View Full Version : Your class/age for future"thru"
Cherokee Bill
09-27-2006, 19:11
:welcome OK! Many of us would dearly love to join the ranks of the Class of 2007. But for thousands of different reasons we can not :mad:
So, what year and at what age will you be when you do your thru-hike??
:banana ME! Class of 2013 and I wil be "66" years old!
Age doesn't matter, but for the part you may not live that long.
Cherokee Bill
09-27-2006, 19:38
NO age does not matter! However, some of us are interested in Thu-hikers in the out-years past 2007! And regarding the years out past 2007, then the hikers age is interesting data (at least to me):rolleyes:
Cherokee Bill
09-27-2006, 19:38
NO age does not matter! However, some of us are interested in Thu-hikers in the out-years past 2007! And regarding the years out past 2007, then the hikers age is interesting data (at least to me):rolleyes:
NO age does not matter! However, some of us are interested in Thu-hikers in the out-years past 2007! And regarding the years out past 2007, then the hikers age is interesting data (at least to me):rolleyes:
Age is just a number. Good luck on your hike!!! :)
Blissful
09-27-2006, 20:26
Four years ago I said I would go in 2007. Said so in the trail journals. Someone e-mailed me and thought I was crazy to announce it that far in advance. WHy not? It was a good goal for me and now I have less than FIVE months!!! Boy times flies.
I haven't decided what year yet but either 2008, I'll be 47 or 2010, I would be 49 turning 50 that October. I'm leaning towards 2008 because I don't think I can wait til 2010. However, if it doesn't happen either year that won't matter because I will do it at some time.
I guess as long as you keep the dream alive, it's all that really matters....
im trying for class of 2009, i go to school part time. To tell you the truth, thinking of my thru, helps make me study.
Count me in for Class of 2019 !!! :cool: [Well, it's better than no plan at all! :D ]
Just Jeff
09-28-2006, 00:09
Tin Man - we'll be classmates! I'm aiming for 2019, assuming I actually retire in 2018. I'll be 43.
One son will have just graduated college and the other will have just graduated high school. Don't think I'll be lucky enough for them to both want to hike with me, but a dad can dream...
Moondancer
09-28-2006, 05:03
Good Morning! I am planning my thru hike in March 2008. Wished for 2007 but it is not going to happen, thats ok March 2008 will work for me. I will be 62 almost 63 years young at that time. Looking forward to meeting my classmates.
Class of 2011! I'll be 59.
RadioFreq
09-28-2006, 05:58
2010...I will turn 56 midway through my thru.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
09-28-2006, 08:25
We are section hikers - the male dino will be 68 on Saturday. The female dino will not be telling her age as genteel southern ladies don't do such things.
Model T is one of my heros. He is thru-hiking this year - at age 84 if memory is correct. My father is 84 and I believe he could thru-hike if he wished to do it. In many cases, age and infirmity only prevent people from living their dreams because they let it.
SGT Rock
09-28-2006, 09:09
2008 - age will be 41.
This statement seems to make more and more sense to me, with each more of my passing years:
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ....Mark Twain
Just don't wait to long to do it! For me I have known far to many who couldnt come this far to get the chance.
greentick
09-28-2006, 09:24
2026 projected based on my youngest turning 18. Well the youngest hasn't been born yet or even conceived. Its tentative. I'll be 57 - whoa:eek: . After that it's the CDT with llamas (my wife's condition for walking 3000 miles):D . Is there anyone else in the class of 2026? Of course we homeschool so we may just do the travelling schoolhouse earlier.
:welcome my 2 1/2 year old wanted the sign - she says "no" to dancing bananas...
Swiss Roll
09-28-2006, 09:29
2018, when my youngest goes to college. My hope is that he would do fall semester and then take the spring semester off to join me. I will be 52.
Just Jeff
09-28-2006, 10:20
she says "no" to dancing bananas...
Raising her well, Greentick.
