My Inspirations: Long Journeys

 

Old Mines Trail, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017. Credit: Mzuriana.

In addition to saving the world (ahem), I've dreamed all my life of taking a long trek. Usually by hiking. Well, walking. There was a time when I devised a plan to walk from the Arctic Circle to the southernmost tip of Tierra del Fuego, in Chile, when I turned 50.  That plan evaporated when I read the story of the hiker who, unbeknownst to him, had a bear tracking behind him. A driver who passed by alerted the hiker. 

Ernie Andrus is the oldest person to have run across America. It took him three years. He was age 90 at the start and 93 at the finish. 

Nimblewill Nomad,' 83, is the oldest to hike the Appalachian Trail

Nan Resinger is the oldest woman to hike the Appalachian Trail, doing so at age 74. And, hey, her hike partner, also a woman, was no yowwen at age 67. 

Emma Gatewood, at age 67, was the first woman ever to complete the entire Appalachian Trail alone in one season (and this was back in 1955). (Do note that her trail name was Grandma Gatewood, tying her to her uterus, versus the character-rich trail name of "Nimblewill Nomad" in a link above. 

From the Amazon page of the book, Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail: 

"[Emma] Gatewood not only hiked the trail alone, she was the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. At age seventy-one, she hiked the 2,000-mile Oregon Trail."

 80-year-old Yuichiro Miura claims new Everest record. Mr. Miura is also the oldest person to ski (and, er, tumble part of the way) down Mount Everest - at age 70. There's even a movie about his descent: The Man Who Skied Down Everest: 

Note: "[S]ix Sherpa members were killed during the expedition, as well as a Japanese member who died of a heart attack." Source: Wikipedia  What is recreation for a few is a means to support one's families for others.