Thru Hike When I Retire

[soilman]

Reading these posts reminds me of the Jackson Browne song, The Pretender, about the juxtaposition of living the life one imagined versus working for a living.

I'm going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Though true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender

[Hoofit]

2030
2032!
come on now, find a way before then, plan ahead a couple of years, take the time off, whatever, waiting ten or fifteen years is just too long, health may crap out, inerest may dwindle, it's great to have dreams but the older you get, the harder it is physically..
I guess it depends how much you really want to do it.....

[methodman]

I will have waited 34 years when I go next year to do my AT thru hike.

[Ethesis]

I will have waited 34 years when I go next year to do my AT thru hike.

I am hoping to do next year too when I retire.

[dharmabum2]

I enjoyed this discussion of retirement hiking plans, smiling and laughing a bit as I read it. It reminded me of my own plan for a thru-hike when I retire, maybe next year at 63. Yet, all this planning for the great hike in the future also seems unreal, a chimera and even contrary to the spirit of the trail. Jon Kabat Zinn says in his book, "Coming to our Senses" and in the chapter on Nowscape: "wherever we go, where ever we are, whatever is happening and no matter what time it is or what the calendar says, we always only have moments to live".

[Gambit McCrae]

Man and I thought I was a planner lol good luck in 14 years on your thru hike

[chknfngrs]

I will end-to-end thru hike when I retire. I don’t have the time right now.

What I currently have time for are the shorter day trips and the more adventous weekend and week long itineraries.

If I lose interest or physical abilities, so be it. I’ll go down as living in a capacity that makes sense to me.

[Gambit McCrae]

I will end-to-end thru hike when I retire. I don’t have the time right now.

What I currently have time for are the shorter day trips and the more adventous weekend and week long itineraries.

If I lose interest or physical abilities, so be it. I’ll go down as living in a capacity that makes sense to me.

Hey nothing wrong with weekends and week long trips. Longest I have been able to live outside was 16 days before having to return to society and become a contributing citizen. There aren't too many hobbies that require you to put life on hold for 6 months...LDH is a rare bird lol

[BuckeyeBill]

I will end-to-end thru hike when I retire. I don’t have the time right now.

What I currently have time for are the shorter day trips and the more adventous weekend and week long itineraries.

If I lose interest or physical abilities, so be it. I’ll go down as living in a capacity that makes sense to me.

Hiking is hiking no matter how far you can go. I have done the PCT twice and the CDT once, when I was living in San Diego. I returned to my home state and started looking at completing my triple crown, but could not get away for a thru because I had to coordinate the care of my mother with my oldest sister. This allowed me to walk for up to six weeks at a time as a section hiker. I am still planning a thru-hike, and have even avoided certain areas that I want to see for the first time on my thru-hike (Springer Mountain, Katahdin, Harper's Ferry,to name a few). Keep spending as much time as work and family allow and you will be bitten by the hiking bug which will get you through the tough times. Never stop dreaming.

[Gambit McCrae]

Hiking is hiking no matter how far you can go. I have done the PCT twice and the CDT once, when I was living in San Diego. I returned to my home state and started looking at completing my triple crown, but could not get away for a thru because I had to coordinate the care of my mother with my oldest sister. This allowed me to walk for up to six weeks at a time as a section hiker. I am still planning a thru-hike, and have even avoided certain areas that I want to see for the first time on my thru-hike (Springer Mountain, Katahdin, Harper's Ferry,to name a few). Keep spending as much time as work and family allow and you will be bitten by the hiking bug which will get you through the tough times. Never stop dreaming.

6 weeks is a good stretch on the trail!

Off topic...But If I were a teacher I would spend my summers on the trail for sure

[BuckeyeBill]

6 weeks is a good stretch on the trail!

Off topic...But If I were a teacher I would spend my summers on the trail for sure

It came about by good negotiations and years of work. I could start drawing my retirement now, but if I wait longer, I will get more money per month. So now I work for myself and both my mother and sister have since passed on. Right now i am building some cars to take to Hot August Nights in Las Vegas. If they sell, I am gone again.

[MuddyWaters]

I should be end to end thru hiking the AT in 2032. I’ll be newly retired and 57 years old. Anyone else planning to thru in 2032?

Between now and then I have 14 years to hike the short trails, the close trails, and lock down a system that won’t let me down. I just did the math and while a lot can happen between now and then, I’m stoked!

I can’t afford the long stuff right now but easy to enjoy much shorter hikes with my kids until I can seems like a good alternative.

Or, you might be dead by then.
Or be a caregiver for an elderly parent, or spouse.
Or you could become incapacitated yourself or poor in health.

If you want to hike the AT, hike it now.
If you still want to thru-hike it, you can do that too if you live that long.
Or, you might find it already having the AT und your belt you want to hike the PCT or other trail.

