Walked to kayak today to go out thought I was all ready OMG 
no skirt! Go back in take off PFD in front of fan and re-gear up again.
Lucky Iām not a female huh? Might lead to problems.
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My motto (and experience) is: Do not stop learning new things and do things you have not done before. It will keep you young. There will be problems and things you can not do, but there will also be challenges you can tackle. And the most difficult part of a challenge is almost always the doorstep mile.
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Organization is over rated. It is okay to forget things.
What is under rated is the attitude of the people and dogs that you go with. The country is really important to me. Now I donāt run hard rapids, worry about catching fish much, but I just love being out there and spending a few days.
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Itās ok to forget things till youāre out there and need something you forgot besides your snack.
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I had been paddling and camping solo since I was in my early 20ās. Before and a for few years after that leaning the woods and hunting with my dad before he passed. With that beginning early education, I self taught myself whatever I needed to know and proceeded to take my own wilderness trips in the Adirondacks for many years. Taught land navigation at the formal state law enforcement training level for 5 years until Covid hit.
Younger friends at work got me started into paddle racing at age 46, the Adirodack 90 miler, among others. So far I have 24 90 mile races under my belt, plus over a dozen Cannonball-90ās (the whole 90 route done in a single day). At age 68 friends convinced me to paddle the 440 mile Yukon River Quest race, then twice paddled the Yukon 1000 mile race. Iāve done five of those so far. Now at age 70 I continue to train for race paddling every local Adirondack canoe race event. I am very active as a member and instructor of state level wilderness search and rescue teams. I Just had two seperate large search incidents that I lead as a SAR crew boss over the past two weeks.
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Glad to visit the paddling forum and see some of the old regulars on here!
Iāve had cancer a couple of times now, despite a healthy lifestyle and realized after completing chemoradiation in September 2022, I miss being on the water! I live in Southern Arizona now so invested in a lighter weight rec boat/day touring boat and a Hullivator. I have been having a great time paddling my local lakes and enjoying nature and time on the water. As Iāve gotten older, I have had less interest in gear and speed per se, but I still love the feeling of āworkingā and moving through the water. The need to be in nature and in my body requires me to pay regular attention to strength training and flexibility exercises as an older paddler. It also requires a realistic appraisal of my limitations. However, what time on the water gives me is worth the investment in time and energy (after purchasing the Hullivator:)
Happy paddling!
aka santacruzmidwife (pam)
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I alternate between a desire to age gracefully and a determination that theyāll have to drag me kicking and screaming.
Youāve clearly nailed the grace option. Itās an inspiration.
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Its very hard for me to get in a boat and not push myself to see if I can do better than the last trip. It just seems natural. Itās too much work prepping, driving to launch, recovering, then unpacking and cleaning up afterwards to just paddle the same area around the launch that Iāve seen many times. Every trip is an exercise for building endurance to go further. I understand that itās not for everybody. It just makes me feel like Iām not that old yet. Iāll slow down when I canāt keep improving, even if gains are .1 mph or less at a time.
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So glad to see your post and know that you are healthy and paddling still. While we may focus on different aspects of paddling (or anything else) with varying intensity and passion, in the end, it is about appreciating being hereā¦ living and doing, in whatever form it has taken.
Stay well!
sing
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Iām working on my 75th year now. I had to quit WW paddling (OC1) a few years ago. The knees wouldnāt put up with it. I have been doing a lot more kayaking, especially in the ocean. The fit of the boat is much more important to me now. At my age better to fit the boat to the body than the body to the boat. Also as I have slowed down a bit so have to to think further ahead for any actions I take. Just not as quick at the corrections.
Iām trying to follow Hunter S.Thompsonās advice and so far, so good!
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Still working, and I completed a project yesterday that will almost certainly extend beyond my retirement. It was odd to think that it will be someone elseās responsibility next time. Definitely starting to feel my age, but as Daggermat said way back at the beginning, Iāve moved to the āstate of denialā. It may not be pretty, but doing my best to go out with a bang while I still canā¦
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I am aging alright, but there is nothing graceful about it at all. Just finished a trip on the upper Klamath River in CA at high flows. It was exhilirating, scary and a lot of hard work. We went in drift boats. Lots of pushy Class III rapids close together. Probably my last challenging whitewater except for maybe a few commercial trips.
The river was bank full with no beaches. Take outs were hard to find. We went past one of them. The banks were lined with willows, cottonwoods and blackberry brambles. There were 4 series of bridge abutments. The one at Interstate 5 was especially dangerous. I sneaked it by wading a side channel and banged up my leg. Walking is difficult after a week.
Never give up, but be careful out there.
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Shoulder poses no problem on the water. The hardest part is loading and unloading, as well as the drive to and from. Then thereās prep and cleanup. Itās just lost time and effort, and the knees donāt help.
Glad youāre still paddling! Lighter boats eventually, inevitably become a MUST for us old folks, unless using a portage cart is always feasible. And thereās no reason not to combine a cart with a lighter boat, either.
With the downside of lower physical ability come two upsides to old age: More free time, and more disposable income (if house is paid off, no bad fiscal habits, etc). That means the lightweight boatsā higher prices donāt seem as bad. Especially when weighing years of activity left vs dying with regrets.
If youāre in southern AZ now, perhaps we will meet someday at a reservoir between us (Iām in SW CO now).
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That preamble and postamble work is what I call overhead, and I dislike it also.
Would be nice to walk to the water with the boat securely stored near it and just get out ASAP! Not gonna happen, for the overwhelming majority of paddlers. Could be done on a carefully selected vacation, though.
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Ibuprofen, the miracle drug.
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Hydrocodone is more like it and muscle relaxers.
Pain is temporary
I have opioids but achieve almost the same pain relief from Tylenol. If it gets bad an Advil reaÄŗly helps.
I donāt know if I can āage gracefullyā behind a paddle or behind my work bench or behind my dogs or behind house ---------or behind anything else
I just age. All those injuries of my youthā¦you knowā¦ the ones I though I got over: They have come back on one level or another.
They were only on the delayed payment program.
Aging can be a pain in the behind,
but thatās the only thing I know for sure about it.
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