FHThiker
09-28-2006, 10:35
2008 without a doubt...age = 34 (will turn 35 on the thru-hike)... :sun
Class of 2028, and I'll be 56 and recently retired. If all goes according to plan, by then I will have sectioned the entire trail NOBO. I'm doing a week or three a year, starting last year, every year until then. I may do a SOBO then.
waterboy99
09-28-2006, 11:21
Not quite what you asked but I first started wanting to hike the AT in 1969 at the age of 23. I thru hiked in 1999 at the age of 53 after retiring and our daughter started college. Our daughter wanted to start in 1999 at age 19 but waited until 2003 to thru hike at age 23.
Footslogger
09-28-2006, 11:35
Put me down for 2010 ...and I'll be 60. First thru was in 2003 and I was 53 when I started that one.
'Slogger
Spring of 2017 for me. I will be 66 then
unless I hit the lottery before then :banana :banana :banana
white rabbit
09-28-2006, 12:04
2015 age of 49 turning 50 on trail somewhere.
I'm aiming for 2011 when I'll be...um...(cough)twen(cough)ty(cough). I agree with Swiss Roll, I'm glad to hear of others with a date as distant as mine. Thought I was the only one.
Old Hillwalker
09-28-2006, 18:30
My gear is ready, my current employment contract will end on Feb 28th 2008, and I will be starting on March 1st 2008. I already have someone set to take care of my house and cut the lawn. Since I hike in the Whites nearly every week all year, I should be ready. Actually I am right now:-?
I will be 69 and will turn 70 the fall I finish. :D
Cherokee Bill
09-28-2006, 18:35
:sun May move up from 2013 after your comments and recent events.
Planned on 2013, thinking "66" and full Socail Security. Well a dear lady responded that while 66 is "not to OLD, it may be to late".
Well that statement came home today. A close friend passed-away today at 11:05 AM at about 55 years old. Only six (6) months ago he found out he had skin-cancer (Melanoma). Gone in six months
I may take early Social at 62 and join Class of 2010.
God Bless!
Does karma happen to presbyterians? Just sold the home, got a great job offer in Asheville, AKA 'staging area', and the wife received her retirement papers for surviving in the local school system for 30 years. Hopefully my son will get a paying job, and/or marry his smart frauline, and my daughter will grad from State in '08, and get on the right side of that ledger as well. I've a lot of higher "hills" to climb to get to Springer, but it's my only path. Plus my wife said I have to leave my sword at home;)
Skidsteer
09-28-2006, 20:58
Does karma happen to presbyterians? ;)
Yep.
They call it "predestination". :p
Tin Man - we'll be classmates! I'm aiming for 2019, assuming I actually retire in 2018. I'll be 43.
One son will have just graduated college and the other will have just graduated high school. Don't think I'll be lucky enough for them to both want to hike with me, but a dad can dream...
Cool! Let's be sure to meet up at Trail Days 2019!
Just Jeff
09-28-2006, 23:32
Yep - wonder what the homemade gear contest will look like in 13 years!
SGT Rock
09-29-2006, 05:06
Yep - wonder what the homemade gear contest will look like in 13 years!
Cell Phone/Gun belt buckle.
Furlough
09-29-2006, 05:30
2011 - I'll be 50. I'll reitre from the Army in June of 2008 - a year after returning from Iraq, but will still have both childern in college at that point. So I'll wait until Mar-Apr of 2011 to head North.
Just Jeff
09-29-2006, 09:42
Cell Phone/Gun belt buckle.
With lightweight hiking sticks to turn the pistol into a rifle for hunting. But that's for the other thread...
Cherokee Bill
09-30-2006, 17:03
What a great bunch of folks! Can not wait to met you on the trail. Oh! The stories we "older" folk will have to tell about our journey that finally brought us to the "AT" as "Thru-hikers".
God Bless. :banana
Gorp-Gobbler
07-23-2008, 12:55
Providing I make all of my creditors happy and if I'm still at the 'Dead End' job that I'm at right now, I'll be hitting the trail in 2010. I'll be 58 and I hope to feel like I'm 23.
truthisnature
07-23-2008, 13:27
Year 2012-2015 Age 42-45....got lots to overcome before I can hit the trails. Unless those lottery tickets start to pay off. The trail has taken over my thoughts and is my motivation to get things done, but children only grow so fast...nothing I can do about that one.
walkin' wally
07-23-2008, 13:33
Mid March 2010. Nobo from A.F.S.P. I'll be 61.
