I agree. Best I could muster is a Stellar S14 G2. The G1 was too tippy but this happens at 6’5".
Backpacking involves high elevations, carrying weight, climbing steep hills and very remote settings.
It is starting to feel out of reach except for easy trips.
Paddling in the West on rivers , is mostly at low elevations, involves little weight carrying and is not as strenuous. I am getting ready to start cardio rehab next week after a heart attack. There has been plenty of time to sit and think about what is next. At 72, more paddling and rowing. I like drift boats now for overnight trips. The boats are roomy and allow for coolers, furniture and dogs.
Sure there is some risk. But running rivers is too important to quit.
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I have an S14S. Haven’t paddled it a lot. No trouble with stability but I’m almost shoehorned into it.
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I don’t need to hire a “trainer” to tell me how to maintain fitness. Just several minutes a day working with stretch bands along with fifty or so reps of modified (old man’s) push-ups and sit-ups along with an hour or more of brisk walking will do it. Consistency is the key as well as maintaining a reasonably low BMI. So far, so good and my 81st is coming up in a few weeks. Still thinking about one of Placid Boat Works nifty little pack canoes, though.
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I am young at 58 and going strong on a Pelican Paddle Board for 4 years. I live in Michigan, so I only paddle in the summer. I paddle at least 4 hours every other day on Lake Erie and the Huron River (South of Detroit). I enjoy watching the eagles and swans. The water is happiness and freedom!
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The anticipation of new gear is fun and helps keep you going, as I’m sure you know.
20 years ago I was in the middle of a lower back episode but had my first cf paddle on order.
It arrived when I could barely move but our first grandchild was visiting that day. He was barely getting around and we had him sitting in the middle of our bed. I gave him the paddle and really enjoyed watching him swing around.
I got back on the water as soon as I could anticipating how good it would be. And it was!
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Wow. Wish you a speedy recovery. You can only play the hand you are dealt.
My cardiologist recently told me that I’ll need a mitral valve replacement in the next 2-3 years for my previously repaired valve leakage. The progressively worsening leakage is impacting my stamina and is also starting to dilate (stress) my heart.
Can’t do what i did just 3,4, or 5 years ago. But I just keep going and doing what I can. 
sing
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Hope the valve job is restorative.
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Appreciated your openness about God. I hope it’s the God of the Bible. I enjoy listening to the musings of these older paddlers. I’m 74 and trying to temper my activities with wisdom; so it’s both interesting and enlightening to hear others speak from the heart. Yet I know how much richer I am soul-wise since letting the Scriptures marinate me. I worry about other ‘old-timers’ who are short-changing themselves by refusing to think about the deeper subjects. I enjoyed your ability to frame things verbally — and touching on the LORD in those words! Thanks.
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I believe in the Creator.
Nature is God.
And Love is God.
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Recently saw an interesting interview of a celebrity. He said he wants to continue experiencing life, but has no fear of death, and look forward to death as the greatest experience. As we age, its our responsiblity to teach the newest generations how to embrace life and face death. Its inevitable. Deal with it. Just keep going.
What truly frustrates me is that after a lifetime of struggle and learning how to adapt (and at times escaping the clutches of death), the reality that the accumulated knowledge will not be passed on. I feel I worked too hard to have what I learned to be extinguished. I want it to benefit someone, anyone, even if just one.
Yes without a doubt and absolutely. The God we are told about from the Holy Bible.
And no other ---- and no substitutes.
Genesis 1:1
John 1: 1-3
jyak,
You are talking about your legacy. Teach some kids. Join the Boy Scouts. Write your memoirs.
I teach kids to ride horses. It is therapy for them, the horses and for me.
I go on the lecture circuit and take my trusty old slide projector to talk to people about forestry.
I like to take people on “forestry walks” in the woods. Sometimes I take my friends and family and sometimes I just meet some nice people that are interested.
If you have experience and knowledge to offer by all means start offering it.
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I did scouts for 10 years when my son was in. Cooked for the adults, also for the troop and visitors during cabin trips Dec - Mar. We were an active troop in Baltimore with one of the oldest charters. Celebrating 100 year during the 90s. Back then, bicycling and backpacking was my game, with canoeing experience. For summer camp, we traveled to the a camp in the south of Rhodes Island for 11 years.
I was 100% from 1990 until August 2001. We were strong on pioneering skill, they could set up their patrol sites in virtual darkness, run their own patrols, buy and cook their own food, and knew how to build a cooking and night long council fire. We use to do knot relays. When I told one senior he should know these knots, his reply was we don’t sit around all day tying knots. I did! They preferred football and cards. Kids started taking the lazy way out. On the last summer camp, we spent a miserable overnighter in dense underbrush during an all night rain storm because they were too lazy to plan for the better sites earlier in the week where weather forecasts were favorable.
I can handle adverse elements, but I don’t follow stupid into the woods when I can teach them how to plan and adapt. Following the last Summer Camp we got to the parking lot and I just went home and never looked back or missed it. We camped in sub zero, ice storms, snow storms, high wind, thunderstorms, ate heartily, some of us hiked in the dark after lights out until 5:00 am, followed the constellations, tracked animals, built bridges, towers, slept under stars and makeshift shelters, biked, backtracked. I never had a truely bad trip out of 132 trips or 11 week-long summer camps. Met the finest men and a few women I ever met. Never regreted anything until the reality that there was nothing that I could over that those kids needed. My family took first priority and they got my undevided attention. No regrets. The troop was attracting leaders who insited on more free time for kids. That breeds trouble which is why I left. The troop folded a few years ago. My last trip was just a wake up call - scouting isn’t the thrill it was when we were kids. Such a sad, crying shame. Primarily due to corporate leadeship.
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I did help leave a legacy. I know many still today, worked many years for the Excellent Scoutmaster who was there when I left. We’re still close friends. My son remained for about 8 years. Many of the kids were hugely successful and grateful. Even the ones that sat in the snow because they were tire of unloading the vans at the camp site. They didn’t hold it against me that I threatened to drag each of them behind me as I unloaded the vans myself, and told them to put their skid plates on!
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I hear you. I’ve never been a scoutmaster but there are about a half dozen kids (and a bunch of non-paddling adults) that I’ve introduced to canoe camping over the years. Done dozens of trips with each and tried to pass on what I’ve learned.
But in the end I think the knowledge I may, or may not, have passed on - how to pitch a tent or start a campfire - is less important than passing on to them a love of the sound of wind, waves, running waters. How to pick a safe swimming hole on a hot summer day, a love of campfire discussions, a hot bowl of oatmeal on a misty river morning, the stars and sounds of a river camp at night… If I can imbue a love of those things in them, they’ll learn whatever fine points they need. If we can do that, its the best gift we can give. We can try to teach whatever we want, but everybody does their own learning and we all learn it from practice. We practice what we love. But we can’t love what we have never experienced.
And its a good idea at the end of each trip, after the hustle of loading and such is through, to just sit quietly together by the water’s edge for a few minutes and listen. No talking… And know we’ll be back.
Hopefully it will be a source of peace and strength to them in times of need for the rest of their lives, as it has been for us. And hopefully they will pass that love on long after we’re gone. A legacy is like a ripple through time, or so I choose to believe.
Can’t help recalling, “Ripple in still waters, when there is no pebble tossed or wind to blow” And “Let it be known there is a fountain, that was not made by the hands of men.”
We live in it and we pass it on.
Or so I choose to believe.
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PJC, Anyone that starts quoting Robert Hunter is on my team.
jyak, I grew up in Maryland. The Boy Scouts were great in those early days and we had overnights at least once a month year around. Times have changed. You still have lots to offer kids.
My son is an Eagle. I was the Cubmaster when he started, became a Webelos leader, and then an assistant Scoutmaster.
Four boys came with me from Webelos to Scouts. All four became Eagles. The Scoutmaster, an Eagle, was the best guy I ever met for relating to teenage boys. Those boys are now in their late 40s.
My function as assistant Scoutmaster was to arrange our monthly campouts. Our rule was if it was planned, we went. We camped in the driving rain, in an ice storm, in blistering heat, in swamps with swarming mosquitoes, and on the beach.
Those were the fun trips.
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GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP ON PADDLING as long as you can. I am 83, had 2 back surgeries, still loving getting out there as much as possible!
Margot
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