Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Go Hiking And Build Your Best Life

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Hiking for me is the best part of living the life I want. Being in nature, challenging my body, moving. If you hike you know it can become an important part of your life.

At 78 I ask myself, “Will I be able to do it this next March?” Right now I am not so sure, but I will know better in February.

An Alternative

So what if you can’t hike anymore? You have some disease or a heart condition and the doctor says you can’t stress yourself that much. I am not so naive to think that I will never not be able to climb mountains, but I prefer it be at least after my 85th year. Only six and a half years to go with this going wrong and that going wrong.

Let’s say you are 86 and you just van’t get the body up the mountain again. What is an alternative. You start walking up the hills where you live. You can even walk for a longer time because you are not driving to a trailhead. Of course you will be hitting the gym as usual, right?

Building the Life You Want

Maybe you are in your 40s and just started hiking. This is when you can make it a habit. Hiking will become like brushing your teeth. You will make sure your career doesn’t get in the way. Only take the job if you will have time to hike.

Hiking becomes a part of your identity. It is a big part of who you are. Or maybe you will become a trail runner or a rock climber. Nothing wrong with those except I think hiking is best.

Always Anticipating

This time of year when I am on my winter break from hiking I begin to anticipate the next season. What challenges will I face? Will I see another UFO (UAP)? Will I be able to climb Mt Si twice in one morning again? Do I even want to do it. What about Mailbox Peak?

This next season Mt Pilchuck will reopen. They were fixing the potholes on the road to the trailhead so seeing the results of that will be interesting.

Go Hiking and Never Finish

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It has been over a month now and I am still nursing myself after knee surgery. Friends tell me to go slow but I am typically in a hurry. After reading Goggins book I think I have it pretty good. However, during the surgery they reinsured an older surgery on the same knee and that has been giving me problems. All this to say that I am a little nervous about being ready to head up into the mountains the first week in March.

Maybe it will take me until April this year. That would be disappointing but would still be a decent season. I have already begun to prepare in other ways. I am getting new rear brakes for my car so I can actually get to the mountains and of course doing lots off step ups even with knee recovery.

On and On and On

Only two and a half more years and I will be 80 years old. That is shocking to think about so I typically don’t. Someone told me today that I was just going to break one of these days because I push so hard. I asked if they had read the poem, “The Wonderful One Horse Shay?” It was not made ion a day and I feel like the might be me. One of these days everything will break at once.

However, so far little things are going wrong here and there. Arthritis, hip pain, neuropathy all are trying to slow me down. They won’t stop me because, like Goggins I am never finished.

Adapt and Overcome

It might be that I won’t be able to run down the mountain as fast as last year. I ask myself once in a while if I will be able to run down the mountain at all. The answer is yes, of course, until I am not able. That is unlikely.

The worst case is that I will just adapt and overcome whatever the obstacle might be.

Go Hiking But Have A Plan B

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As I write this I am wearing a leg brace. This last Tuesday I had knee surgery. Hiking starts in March and I think I should be good to go by then, but if for some reason I am not then I will need a Plan B.

If you can afford it get Stem Cell therapy or at least investigate before you do what I did. It is my understanding you can get Stem Cell therapy for about $6,000 a knee. Insurance does not pay for it so that was not an option for me.

No Hike. Then What?

If the result of this knee surgery means hiking is in my rear window it’s ok. I know I will be able to walk because I can do that even with the leg brace. But there is no way to tell at this point. My first option would be to do what I did when they closed the trails during the Pandemic shut down. Walk. A lot.

However, this experience got me thinking what if I could really barely walk or something else happened to me physically. I mean what could possibly happen physically to an almost eighty year old man? What would I do? Well, I play guitar so I would play guitar. I write. So I would write more. I like to read so I would read more. That would be my Plan B.

Trust and Belief

The thing is I don’t want to have to use Plan B. I want to hike starting March 2023. Lots of people say they are going to go with me up some of these mountains and I don’t want to disappoint them.

Recently, I heard a motivational speaker say that one of the important things you need when facing any adversity is trust and belief. Trust that it will all work out for the best and belief that it will. That is what I am counting on. But you don’t have to wait for me to get better. Go hiking!

Go Hiking And Endure Or Not

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I know what you’re thinking! He’s going to tell me I need to endure the hikes even if I am sick and tired or over trained. If I had written this a year ago, I would have said you were dead right.

