An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

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sekihiker
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by sekihiker »

balzaccom wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:03 am Fifteen miles in a day? That's hard work! Thanks for posting this
Maybe that's why my boot failed. I know I was feeling it too.
Thanks for reading.
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by cslaght »

Bill, you are the reason I found this site and I have always been amazed by your trips, pictures, and prose. I'm really glad you were able to get out this summer. Keep up the great work!
"The mountains are calling, but can't find my phone"

Charles
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by sekihiker »

SSSdave wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 10:51 am Hello Bill. I've been looking at your website since the early days of the WWW and it has been an inspiration and useful resource of information. This month of October, before Halloween, I will be joining you into the 8th decade club. Not something I want to think about as it is more frightening than any spook over this coming holiday. Good to read you have more than just survived your bout with C. It is something we elderly folk who have otherwise been healthy fear most that could at any time most radically change our limited remaining time in this precious existence. We share an understanding of the value of use it or lose it as there is a tendency for unused body functions to atrophy if not regularly used. And even when used, we notice a gradual tendency for areas to become more sore and for longer periods after use.

This last week I have been mostly home bound after a bout with plantar fascitis for the first time in my life. Over decades, have had especially sore feet many times but such has always recovered in a day or three. This time after my fall leaf road trip last week, the big ligament apparently was actually injured, inflamed at the attachment point to the heel bone. Almost healed now and I'll be back out in the field maybe by midweek though wary of re-injury.

In the last few years, even just carrying 20# to 30# on day hikes, I rarely choose to go more than say 9 miles or 5 miles with my heavy backpack, as I've learned it can cause more soreness than is healthy. But there is much one can do limited hiking to 5 miles a day since in retirement, we are not in any hurry for a need to get back to civilization.

I would welcome joining you and any other's in our club doing a leisurely one day to destination base camping backpack into some favorite flowery place in the Sierra next summer of 2019.
Plantar fascitis, sciatica, and other painful conditions that plague active people tend to show up more often as we age. It makes sense to cut back and not overdo it. I have cut back my daily mileage from 10 to 20 down to 5 to 10. Sometimes I just get carried away, like with that 15 mile day. Actually, I started hiking at 6:40 and quit at 7:30, so I was averaging a little more than one mile an hour.
I feel your pain with the plantar fascitis. You can't make it go away unless you rest and that's the last thing you feel like doing.
Thanks for your thoughtful response.
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sekihiker
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

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cslaght wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:27 pm Bill, you are the reason I found this site and I have always been amazed by your trips, pictures, and prose. I'm really glad you were able to get out this summer. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the kind and encouraging words, Charles.
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by c9h13no3 »

Keep hiking until you can't. Then make your scouts carry you around :).

In other news, I now realize I can no longer complain about join pain or tiredness on this forum, given my sprightly 34 years.
"Adventure is just bad planning." - Roald Amundsen
Also, I have a blog no one reads. Please do not click here.
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by wildhiker »

Yes Bill, yours was one of the first web sites I found for Sierra backpack trips many years ago - long before I found HST. Thanks for all the work you have done on that site. And good luck on further adventures. I'm just a few years behind you, so I'm looking to you for inspiration!
-Phil

P.S. -SSSDave - I had plantar fascitis about 15 years ago. Man, did that hurt! My doctor recommended both rest and the green "superfeet" insoles. I swear by those insoles and have several pairs now in different shoes. PS healed up in about 6 months and has not returned. Try those insoles if you don't already have some.
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by oldhikerQ »

Sekihiker-
Thanks for the inspirational posting. I'm 9 years younger, and have been contemplating hanging up my backpack within the next couple years. Your post made me realize that i may have more than a couple of years left to wander through the high sierra. Thank you for the motivation.
Cheers
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Nice to hear that your recovery is going well. I too have been reading your trip reports for quite some time. With age I have converted from mountaineering and rock climbing into off-trail backpacking- next step perhaps more miles on trails. Occasionally I put in a ridiculous high-mileage day, usually regretting it as it does not get me much farther in the long run; I end up compensating with a low-mile day the next! I find that with age, it gets harder to put in 2-3 ridiculously high mile days in a row. I think each of us older backpackers have our own methods of keeping at it, be it lightening the load, shortening daily miles, more mellow terrain, new hobbies to fill those hours we no longer hike, or overall shorter trips. And do not under-rate the mental aspects. I now have to fight that fearfulness to get going on a trip. Perhaps it is just wisdom- we were too stupid when young to understand the consequences of getting hurt and felt invincible; now we are quite aware of our human vulnerabilities !

The up-side is unlimited time! No job to have to get back to Monday morning. I really relish being able to spend my last night close to the trailhead and do the long drive home the next morning and the less crowded, easier to get permit mid-week trips.
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by sekihiker »

c9h13no3 wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:26 pm Keep hiking until you can't. Then make your scouts carry you around :).

In other news, I now realize I can no longer complain about join pain or tiredness on this forum, given my sprightly 34 years.
Fortunately, we don't need adrenaline to carry us up the trail (or maybe we do- I know little about biochemistry). Now and then we get a shot of it when we're out in the wild and mostly it's a good thing.
Thanks for the encouragement.
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sekihiker
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Re: An elderly hiker's trips for 2018

Post by sekihiker »

wildhiker wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 10:45 pm Yes Bill, yours was one of the first web sites I found for Sierra backpack trips many years ago - long before I found HST. Thanks for all the work you have done on that site. And good luck on further adventures. I'm just a few years behind you, so I'm looking to you for inspiration!
-Phil
You're welcome and thanks, Phil. I guess the key is to just keep on doing it until it's no fun.
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