View Full Version : Cimarron the 88 year old hiker
Bear Bag 2000
03-16-2011, 22:24
Cimarron, the 88 year old hiker, is out there again this 2011 year attempting the old age record. He did a two year section hike at ages 83-84 but wants a one year Thru-hike. He is currently at Unicoi Gap having come home for a wedding (not his!). I am keeping most of his journal when he calls me. His hiking partner Catching Dreams also has a good site. Search either trail name on Trail Journals.com.
Is this the same Cimarron mentioned in the book "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail"?
The age and name would be right. Safe bet it is the same fellow.
Mrs Baggins
03-17-2011, 04:17
Hey Bear Bag! Nice to see you posting and to know that Cimarron is out there again. We still think about you guys all the time. Feel proud and privileged to have met you both in 2007. Will you be hiking with him at all this time around?
Snoring Sarge
04-09-2011, 19:12
Cimarron is doing great and is spending the night at the NOC hiker hostel. Turf old bird shame alot of us
-SEEKER-
04-09-2011, 19:21
Absolutely Awesome!
tjforrester
04-10-2011, 19:34
Very cool, Bear Bag 2000.
There used to be an elderly hiker who went by the name of Old Timer Freddie. He was in his eighties back in the mid-nineties, could still click off 20 mile days in Virginia.
Met a 70 year old thru hiker today(his first one was in 2007), Loner Boner. Cool guy. He was in Daleville today resupplying and I saw him walking and gave him a ride to his hotel. Very nice gentleman.
swjohnsey
05-20-2011, 18:06
Talked to Cimmaron at the Fontana Hilton then saw him a breakfast at the lodge.
Blissful
05-20-2011, 18:27
Saw an 80 yr old in PA not far from 501 shelter. He was going shelter to shelter.
Kerosene
05-30-2011, 09:42
I had the pleasure of meeting The Pink Panthers just south of Fontana Dam this past week. They thru-hiked in '94. She just turned 81 and I believe he said he was 84. They are a lovely couple and very friendly. She asked to attempt a thru-hike as her 80th birthday wish last year, but they had to get off at Stecoah Gap due to a torn meniscus, so they're out again this year.
Carl in FL
05-30-2011, 10:08
I hope when I am 84 I don't tear my meniscus just getting out of my hover-round. What
an amazing couple! Truly an inspiration, for anyone to meet them and everyone to hear
about it.
Buffalo Skipper
06-07-2011, 12:13
Has anyone heard any updates on Cimarron? The last trail journal entry was from a week ago; Bear Bag ususally posts more often than that, as they speak on the phone every few days.
Just hoping he has not run into problems.
Lone Wolf
06-07-2011, 12:27
he was in damascus this time last week
BahamaDave
08-14-2011, 08:55
On 8/2 I ran into him hiking up Mt Cube in NH. He was in good spirits and moving along.
BahamaDave
08-14-2011, 09:02
Cimarron on Mt Cube13575
Mrs Gorp and Stumpy report he is well into the Whites and doing fine....as long as he is eating enough !!!
jasperhalo
08-21-2011, 07:03
I ran into him leaving Lonesome Lake hut, seemed like he was struggling a bit with the rocks in the rain but he was doing it. I've got a lot of respect for that guy.
Right Click SOBO 2011
rjhouser
08-21-2011, 08:43
I did an overnighter in May near the Roan highlands and we came upon him at a shelter. There was nobody else there and I think we gave him quite a scare because he didn't see us coming and near jumped out of his socks when we said hello.
kolokolo
08-21-2011, 11:21
Cimmaron was staying at the Jenny Knob shelter South of Pearisburg, VA on the night I was there in mid-June. It was quite a steep and rocky hike to get to the water source, but he did it himself with no problems. At that time, he said that he was planning to flip up to New England and get to Katahdin in late Summer. Sounds like he is on schedule.
fpharris1
08-21-2011, 20:36
I was up in the Whites last week and spent a couple of nights at Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch. I was privileged to have had Cimarron as my roommate for a night (evening of Thursday the 18th). He had come down off Mt Washington on Thursday and needed a ride to the Mt Washington Auto Road the next day so he could catch a van back up to pick up where he left off. I gave him a lift ... dropped him off at the Auto Road around 8:30 Friday morning. He was expecting to be back at Pinkham Notch yesterday or possibly today, I think, where he was going to stay another night before moving on.
