How to handle the physical and psychological issues of aging?

There are a lot of older paddlers on this forum, and all the rest will get there much sooner than you expect. I'd appreciate a serious discussion, with as much candor and personal examples that we can muster, about how to cope with the physical problems, psychological fears and social isolation that attend old age, and how they insidiously interfere with canoe tripping.

Because . . .

. . . I'm not coping very well even though my issues aren't yet life threatening or significantly debilitating. I'm mostly feeling sorry for myself, because my new self at 74 ain't my old self, or even my recent self of my 60's.

So, two months ago I get an email from my friend Mr. McCrea. After translating it from Maryland-Scottish-beat-around-the-bushist, he essentially was asking me, "Hey, are you still alive?" I didn't respond for almost two months because, even though I am alive, I didn't know how to explain my current life.

I haven't posted here for a few years, mainly because I haven't canoed but twice in five years. I haven't canoed because of an inexorable accumulation of little things that attend the aging process. Nothing major or terminal. But an accumulation that no longer can be ignored.

Physical things: Back pain, hip pain, other random joint pains, prostate issues, high blood pressure, high LDL, inflammatory bowel disease, a lot of weight gained because of corticosteroids taken for 10 months for the IBD (now hopefully in remission). Nothing that's yet going to kill me, but enough that it's become unthinkable to portage weight or even walk long distances. Enough discomfort to make me avoid a compound back stroke. To load my canoe on top of my van.

Social isolation things: Retired for many years, I no longer have professional colleagues. With the exception of my wife, who was never into canoeing or camping, all my family are dead or living 1500 miles away. Virtually all my friends, paddling and otherwise, are similarly dead or otherwise gone. The emails I get from my few remaining friends from my now defunct canoe clubs of 20-40 years ago are usually obituaries. This all results in . . .

Psychological things: Feeling sorry and maybe depressed. More relevantly for this forum: a loss in the joy of canoeing, of looking forward to canoeing, and even to posting about canoeing.

As recently as five years ago I would have thought such a loss of interest to be impossible. Canoeing was my life's passion since I was eight years old in a Grumman in Maine. For many years, I was oh-so-selfishly proud that I went whitewater canoeing every weekend from March to November. Leaving my wife and kids at home. Abandoning them, really. Such was the joy, the addiction, of canoeing. I missed my daughter's ballet recital to teach a course in solo canoeing. I missed my 25th wedding anniversary to lead a trip on the Moose, Dead and Penobscot rivers in Maine. At age 59 I quit my job and drove from Connecticut to California to buy a custom made Hawaiian outrigger canoe (va'a), and traveled 10,000 miles over eight weeks all over the USA and Canada, all alone and sleeping in my van. I loved, loved, loved it! Even at age 69 I was portaging miles of heavy loads in high heat alone on solo trips in the Adirondacks.

No longer. The last five years have been a collapse like Oliver Wendell Holmes' Wonderful One-Hoss Shay. It now all seems so hard, so painful, so lonely . . . even so scary. Yes, I'm now afraid to do the things that were once my joie de vivre. Afraid of death, I suppose, or of being ill or injured in the wilderness. Even though I've long thought that I'd prefer to die on a canoe trip -- dust to dust, water to water.

Snap out of it, Glenn.

I just know there are older folks here who have continued to actively canoe with much bigger problems than mine. Or even younger folks with physical or other problems. I'd like to hear some experiences, some thoughts, some successes, even some failures. It's an issue that we'll all face, sooner or later. Thanks, anyway, for reading this lugubrious fulmination.

First off Glenn it is good to see you posting, your conversations, experiences and knowledge shared here has been missed.

Last week I was up in Maine on a lake base camping with a friend and it because although we used to be trippers, living for the WW and isolation of the rivers and places we traveled we had long conversations about at our ages and aliments were now restricted to what we could do without putting others or ourselves in a bad way. I have had very long talks with myself about what I can now do and one moment I say yes I can do it and the next with a twinge in my back I know the reality is no I can't for now. Hell, I even threw shame out the window after my back problems and have no hesitations about asking a complete stranger at the put in/ take out for help lifting my hull off/on the car.

As far as paddling friends I used to have a few but life, not mine, theirs with kids, changed a lot of stuff. I'm basically down to one local friend and with the amount of OT he works most plans for paddling don't happen, I'd love to get OT! Others seem to drop of the paddling scene. That weighs heavily on my mind.

