If you honestly feel that your ambitious days of backpacking are behind you then I guess you are making the correct choice. But, if you still harbor even remote hopes of doing something like the AT or some other less time-consuming but challenging trip you may want to rethink your decision. Frankly, you sound a bit discouraged in your OP.

It has been said that "ones greatest remorse is saved for the sins one has failed to commit". I can paraphrase that to say that ones greatest remorse is saved for the trips one has failed to make. If you still enjoy your hikes then try to go down fighting!

It sounds to me as if what you really need is a regular, challenging fitness regimen and perhaps a temporary diet of less taxing trips. This, of course, is predicated on an absence of significant structural deterioration of your joints (eg arthritis) or cardiovascular disease (ie, see your doctor). From the description of your trip, it appears that you were out of shape for the plans that you made. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

If you are willing to invest an hour per day on fitness, I suspect that by this coming summer, you would be back in the swing of things and approach the idea of backpacking with renewed energy. I would recommend mixing walking and biking as a base aerobic activity with 2-3 days of weight and core body exercises thrown in. Work up to it. If you can get involved in handball, squash or racquetball this can substitute for a lot of the walking and biking especially in winter. The main point, though, is that you need to maintain some level of activity between hikes or every hike you take will be hard on you. It needn't be strenuous; you can accomplish about 70% of your potential aerobic fitness goals by exercising at at 60% or less of your maximum heart rate.

A lot of my acquaintances tell me that they wish they had the time to exercise that I do. I noted to several of them that if they were to take one of their hours of TV watching and use it for exercise, that they would also have the time for exercise. None of them appreciated my pointing that out to them. I guess we find time to do the things that are important to us. I think it really is important to you.

Good Luck!
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