How to handle the physical and psychological issues of aging?

I will save you the gory details, but at 55, I have been having my own bout with cancer. I am in good shape otherwise, and after radiation, surgery, chemo cocktails, more surgery, should be "cancer-free" now, but I continue to get scans every three months. I haven't done any tripping since diagnosis two years ago, but I probably can get back on the horse now. I am planning to try some sort of trip this fall if my schedule allows.

I do a lot of walking in the area conservation lands with the dog. I find the walking to be very therapeutic. I highly recommend it, if you can manage to get out and about some!

I forgot to mention that in January 2017, months before my diagnosis, I made some major changes. I started getting more exercise and eating mostly vegetables. I dropped the equivalent of a bag of flour (nearly 30 lbs) and it was good. My thinking at the time was I wanted to avoid things down the road like adult on-set diabetes. Turns out that was the least of my worries. Anyway, I only bring it up because I have seen great benefits from changing my diet. I think dietary changes can help most everyone and I found it wasn't all that hard to do. The internet is a great source of healthy eating recipes.

Cheers,

Fitz

PaddlingPitt said:

I have generally pursued different chapters in my life.

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PP, those simple words struck me as a sound and healthy outlook, and a book reader’s way of looking forward to life’s “next” chapter. Skipping my long strange trip work chapters, which ranged from my homeless paid human guinea pig days to managing a large research facility, much of my life has involved paddling.

Birth to 16, childhood, first on the family farm, later in the suburbs, with a family camp on the Susquehanna. Between 8 and 16 I believe I was absent from that family camp on two weekends over the course of 8 years. Our canoes (and 3 Hp Johnson jonboat) were left at the riverside, ready to go.

And then some overlapping chapters: 16 to 28, footloose, often dirt poor and occasionally couch surfing (wasn’t a name for it then), but always with a job that allowed for an annual weeks/month long cross-country ramble. Those cross-country rambles were a big part of my early life, and appreciation education.

Early 20’s to 55-ish, monthly club trips, day trips, long weekenders, weekends of rivers, canoe orienteering challenges, oddball paddling games, rec racing. One “benefit” of that was a schedule of trips each year, distributed at the Christmas “Awards” ceremony, with dates and places. There wasn’t a good way to call a trip off, so we went whatever the weather. Good times, taught me a lot about quality gear and unnecessary suffering avoidance.

30 – 55, family tripping with my wife and sons. Sometimes just the four of us, sometimes accompanied by another family with like-aged kids, sometimes with the family along on crazy “cover-your-eyes-boys” club trips. My sons remarked at an early age that they had their school friends, and their canoeing friends.

35 -45, writing for Paddler, eventually specializing in their canoe and gear reviews. Awesome times, when friends could tell the missus “I’d love to help you pick out wall paper samples this weekend, but darned it I promised Mike I’d help test paddle and review some canoes”. I think my friends enjoyed it as much or more than I.

45 – 60, longer, more challenging trips with the family, usually just my four-some family. Or solo, or apart from family with one or two trusted companions.

Present chapter, easy-peezy outings, more often solo so I can go at whim and weather. Especially weather; those come-whatever-may club scheduled trips made for great memories, but if it is just me I can look at the forecast and, if it’s going to be too wet, too windy or even too dang hot, nah, I got time, I can wait. “Scheduled” trips can be a PITA.

Next chapter? Who knows. It will still involve being out on the water in some fashion and, despite my distaste for both motors and trailers, the idea of backing something ready to go down at a lakeside ramp and motoring away begins to hold increasing allure.

Last chapter. I dunno. I liked how friend JSaults handled his last chapter remembrance. His ashes were dispensed into small jars and given to his paddling, hiking and caving and guide friends, to be scattered in some place they had enjoyed with him. I was honored to be present at a couple different Jsaults scattered in the water dispersals.

Mike,

I'm not saying that I look forward to becoming too infirm to look after our property. But I am looking forward to living in Montreal (or some equivalent cosmopolitan city), with no gear and no possessions. Might not even need a refrigerator. Just walk a block or two to the market. I will be as free as when I was only 10 years old, with no cares, and no responsibilities. The way I look at it, life was good before I even knew about canoeing. I'm sure that life will also be good after canoeing. And besides, I have all those wonderful canoeing memories and stories to share with new friends. They might even invite Kathleen and me to give a slide show. Wouldn't that be a great way to reminisce!