I think it takes a lot of courage to bring this topic up, most paddlers I know are not young and aliments are frequent. Some deal with it better than I and that works for them but for me that little doubt that lives in the back of my mind seems have a loud voice when I'm trying to justify another trip as if to say you can do it but the body is the dictator.

dougd

Glenn, you could be me in another decade. I have most of the maladies you describe, but at earlier stages. I'm officially retired now, and I'm already missing the social contacts I used to take for granted. My dogs just aren't providing the stimulating conversation I expected from them. My kids live far away, and if I get a text from one of them, it's the highlight of my day. Now I have bowel bleeding and elevated BP. All this is bringing my daily mood down. More than anything, the lack of energy keeps me from doing what I want to do. If I could just get a good night's sleep, it might get better, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

I'm not feeling sorry for myself...well, maybe a little. It's tough knowing that the clock is running and feeling like crap on those rare sunny days.

I have Maine on my bucket list, and I'maybe we can get together to wet a line or a paddle when I pass through Conn.

Glenn,

I do do not know you, and I have no words of wisdom. But your post touched me, and I thought I should respond.

I will be 72 next month, and still feel in control of my life, although not as buoyantly optimistic as I once was. I know there are only a limited number of healthy years left. But we all know that. It is the inescapable cycle of life. I have had plantar fasciitis since I was 25. Whenever I rise up from kneeling in my canoe, I gimp around for a few steps. I accept that. It is what it is. I have had peripheral neuropathy in both hands for 30 years. When paddling hard, particularly solo, they sometimes seize up. This has been particularly troublesome when entering a difficult rapid. I accept that too. I have hypertension, and take medication. This puts me in a very large group of peers. No big deal. Oh, and it is no longer easy to throw the canoe up onto my shoulders. This last summer, while on the Yukon River for two weeks, I sometimes asked my wife, Kathleen, to help me carry the canoe up a steep bank. This was a big concession to aging for me. But we were still out there, and found satisfaction in what for us, was a scaled down canoe trip. No portages.

I have generally pursued different chapters in my life. I grew up in California, and was a student at the University of California at Berkeley in the sixties. Intellectually stimulating times for me. But California was too populous. I needed a change. I needed a new chapter. So I moved to British Columbia in 1975, and revelled in its generally unspoiled, isolated landscapes. Backpacking at first, which ultimately led to canoeing. This led to our “discovery” of the Northwest Territories. Another chapter.

After 27 years at the University of British I tired of the politics and backstabbing. I needed a change. We took early retirement, sold our home in North Vancouver, and moved to an acre on the ocean on Pender Island. Another chapter. I believed I would stay there forever. Kept telling myself to buy a plot in the graveyard. But I never got around to it. Good thing, too. After five years we tired of all the rain and grey skies, and moved to rural Saskatchewan, primarily to enjoy the beauty of winter. We have been here 11 years, and still like our property of 565 acres. But I’m starting to miss being able to go to good restaurants. And, maintaining our 10 km (6 miles) of trails, plus a dozen outbuildings, is starting to be hard work. My legs are wearing out. I can’t even keep up walking with Kathleen anymore. This is ok, though. She always comes back.

We went to Montreal for one wee two years ago, and loved the dynamics of that city. Lots of good restaurants, cafes and bistros within easy walking distance. My plan now, when I really can’t take care of the property anymore, is to sell everything here, and move to one of the splendid Montreal neighbourhoods. I am certainly not going to miss those dang machines that are always breaking down just when you need them. The timing has to be just right, though. I have to be too infirm to manage the property, but healthy enough to sit at the sidewalk cafe, enjoying a glass of wine, with Kathleen, my best friend. I think it will happen. I look forward to this next chapter.

I have two children from a first marriage. A daughter in Denver, and a son in Portland, Oregon. They are a long way away from here in Saskatchewan, and will be even farther away from Montreal. We see each other a couple of times a year. We are all happy with that. I witnessed my father’s physical decline. I did not like to see it. I hope my children never see mine.

Thanks for the Holmes poem. Here’s one by Dylan Thomas.

https://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC0000...oem_Do_not_go_gentle_into_that_good_night.pdf

Thanks for sharing Glenn.

I'm nine years behind you but only found canoe tripping 12 years ago.

