I have had some concern about my ability to hike the high peaks. I am 57 and about 75 pounds overweight. After looking at a photo of the summit of Cascade Mountain in one hiker's blog, I started to worry. I know from experience that I can probably finish, but I'm afraid of ending up in the hospital from exhaustion, or worse.
Let me put this in perspective. The daughter of a family we know recently completed the U.S. Marine Corp's Officer Candidate School at Paris Island. She is in her early twenties and weights 115 pounds. She told me that they got 4 hours sleep each night and had to hike through the swamp in the mud at 2:00 A.M. while wearing an 80 pound backpack. That's more than two-thirds of her body weight. My fully loaded backpack weighs 15 pounds and feels heavy to me. My aging male ego feels ashamed. To at least test myself for the high peaks, I got up extra-early this morning, put the backpack on and walked for an hour and twenty minutes.
As soon as I put the pack on, I felt strain on my shoulders, more so on my left because I have calcific tendonitis in that shoulder. The backpack has straps on the bottom of the pack that are intended to go around the waist like a belt. The intent is to transfer more of the weight of the pack to the hips and away from the shoulders and back. I started off with having the straps loose, but then stopped and adjusted them so that they were about as tight as a tight belt. It made a difference.
Incidentally, after the walk and a shower, I felt like a million dollars. Funny thing--when I was driving to work afterwards, I kept thinking that no American Indian worth his moccasins would ever bother to climb to the top of one of these mountains! Why would they? There's nothing to be had up there, no fish, wild game, plant food, or shelter. But at 57, if I don't do this now, I may never be able to. We're doing this for bragging rights. And I do not want to disgrace myself.
Let me put this in perspective. The daughter of a family we know recently completed the U.S. Marine Corp's Officer Candidate School at Paris Island. She is in her early twenties and weights 115 pounds. She told me that they got 4 hours sleep each night and had to hike through the swamp in the mud at 2:00 A.M. while wearing an 80 pound backpack. That's more than two-thirds of her body weight. My fully loaded backpack weighs 15 pounds and feels heavy to me. My aging male ego feels ashamed. To at least test myself for the high peaks, I got up extra-early this morning, put the backpack on and walked for an hour and twenty minutes.
As soon as I put the pack on, I felt strain on my shoulders, more so on my left because I have calcific tendonitis in that shoulder. The backpack has straps on the bottom of the pack that are intended to go around the waist like a belt. The intent is to transfer more of the weight of the pack to the hips and away from the shoulders and back. I started off with having the straps loose, but then stopped and adjusted them so that they were about as tight as a tight belt. It made a difference.
With the backpack, I realized that my overall center of balance shifts much higher and to the rear. I will have to take that into consideration balance-wise when doing a steep incline. I can picture myself unwittingly leaning back just a little and falling backwards down a rock slide.
And at the end of this morning's walk, my shoulders didn't feel much more strain than they did at the beginning. But I am not fooling myself. That walk on level pavement and grass was nothing compared to going straight up a mountain on rugged ground.
Incidentally, after the walk and a shower, I felt like a million dollars. Funny thing--when I was driving to work afterwards, I kept thinking that no American Indian worth his moccasins would ever bother to climb to the top of one of these mountains! Why would they? There's nothing to be had up there, no fish, wild game, plant food, or shelter. But at 57, if I don't do this now, I may never be able to. We're doing this for bragging rights. And I do not want to disgrace myself.
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