Too Old to Hike?

[ChrisB]

Can you ever be too old to hike?

This rescue of an 87-year-old on Gunstock raised that question for me....

cb

 

[griffin]

I've met some 80 year-olds that I'd feel safer hitting the trails with than some youngsters.

Sounds like the started out with a reasonable plan, but then kept throwing good money after bad when their detour proved more challenging than expected.

 

[sierra]

I don't think so, but you might want to be more selective in picking your partners. This group did a bunch of things wrong, I mean who abandons a tired 87 year old?

 

[peakbagger]

Like many other old age decisions, the hope is that folks will voluntarily make the call to cut back on hikes (or any other activity as they lose abilities. I really hope F&G doesn't decide "hiking while old" swings the decision from clueless to reckless.

I don't personally know many folks in their eighties who hike but I know a fair share of folks in their mid seventies that can out hike folks in their thirties.

 

[Raven]

There are two men who run the Mount Washington Road Race yearly. One was 99 last year and one about 89 (maybe 87). The 87 YO is beating a fair number of people. They are extraordinary of course. That's not hiking but it suggests age is not a factor. Break down of the body is a factor. Someone told me once that happens at 40. In short, I'd say no, age cannot be a factor. Ability, health, decision making, and experience level can be though IMO.

The only time I think age should be considered is with minors. Give them a break. Once anyway.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

. One was 99 last year and one about 89 (maybe 87).

George Etzweiler

Tim

 

[DayTrip]

Age is just a number. There are people in their 30's that have no business being in the woods and people in their 70's that are machines on the trails. I met a guy a few weeks ago who was 77 and working on his 4th grid over age 60. He blew my doors off with ease and had tremendous balance. The "77" means nothing on its own. Without some background on this woman it's hard to say 87 is right or wrong. Need more information, although I suspect based on all the other stuff mentioned this was probably not a good idea for her and was not an experienced group.

 

[Nessmuk]

Unfortunately, more and more often, I am called out on a SAR incident to look for an older person who has wandered away from his or her safe place, either their own home, or a care facility. Sometimes it is a hunter who has hunted the same woods for 60 or more years, whose family will usually say "he sometimes has short term memory problems". Most often it is much more severe than the family knows or is willing to admit. Many times those kinds of SAR incidents do not end happily.

On the other hand, as a canoe racer I see plenty of older folk in marathon canoe races. there is an 80+ yr old guy who consistently beats my butt on the water and on the portages ( I'm in my 60s). A class of "super veteran racers" (in their 70s and beyond) was recognized in last week's Adirondack 90 mile canoe race.

 

[Grey J]

I used to play tennis against a guy who was 88 at the time. He had flown on B24 bombers in WWII and was a tough competitor. I don't think he was into hiking but I would not have hesitated to include him on one of my hikes. He worked out every day and his stamina was amazing.

 

[WhiteMTHike]

I imagine that eventually most people grow too old for a lot of activities. With hiking I think as long as the person is in good physical shape and has a daily workout routine that some degree of hiking will always be reasonable for them. IMO, the individual's mental health should be more of a concern. The best cardio conditioned senior citizen could easily forget what trail they are on or forget to take a correct turn.

 

[nartreb]

The title of the thread instantly reminded me of the gentleman with a bad hip who had to be rescued off of Franconia Ridge in bad weather - two years ago now?? By contrast, it sounds like this party was never in much danger, just overestimated their strength and was unprepared for nightfall. Same foolishness we hear about teenagers and twentysomethings all the time on this board.

 

[Bob Kittredge]

I'm 74 and hike regularly. I'm pretty sure I'll know when to start cutting back and when to quit altogether. I'm thinking 80.

It didn't sound like the people in this incident were particularly experienced. Or that the "leaders" really knew their job. Their initial plan of a 30-minute walk sounds about right.

 

[MikePS]

Interesting topic. If you had told me in my 20s I would still be hiking into the 60s I would have been happy. Now I hope to push into retirement with a goal of 70 or beyond. I have left a few trails behind: Knife Edge Double top from the south, Caps Ridge, longer backpacking trips. I also try to do the big peaks and 10 mile plus days for June through September. Oct-May I am happy to seek out smaller peaks with views, The Kearsarges, Crawford, Pemi,Percival-Morgan etc. I draw great inspiration,advice and motivation from Ed Parsons Saturday colums & Steve Smith blogs BTW I don;t know if anyone knows Ed, I wonder if he ever has thought about packaging his collection of colums into a book? I find them interesting, well written and informational, and they would stand the test of time. One issue, for me, is that all of my boomer partners have stopped hiking, had a few younger pards but they are now in the family stage, so I am mostly solo these days. Biggest issues for me are joints, balance & flexability. The cardio & power seem to be holding, the ups are much easier than the downs Happy hiking no matter what

 

[David Metsky]

As the saying goes - You don't stop hiking because you get old, you get old because you stop hiking.

 

[Bolivia]

I'm 76 years old and still hiking, camping and kayaking - enjoyably so. Am going out on a maintenance trip this weekend.

 

[Mike P.]

Our Scout troop's most fit leader is the oldest one at age 72. Not sure what the group dynamics were, if the younger people who head to the summit were leaders, they were awful leaders. If this was a family with aunts, great nephews and a grandmother, then maybe young family members were encouraged to go run up to the top and maybe the older members of the group forgot how hard the particular trail they were on actually was.