I'm not much of a writer so the long story short, last year I blew out my knee, which I twisted again last month on a carry in Algonquin and had to bail out a 1/3 of the way thru the trip.
I went there trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the last chapter of my life. I had just quit my wooding worker job that was more just something to do then an income also facing the recent death of my father, my mother starting to feel her age at 95 and facing a biopsy on my prostate. I wanted to get away for a long trip to think and had just barely got the noise of civilization out of my head when I caught the root.

I also need to snap out of it, my doctor doesn't think there is too much damage to the knee so as soon as I'm cleared from prostate surgery I'm going to test it on the Allagash Lake Loop and end up on the Mud Pond Carry. I can't go into the winter with just an unfinished trip and a couple of weekend paddles.

Glenn, I think it is great that you are posting and bringing up this topic. I think there's a lot of paddlers who are either dealing with the things you raised or are thinking about them.

I turned 65 this past January. From the late 70s to the mid 90s I was a licensed guide and did a few stints as an assistant forest ranger on wilderness patrol in the Adirondacks. Most weekends and vacations were spent paddling, hiking or backpacking in the woods. This pretty much ended with the birth of our first child in the mid 90s. After a couple of years, we would take her hiking with us, but I was fortunate to get out once or twice a year for a real wilderness experience. After the birth of my son 5 years later, the opportunities to get outdoors stopped, as he was a multi-sport athlete and all our free time was centered around that. It was fine, lots of fun and we made new friends. This changed last year, when my son went off to college. I now have more time available for my outdoor pursuits and I have been trying to maximize these opportunities. My pursuits are all solo, as my wife and friends have no interest whatsoever. Fortunately my wife supports, or at least tolerates, my trips. In January I put the backpacking and canoe camping trips I want to do into a Google calendar and share it with her and my (now) adult children. I may not do every trip, but I have been able to spend a lot more time outdoors. I sometimes feel a sense of urgency to take advantage of the time that is available now, as it will not be long until grandchildren come into my life. That will probably result in another drop-off in the amount of time I spend outdoors. I also feel some sense of urgency to do these things while I am physically able to do so. I am looking forward to retiring in a few years and with some luck, I will be have more time to devote to the outdoor pursuits I enjoy so much.

You've got a few years on me. I've had some physical challenges that have kept me from paddling for months at a time. One thing that helped me was joining the local YMCA. I think that everyone you see there is inspirational. I sometimes hold the door for crippled folks or folks much older than you and I. They have all kinds of exercise machines that let you exercise using the parts that still work OK (I have one bad knee that I try to avoid overusing). I've started swimming and that seems to help reduce joint pain. If your state is marijuana friendly you might get a license and try micro-dosing or CBD products to give you some pain relief without the side effects of prescription drugs (just do something different!). It sounds like a little paddling would be good for your soul. Feel free to pop over to SW Michigan and we can spend some time on the water. You don't have to portage heavy loads to have fun on the water. I'm going to Wisconsin tomorrow to paddle and I will happily stay in a motel. Maybe you have a good reason to buy a new boat....something way under 30 pounds like an all carbon Swift Shearwater or Prospector 14. Come on over and let's go paddling and BS about paddling.

Physical issues....one heart attack, one stroke, my fair share of arthritis. I have been told I have sexy knees though...they still bend. when I pick stuff up. The heart and stroke issues have left me with a lot less stamina and some pretty poor short term memory. Fortunately I am stubborn to a fault and keep on trying.

social isolation....I am retired too and dont miss the miserable b*st*rds that I worked for. I do miss the young corporals that I worked with and in a few years they will have all scattered to the corners of the country and out of my life. My family are getting older too, and are 2200 miles away. my daughter and step daughters are here so that helps. I even have a new GFthat likes to paddle even more than I do. She is also banged up even worse than me though so we dont paddle very far or very long...just often.

Psychologically I worry about being alone, that is not good to think about. I worry about my friends when I am gone...how will they cope with the loss. This is not conceit...I am very helpful...the go to person for a lot of things. My greatest fear is being incapacitated by another stroke and being unable to do even the little that I can now.

I am only 60, and very recently retired but I can see the curtain coming down already. Damnit, I had a lot of things planned yet. I may have to risk the solo trips because there are just so few others as insane as myself who really enjoy the outdoors any more.

Welcome back Glen, I hope this is the start of things turning around for you. My plan for the future is to paddle a big boat for stability and keep it on a trailer. As far as adventure goes, when I'm too old to trip I think a week or two at a cabin on a nice lake would help fill the void. I recently spent two weeks at my cottage on a little lake in the Poconos and was so immersed in nature, wildlife and paddling that I had the same kind of happy satisfied feeling that I get after a trip.

This may be heresy, especially for guys/gals on this site who are, or once were, proud, independent solo trippers ... but would you consider going guided trips ?

I started going on guided trips because I took up canoeing/camping later than most on this site (in my late 40s) and needed to learn how it was done. Now I can and do go on solo trips several times a year but I also still enjoy a guided trip once a year because of the group dynamics.

On my most recent guided trip in June, there three guys in their 70s, all of whom had their physical limitations compared to some of the younger folks on the trip (I'm 55 and relatively healthy). One man had endured major cancer surgery. The list of organs removed was a lot longer than the list of organs still inside him. He had a colostomy bag. On doctor's orders, he wasn't supposed to pick up anything over 15 lbs. He violated that order a bit, but he wasn't able to pick up the wannigans or portage a canoe. I talked to him a great deal. He was a former canoeing instructor/guide, who had tripped all over the U.S. and Canada, but he simply could not do wilderness trips by himself anymore. Some of what our guides did grated on him because he would have done it differently. But going on a guided trip allowed him to continue doing what he enjoyed while the work that was too much for him was done by others. He helped as much as he could with the camp chores but he had his limitations and had to accept help from the rest of us. He expressed some embarrassment that he wasn't able to chip in as much as the wanted and that he needed help, but nobody on the trip thought less of him. He was a great guy and I'm glad I got a chance to meet him.

Regarding social isolation because the family lives far away or doesn't canoe, friends died, and you and your ex-colleagues are retired and scattered: Going on a guided trip also means meeting new people. After week in the wilderness will a stranger you will know them better than some neighbors you have lived next door to for 20 years but whom you only see at backyard barbecues a couple times a year. And when you get back you can keep in touch via email, text message or, gasp, Facebook. For all the negative things about it, Facebook is now the best way to reconnect with former friends and colleagues if you are feeling socially isolated.

Just my $0.02.

Best,

Alan

While not as "experienced" (I refuse to say old) as some of you, I have many of the same issues! Ten years ago I had a massive heart attack (I coded), which was the start of a long downhill slide. there was enough damage to sap my stamina, and it forced a carrer change from a very high stress carrer as a construction manager and telecom technician, cable splicer ,and trainer, to a lower stress warehouse job. Then one day there was a snap in my back that drove me to my knees and left my legs useless. After a year of living on the couch, epidural cortisone injections, therapy, and the requisite 60 lb weight gain, I learned to walk again, but developed diabetes from the meds, lack of activity, and extra weight.
BUT I also learned that rather than giving up, that I was still able to enjoy a significantly altered life- no more solo trips into the bush, but I can still do tandem, no 9 hour paddling marathons, but I can still paddle for a couple of hours before the pain is too intense, no more heavy packs or canoes, but I can still (very slowly) portage my ultra-light, No more heavy WW, but I can still do swifts and more technical cl2's and 3's
The biggest change is that instead of going A to B in a hurry, now I'm forced to "slow down and drink the coffee," which has actually opened up a whole new world that I haven't seen since I was a kid on family canoe trips- now instead of flying by and seeing huge vistas, I cruise by and look at the individual rocks and trees, instead of getting up early, downing a coffee and bowl of oatmeal, paddling until dusk, and downing a quick dinner before going to bed, I get up, take a coffee down to the shore and watch the world wake up. Now I stop for a proper lunch instead of cheese, pepperettes, and an energy bar. I arrive in camp in the mid-afternoon, and take my time setting up while cooking a REAL dinner.
So, while my life isn't necessarily worse, It definitely is slower, and I'm seeing a lot more that I ever did before, and more importantly- I'm appreciating life a lot more now

Glenn, I haven't been posting much myself since I haven't been able to canoe for several years now. Getting older than dirt but still hope to be able to get back onto the water at some point so trying to keep in shape for that.

WRT to overcoming the physical and psychological problems, staying active is at least a partial remedy to the loss and depression. Without that, it can be a pretty dark world. I ended up jumping on an old bike and cycling around town... always felt better afterwards. Shopping, photography, events, good weather, any excuse, it isn't paddling but it worked and partially filled in the loss. And getting things done, there's satisfaction in that.

Just something else that worked for me, your fix might be different. Some scientist once said that depression is affected by a lack of the right chemicals working in the brain, and staying active will help keep your body producing them (serotonin, endorphins?... clueless)

I'm reminded of the Shawshank Redemption with Andy Dufresne saying, either you get busy living or you get busy dying. Maybe kind of brutal to put it that way, but I think it's true. Find something else that works, do something that creates some satisfaction and there's a good chance you'll find that the blues have disappeared. Give it a chance, anyway... all the best.

Rick

Glenn MacGrady said:

There are a lot of older paddlers on this forum, and all the rest will get there much sooner than you expect. I'd appreciate a serious discussion, with as much candor and personal examples that we can muster, about how to cope with the physical problems, psychological fears and social isolation that attend old age, and how they insidiously interfere with canoe tripping.

Click to expand...

Glenn, this kind of thoughtful discussion is why you have been missed on Canoe Trippping. Some personal answers and lugubrious fulmination.

Physical things: I have my share of creeping physical disabilities, aches and pains and health problems. For tripping purposes the worst of which is arthritis (and weight gain). I can still rack a boat and get it down to a put in, although I use a cart for even short easy carries to the water. I can still get into the boat, and paddle for some distance, if not as hours long durably as I once could. Getting out of the boat has become increasingly challenging, and doing so while being whacked by waves or at an awkward landing has become nearly impossible, which eliminates some landings and campsites.

Social isolation: I don’t feel a sense of isolation. My wife and sons still paddle, although we may now get together only once or twice a year. I have admittedly, and not unhappily, become more of a hermit. For 25 years I led at least one club/group trip each month; when I stopped keeping track of such things I had paddled with 800+ different people (and 35 dogs)

Those were interesting times and made fine memories, but I am happier now paddling solo, or with a companion or two from a very select group of trusted friends. I still do a (smaller) group trip or two each year, and that is plenty. The hardest part of that is explaining to people that “No, I really don’t want to get together to paddle”.

My social interactions now more commonly involve shop visitors, either straight up visitors, or working on boats and gear with friends. Even there it is a very select group of people whose shop skills and behaviors mesh well with mine. Hell, even the occasional shop worker whose sloppy behaviors drive me crazy make for an amusing (if exhausting) day.

And I’m a bit of a hermit there as well; I love playing by myself in the shop, all the more if that play is boat or gear work. On the psychological/mental health side as long as I am doing things that bring me joy and challenge my skills/keep me learning a bit, I’m content.

Psychological things: While I don’t paddle as frequently as I once did, or undertake long challenging trips, the joy of paddling is still there, and simply being out on the water in a small boat lifts my spirits in old familiar ways.

I day paddle more that I trip or glamper camp, although even that not as much as I once did. Half of my homeriver is now occluded with strainers that will never be removed, and I’m not going on a 5 mile trip with a half dozen huge strainers to drag around or balance atop, something I once delighted in doing, if in a friend’s misfortune schadenfreude kind of way.

And, for reasons unknown, I find less pleasure in the couple or three easy paddling venues close to home; I have been there thousands of times over 50 years, and while it’s never the same river twice, it ain’t all that different the 200[SUP]th[/SUP] time. Not an everyman affliction, I have a friend who paddles the same 4 or 5 mile stretch of not very interesting river once a week. Maybe “reasons known”; I need something more than just the physical act of paddling a canoe to hold my interest.

For that familiar on-water satisfaction lakeside car camping provides much of my paddling release. Truck camping actually, with a ready bedroom under the cap, so I need not even set up a tent. And, again, the hermit bit; I do not much enjoy even a lovely lakeside State Park site, with people and voices and other boats, as easily as I once did, although “enjoy” is and always was more “tolerate”. So that is more an off-season escape.

Glenn MacGrady said:

I haven't posted here for a few years, mainly because I haven't canoed but twice in five years.

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I hope the “aging out” population of trippers do not stop sharing what they know and have learned. That accumulated wisdom would be a loss to the community, and, ya know sonny, back in my day we had to paddle a Grumman with our Feather Brands paddles and horse collar PFDs. Upriver both ways.

scoutergriz said:

The biggest change is that instead of going A to B in a hurry, now I'm forced to "slow down and drink the coffee," I cruise by and look at the individual rocks and trees, instead of getting up early, downing a coffee and bowl of oatmeal, paddling until dusk, and downing a quick dinner before going to bed, I get up, take a coffee down to the shore and watch the world wake up I arrive in camp in the mid-afternoon
I'm seeing a lot more that I ever did before, and more importantly- I'm appreciating life a lot more now

Click to expand...

