, most of them pretty scary. And get this, in their 60s and 70s inactive men lose a higher % of there muscle strength than women. Again, scary.

[Elliott Wolin]

Eric…I’m in total agreement.

My standby is martial arts <u>(</u>mainly Tae Kwon Do), great for maintaining flexibility, balance, and general muscle tone (plus a little running in the morning).  I try to go five times a week, usually succeed.  Can’t say it is keeping my weight down much, hard to tell.  But I do know I’m way more flexible and stronger than most men my age.

One downside is that if I ever get injured (rarely) it takes forever to heal, if it even does.  And if I miss a few classes or even worse a week or so, it takes me forever to get back to where I was.

[Gary Dunckel]

I have noticed this year (my 72nd) that my balance is beginning to get a bit funky. Nothing too severe, but I sense a change. I always use trekking poles, even while walking on a flat open space trail. I figured that it wouldn’t really affect anything. Well, I learned that it isn’t quite true while on a 2-night backpack trip with my best friend of 50 years this Monday through Wednesday. To get to our campsite there’s a narrow log bridge to get across a small stream. It is a big log with a flattened top surface which is maybe 12-14″ wide. Not wide enough to use poles, really, but I tried to. Well, my balance got goofy and I fell off the log five feet to the ground below (fortunately, and not into the stream). I landed on my chest, using my forearm to help break the fall. No injury at all, just a couple of small skin breaks on my forearm. But this was the sort of mishap that could easily have resulted in a broken arm, a broken rib or two, or even an ACL tear. So I learned that I must now be very, very careful when doing that sort of thing. I sometimes hate growing older…

[Larry Swearingen]

I’ve noticed the same thing regarding balance over the last few years.  (I’ll be 73 in Dec.)

I returned from a trip to Isle Royale NP a few weeks ago where I did a 47 mile loop over

4 full days and two short half days.  I tried using one pole this trip to see if it made any difference

and I couldn’t really tell whether one pole was any less stable than two.  I do think that two poles would

be better for fording swift streams though.

Isle Royale has a lot of 12″ wide boardwalks crossing marshy swamps so I got a lot of practice doing the “DUI walk”.  A few of those boardwalks were near 100 yds long.   While crossing one of the marshes I got curious about how deep the muck was.  Stuck my pole down as deep as I could reach from the walk and didn’t touch anything solid.

I did trip twice though. Didn’t raise my foot quite high enough of twisted tree roots.  Did a face plant right into a mud hole on the second one.   :>)

Larry S

[AK Granola]

I keep coming back to this thread. Lots of great perspectives! One post a while back wondered if there would be people to hike with, at a pace suitable for a fit 80 year old. After doing some hiking the last few summers with our local hiking club, I think the answer is yes. Even on one very strenuous hike, on which we had one older, slower hiker and one young extremely strong hiker, we were a cohesive and supportive group. I had the opportunity to ask the very young hiker, as we drove home from the trailhead, how she felt about having to travel at a much slower pace than she was capable of. Her answer surprised me a bit; she said she was trying all new gear, and hadn’t done much backpacking, only day hikes, so this was a trip for her to learn some camping skills from the rest. She also greatly enjoyed the camaraderie. She was strong enough and could have done our entire 3day, 2night trip in one go. She also remarked that many people her own age, including friends, just want to party when they get to the backcountry, heavy drinking and lots of pot. Without judging it, she just didn’t want that sort of experience.

Perhaps offering to take folks new to backpacking is an option? Eventually if they love it they will want more challenge, but for a few hikes it can be good for both, and transmit some wisdom.

Another comment, on the balance thing. I think balance issues is what drives so many older folks into Tai Chi. I have done yoga which also helps, but I do see Tai Chi in my future.

[Jenny A]

Gary, balance is one of the first things to go.  I have noticed it, too.  I used to be able to rock hop across streams, cross elevated logs, etc, but I am finding that now I usually just find a spot to wade across in my Crocs.  It cools the feet off, too.  Obviously, that is not always an option depending on season etc, but the risk of falling as you did is too high-consequence at this point.  Glad you weren’t seriously injured and that you’ve been able to get out.

And Karen, I really appreciate your comment on taking new folks out.  The selfie/Instagram era has created a whole generation of folks who want to do what they see others doing but don’t have a clue as to how to make it happen safely and responsibly.  If we can serve as mentors to help folks learn the skills that go into fun, safe, responsible backpacking, everyone will be happier.  Great thought.

[Elliott Wolin]

I think Yoga and most martial arts are good for maintaining balance.  But I prefer Tae Kwon Do.

In Yoga and Tai Chi you move much more slowly than in TKD (and Karate and others).  I like TKD because it is much more dynamic, you work on maintaining balance while moving rapidly rather than statically (Yoga) and slowly (Tai Chi).

At least that is my impression of Yoga and Tai Chi, I have seen demonstrations but never really studied them.  I could easily be convinced that in the end they are all equally beneficial.  Or perhaps each has  strengths and weaknesses, and which is best for you depends on your particular situation.

 

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