Over age 50 Hikers: Why are you hiking the AT in 2016?

[illabelle]

i have continued long distance backpacking not only because I enjoy it, but because I felt as young and fit as I did at 25. (Damn mirrors set me straight on that.) I wanted to keep that feeling and have hiked now an additional 9000 miles on long trails. I plan to keep on keepin' on as long as I can. I enjoy both the comaraderie I've found on hikes on the more popular trails and the solitude on some of the less popular.

When I hiked the Arizona Trail, a man in his 40s on an ATV stopped as I was walking a forest road along a ridge after a climb of over 1000 feet in full sun asking, "Old man, are you OK?" I had to correct him. "I'm not old," I said. "I've simply reached advanced middle age." Last fall I hiked Vermont's Long Trail with a 24-year old and averaged 18 miles per day with average elevation gain of 3000 ft per day. This past January and February I completed the Florida Trail hiking over 1100 miles. I dare say I'm in better physical and mental shape than the day I retired nearly 11 years ago.

So many trails. So little time.

+1 This is how I wanna be!

[Traillium]

+1 Me too! (Living with prostate cancer and a wonderful supportive wife of 44+ years!)


Bruce Traillium

[CedarKeyHiker]

I thank everyone for participating in this query. It was much more than I expected. All of your answers have been inspirational. Some of them magic and some of them tragic but inspirational none the less. I am stepping off in two weeks for a LASH to Harpers Ferry and, who knows, maybe points north. I'll be taking many of these thoughts with me. I'm leaving in a few minutes for my last shakedown hike and three days in a Florida pine forest before I travel to Georgia. Good luck to everyone..."I'm growing older but not up, my metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck. Let the winds of time blow over my head, I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead." - Buffett