Senior Moments
My 75th birthday rolled around on the 15th of this month. There was no big celebration. No party. This was, as it has always been in the past, my preference.
Joyce bought me a new backpacking tent, some tent stakes, an 8L Exped dry bag, a couple polycro ground sheets for my floorless backpacking tents, and a small REI Flash 18 backpack for our day hikes on camping trips.
I may be old by some measurements, but I can still do most things I did decades ago. I must temper this with the fact I have been lucky to inherit good genes, been fortunate not to develop any disease, and never been involved in any sort of serious accident. Good luck is nothing to discount! However, at 75, I am beginning to notice I am not as fast nor as strong as I once was. It is a reminder that we don’t live forever.
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Life Expectancy
There are several tables on the internet that reveal I have only about 4 years left to live, with something around 78.8 years being the life expectancy of a male in the United States. What this actually means is complicated and confusing, so there is no need to try and dissect all the data and actuary tables.
And there is certainly no reason to contemplate or worry about these tables. Fact is, the end is not far off. It might be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or even sometime in the next decade or beyond.
What I Know for Sure
Two things: I have lived most of my life already and like all humans I will die. My demise will be sometime in the somewhat near future. These things I cannot change or control.
What I can control is what I do each of those remaining days. It would be foolish to cram-pack each coming day full of adventures and to fulfill some nebulous “To Do List” of things to accomplish. The thing is, I have lived a good life. As I wrote over 10 years ago I don’t have a Bucket List. To me, living a good life would preclude assembling a bucket list of things to do “sometime” in the future.
I shall continue to enjoy my hobbies of reading, backpacking, camping, astronomy and stamp collecting. All of which have been a part of my life for over 60 years, except astronomy which has been a meager 55 year endeavor.
More important than hobbies is the time I spend with my most awesome wife, and watching my kids as they create their own good life raising their own children.
I’m Slowing Down
Elevation Gains
When hiking with friends, all of whom are younger than me, I can still easily keep up with them on fairly level terrain. But longish elevation gains are a different story. I can keep up with them on hills only if I train quite a bit ahead of time.
The best training is actual hiking, not spending hours in a windowless gym on mechanical contraptions. Yes, you can spend less time in a gym than actually walking obtaining similar physical fitness results.
Over the decades I’ve used the local mountains as my outdoor gym. I wrote about it back in 2017, Mt San Jacinto Cheat Sheet. The challenge I’m facing is I need to spend more and more time hiking to stay in shape and do the kind of hikes as in the past, which is becoming more difficult each passing year.
One hike I’ve stopped doing the Cactus to Clouds Trail near our house. It just takes too much conditioning to remain in shape and no matter how much I train, I was getting slower each year. The reason I’ve stopped is the hike is no longer fun. Here are a couple trip reports I wrote years ago:
Downhills
For those who ran Cross Country in high school or college, a good coach would have taught you to hold your place on the uphills and to pass on the downhills. Passing on the downhills allows you to leverage gravity to your advantage.
Backpacking isn’t a race. However, it is a fact of walking life that when you go uphill you will soon need to go downhill. Thus slower walking uphill can be compensated by faster walking on the other side of the hill. Of course going downhill requires attention to balance and balance is really a function of quick reflexes. Sadly, quick reflexes diminish with age. I now have to be more careful, and go slower, when hiking the downhills. This is especially important for me since most of my backpacking trips are solo. I wrote about it last year:
Falls by seniors are in the top ten reasons for death.
These facts are not a reason to stop backpacking or to even stop my solo backpacking trips. They are just a reminder to be more careful and to engage in regular exercise to improve muscle strength and balance.
Upper Body Strength
This is the area I have noticed the most decline for me. Last month I did a hike that included travel through a small slot canyon. There were a couple sections that were granite pour-overs, which required me to pull myself up while climbing with my feet. It was somewhat difficult. I had hiked this route several times during the past 20 years or so, and my decline in strength was obvious to me. Something I’ll need to work on and, at the same time, realize I’ll never be as strong as I once was and my strength will continue to decline. All I can do is slow down the decline.
Is There A Backpacking End Date For Me?
Yes and No. I will continue for as long as it is enjoyable. When it is no longer fun, it will be time to quit. Many people continue to backpack into their 80s. Some things I have done or am prepared to do:
- Reduce weight: I started doing this nearly 20 years ago when I moved to some really ultralight gear. Since then I have placed more importance on durability along with light weight.
- Recognize limitations: that’s what this post is about. I realize the physical limitations the aging process presents. Pack weight becomes more important each succeeding year, and it isn’t feasible to think I can keep up with younger backpackers.
- Backpacking destinations: I’m not going to ever hike the Cactus to Clouds trail again. My focus now is interesting and manageable locations. It also means less mileage per day and less demanding terrain.
- Stay in shape: For me, it means walking at least an hour everyday among other exercises. Bike riding is also in the mix.
Backpacking Isn’t My Life
I am familiar with many folks for whom backpacking is an outsized part of their life. Some spend a good portion of every year thru-hiking long trails. This isn’t me. Oh, I did a couple 6 month long trips when I was in my early 20s. But my life is much more well-rounded.
Earlier I mentioned that if I train a lot for hikes with lots of elevation gains I can keep up with my younger friends. But there is a trade-off here: the more time I spend exercising, the less time I will have available to do the other things I enjoy. On the other hand, exercising more may extend my life expectancy. But then, one of my friends, who had run many marathons and was in great shape, died of a heart attack while exercising on a treadmill at home. And there we go: no matter what we do, we can’t predict the future.
So, as with everything else I do, moderation will be the guiding factor. I will continue to do the things I enjoy each day and not worry about what tomorrow may or may not hold.