Amen to that Griz. I have always preferred camp dawdling to making miles and moving camp every day. Always been a quiet watcher and listener, slowly drinking in what is there, letting the place come fully to me instead of racing on every day only half seeing or appreciating.

More so now than ever; if I have made a comfortable camp in a beautiful quiet place I may not wander more than 100 yards from camp over the course of a day. So much to see and do there and, oh look, there’s a hammock and a book.

I retired at age 62 in 2010. Before that I was lucky enough to get a lot of vacation time and have an understanding wife which allowed me to take many week long or longer canoe trips, sometimes twice a season to Canada. Many weekend trips to NY's ADKs too.

At 62, when I retired, I built a barn from timbers I milled on a portable sawmill from my property. When I finished I was in the best shape I had been in for years and that August I spent 2 weeks in Woodland Caribou PP, portaging a leaky wood canvas Pal that weighed a ton by trips end. I started going on week long canoe in hunting trips to Lows Lake in NY's ADK's with my wall tent, a 13-14 mile paddle in in late October/early November and rarely saw anyone during the week. I even started going in the spring for 5-6 days with the wall tent, twice being the first to overnight on Lows that year. I did both spring and fall trips for 5 years.

I spent 1968 and some of 69 in Vietnam, first a grunt and finished up as a door gunner. For this I am entitled to some pretty darn good healthcare from the VA. I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2013, cured and then 2 years later with prostrate cancer, and the VA acknowledges it was a direct result of the heavy agent orange sprayed in my area of operations when I was in the infantry in Vietnam. It was a close call, if my VA doctor hadn't caught my elevation in my PSA #'s I wouldn't be here today. I had radiation on my prostrate and so far so good, but the side effects of the radiation has changed my life. I was on a testosterone blocker for two years, it sapped my strength and played havoc with my general outlook on life. There are a few other side effects of radiation that have really altered my lifestyle and will for the rest of my life. I also began to find it difficult to walk any distance and now climbing a flight of stairs is a major effort. A bone scan discovered that my hamstring muscles are being replaced by fat and a muscle biopsy is planned for later this month. It's still a mystery at this time, but it could be a thing called Radiation Fibrosis.

During these health issues I did a few more trips, one amazing 10 days solo on the crown land Marshall Lake circuit, and back again to Marshall Lake for a group trip with some really nice folks. All thanks to Memaquay. I did my last trip two years ago with a good friend 7 years my senior, Gerald Guay into LaVerendrye in Quebec.

Two years ago my VA counselor advised me to volunteer somewhere to help ease my mind, so I ended up at a local equestrian barn where half the horses are rescues. I go there every Sunday morning and clean as many stalls as my strength will allow, sometimes 7-8 if I feel good. I go there mid week and mow fields and help out where I can, all as a volunteer. The woman who owns the place is the hardest working person I can ever remember meeting, and she turns away potential borders to provide her 11 rescue horses a good home. She has become a real inspiration for me and I consider myself lucky to have ever met her.

I learned I feel so good around horses that I ended up adopting two one year old filly mustangs from the BLM. They where taken off the range in Wyoming and delivered to me a year ago this past May. I built two run ins and installed 800 foot of fence for their paddock. So far so good, adopting two horses for the first time at 70 years old sounds crazy but I figured it was worth the risk for my health and the well being of these two animals. Many mustangs (over 40,000) languish in holding pens today. I spend a lot of time with them and I really believe I did the right thing, and I think the like me as much as I like them.

So, in my case, some pretty great health care, some good advice, a woman who has become my mentor and the willingness to change my lifestyle has helped me a lot. I have not picked up a paddle in 2 years and I'm not sure if a trip is in the cards anymore. I have started working on canoes again so that's a big plus for me and I dream of a portage free trip around a big lake in Canada but I'm not sure if it will ever happen.

I just noticed a beaver had began rebuilding the dam on a pond down the road, when they flood that pond it makes for a great little place to dip a paddle. Just another positive I guess.

Good to hear from you Glenn. You have brought a wealth of canoeing knowledge to this forum. And many of us have benefitted from you having shared.

Getting older is definitely not for wimps. Takes way more intestinal fortitude and determination, to do now, what was my old normal.