He's an interesting guy and you've got to admire him, doing this at his age and after some physical ailments. He was in good spirits and feeling well.
I hope I'm still alive and kicking a** at his age!
fpharris1
08-21-2011, 20:41
BTW, he told me he turns 89 in another few days.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CIMARRON!
ChinMusic
09-04-2011, 00:35
I guess his hike is over: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=360316
4eyedbuzzard
09-04-2011, 06:04
It's still a wonderful story
ChinMusic, thanks so much for that link.
Great guy with lots of interesting stories. He can be a little cantankerous, but at 89 we probably all will be too.
How many folks would have a hip replacement just so they can hike the Appalachian Trail ?? Not many !!!
SawnieRobertson
09-04-2011, 17:35
Applause! Applause! for Cimarron!--Kinnickinic
ChinMusic
09-22-2011, 23:47
Cimarron is BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The old guy went home, licked his wounds, and is now heading back to Maine.
GO Cimarron GO.
He is determined for sure. I can think of lots of adjectives to discribe him. Tough comes to mind too.
Buffalo Skipper
09-23-2011, 17:27
Yes, Cimarron is back on the trail. His trailjournal has been updated. He has about 1000 miles to go, and until February 24, 2012 to complete in one year. He is now up in Maine, and will be summiting Katahdin and working his way south to NH. After that he jumps to MA/VT and continues south, to finish up around Daleville, VA, if I am not mistaken. Once he gets out of Maine, he will have an easier time on the "middle section" of the AT, and hopefully will be able to get much done without being waylaid by winter weather. At least he has already completed the worst of the Whites.
He is a stubborn old man and I wish him all the luck on his quest. I truly hope he is able to finish this. It would be a record which may well stand for a long time, at least 44 more years (when I am 90). ;)
zoomerz2
09-26-2011, 14:04
I met Cimarron at the Velvet Rocks shelter just passed Hanover. Then again at Hiker's Welcome right before the Whites. He happened to show up the same night that Goldie Locks and Havoc, the youngest thru-hikers on trail, were there. It's funny how things work out here. He was a wonderful gentleman and I wish him the best of luck!
here is a great interview with Cimarron from earlier this month: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WPH5OesuOTM
johnnybgood
10-29-2011, 10:44
Is there any news on Cimarron and did he finish his thru hike ?
rjhouser
10-29-2011, 11:23
Is there any news on Cimarron and did he finish his thru hike ?
Also would like to know this
He completed a little over 1000 miles....pretty impressive.
Here is his Trailjournal:
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=362032
Tipi Walter
10-29-2011, 12:02
Thanks for the head's up and links. I perused his journals and finally found someone with some reasonable daily mileage numbers---avgs between 4-10 miles per day. Now this is more like it. I know he's old, but he can teach us to Slow Down.
Cookerhiker
11-21-2019, 21:10
Cimmaron passed away this week. Link to obituary: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pensacolanewsjournal/obituary.aspx?n=manuel-f-caetano&pid=194486595&fhid=10293
Thanks for the link. I met him on the trail in 2013(?) in NC, he had a lady named Starcatcher watching out for him IIRC.
Much respect. Sleep soundly, Sir, you led a very full life!
Sorry to hear of the passing of Cimarron. I met with him in 2011 on the trail just south of Seth Warner shelter. He was looking for the shelter and had fallen on some rocks on the muddy trail, he was pretty banged up. Facejacket and I showed him to the shelter and I helped him clean and bandage his arms. I talked a good bit with him that evening. He told me he took his trail name form the town of Cimarron, NM which he had visited when he went to Philmont Scout Ranch.