By the way. Loved your story about JSaults.

At 68 now I definitely feel the daily effects of tiring more easily when doing things like cutting firewood and the like, more subtle than major, but it is there. I am a long way from being able to run or jog like i used to, but when bike riding and paddling I can press hard. I retired in 2013 at age 62 (always my plan) from a senior position government job (a research engineer) and never looked back. Occasional contact with younger co-worker friends and I am happy to not be there any more.

I have been canoe racing in the Adirondacks since 1997. Ten years later (2007) I was invited to join a team to race 460 miles the following year (2008) in the Yukon River Quest. However, at about that time I had been suffering rather severe back pain, so much so that I could hardly move or stand up at all after sitting in a car for even a short time. The team was to begin heavy training in the fall of 2007.

Off to a PT I went (a very nice young gal by the name of "Buffy"). She gave me some home exercises to do and told me that I could train in a canoe as long as I did not over do it to the point of severe pain. Proper technique helped. I truly believe that paddle training that fall and winter (on a paddling machine) was a big factor in relieving my back pain. I had no issues during long days of paddle training. During the Yukon race the next June I had some pain but it was manageable, and we did very well in the race. So after I raced the YRQ in 2008, then we did the first ever Yukon 1000 mile race in 2009, and the 1000 once again in 2011. Back again for the YRQ in 2013, and eventually again in 2017.

But disaster struck in 2012 when I slipped and fell off the roof of a cabin while painting it with aluminized fiber paint. On the way down directly into recently dismantled chimney bricks and jumbled concrete, I wondered to myself "how many bones?". I reviewed in my head and braced, ready to do my best ever parachute landing fall. Surprisingly, the worst part was I looked like the tin man due to the splashed half full 5 gallon paint bucket. No obvious injuries as my brother rushed over to help. Not until a day later when I could not raise my right arm above my shoulder. This time I went to see a sports medicine specialist. X-rays and an MRI later confirmed a severe rotator cuff tear, he offered to do the corrective surgery in which I would have my arm in a sling for 3 months. But I was scheduled to go back to the Yukon the next year and had to train. He gave me a cortizone shot directly into the site instead, and that seemed to do the trick. A few months later I raced the Yukon again and did equally well as before. I paddled my usual local races that summer without any major pain. Minor pain only when i thought about it.

A bigger disaster struck me in the summer of 2016. After a very aggressive mountain bike ride, a day later I couldn't feel my left arm when picking blueberries. I had all the symptoms of a mini-stroke, numbness on one side, drooping face, slurred speech. Wife and friends got me to the hospital quick. A bunch of tests later determined that I had a defect between the upper chambers of my heart ( a PFO is the technical medical term), allowing a rogue blood clot (from my bike ride?) to travel where it likely caused the TIA stroke. 26% of all people may have this problem, but most will never know it. So one cardiologist put me on a strong blood thinner and told me to never go farther than 2 hours from a medical facility. Ridiculous. That would be the end of my wilderness trips and guiding in the Adirondacks, and also an end to my canoe racing, especially including the Yukon. I raced in the Adirondack 90 miler anyway, just a month later. This restriction could not stand. Luckily a couple of my race partners for the next Yukon race worked directly under a cardiologist who specialized in repair of the PFO without cracking my chest wide open. They got me in for an appointment right away. A probe through my ribs to do cardiac surgery was his special method. With that I had only a 6 week recovery, rather than a 6 month recovery required with a cracked chest from the older procedure. So in 2017 ( after another refresher cortizone shot in my right arm) I paddled my most recent Yukon River Quest. And I am still paddling in the Adirondack 90 miler and other local races, splitting fire wood, and building a large new cabin in the Adirondacks on a lake.

I find it interesting that canoe racing seems to have a lot of old codgers returning year after year, many of them are several years older than I. Young folks too, for sure in the community, but us oldsters keep coming back. Not winning races so much any more, but we are happy to be hanging on to the sport.

Isn't it maddening when you find docs that are not canoeists nor wilderness campers? When that happens I just become instantly deaf. I know now what my first question is for the doc.. Do you do wilderness paddling ( for this purpose a kayak paddle is OK).

PaddlingPitt said:

By the way. Loved your story about JSaults.

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I was honored to be present for the dispersal of Jim’s ashes on a couple of occasions, gathered together with some of his paddler friends on waters we had enjoyed together. I nearly missed one such dispersal, an event that turned comical in ways Jim would have enjoyed.

Camped together lakeside in a familiar place the plan was to paddle out below a scenic cliff face the next day and let a little jar of Jim go for a last swim (or sink). I had already turned in for the night and was happily nestled in my sleeping bag in the back of the truck when a friend who had that jar of Jim began thumping on the cap drunkenly shouting “Geh up, we gehnno go nigh paddle and schatter Jim!”

“Uh, how ‘bout we wait until tomorrow as planned?”
“Nah, geh up dammit, I wannna go now!”
“Dude, I’m already half asleep, half drunk and you’re in no condition to go night paddling”
“Geh up, whas wrong wit you, you usea love night paddling”
“Nope, I’m going to sleep now”

He eventually convinced a couple of people to accompany him. They went largely to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t fall out of his canoe. Paddled over to the cliff face, slurred some words in memory. . . . .and couldn’t find the jar with Jim’s ashes. He looked everywhere in his canoe, his sober accompanists looked everywhere in his canoe. No Jim.

I wasn’t quite asleep yet when I heard a frustrated bellow of “FU@&” and other curses echo across the water as they made their way back from their unsuccessful night mission.

We found the jar of Jim the next day, in the bottom of a cooler covered with beer cans. I swear I could hear JSault’s familiar laugh.

The loss of a loved one changed my life. I do wilderness trips to keep from thinking of the one I have lost.

Thank you Glen for the hear felt words. At 69, I have been paddling for 58 years. Nevada is not exactly a paddling mecca. I have taken lots of inexperienced people on trips over the years. My backpacking career is coming to an end, but in a boat I am still very capable. I am now changing from the 90 pound Old Town guide 18 in wrc, to an OT Canadienne in kevlar that weighs 51 pounds. I am going to start using more backpacking equipment. Fewer rafting trips with all of that heavy stuff. More solo paddling with my dog.

As we age it is really important to keep moving, eat right, sleep, drink less etc. I find that expressing gratitude for still being able to get out there is really important. I don't just go out in the wild country because I like it, I have to go. I don't go as far or as fast, but it is really important to keep going. I have adopted a lot of Native American religious identity, finding Divinity in the rivers, the mountains, the critters and the forest. When I am outside I am in the Cathedral.

My Mom taught that growing old is hard work and not for sissies. My Dad is about to have his 95th birthday. He lives at home with his 58 year old girl friend and still drives several 2 seater sports cars. My uncle is 92 and just recently stopped playing tennis 3x a week.

We all have physical ailments. Mine are mostly related to old horse and mule wrecks. I have a titanium rod in my femur and a bolt through my hip. It does not help my backpacking ability much, but it a canoe not much of a problem. Complaining does not help. No one cares. Celebrate what you can still do and don't worry about the stuff you can't do anymore.

I will be camping when I am old even if it is with an off road wheel chair in a handicapped camping spot. Nothing can stop us, it is too important.
Blessings to All. Thank God for canoes.

an off road wheel chair in a handicapped camping spot.


Hahaha...that sounds just hard core enough to work. I have my GF talked into a day paddle on the marsh with an overnight on the beach on Lake Manitoba. The marsh and the lake are connected by water.Her kayak and my canoe. We just have to watch the weather for an opening...the benefits of retirement, you can go when you please.

Mike McCrea, I just realized we're now almost neighbors... I'm in Aberdeen after a job move last year, from Louisiana... I am so close to so much nice clean water now it's almost sinful. perhaps we should plan a short trip together.

