[MD]

I'm seriously considering walking into the south end of the Appalachian trail next month, and heading north. I'm not completely nuts. I have the skills, and my sixty year old body might just be able to handle it. Either I will emerge at the north end, or I won't. No phone, no internet. It will be all about food, water, and the next step. Why not? It's not like I haven't done this before. Yeah, it was a long time ago, but if I meet the bear along the way and don't come out? so what

[Cog]

You should walk into a doctor's office before you do anything else. You sound depressed.

[Subjectivist]

I'm seriously considering walking into the south end of the Appalachian trail next month, and heading north. I'm not completely nuts. I have the skills, and my sixty year old body might just be able to handle it. Either I will emerge at the north end, or I won't. No phone, no internet. It will be all about food, water, and the next step. Why not? It's not like I haven't done this before. Yeah, it was a long time ago, but if I meet the bear along the way and don't come out? so what

If you hike with two or three others it sounds like a wonderful thing if you can afford the time and incidental expenses. Going it alone would not be a great idea for a person a third of your age, a twisted ankle or an infected cut or scrape from a fall can lead to real serious trouble if you are alone.

[Cog]

MD I'm serious dude. You need to talk to a professional about what your feeling before to undertake something like this. There is both a mental and physical aspect to this. People can get into serious problems on the road.

[Cog]

@MD

We don't know each other but are the same age. I know the feeling of trying to make a major change. Depression is not an unknown thing in our age group. You won't escape it by going on a walk. Ask yourself what you are really trying to accomplish. This is why talking to a doctor is a good thing. It will help you clarify what is really going on versus what you think is going on.

I will apologize in advance if I've completely misjudged the situation.

[Newfie]

MD,

Go for it! Take a cell phone and a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon).

Maybe take a couple of warm up trips, or plan your start so you can condition your body. But I suspect you know that.

[MD]

Like I said: I've done this before. Alone? Not really. Do you know how many people head north every year? It's not like I plan to step onto the trail with a pocket knife and a bottle of water. Hiking companions will be found along the way, and I have 1000 steps of planning and preps to do before I hit the trail head. I've been wanting to do it for years... decades. This year may be my one and only window of opportunity. I've been walking five miles a day for a year. Down 80 lbs from my peak. I'm about as ready as I am ever going to get

[MD]

MD,

Go for it! Take a cell phone and a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon).

Maybe take a couple of warm up trips, or plan your start so you can condition your body. But I suspect you know that.

delorme makes a nice little and lightweight gps locator. only about ten hours on two aaa, but if it's only on for emergencies, that might be good enough. only so much room in the backpack, you know. and by the way, along with walking five miles a day, I've been carrying 40 pounds on my shoulders for the same distance.

[Ibon]

I'm seriously considering walking into the south end of the Appalachian trail next month, and heading north. I'm not completely nuts. I have the skills, and my sixty year old body might just be able to handle it. Either I will emerge at the north end, or I won't. No phone, no internet. It will be all about food, water, and the next step. Why not? It's not like I haven't done this before. Yeah, it was a long time ago, but if I meet the bear along the way and don't come out? so what

This is exactly what I did when I was 18, not happy in the university, I dropped out, hitch hiked from Illinois to the southern terminus of the AP in northern Georgia and started heading north.. One of the smartest moves of my youth for it started me on a trail that I am still walking today.

[MD]

depressed? yeah I'm depressed. who wouldn't be that takes a hard look at life? My somewhat flippant comment about meeting the bear? guess what, we're all gonna meet the bear one day. The question is: do you want to meet him while doing something you love, or something you hate? That my friend, is the question I have answered for myself.

[Newfie]

I’m still trying to figure out a way to sail to Greenland. But I need at least one if not two crew. Finally figured out I would need to make it over 2 seasons, one up, one back. Ran it past my Wife, I think she may be amenable to it. I’d probably have to make the long 700 mile leg up alone, that’s OK. I can do that. It’s getting back where I need crew. Those longest legs are no more that 250 miles.

I’m 68 but am doing OK. I’m gonna do it it’s gotta be soon.

[Newfie]

depressed? yeah I'm depressed. who wouldn't be that takes a hard look at life? My somewhat flippant comment about meeting the bear? guess what, we're all gonna meet the bear one day. The question is: do you want to meet him while doing something you love, or something you hate? That my friend, is the question I have answered for myself.

Spot on. Depressed is sitting around watching the Gong Show. Getting up and doing something is a great way to kill depression.

[Ibon]

The question is: do you want to meet him while doing something you love, or something you hate? That my friend, is the question I have answered for myself.

That is the perhaps the only real question out there isn't it? All the rest is noise and chatter and meaningless.

Homo sapiens, supposedly the top predator, is acting a lot like prey these days in the fearful, defensive, distraught way that he moves about. A walk in the woods puts that all in perspective and allows you to decouple from the collective neurosis of our times. DO IT !

[MD]

I’m still trying to figure out a way to sail to Greenland. But I need at least one if not two crew. Finally figured out I would need to make it over 2 seasons, one up, one back. Ran it past my Wife, I think she may be amenable to it. I’d probably have to make the long 700 mile leg up alone, that’s OK. I can do that. It’s getting back where I need crew. Those longest legs are no more that 250 miles.

I’m 68 but am doing OK. I’m gonna do it it’s gotta be soon.

i happen to be a capable deck hand. i still regret passing up a long voyage years ago, but my kids were small and needed me. i have a serious problem: wanderlust. Except I don't see it as a problem, it's the people around me that give funny looks.

That explains why tyhe bulk of my working career was traveling around the country fixing this and that. Too many months in one place and I get all jumpy.

[MD]

Lyrics
Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You've seen it all, you've seen it all
Watched the men who rode you switch from sails to steam
And in your belly you hold the treasures few have ever seen
Most of them dream, most of them dream
Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late
I've done a bit of smuggling, I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last, never meant to last
And I have been drunk now for over two weeks
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks
But I got stop wishing, got to go fishing, down to rock bottom again
Just a few friends, just a few friends
I go for younger women, lived with several a while
Though I ran them away, they'd come back one day
Still could manage to smile
Just takes a while, just takes a while
Mother, mother ocean, after all the years I've found
My occupational hazard being my occupation's just not around
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown

[yellowcanoe]

I'm seriously considering walking into the south end of the Appalachian trail next month, and heading north. I'm not completely nuts. I have the skills, and my sixty year old body might just be able to handle it. Either I will emerge at the north end, or I won't. No phone, no internet. It will be all about food, water, and the next step. Why not? It's not like I haven't done this before. Yeah, it was a long time ago, but if I meet the bear along the way and don't come out? so what

If you already have basic backpacking skills this sounds like a wonderful idea. Your age should not be a big factor -- if you are out of shape you'll need to take it easy for the first few days. Backpacking is pretty physically demanding so you will get fit and start losing weight after a few days on the trail.

Other posters recommended you travel with other people and carry a PLB. While it is nice to have company, it is hard to find people who would want to do such a long trip and travel at the same pace. That's why the majority of people doing long backpacking trips do so solo. I do not see the need to have a PLB -- unless you are traveling the trail in the dead of winter you will encounter other people on the trail.

I'll be doing some sort of solo canoe camping or backpacking trip this summer and I am 61 years old. I did my first solo camping trip at the age of 13 or 14 and I am not about to stop now!

[rockdoc123]

delorme makes a nice little and lightweight gps locator. only about ten hours on two aaa, but if it's only on for emergencies, that might be good enough. only so much room in the backpack, you know. and by the way, along with walking five miles a day, I've been carrying 40 pounds on my shoulders for the same distance.

Yes, as I said earlier this is your best bet. There are some options of small solar capture units that you can mount temporarily on the top of your backpack, there are even a few backpacks out there now with them built in. Another possibility to get all the electricity to power a cell phone and a delorme unit you will ever need is one of the campstoves manufactured by Biolite. https://www.bioliteenergy.com/products/campstove-2. There are also a bunch of options that combine a flashlight and usb power source powered through a hand crank. With the right Delorme unit (maybe the Delorem InReach) you could even keep a continuous record of your path and update via messaging from your phone linked through bluetooth. So no need to haul around a bunch of batteries or camp fuel etc.

[Plantagenet]

I did the northern part of the Appalachian Trail many years ago and then I did the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage route across northern Spain a few years ago.

You have to carry 30-40 pounds of pack, food, tents, stoves, fuel etc on your back to do the Appalachian Trail. IMHO you should consider doing the Camino as an alternative to the doing the Appalachian trail because it is easier for an older person and probably a better experience as well.

The advantage of the Camino is that it goes right though villages and historic towns all across northern Spain and businesses all along the Camino are all set up to support hikers on the Pilgrimage. There are hostels and inns spaced out every 10-20 km all the way across Spain, so you don't have to carry a tent or other camping gear with you. The hostels and inns cost about $10/night and usually provide a simple breakfast. There are restaurants and cafes all the way, many offering "peregrino esecials"----usually a three course dinner. Yes, there are some wild, remote spots, but there are also incredibly historic and beautiful cities with medieval crusader castles and fortresses, Roman city walls, the cathedral where El Cid is buried.

You meet people and usually group with people who hike at the same speed you travel at. I rented mountain bike for my trip.

If the hostels get to be too crowded or noisy, you can stay at a real hotel or a B and B for a night.


Good Luck!

[Ibon]

Plantagents suggestion is nice but stick to the North American wilderness for what ails you. Trappings of christianity, no matter how nicely dressed they are in century old stone churches doesn't nourish the soul nearly as well as pure wilderness.. no church organ can match the song of the Wood Thrush.

[Whitefang]

Plantagents suggestion is nice but stick to the North American wilderness for what ails you. Trappings of christianity, no matter how nicely dressed they are in century old stone churches doesn't nourish the soul nearly as well as pure wilderness.. no church organ can match the song of the Wood Thrush.

Walking is a way to silence the mind, regain your strenght and power, physicly and mentally, spiritually.
If you do not act now, have the courage and train the body, you might never do it.
Preparation is needed, for through hiking/cycling there are so many fine options, PCT/GDMBT.....AT sounds like a great start

I agree with IBON that the best place worldwide to do wilderness driving, riding and hiking is in North America.

Trail magic includes finding your soulmate, when you get silent, the key, your spiritual body, your energy, comes near you and you begin catching glimpses, feelings of being lucky, of being here and now, from the belly, that is how it first lets itself known.
You begin to know things like bad weather moving in, what to do next, where to find water and shelter.....trust yourself, your personal power, what you are. That is what all these people were after, after all. Plato, religious dudes and so on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulmate

Plato[edit]
In his dialogue The Symposium, Plato has Aristophanes present a story about soulmates. Aristophanes states that humans originally had four arms, four legs, and a single head made of two faces. He continues that there were three genders: man, woman and the "Androgynous", each with two sets of genitalia with the Androgynous having both male and female genitalia. The men were children of the sun, the women were children of the earth and the Androgynous were children of the moon, which was born of the sun and earth. It is said that humans had great strength at the time and threatened to conquer the gods. The gods were then faced with the prospect of destroying the humans with lightning as they had done with the Titans but then they would lose the tributes given to the gods by humans. Zeus developed a creative solution by splitting humans in half as punishment for humanity's pride and doubling the number of humans who would give tribute to the gods. These split humans were in utter misery to the point where they would not eat and would perish so Apollo had sewn them up and reconstituted their bodies with the navel being the only remnant harkening back to their original form. Each human would then only have one set of genitalia and would forever long for his/her other half; the other half of his/her soul. It is said that when the two find each other, there is an unspoken understanding of one another, that they feel unified and would lie with each other in unity and would know no greater joy than that.[3]