Backpacking After Retirement

[SSSdave]

Thus far for 2017 have been very active since starting retirement mid February with 20 days over 3 road trips down in Southern California for the wildflower superbloom. See link at bottom. As a photographer, I tend to get out into the local region on any days with relatively calm winds that for the last few weeks have been few. That keeps me at home where I have tons of science and technical reading queued up if I have time haha.

There is also a lot locally here in the urban SF Bay Area to become involved in especially because it is a hot bed of all manner of very active meetup.com groups from a to z including several hiking and outdoor groups. Today with one hiking group of people I just met for first time, group hiked 5.9 miles, went to their lunch downtown a few blocks from my home, then as a group for $5.50 we saw the new raunchy comedy "Snatched". As a senior living in Silicon Valley it is too easy to become over stimulated and over committed to activities including lots of volunteer community things.

Tentative backpacking/long road trips this summer queued up so far carrying my usual disgustingly heavy load.

June
3 day backpack after Memorial Day weekend into Falls Creek TBD small group
.......... viewtopic.php?f=36&t=15796
maybe 5/6 days up the Merced maybe to Echo Valley
5 day backpack up Kibbie Ridge to Lord Meadow zone of Cherry Creek solo
July
3 day backpack to Lake Aloha zone solo
4 day backpack to Gilmore Lake zone solo
5 day backpack to Laurel Creek and Grinnel Lake solo
August
5 days backpack into Duck and Pika Lake group
week or so Oregon road trip into John Day River zone for eclipse solo
10 day backpack over Shepherd Pass into upper Kern solo

A problem every summer is that one cannot be everywhere when peak aesthetics occur. 11pm now and I just went over weather info for the Mather/Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley (May peak waterfall snow melt) areas and just decided to drive out after the commute is over late morning tomorrow for 2 or 3 days. So will pack up at sunrise. Then will go down to Point Lobos again maybe Saturday or Sunday.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2017_Trip_C ... les-0.html

[papasequoia]

Save cruises and golf for the golden years.

Just shoot me if it comes to that.

[maverick]

PM set LMBSGV.

[Cross Country]

I don't think riown wants to be in the most remot location. I think he wants to be in the most remot good fishing location. Me too.

[rlown]

I don't think riown wants to be in the most remot location. I think he wants to be in the most remot good fishing location. Me too.

Correct! but right now, it requires an auger!!

As I don't work for them anymore, It was HP; first round of cuts happened in '95 when somehow the mgmt culture changed from maintaining employee loyalty to us being "meatbags" that were interchangeable and dispensable. Survived through 5 reorgs and my mgr in Scotland laid me off in '09 (went backpacking that day ). Anyway, a friend hired me back in '11 and that was fine until the mgmt upheaval once again, and I and my friend got laid off. I found another position; he did not and landed a job in Boston. So, this was the third time for me. It's not the Bill & Dave company it used to be.. Really sad.. It feels ok. Then I get this call from a room mate from 25 years ago. They laid off everyone in two US sites that I worked with; but kept everyone in Ireland.

And HP lays off people on Monday's.
[youtube_vid]<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h81Ojd3d2rY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/youtube_vid]

[robertseeburger]

Interesting read... I retired two years ago and have done more backpacking in last two years than any time in my life, including many cross country passes.
I backpacked like two times when I was a working dog.. and my physical conditioning was so inadequate..that frankly it was miserable. I am in much better shape now. One of the key differences though... is that I always try to start on a Tuesday/Wednesday/thursday..simplifies car travel and frankly getting a solo permit with no notice is usually no problem. ( drive up from Bay Area at 4:00 am, get to permit place by 8:00 or 9:00...). The thing though that is not in other posts... I don't want to do 2-3-4 day trips any more..I only do longer trips.. why go thru the hassle of drive up and drive back, and for me anyway, the inevitable struggles of the first day climb.? So, it seems like the weekenders of my youth and working days are a thing of the past. I subtract out 2 days from the enjoyment index of a backpack. ( 4 day trip = 2 days of enjoyment.). One more thing... even though I am in shape, I have some back and neck and shoulder difficulties. When I go backpacking to any place... I look at it like it might be last time... something I didn't do earlier... It gives a little bit different perspective.. knowing each season might be your last.

[SSSdave]

Have had some time to think of some of these things since I've been doing some planning the last few weeks for the coming summer. One luxury we retirees now have is there is little penalty for taking an extra day or two than necessary to make a trip less strenuous.

In the past as an 8-5 m-f working person, PTO was limited thus I tended to reasonably minimize time required to hike into destinations and be lean with itineraries. For many destinations the first day of longer trips may be the most difficult because of:

• distance from trailheads to reach interesting enough areas
  one is carrying a full weight of food
  higher altitude oxygen acclimation issues
  one's body may not be trail strong yet unless was recently backpacking

Often with a reserved permit in hand or in a night box, would get off my job in the SFBA late afternoon fighting traffic in the awful commute, drive 5 to 7 hours into the Sierra to a trailhead zone long after whatever ranger station has closed and start some sleep by late evening, then get up at dawn and on a trail.

Now midweek, I might leave home late morning after the morning commute has waned and arrive in the trailhead zone mid afternoon when I can actually visit a ranger station and get a walk up permit versus needing to have had a reservation, drive to a trailhead and have a few hours to put a nice dent in what would have been a first day's effort. Then get up at dawn the next morning and have an easier effort with less mileage. Of course one could still push down trails at a usual pace and effort level in order to get to whatever destination but this person would rather use the extra time to make the effort even more leisurely.

For a tentative trip I've been trying to do for years, the upper Kern Basin over Shepherd Pass, that will make a huge difference being able to knock off the first 2.5k up that first baking ridge in cooler late pm and evening versus mornings.

On mid length trips say 3 to 6 days, I can now optionally also add extra layover base camping days to an itinerary whereas in the past my remaining available PTO would take a hit. As a serious landscape photographer, there are many times when I put in enormous effort lugging in all the camera gear weight only to be frustrated because of weather conditions. The most common issue is wind that can make strong results impossible for planned lake reflections and subjects with wildflower foregrounds as it makes lake surfaces wavy and shakes flowers and leaves. Thus for most important destinations might now optionally plan an extra day or two in case I need it.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2017_Trip_C ... les-0.html

[Cross Country]

After reading what riown wrote I'm really glad I didn't work in business. I have a degree. In Bus Ad. Riown votes for his kind of working atmosphere. I hope he finds some solace from his ideology and it's results.

[rlown]

sounds like a personal attack, Tom.

[Tom_H]

Huh, Did I miss something?