I'm still young compared to a lot of you, at 55... but half a military career was hard on my knees, neck, and back (something hurts all the time, occasionally all of them at once), and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding the side effects of the new malaria drugs i took in somalia and haiti... thankfully I missed the desert storm "anti-nerve agent cocktail", depleted uranium rounds, oil fires, and chem burn pits. So I am VA eligible should it come to that. A managerial/desk job keeps me out of shape, though i park far from the building and try to at least take the stairs down, if not up. In LA, I basically shut down, physically, from June through August. Here in MD, I can still get out year round, either in a canoe (March-November) or hiking... I'm slowly exploring my way around the local state parks and the seemingly innumerable bays and estuaries on the Chesapeake. it takes longer to get a canoe loaded than to get to the water.

Physically, I can feel a decline each year... balance was the first thing I noticed, really, about 5 or 6 years ago... would catch myself leaning in a treestand while hunting... so I started hunting from a ground blind, sort of accidentally, and that's how i've done it the last three seasons with good success (missed last year due to the move). "The incident" was falling off a log crossing a deep (but dry) creekbed... despite a reactive (army training never leaves you) parachute landing fall, I too messed up my shoulder... took 9 months to heal; well, i say heal... 9 months to feel no pain when i moved it... still have no strength pushing overhead.

Now, i'm noticing muscle tone is simply declining, year by year. my calves, for example, are almost 3" less in circumference than they were when i was running and ruck marching in the military on a regular basis, arms and chest in proportion... Canoes have been getting heavier over the years, and a couple months ago, I spent a day moving some things around in the garage, hanging them up (finally got both of them down here to MD after housing them for years in NY in my cousin's garage), and screwed my back up again... my wife and I were planning to go visit family in western/central NY earlier this month, and she surprised me by suggesting we stop by Dave Curtis's place in Hemlock... We spent an enjoyable few hours playing with a few of his designs, and I'm now the part owner of a partly built Nessmuck XL in Sage green that should weigh around 20lbs when he gets it done in a few more weeks... Wife told me she likes that I can get out, and likes me better when i get back from being out, and that she's not willing to risk me getting injured and not being able to go out anymore because she can't stand me when i get cooped up by the weather (or future injury) and can't go out. So much for love. (actually, like Robin's wife, she "gets it" about me wanting to go frequently and alone, and i really appreciate it.)

Health otherwise is good.... i try to walk every evening, hopefully a half hour or more, but sometimes only to go out into the woods behind the house and check my game camera. I do paddle or hike every weekend at least one if not both days (unless we're going somewhere on a roadtrip), watch my sugar intake, watch my weight, get enough sleep, and that sort of thing... i'm a non-smoker, red-wine-with-dinner/cheese drinker, and stay away from high fat/sugar/starch snacks... still love a ham and cheese sandwich on ciabatta for lunch, but that's not something I'm willing to change for a "healthy" lunch, however you define it. (personally, i'd take a pill once a day or week to avoid having to eat 3x a day... complete waste of time to me.)

my wife keeps up with my bloodwork scores, blood pressure (still good) and other things like feeding me well... she's the health nut, and i will eat whatever she puts in the trough, as long as i don't have to cook it.

Genetically, my 4 grandparents all died in their 90s, and my parents are currently very healthy and in their mid 80s.

Mentally, I'm good... i have hobbies, keep busy, am comfortable enough alone, have challenging work and a future, a forthcoming grandchild (our first, a boy, due in December). Not really looking to "retire" at 65, but if I had to, I'd have enough to do to provide a purpose to the rest of my life.

This reminds me to call my parents and another friend (he's 90) and say hi.

Until I broke my femur at 57 I felt like a man of steel. I was hoisting 100 pound bales of hay and riding the high line.
Now I don't.

Just got hit with a heavy dose of reality this week, the biopsy of my prostate came back with high grade cancer. More test this week and my next meeting with the doctor is on the 3rd to determine if it has spread.
I told my wife either 4th or 5th I'm going to put a canoe on my head and go for a walk in the ADKs for 5 or 6 days.

I ordered a new sleeping bag for the trip.

I like the way you think, Sweeper.

I'm 62 and have been a self-employed carpenter for 36 years. My occupation gives me daily feedback on my body. I'm lucky to continue to enjoy good health and try not to take it for granted. I can still do everything I need to but it is no longer effortless. The biggest changes are loss of upper body strength and less flexibility. I will continue working for 3-4 more years but know I can't go full speed to a "traditional" retirement age. The key for me I think is to adapt my work practices to a changing body. I've learned to ask for help when I need it (mostly).

