I like to do do pretty much everything but really long through hikes.

My three-season pack weighs between 12 and 14 pounds and I generally hike between 5 and 15 miles per day; my average is probably about 7 miles/day. Last year on the JMT, I averaged just about 10 miles per day with no zero days.

This year I have done a 4-day trip in the Grand Canyon, two 8-day trips in the Sierra and about five, three-day trips in the local mountains. I may get in a few overnighters before the year is over. I generally like to get an early start; I am usually awake about 5 am and I am on the road to the trailhead by 6 am.

Last year, my longest trip was 21 days on the John Muir Trail. My longest trip ever was in the North Cascades when some friends and I were out for 34 days climbing and hiking. We relied on previously placed caches for our supplies.

I am now having to change my style. About four years ago, my wife of 50 years was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. This is a progressive and ultimately fatal disease that causes scarring of lung tissue and reduced oxygen absorption. Unless we can arrange a lung transplant (we're hopeful), she has about a year to live. She has never smoked. Until 2008 she has been able to care for herself; now she needs help. I am her caregiver and will not have the freedom to go hiking the way I have in the past. My son and my sister have helped me get out by staying with her but I can't ask them to do that for weeks at a time. And, I really want to spend as much time as possible with her.

Until the situation is resolved, I will be happy with going out overnight and going on day hikes: all locally.