Another sad story from the Whites

[bandana4me]

Another life lost on the trails.


http://www.wmur.com/news/25128454/detail.html


It is never easy hearing or reading these storys.

 

[Stash]

Without trivializing a man's death or the trauma to those involved. The man died outside on a beautiful day on the way down a trail after likely attaining his destination for the day. When it's my time that is much preferred than to be sitting in front of a computer or in a sterile hospital setting with all sorts of machines hooked to me.

 

[Hillwalker]

Me Too

I'll be seventy-one in less than sixty days and have freinds and loved ones who have died with horribly painful and debilitating diseases. This gentleman went precisely the way I want to go. At our age you never know when, nor how, just that it is going to happen sooner or later. I'll take sooner over a long and painful lingering.

 

[dr_wu002]

I'll be seventy-one in less than sixty days and have freinds and loved ones who have died with horribly painful and debilitating diseases. This gentleman went precisely the way I want to go. At our age you never know when, nor how, just that it is going to happen sooner or later. I'll take sooner over a long and painful lingering.

In 30 days I'll be half-way to 71.... But I agree with Tom... if I'm going to go better to do it on the trails than linger. My only suggestion is that I'd leave money in my pocket as a "tip" for the search and rescue guys that gotta carry me out...

-Dr. Wu

 

[erugs]

True enough that he passed away in a beautiful area, and that he didn't linger all hooked up to tubes and things. I'm one who would want to have time to get things in order rather than be surprised.

 

[Dennis C.]

Me Three

What a way to go .... doing something that has given us SO much pleasure over the years! I'm "gettin' up there" in years too, Hillwalker, but still "hittin' the trails" and doing trail work whenever possible.

Stash, to avoid the "hospital setting with all sorts of machines hooked to me" scenario, make sure it's a provision set up in your family trust.

 

[dentonfabrics]

I'm with Ellen on this one. Dying on a trail alone, in the middle of nowhere with no other human in sight isn't how I'd want to go. All respects and sympathies towards the deceased.

 

[Maddy]

I cannot speak for this elderly hiker and I offer my deepest sympathy to his family. I hope he was at peace with his situation when he died.

Having worked in hospitals my entire professional career, and caring for the sickest of the sick, I would do anything to die to in the woods, hiking solo.
My affairs are in order and I am not fearful of dying alone. In fact, I think I might prefer it.
I cannot imagine a more beautiful place to go.

 

[Mike P.]

I cannot speak for this elderly hiker and I offer my deepest sympathy to his family. I hope he was at peace with his situation when he died.

Having worked in hospitals my entire professional career, and caring for the sickest of the sick, I would do anything to die to in the woods, hiking solo.
My affairs are in order and I am not fearful of dying alone. In fact, I think I might prefer it.
I cannot imagine a more beautiful place to go.

Thank you Maddy (& others) my grandmothers passed the last two years, both over 85 and from live-in nurses, to homes, hospitals and similar, the nurses & care givers do a job I couldn't do.

The family joke is that when it's time, I'll drive my son (I need at least 10 more years) to the top of the rockpile & give him my car. He'll pick me up in CT on the AT, If I make it, apparently I wasn't that sick. My sister-in-law would do it tomorrow.

Don't have enough details here & while we the hikers make peace with going this way, unsure the family left behind feels the same, unable to say good-bye. (I don't have an answer, like hiking your own hike, we each must face the final walk our own way.)

"We all want to go to heaven, no one wants to go now".

 

[Chugach001]

Here's my favorite view on the topic...

When I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather did. Not yelling and screaming like the 3 people in the car with him.

 

[Will]

What a way to go

It's my hope. Of course it's _also_ my hope it happens at age 93!

Probably, I'll have to concede, on one of the easier trails.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

I cannot speak for this elderly hiker

Come on Maddy, I don't know how old you are, but you're starting to get personal with this "elderly" stuff. I always insist that 71 is chronological, but elderly is relative.

Anyway, I too think it would be a nice way to go, but would prefer that it wait until 91 anyway.

My one concern would be that I be found fairly quickly so that nothing would happen to my 'little guy.'

 

[walker]

I sure Guy showed him the right trail to climb

I'd rather dies twenty feet from a summit than twenty feet from my desk.

We all die alone... You might have family and friends by your side, but at the moment of destiny, it's all between you and whatever entity you believe in.

I sure Guy showed him the right trail to climb.

See you on the trail.....Walker

 

[Bob]

I'm not going to die

...so far, so good!

 

[DrewKnight]

Respects to this gentleman and condolences to his family.

Having watched my intelligent, vibrant, engaged father wither away over the course of the last year before passing on in a nursing home (a place he never, ever wanted to be) in July, count me in the "go on the trail" category. I have already signed a pact with my skiing/mountain biking buddies... the helmets come off at 80.

 

[audrey]

Respects to this gentleman and condolences to his family.

Having watched my intelligent, vibrant, engaged father wither away over the course of the last year before passing on in a nursing home (a place he never, ever wanted to be) in July, count me in the "go on the trail" category. I have already signed a pact with my skiing/mountain biking buddies... the helmets come off at 80.

Drew, I bet you'll want to rescind that pact as you near 80 and are still mobile. Pat and I are in our 60's and 70's, respectively, and 80 is looking mighty young.

 

[Maddy]

Come on Maddy, I don't know how old you are, but you're starting to get personal with this "elderly" stuff. I always insist that 71 is chronological, but elderly is relative.

Anyway, I too think it would be a nice way to go, but would prefer that it wait until 91 anyway.

My one concern would be that I be found fairly quickly so that nothing would happen to my 'little guy.'

Hey Ed....I"m getting old...way too old for my taste. :eek : Pushing 70 on the interstate. I keep telling my friend I will never get old but my body is not comprehending this concept!

I totally agree that "elderly" is relative. I love the fact this fella was still hiking like so many folks on the boards. You are all my inspiration. We all seem to struggle with the effects of aging, yet we persist doing as much as we can.

I to worry about the fur kids but finally have someone who will be sure to see that they are cared for. She would be aware in a timely way if I turned up missing.

I have a beautiful card with a woman hiker looking up at the Alaska range which I framed. The quote reads
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. "
- Unknown

 

[DrewKnight]

Drew, I bet you'll want to rescind that pact as you near 80 and are still mobile. Pat and I are in our 60's and 70's, respectively, and 80 is looking mighty young.

I meant no disrespect by that -- I hope I am as active and mobile as you when I am in my 60s and 70s... it was more the observation that my dad, who was very active and "with it" till he was about 82, went on a steep decline curve, down a road he didn't want to travel.

In the end I guess they called it Alzheimer's, but all that really mattered was his diminished quality of life for the last year or two of his time. It was no way he would ever have accepted, nor is it a path I would like to walk, for myself or for my loved ones. We joke about taking off our helmets, because we would rather go out aware and able to enjoy the things that we love the most.

 

[Little Rickie]

If it happens that way I don't want anyone to feel bad but I'm not making any plans. Hugh Hefner on the other hand has the right idea on how to go.