Mentally I'm also lucky. I'm still in Love with my wife and we enjoy many activities together. We also each have independent interests which we don't share. Our 3 kids are launched and making their way in the world. We've lived a pretty simple life and been content with it. The "American Dream" was never appealing to us, and the older we get the more we value free time and shared experiences. I think the best things in life are free. Friendship, a good book and appreciating the beauty of nature for instance.

My OP was difficult to write and I wasn't sure what the reaction would be, so I didn't read this thread right away. I'm touched that so many have replied with honesty, detail, emotion and hope. And I hope that more posters and more information will be added to the thread as time rolls on. This is a community after all, a family of sorts, and we should care and share about the agony as well as the ecstasy.

Since starting the thread I have gone to the gym several times to work out, agreed to take a statin drug after decades of refusing (even though I still don't believe in them), and have obviously made the decision to resume posting here again.

I think I'll just add another poem at this time. An uplifting one, written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, about how the great boater, warrior and adventurer Ulysses (called Odysseus in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey) faced old age and what he said to his aging mariner friends. Ulysses also symbolizes Tennyson himself, for he wrote the poem as an elegy to a dear college friend whose death he had learned about just a few weeks before. The poem is called Ulysses and you can see the entirety HERE, but I'll just quote the last third with its famous final line.


Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Glenn! It is so good to see you posting again! Please stick around and share your thoughts as long as you are able.

I believe you were one the ones - maybe the only one, Glenn, who impressed me with the importance of acquiring lighter boats.....long before I needed them. Although I was still about as strong as ever, my peak income at the time allowed me to do so, without feeling too selfish, being the only avid paddler in the family. Thank you for that advice. And if that wasn't you, thanks anyway for the many other things you have written, that have been so helpful as I tried to play catch-up, having adopted avid paddling late in life.

This thread has been great. I hope I can do it justice.

pblanc said:

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

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Yeah, I never expected to live this long. When I'm being honest with myself, I have to admit to weathering a sort of self-destructive thread through much of my early adult life, the cause of which is less of a mystery now but I won't go into. I think that has a lot to do with my abandonment of my early paddling career and taking up motorcycle racing, among other things.

Who was it who is often quoted, "if I had known I would live so long, I would have taken better care of my body"?

During the first 8 years of my railroad career, I spent a good deal of time and energy trying to prove that I was as strong and tough as guys who were more suited to the work than I. Lifting and carrying things I shouldn't have. Getting into fights I shouldn't have. I'm paying for these things now, and kind of regretting some of those mistakes, but kind of not. I have some truly special memories.

During those eight years, I traveled all over the west and drank in the local flavor on weekends everywhere I was. Vacation time was used to go home and visit family. The rest of my career, I had precious little free time for long trips. Having rediscovered paddling as an empty nester in my late forties, I am a long way from tiring of it; still learning; but now declining in stamina. I have hopes of regaining some of that, now that I'm retired and paddling and other physical things on a more regular basis, but I know that the chance of that is kind of slim and short lived.

OTOH, paddling and poling have been a life-saver for my back. If I take too long of a break from both, I can feel it - and it doesn't feel good. When I injured my hand and spent some months in recovery, my core suffered, and it took a lot of time to get back to where I was. Most fortunately, although I didn't recover full use of my hand, I did recover enough to grip paddle and pole effectively - if not quite as gracefully.

All in all - I've survived longer and retained more physical ability than I have a right to, and for that, I am grateful.


All my life, I have gravitated toward people older than me for friends. I guess it's because I like learning from their experience. Now, I am facing the prospect of those friends fading away ahead of me. Some are already gone. Some met their ends in industrial accidents, but others fell to age and environmental related ailments. I, being the youngest and always the most active of five siblings, expect to be the last one standing - unless I manage to engage some fatal mishap. I have some fear of a being alone in my old age, if not for my wonderful wife. MDB is my best friend ever. She isn't real excited about paddling, but she is the one who got me back into sailing after almost forty years. If my friends are gone, and I outlive her, and can't take long paddling trips.....that is what I plan to fall back on. If it gets so bad that I can't even step a mast, I'll press my son to load my sorry carcass into his drift boat. Thank God, he's become an awesome river rat in his own right.

