I'm 60 and still backpacking regularly. I've run out of older role models, however.

If you are over 60 (the older the better) could you stand up and be recognized. Hearing from you would help me visualize my hiking future.

Thanks

I just wanted to say it's FANTASTIC you're still Backpacking at sixty!

HIP,..HIP,...HIP,..HORRAY!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

To bad ole' Mr. Fletcher got bounced off that old Lady's hood as he'd surely be the one to beat. LOL

I'm forty something now and plan on hoisting a real Backpack for another 20-years.

Did you post this over at www.backpacker.com website. There are several different interest forums there.

Take care,
David

Not 60 but I am 59 in two weeks and still going strong. Am going on a 5 day backpack trip next month and looking forward to it. I can't imagine not backpacking. I hope to still be out there when i'm 70 too. Age means nothing to me.

Anyone heard of GeezerJock magazine? Pretty funny I know but it's real - I'm headed in that direction. It's put out by the Masters Athletic people. Anyway, there's tons of people over 60 on the trails - keep up the search.

I'll be 62 in August. The Grand Canyon was my most ambitious trek in recent years. Happy hiking

Will be 65 in July. Just got back from a 3 day solo. Tenativly planning a 2 week + trip in Alaska across Sewart Penn. About 175 miles w/o resupply.

GrumpyGord

No, I'm not an old backpacker, I'll only be 66 next month. With several friends that backpacked into their late 70's it's hard to feel old at 66!

Cheers,

Steve

You ARE the role model now. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Keep on keeping on.

I'm almost 40 now, so it's good to know that I have a chance at another 30 years on the trail <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Slightly OT:

A gentleman in his early 70's got me and my buddies started into BP'ing back in the early 80's. He had been at it since his stint in WWII. Never slowed us down either. That's living right.

Not yet, I'm 41, but I hope to be someday. When I'm 60, my now 30 year old vintage gear will really be cool to use.

We have a senior group in Bellingham, Washington and many are in their 70's and quite a few are older. I'm a youngster.

Back in 1984 I met Paul Petzoldt, who was still going strong well into his 80's. One of my current mentors is 71 (has summitted Denali 4 times, the last time when he was 69). One of my skiing partners is in his 60's. Another backpacking buddy is in his 60's. My climbing partner is >50. Both of the Washburn's (Brad and Barbara) still hike, though not as much as they once did (I think they are in their late 80's now). I turn 40 this year, so, like you, I look around for peers in my age group and beyond, and happily I see them everywhere.

MNS

My wife and I were on a chairlift for a black diamond run on Mammoth Mountain in CA 2 years ago with a woman who looked like she was 50. Turns out she was 73, and had shuttled up there with a seniors club of skiiers where no one was younger than 70. We were way impressed.

I was 60 in January and I've only just started. Just got back from a 3-day winter camp in the Sierras.

http://www.thepoles.com/story/NormanVaughans100thBirthdayatMountVaughanFeb152005.shtml

Norman Vaughn plans to celebrate his 100th birthday on top of the ANTARCTIC mountain named after him - 10,302 foot Mt. Vaughn (he was a sled driver on Admiral Byrd's 1928 Antarctic expedition). He climbed it back in 1994 just before his 89th birthday. this article doesn't mention it, but i think Vaughn was actually the first to ever summit the mountain and has done it a number of times.

so there's our new role model. you GO, Norman!

Glad to see all of you going strong. So I've got 45 or so more years to look forward to?

I am only 24, but I thought I'd mention that my 81 year old Grandmother, who got me into hiking when I was a kid, still goes on the periodic day hike with me. She likes to carry her things in a grocery sack <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />...whatever, I'll stick to GoLite Hare.

I am 59 & have been backpacking since I'm 20. I am anxiouly awaiting age 62 so I can retire from the day job & backpack whenever my wife allows.
To the GrumpyGord poster, I also plan a Alaska trip for summer of 2006 along the Kesugi ridge in Denali STATE Park.

Did "the gems" in the Grand Canyon with a guy that was 72. Age is no barrier.

Does 36 count? I feel like I am ninety most days.

That's because you work with kids.

In dog years I'm 273. Seriously though, between 7 and 10 years ago I had two different chiropractors tell me I had the joints of someone past 50. The results of indiscretions of a misspent youth I guess. My philosophy is use it or lose it so I continue to hike.

Oh geez, two of the people who went with me to the Yosemite backcountry last month are into their 60's and took lead most of the way. Neither is slow. They're considering either a return to the Dolomites or a couple of weeks in the eastern Sierras (depending on mood and budget) late in the Summer and another trip into the mountains of Montana or Wyoming just before winter. Both allow that it was lightweight gear that allowed them to really do this stuff, but there's no question that they've got a lot of miles ahead of them. It's getting hard to think of 60 as "old," at least in backpacker terms, any more.

Thanks for the response. You are the type of role model I was looking for even though you only have about 5 years on me.

A two week long trip without re-supply would be well within my capabilities. With about 21 lbs of food and 15-20 lbs of gear I'd be up to about 40 lbs. That's OK for me.

The mileage you are aniticipating however (175) would be about twice my normal pace. I tend to go slower and take more time off from actually hiking. Most trips here in Washington include a few thousand feet per day of elevation gain.

By the way, I've noticed that walking on the level hasn't been affected much by the aging process. Up hill with a pack has, however......big time. My up hill pace is roughly half of what it was 30 years ago.......with half the weight. Used to be able to go up switchbacks at about 3MPH with 60 lbs. Now it is 1.5 MPH with 30 lbs. Feels just the same but the watch and maps don't let me maintain the illusion that nothing has changed.

Thanks again for the response.

About ten years ago, when I was in my mid-thirties, a friend and I hiked up to Big Pine Lake #1 in the Eastern Sierra. This was before I went lightweight, and the two of us just about died making it up, lugging 50 pound packs (out of shape, knee problems, general whining). On the way back down two days later, dragging along and whining all the way, this guy passes us up like we were standing still (come to think of it, maybe we were standing still). He had a spring in his step, and looked fresh as a daisy.

When we finally got back to the trailhead, he was still there, and we struck up a conversation. He had hiked all the way to Big Pine Lake # 8, several miles further than we'd gone. Turned out he had just celebrated his 69th birthday. That guy became my role model, and at that point I resolved to still be backpacking at 70.
It's great to hear that so many of you "youngsters" are still going strong -- gives me renewed hope.

DJ2,
When I was in the Winds a few years back I met three little old ladies in their sixties. They had matching hats and packs and were all former thru-hikers. Year before last I met a guy who was 85 and section hiking the Colorado Trail. He told me he could only go twelve to fifteen miles a day because of his age. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />