7 Tips For Older Hikers

hello everybody today i am out on the fox lake park sanctuary here near my house doing a little training hike just trying to get my body in shape a little bit but i decided along the way i'd make a few stops today and talk about seven tips that will help older hikers get through a section or through hike or maybe even a day hike but not to say that these tips wouldn't help any hiker but definitely for somebody that's up in years like i am things to be a little bit more cognizant of as you are hiking so let's start with tip number one and that is exactly what i'm doing today pay very good attention to your pre-hike physical training it can only help a lot of people get out there and say they're going to hike themselves into shape and yeah you can do that no problem but it could be a problem if you're in better shape as you get out on the trail your hike experience is going to be a lot better in the beginning and if you want to do a few more miles you can do a few more miles and it just opens up a few more possibilities rather than hiking yourself in shape so that's number one i'm gonna move on down the trail before we get in number two [Music] number two clearance from your doctor so as you get older things break down a lot easier and getting clearance from your doctor to do a through hike or long section hike is probably a good idea more than it would be if you were a younger hiker got a little story to go along with that before i did my appalachian trail through hike in 2018 i have had two previous knee surgeries on my knee due to racquetball injuries the first one was a acl reconstruction meniscus terror cartilage damage second one was another meniscus tear with more cartilage damage so i figured i would go see my orthopedic surgeon prior to doing the thru hike just to see if my knee would hold hold up through that uh process when i went to my doctor he sat down and he looked at the images from the very first surgery that i had and he looked at me and he looked at the computer screen and he looked back at me and he said i wouldn't suggest you do this after your first knee surgery there's no reason for me to even look at your second knee surgery so i was pretty dejected and decided that you know i don't know what i'm gonna do and he looked back at me and he said well if you're gonna through hike across the country i just have one suggestion for you and i got piped up thinking that he's gonna give me you know a brace or something that i could use and he said find a smaller country so that was his advice went back to the car hadas was with me she was laughing rolling on the floor and she looked at me and she says you're still gonna hike that trail aren't you i said yes i am and she got mad at me why did we even come see this doctor then so that is a perfect example of do as i say not as i do but i knew going into that first hike that the chances of me finishing with the knee the way it was were slim but i went ahead and did it anyway i guess that's just because i'm stubborn and i'm gonna do the same thing with the cdt my chances of finishing it with the finishing it with the knee that i have are probably slim but i've got some guts and fortitude i'm going to push my way through and see what happens don't let no doctor tell me what to do that's silly uh but check with your doctor beforehand get a full physical make sure there's nothing wrong because there will be anything worse than wouldn't be anything worse than if you get out on the trail and all of a sudden you run into an issue that you didn't know you had that a blood test or uh mri or something could have checked you out beforehand getting out there so check with your doctor before you go do as i say as i do and any hike through hike attempt is an attempt until you finish the final day and touch the sign or touch the monument or whatever it is at the end so everything that i do in the future is an attempted through height all right i'm also going to add a little 2a to number two trekking poles for the older hiker trekking poles can be a much greater addition to your kit than maybe for somebody that's younger and stronger the trekking poles definitely for me learning how to use them properly and getting up and down the trail take a bunch of stress off of my knees ankles and hips so with the bad knee trekking poles definitely were an advantage helps you up the steep ups down the steep downs and helps take some of that stress off so you're using your arms also to cushion some of the blows of the steps that are going downhill and if you get to use them properly you can use them to help push off and propel you forward and make your hike a little bit faster or a little bit longer each day trekking poles i'm going to add that at number [Music] two number three is something that everybody should do you've heard it a million times from everybody that talks about hiking but for the older hiker it is definitely a must it is hike your own hike you will inevitably run into hikers out there that are faster than you it's just going to happen unless you're somebody like greg hogg mains or a beast like that but if you try to keep up with somebody that is not at your pace that they're faster than you then you will run yourself into the ground it's just a matter of time you have to let them go and hope that if you want to you can eventually catch up to them later on down the trail but number three tried and true hike your own hike [Music] all right leaving the boy scout camp here at the fox lake park sanctuary and i believe we are at number four number four tip for older hikers is a little bit of an enhanced medical kit as you get older you might need certain things to help you get through the day like a shot of whiskey i'm just kidding so um for me i never take anything at home even aspirin or ibuprofen or anything but with me and i do take it on the trail for sore muscles and everything is uh take a lot of eyes for a lot i take my share of ibuprofen and another thing as i've gotten older that especially with some of the food that you're forced to eat on the trail is indigestion so i take a good amount of tums with me or some type of indigestion thing like that to get me through the night sometimes because it's rough to wake up with indigestion and if you have any type of prescription medication that you need to take while you're out there you've got to figure out a way to get that to you up the trail unless you're able to take it from all you need from the very beginning so you've got to figure out a way where you can get into towns and pick up either a box that you've mailed to yourself or somebody is mailed to you that has your prescription medication in it or have that prescription medication mailed forward remembering that pickups in town if you end up using a post office you gotta know those post office hours if the post office closes at three on friday and you get there at four o'clock on friday you are waiting till monday morning to pick up that box if you have to have it so prescription medications and medications that you might need to bring with you on the trail number four all right we're on number five so on a through hike for a long section hike what part of your body usually hurts the most your feet so it's a good idea to make sure before you leave especially as an older hiker that you get your feet or your shoes and socks and any orthotics or anything like that system like that you get that dialed in prior to leaving what works for me or what works for other hikers might not work for you shoes and orthotics and stuff like that are a personal preference type of thing i do work at rei and i work in the rei at winter park in orlando i do know that we have some very good shoe specialists there if you happen to be in the area you want to get fitted and figure out how the best way to tie your shoes are the best way to fit your shoes any orthotics you might need we got dorian we got jason we've got nate and several other people that work there that man they know shoes but make sure that you get your shoes and orthotic system if you're going to wear any orthotics worked out prior to leaving or you could be paying the price all right hiking on all righty number six so as an older hiker you end up getting some knots and sore muscles and some issues that happening to you that maybe some of the younger hikers don't get so one of the things i would suggest is you bring you some type of muscle roller or a cork ball or something that you can stick up on your back and and rub those uh sore muscles out whether it be your back your legs your calves whatever it may be uh one of the things that i'm actually doing right now to test out is the compression sleeves i've got some ah let's see if they're gonna show the zinza compression sleeves on my calves i'm gonna try i'm actually trying those out today and seeing how they work for me if they don't i won't carry them but i'm going to see how they feel so far so good i'm about six or seven miles in probably going to do 10 today but some type of way to get your muscles rolled out and get some soreness in the joints and stuff rolled out at the end of the night that's number six one more all right done with a hike for today got my 10 miles in and sitting here getting ready to head home and want to come up with number seven number seven and probably the most important for me is pea bottle as you get older your bladder doesn't hold as easily as it used to so it saves you a lot of time and hassle getting up and getting out and you're out of your tent and taking care of your business having to come back in just use the bottle so time saver and lifesaver all right hope you enjoyed the video and i will be back at you as soon as i can and hope everybody's doing great pt out

Channel: Probation Termination

Views: 38,789

Rating: 4.9140105 out of 5

Keywords: Hiking, Appalachian trail, contentinal divide trail, pacific crest trail, backpacking, thru hiking

Id: 1oSc1rWGUyk

Length: 12min 51sec (771 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021