RadioFreq
07-23-2008, 14:13
Started planning seriously about 5 years ago. Next week I start a three week shakedown on the Superior Hiking Trail. Then I should be standing on Springer on/about March 1st. If all goes as planned I will turn 55 on the trail.
Christus Cowboy
07-23-2008, 14:13
:sun May move up from 2013 after your comments and recent events.
Planned on 2013, thinking "66" and full Socail Security. Well a dear lady responded that while 66 is "not to OLD, it may be to late".
Well that statement came home today. A close friend passed-away today at 11:05 AM at about 55 years old. Only six (6) months ago he found out he had skin-cancer (Melanoma). Gone in six months
I may take early Social at 62 and join Class of 2010.
God Bless!
Very interesting observations here and it also appears to be a wide range in ages represented as well. But given Billy Boy's observation on one's mortality, I think age definitely has to be a consideration in one's approach to doing the AT. Right now I'm 45 years old.... and I would definitely like to do the AT at some point in the future. I'm in good shape for my age and have been able to keep with guys quite a bit younger than me on the trail when section hiking however, I'm sometimes painfully reminded on the trail that I'm not in my twenties anymore either.... I would like to try to shoot for my thru either in 2010 or 2013 but with kids, college, and retirement being thrown right in the middle of all that I may have to wait a little longer....That said I have read extensively the trail journals of NOBO hikers from ages 18 to 65 years old and the physical challeges encountered by both ends of the age spectrum are very different and very real.... especially for the thrus in their sixties.... I guess what I would like to know from some of the older hikers who have posted here what age related considerations if any (earlier departure date, lower mileage, more zeroes, etc.) are you taken into account when projecting your departure date... it seems that most people are using retirement, kids, and other factors when posting a date.... I hope I'm not departing from the thread's intended purpose but I do think this would relevant and I would be curious to see what others think......
37 when I started. 54 when I finished.
BackTrack1
07-23-2008, 14:16
2015, i'll be 48 yrs old,
thats when i plan on doing my thru hike.
until then.
I'll just hike!!! :D
Monkeywrench
07-23-2008, 14:43
I'll be 50 and about a month when I start my thru mid-March of 2009.
Why 2009?
- While I am currently still in pretty good shape -- My wife and I just completed a 700 mile fully loaded bicycle tour in 12 days, and we both run marathons -- it's a simple fact that as we age the odds of debilitating illness or injury increases, and it makes sense to pursue this dream while I still can.
- Life events are such that while it will be a squeeze financially, for the first time in my adult life I actually can afford to be unemployed for an extended period of time.
Chenango
07-23-2008, 15:08
I'll turn 55 on my thru in 2010. I retire in early 2010.
Silver Bear
07-23-2008, 18:21
I'll be 66 in September.
I plan to section hike this year & next, than finish what is left in 2010. Hope to be able to do 500 miles this year, 500 next, than finish up in 2010.
I have dropped 25 lbs this year and hiked about 150 miles in the Smokies (70 AT).
Today I am in the best shape I have been in 20 years or so.
FritztheCat
07-23-2008, 21:24
I'll retire in October of 2010 and plan on a NOBO thru-hike in 2011. I'll be 42 when I start and will turn 43 on the trail.
I'm ready to go now but I'm afraid the Navy wouldn't understand a 6 month leave period. :D
August 2013 I will be 60 and will semi-retire. My plan is to thru the Colorado Trail starting on Aug 24th, 2013 - my birthday. I will have finished sectioning the AT by that time, so in the spring of 2014 I plan to thru the PCT.
Of course, all this could change. I just returned from a week-long workshop to learn about building a cordwood house, so building my retirement home may take precedence.
I love how life comes at you and can change your plans for you, often for the better. I have always lived my life making a general plan, but always willing to go with the flow. That is a lesson I learned from my folks and cemented into my being while on a long-distance hiking trip. I adopted the same attitude in my everyday life that allowed me to complete my hike - stay flexible!
I will always hike/bike/canoe to some degree as long as I'm physically able.
paradoxb3
07-24-2008, 10:24
To all of you 2010 NOBO's, see ya on the trail early/mid-march! I'll be 26.