Yeah, like Mike, I find it easy and rewarding to spend more time alone in my shop (finally got around to carving that cherry ottertail), but I have to get out to The Wild.

In the meantime, I have recently developed a new tolerance for people much younger than myself. Especially in the paddling community. It is a comforting thing to have athletic and skilled younger people in a group on the river when things start edging above class 2. And although none of my boats are too heavy yet, I don't mind allowing them to help carrying sometimes when they offer. Most of them are either in kayaks or SUP, but I think maybe a few will eventually get into a canoe. I know they're watching and thinking about it, because of the questions they ask. I get some pleasure just from the possibility that I might pass some joy on to them. Even if they never pick it up, it's still enjoyable to watch them progress on their own path. At least a couple here have shown to be very competent trippers, whom with I actually hope to do some extended time on the water. (If they can stand my geezerhood that long)

When I was still gainfully employed, the company nurse often stressed how important for mental health it is to stay active. Whatever it takes, however it hurts, I intend to do that. I see people around me who became couch potatoes by choice, and I find that whole existence unattractive, to say the least. I feel somewhat sorry for them, but I feel more sorry for those forced into it. Life, time, and the world may beat us down - but for our own mental and emotional well-being, we need to fight back all the way to the wire.

Glenn - First off, thanks for making your original post. Honesty such as yours is limited in this day and age it would seem. But then you come to all the wonderful replies your post elicited and you realize you're not alone. As for myself, I will be retiring this January after a combined 45 years of working in NYS colleges. Thankfully my job has kept me active as I work with the outdoor program but nonetheless, I can feel the wear and tear of the years bearing down on me. For years I would joke with my students that when I started working for camps at 16 I was almost 5' 10" but now I'm down to 5' 8" (barely). I told them that over the years it was all those 60 pound packs and 80 pound canoes that wore me down. Now, according to my doctor, the joke is really on me because she's convinced that the reason I have no space left between any of my cervical vertebra is from all those years of carrying heavy loads. While it can be annoying, I do my best to keep going. Once I did experience a muscle spasm in the lower neck that put me out of commission for three days (the drugs knocked me out!) but other than that one incident, I can cope.

I also have noticed a marked decrease in the amount of wood I can cut, split & load in a day. Not too many years ago I could handle 3 cart loads in an hour. Now it's down to two. But hey, we still heat & cook with wood so I keep on.

About 10 years ago my knee was replaced but I kept at my rehab (heck...I had to. My one daughter is an orthopedic PT) and got back to paddling & portaging within 6 months. I stay more in my canoe these days because it's easier then exiting a kayaking (gravity still helps to get me in). Besides, a year ago this past March I had a spill on ice and my shoulder hasn't been the same since so exiting a kayak is all the more difficult. I can still paddle & swim but I feel it much more quickly so moderation is now the byword.

I guess all of this comes to this point...do what you can, when you can until you can't. Your trips may be shorter in length and time but, if you still get out, there is value. Don't beat yourself up if you change a trip or alter it altogether but do get out there when you can and enjoy it for all it's worth. That's been what I've tried to do and so far, it seems to be working.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

PS - If you were the one who mentioned the importance of having a lighter boat, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Seriously, I used that advice post knee replacement to get a Hemlock "Peregrine" and have also picked up a Placid Boatworks "Rapidfire." Both allow me to get out way more often than I did with my old Sawyer "Autumn Mist." As much as I like the Sawyer, these two newer boats are way easier to get on/off my truck and down to the water. And hey, my dog likes them too!

This is such a thoughtful discussion!

Two weekends ago, I did a weekend backpack in Yellowstone. I was with a young couple that was starting a 69 mile hike of the Thorofare, and I simply joined them on the first night. I handled their shuttle. They were much faster than I, stronger and braver about things like fording the creeks. And yet, I was there with them. I was feeling kind of bad about how they were acing me in most every way, when we started talking. I didn’t know them... I was shuttling the grandson and significant other of the grandson of the founder of a backpacking group I had belonged to a few decades before. These young’uns were a bit more than half my age. It turned out one had been a Marine in Afghanistan within the last decade... he was a sniper. I felt bad because I was having to try to keep up with a Marine sniper? ??? Similarly, I had recently done a hike with a friend who has trekked in Nepal, climbed Kilimanjaro, and done a lot of other, much more athletic endeavors than I. I felt pretty mopey about my accomplishments, but I also realized that I was out there. Just like them. The trip that I planned with my trekking friend was in Yellowstone’s Bechler area. I had planned short days, no more than 6 miles, and had fairly flat trails, but I was out there. After setting up camp, I plopped my butt down in a Helinox chair and watched the damselflies and looked at the Tetons in the distance and ate almond and dark chocolate “trail mix” and enjoyed not hiking any more. With my shuttle friends, I sat in my Helinox chair (noticing a trend here?) and talked about the show Yellowstone Lake was giving us and discussed bugs we had spotted and knots to use to tie food bags and old times with my young Marines’ grandfather. In both instances it was pretty wonderful. Even being last in line, I was in line. I knew stuff they didn’t and could contribute to the group’s collective knowledge and story telling. I try to enjoy what I can do, instead of fretting about what I can’t. I am learning about alllll the closer to the road campsites near me. Not the ones in the front country campgrounds, but the ones that are a couple of miles in. So few people go more than one or two hundred yards from the road that it’s pretty quiet even two miles in. And yet, there are lakes and mountains and martins and bears and ripe blueberries and beautiful trees and the fog rises off the water in the early morning the same as it always has, and I don’t intend to give up watching that until I have to. I know this is a canoeing forum, and that was about backpacking, but, maybe inappropriately, I made the jump because to me it’s about being outside, and I’m a backpacker first and a canoe/kayaker second (sorry). I haven’t even gotten out a boat this year, but while I have a canoe and a few hard shell kayaks, if I do get out, it’ll be in one of my little inflatables. They weigh less, and I can get on the water in about 10 minutes in one of them. A page ago, someone commented that they find it difficult to do the same waterway repeatedly. I used to do evening kayaks in the same place over and over and one summer I decided I would always, *always* look for something new, whether it was a pretty rock I floated over or an interesting tree stump that I hadn’t noticed before. Shortly after deciding to look for new things, an elk crossed the stream in front of me. I lived in Michigan at the time... an area that had no elk. I reported the elk to the DNR and eventually the DNR “decided” there were elk there. That was a nice reward for simply deciding I was going to look for something “new” each time.

Anyway, thanks for bringing up this topic. I would have never guessed so many were thinking about the same issues. It’s good to read about others’ thoughts and perspectives.

Pringles

Hi Pringles,
Back in 1988 during the Yellowstone fires I did a horse pack trip up the South Fork of the Shoshone River. We were headed for the Thorofare from the Absaroka Range side coming over the Buffalo Plateau. We got in 50 miles from the trailhead. There was no trail maintenance after about 20 miles, so we carried an axe on the first pack horse. There was a rock slide that took out 1/4 mile of trail probablly from an earthquake.

We ended up in places with no signs of humans at all. No real trails except game trails, no campfire rings, no nothin.
The critters were spectacular. Bighorn sheep, moose in camp, elk all over the place. We saw grizz tracks in the trail but never saw one.
This was back before cell phones.
I would never try a trip like that now.
But I stil have river trips.
Here's to going out there.

The alternative is final.. I see some canoe friends maybe once every couple of years. I was looking forward to seeing one this fall. He had heart valve replacement in July and sadly never left the hospital before passing yesterday. He leaves a widow.

I guess the important thing is to think about emptying your bucket list. Never too soon. And if possible get out and do that trip in anyway that you can.. It is your trip and your friends and records need not be broken

Just being out there is the most important. We all have our canoe, paddle, and coffee preferences but all pale in the big picture of just being. Differences don't matter.

Paddle on Terry Webb. I will miss you so much.. You left a legacy of kindness.

yellowcanoe said:

Paddle on Terry Webb. I will miss you so much.. You left a legacy of kindness.

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Oh my. Oh no. I haven't been on pnet for a few years but remember Terry well, but never met him. How old was he?