However, climbing a grueling mountain trail when you are over trained doesn’t make a lot of sense. Like I said, a year ago I would have done it anyway, but I changed my mind.

Pay Attention

If you are fortunate or nerdy enough to use the NatureBeat (Sweetwaterhrv) App, Whoop, or even a Garmin watch, you are paying attention to your heart rate variability. With NatureBeat it will give you both your Sympathetic and Parasympathetic numbers. Those to numbers make represent you autonomic nervous system. The first one is your “flight or flight” readiness and the second your “rest and digest” score. With the Whoop you also get a recovery score.

So what do you do if you don’t have any of this technology? Listen to your body! If you are overly tired maybe a day off would be the wisest choice. Then you will have less chance of getting an injury or even sick. Now don’t think you can just be a slacker. You can get improvements in fitness by pushing yourself when the numbers are bad. Just don’t do it all the time.

Pay With Your Heath

If you do not listen to your body and push through there is a good chance you will not do well. I learned this myself the hard way. A pattern developed where I was not getting enough sleep and was exercising hard every day and then of course, climbing a mountain. All my numbers were bad. So I thought I would see if I could get the numbers to go back up after taking a week off from exercise. It worked. They went up a little. More on that other time.

After once again hitting the trail, a late night (anything after 5:00 PM) wedding resulted in making me even more tired than the exercise. Of course I had climbed a mountain the day before so I was primed for weariness.

My Permission

It is official. You have my permission to take a week off from s hike if everything is stacked against you. You do not have to endure! Of course you don’t need my permission for anything!

The most important think to remember as a general rule with some exceptions: Go Hiking!

Go Hiking! You Are Stronger Than You Think

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A friend introduced me to hiking. She and her boyfriend took me up a mountain called Mt Dickerman. I was somewhere in my late forties I think. Remember not thinking I could get up the mountain. I was pretty heavy back then.

However, with determination and grit I made it to the top and ever since have been hitting those mountains every week seven months of the year.

Body vs Mind

The fact is you are stronger than you think. Your body will tell you that you are done, but the fact is you have twenty times more left in you. Your body is just confused and you have to let your mind control it.

Navy Seals will tel you the is one of the things they learned in BUDs. You can always do far more than you think you can.

Sitting On The Couch

I have people tell me that they climbed such and such a mountain and when I asked them when they say back when they were in their 20s. Now they sit on the couch and talk about what they used to do.

If you are in your 60s or 70s get out into the mountains at least twice a month. You can start with an easy hike and work your way up. Sitting on the couch just doesn’t cut it. You are stronger than you think.

Make the Decision

If you are heavier than you want to be and your medical numbers are not what they should be then get yourself out on the trail. It is the best exercise you will ever get. However, the number one thing that will get you there is making a decision.

Once you make the decision you cut off the couch and all it represents. You become s hiker! Maybe you will become a mountaineer or a trail runner. But the is the future. For now jut make that first decision and get off the couch!

Go Hiking And Be A Happier You

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The titles of these books make this too easy! It goes without saying that if you go hiking you will, indeed, be more happy. How could it be anything else?

Don’t believe me? Then let’s look at the evidence.

Nature Bathing

I am sure I have mentioned this before. Recently more and more articles and books are talking about the benefits of being in nature. Even if all you do is go sit under a tree in the woods you are ahead of the game.

If you are walking then you are exposed to all sorts of plants and dirt and good stuff. Some folks like to go hiking barefoot. I saw someone this last season walking barefoot up the mountain. When I was 8, 9, and 10 years old I spent all summer without shoes. I remember stepping on some glass and it never even getting through the callus. But I digress. Put your boots on when you go hiking!

Get it Done Early

Once again, you will be happier if you finish your mountain by 8:30 in the morning. Look at it this way, the day has just begun for most people and you have already climbed a mountain. If that doesn’t make you happy, I don’t know what will.

Then there are other things on your list for the day that will get done because you climbed the mountain early. If you wait then the mountain becomes an excuse for not getting to other important goals for the day.

The Summit

Over the top happy happens when you reach the summit of a mountain. What could passably make you happier except doing it very early. You get to see the sunrise. More happiness!

You say, but what if I don’t make it to the summit? Not possible if you prepare and have grit, determination and discipline!

Go hiking!