Adapting from a brain that thinks I can still do what used to be, to accepting what the current body is capable of, is a constant battle. And often stubbornness to acknowledge, puts me into jeopardy territory. Especially when going solo, which is still my preference.

While still relatively healthy at 66, I have a back that will on occasion, decide to bite me, hard. Finally found a great physical therapist that finally diagnosed, and got me back to being pain free.
Been a couple of years since the last critical back episode, and I can now tell when I get complacent about following my exercises that keep me vertical. But the memories of being immobile and in pain, have not faded. Caution has become a norm now, and that, in and of itself, has altered and tempered exuberance.

I am not retired, own my own business, and rarely find time to do extended trips. Two to three night trips are my norm. Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi get the most of my tripping, due to simply not being able to leave my clients for more than a few days. Rivers and bayous with strainers, as opposed to portages. Because of not having to consider shouldering a canoe for distance, I have devised several methods of preserving my back, as well as a plan for the "what if".

Always give my bride a float plan.
I have recently been using a trailer, as the top of my E150 with racks is seemingly getting taller as I age.
Now carry a z-drag to assist getting around strainers.
Shorten trip length to allow for a more leisurely experience.
More time in camp relaxing and cooking, and general lollygagging.
Including an ice chest for better meals, and ice in a beverage.
A proper camp chair for recovering while in camp.
Most importantly though, and I post this with some reluctance, due to the stigma attached, I take my square stern 16' canoe more and more. It is rated for 850lb. and up to a five hp.
Depending on the trip, I will either take my little Suzuki 2 hp outboard, or will throw in a large deep cycle marine battery and a very efficient trolling motor. I can hear the collective moans now, but most times neither motors get utilized. I still prefer to paddle. When they do get used, it is usually to return back to my vehicle after spending too much time lollygagging on the final afternoon of a trip, trying to beat darkness, or simply to outrun a pop-up thunderstorm that was not predicted, and turns severe quickly. Rarely do they get above idle speed, unless weather dictates.
They are simply there to get my ailing carcass back to my vehicle or to the next take out, should desperate measures be needed.

Don't give up Glenn. Adapt and overcome. Even if getting out has become too difficult, share some of those memories with those of us who haven't been able to take the great trips.
I still think your SRT is such a great example of what I wish to one day be able to experience. That Sir, in my opinion, is what a proper canoe rig should be.

Best of luck to you on getting a paddle wet.

I am retired too and dont miss the miserable b*st*rds that I worked for

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Ha ha ha, me too. I don't miss people at all, and am really enjoying not being around them. I long for social isolation. I'm only 57, but recently went through heart trouble that has me rethinking my canoe tripping days. Next five days I will be canoeing and portage clearing, first amount of real work since the hardware upgrade, so I'll see how I fare.

However, motoring around in my square stern has replaced actually paddling, I'm really enjoying it. My buddy was looking at the big freighter today, he wants us to take it next year and go from Calstock to Ogoki on the Albany river and back. His sister in law routinely does the round trip in a freighter with a 9.9 in 8 days. That would be a lot of fun! Going to try to find a way to buy an ATV at the end of the summer too. I've come to realize that its not about how you get out there, its just about getting out there, any way you can.

My plan was to die young, but I seem to have missed my opportunity.

Ever since Glenn posted this topic, I have not been able to get that Mary Hopkins song out of my head. Many of us old guys certainly remember “Those Were The Days”

Lyrics below.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/those-were-the-days-lyrics-mary-hopkins.html

Also perhaps relevant is the observation by George Bernard Shaw that “Youth is too valuable to be wasted on the young.”

Shame on me! I have been thinking of you Glenn.. Wondering if your mortal time had come.. I could have asked instead of wondering! It seems to be true.. 68 is the age of breakage and the needed and hated doctorage.
Started for me in 2014 with cancer and a heart attack.. No cardiac damage and six months of enduring attempts by my oncologist to kill me with out success ( "I am trying my best to almost kill you") via nasty chemicals ( though unlike Robins supposed to be smart and target the bad cells) But I determined to take a canoe trip in 2015 after that chemo nonsense was over. I picked an easy Little Tupper -Round Pond trip. I was so happy to be able to do it.
But my knee was killing me.. Off to the various orthopods who all clucked over x rays.. Not only the knee but both hips? WHAT? They don't bother me.. So I got the pesky knee taken care of..Oct 2016 No more screaming pain.. But the 130 bend I got was not enough to allow me to kneel comfortably. I spent a winter in the barn on the floor in the canoe trying to bend it.. The ortho said its not meant to bend that far.. WHAT? Oh what I was good at was eating... that did not help.
So now in a tandem canoe for 2017.. I was able to do the Bowron Lakes Loop ( we did a nine week road trip to BC and AK and YT) but there is nary a rock to be found on that route.. Yes potholes and I was an idiot for bringing a York Box.. Its like a wannigan. Empty it weighs 10 lbs. Had I actually PAID ATTENTION to the Park Brochure I would have learned that I could have carried the food in a soft pack.. Each portage end and campsite had a steel bear locker. But I digress. The load in the canoe must be less than 60 lbs. Because of that dang wannigan we were ten pounds over. Not having small numerous portage packs but rather two big ones and the damnable orange box I got to carry a pack.. About 45 lbs. My knee was ok with it.. Thank god.