Who knows what the AT will look like by then.

Never put off till tomorrow something that you want to do today. If you really want to do it, make it happen. Do the math on a retirement spreadsheet. 6mo missed income will not be catastrophic to your retirement ability. If the reason is it's really just not that high on your priority list, admit it. You only want to hike it when you don't have anything better to do.

And yeah raising a family is something better to do for most people. But you can swing a month or two a year most likely , and get it done. And never miss that little bit of income.

[Mikerfixit]

I realize that I may never get a chance to make the attempt. I'm ok with that as right now my priorities lay with supporting my family and raising my children. If the opportunity ever comes up that I can make it before retirement than I will be prepared. I'm going to have fun in the now with shorter trips

[chknfngrs]

Or, you might be dead by then.
Or be a caregiver for an elderly parent, or spouse.
Or you could become incapacitated yourself or poor in health.

If you want to hike the AT, hike it now.
If you still want to thru-hike it, you can do that too if you live that long.
Or, you might find it already having the AT und your belt you want to hike the PCT or other trail.

Who knows what the AT will look like by then.

Never put off till tomorrow something that you want to do today. If you really want to do it, make it happen. Do the math on a retirement spreadsheet. 6mo missed income will not be catastrophic to your retirement ability. If the reason is it's really just not that high on your priority list, admit it. You only want to hike it when you don't have anything better to do.

And yeah raising a family is something better to do for most people. But you can swing a month or two a year most likely , and get it done. And never miss that little bit of income.

Thanks for this. Appreciate your input!

[Berserker]

I just wanted to get in on this thread and say that I appreciate all of the input/opinions on retirement along with a lot of detail of the financial part of it. I changed my mental attitude from assuming I had to work until I was in my 60s about 10 years ago, and I'm now trying to set things up so I can become financially independent in my 50s.

So to all those younger people reading this I want to reiterate checking out blogs like Mr. Money Moustache and other similar ones that discuss early retirement. I wish I had started thinking that way in my 20s, but alas I didn't really get there mentally until my late 30s. Better late then never though is one of my mantras, and if I can cut 10 working years off thus starting my retirement earlier then rock on.

[Berserker]

Or, you might be dead by then.
Or be a caregiver for an elderly parent, or spouse.
Or you could become incapacitated yourself or poor in health.

If you want to hike the AT, hike it now.
If you still want to thru-hike it, you can do that too if you live that long.
Or, you might find it already having the AT und your belt you want to hike the PCT or other trail.

Who knows what the AT will look like by then.

Never put off till tomorrow something that you want to do today. If you really want to do it, make it happen. Do the math on a retirement spreadsheet. 6mo missed income will not be catastrophic to your retirement ability. If the reason is it's really just not that high on your priority list, admit it. You only want to hike it when you don't have anything better to do.

And yeah raising a family is something better to do for most people. But you can swing a month or two a year most likely , and get it done. And never miss that little bit of income.

This is a good summary.

I really wanted to thru hike many years ago too and thought it would be a cool thing to do once retired, but have alternately been section hiking for 10 years now. The main thing I have learned from this is that I may not even be "thru hiking" material. So I'm glad I didn't put off hiking the AT to try and do a thru later on.

[Astro]

How these last 400 miles in NH and ME go will probably be a big influence on if I ever do a thru hike in the future.

[futureatwalker]

2031 for me...

It's been my dream to hike the AT for a long time, and my plan, like many here, is to do it when I retire. One challenge is that I live 3000 miles from the trail.

But also, I know that nothing is guaranteed. My suspicion is that we tend to discount getting old. Right now I am the youngest and likely strongest I will ever be.

So, I try to hedge the thru-hike-retirement goal by getting out as much as possible now. P1010839.JPG

(Photo from the A.T. outside Harper's Ferry, last November.)

Even some days on the A.T. are better than no days...

[chknfngrs]

If I tell myself I can’t hike when I’m older, what good comes from that?

[schmitzcj]

I should be end to end thru hiking the AT in 2032. I’ll be newly retired and 57 years old. Anyone else planning to thru in 2032?

Crazy as it sounds, this is also my plan (in 2032) I want to start on April 1st, because I just think it'd be funny to tell people I'm on the trail and them thinking it's a joke.

Since you're located in DC, and I'm in MD, we can car pool to Springer. But, seriously, I'm hoping to retire in the summer of 2031 at the ripe old age of 58. My wife (who is younger) will continue to work, whilst I go about getting thru hikes out of my system. She has no interest in hiking, except watching it on YouTube. It's funny, someone else mentioned they have a similar deal with their spouse, glad I'm not the only one.

See you on the trail in 2032.

BTW, there are some great local hikes in the DC region.