I’ve decided to create a new category for the blog called Senior Moments for backpackers. Anything related to becoming older that impacts, changes, limits, or forces me to make changes as I get older may become something to write about.

2018 is now “in the books.” It’s a new year and I can’t change the past. Many outdoor bloggers summarize the previous year with their favorite gear (an opportunity to insert ads of said gear to generate income) or summarize the highlights of their year. I’ll do neither in this post.

2018 was the year I became a senior citizen. There really isn’t a set age when one becomes a “senior.” For some it is a state of mind and they start acting like old people in their ‘40s or ‘50s. The reality is that at some point in time all of us will be unable to do what we could do in our youth. Walking (my definition of backpacking) is something most of us can do for most of our lives. Last year I turned 68 and on a couple trips with younger people I couldn’t maintain my normal pace. I was fine on fairly level terrain and going down the hills. But on moderately long elevation gains there were times I fell behind my younger walking partners, although I could still keep up with some of them. I also found that during the year I could still keep up with my friends if I trained ahead of time for a hike that entailed lots of elevation gains.