So we come to 2018.. We went to Iceland so a long canoe trip wasn't going to happen.. We staycationed in Maine and as I was losing limberness. a pesky hip now we just did the Lobster Lake to Chesuncook float. The water was low and the weather hot .. I was not wanting to portage.. This was a sportier trip than I expected but unlike my friend Alsg we managed to not bang anything.. sheer luck.

Hobbled off to the ortho.. Said I had to do a cortisone shot first then come back in WTH? Six months? So in May I was approved for another bionic part.. a hip.. The Catch.. wait till August ( yes the surgeon is that popular)

So that little party is in two weeks.. With another recuperation of up to a year.. dang. DAM. I want to go on some sort of canoe trip this fall.. Maybe a hammock on Lobster Lake..
Meanwhile I wait for the other hip to rebel
This piece of meat is tired of the butcher shop.
The upshot is I identify with all of what Glenn is saying.. We need a canoe party with rocking recliners a nice fire and some good Scotch.

I have a disabled parking sticker and for my birthday( 73rd) I got a disabled canoe ramp.. We live on a lake with docks.. Our community dock is a floater and pretty high so it requires some athletic ability to get into a canoe and ( more importantly) hauling out.

And I do appreciate a good paddling partner for our little day trips on our 800 acre lake ( connects with another 1300 acre lake via a short river). Of course that partner is solo too.

We just got back from hanging out on Mohegan Island.. No paddling but hiking eating and yep porch rocking.

Because of the easy ocean access we have and the free island camping on some Maine Islands, the Monarch is my hope. It can be single bladed but with apologies to Glenn and Mem sometimes the ocean swells call for a double.

At this point I don't care how I get out with what sort of paddle. To get out is the key. I really do feel much better after even going out on a lake in my neighborhood.. Mental health is probably the most important for us who are getting closer to that door.

At least I am not like four of my senior neighbors. They bought jet skis so they could solo cruise the lake.. Yes at four mph.. They said they don't have enough company for a pontoon boat and they no longer waterski so a PWC is perfect for them.. I have to say they do have paddle craft too but some have trouble with balance.

I am with Boatstall. Furniture has become not only appreciated but necessary.

I guess we're all on the same escalator, just on different treads.
At 63, I have definitely slowed down, but I believe the key is just don't stop!

When I was 29 years old, I was in peak physical shape, 165 lbs of lean muscle, 4% body fat, nothing could slow me down.
While commuting home on my bicycle, I was struck from behind by a pick up truck....the injuries were horrific, my life was forever changed by someone lighting a cigarette.
I nearly lost my lower left leg, it took many surgeries to become a vague semblance of my former self. I had to rely on my wife for everything, very difficult for me.
Obviously, I survived, but I would never be the man I was.

After a few years, I made my peace with it, accepting my new physical limitations. I gradually became active again in all my previous endeavors, but at a substantially lower level. And it was OK. I definitely gained a new perspective on life, which many don't realize until they're my current age.
So in reality, those months in the hospital so long ago were just training for dealing with aging.

I've been retired for 4 years now, and although I enjoyed my business partners and employee's company, I much prefer spending my time with My Darling Bride and my family.
Physical health is good, but I am losing strength, so be it.
Mental health is fine, I look forward to every single day. (Somehow I dodged a bullet, my father was institutionalized several times, my grandfather hung himself, as did an aunt, sister is an alcoholic and recovering addict) It's just genetic luck.

Glenn, I'm really glad you brought up this topic, and bared your soul. Hopefully, these responses may ease your burdens.
As I said, we're all on the same escaltor.