Hi! I am Chuck, also known as Orange Man. Welcome to The Retired Hiker, a blog about my life in retirement focusing on hiking, long-distance backpacking, and the adventures of Dana (a.k.a. Pitcrew) and Chuck in our Travel Trailer.
I retired after my wife died in 2021 and jumped into hiking and long-distance backpacking as a way deal with what I call “Life Part II”. I have thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and have a multi-year plan for the Pacific Crest Trail, the Colorado Trail, and numerous other long-distance trails.
As a reward to myself for completing the Appalachian Trail, we purchased a Travel Trailer in late 2024. I base out of the trailer on short multi-day hiking trips. Dana and I take the trailer on long weekends and week-long regional trips. Our plan is to tour the country in the trailer once Dana retires in a few more years.
Until a that time, I plan to do as many long-distance hikes as I can manage while not completely abandoning Dana for the trail! Hence our blog’s tagline “Side Trials of Retirement Bliss”.
Recent Trail Journals
-
Rim Rock Ranch into the hot high desert. Long dry very hot day.
-
Short hike past Old Station to Rim Rock Ranch and Old Station Fill-Up.
-
Hot day transiting Lassen National Park and Cluster Lakes.
-
Back on trail from Chester. Burn area, blowdowns, and thorns. Nice surprise civilization with beer to end the day.
-
Zero day in Chester, CA.
Recent Blog Entries
-
“… Sometimes the light’s all shining on me Other times I can barely see Lately it occurs to me What a long, strange trip it’s been” – Grateful Dead Before and After I waited 10 months before finally writing up this epilogue. It took me that long to really get a handle on my thoughts and my emotions. I still feel depressed and miss the trail at times. Not sure if/when those feelings will ever go away. I can attest that post-thru-hike depression is a real thing. The first 2-3 days home felt strange but not too much different from taking…
-
Today’s Miles: 0 Trip Miles: 2101.5 “Homeward bound I wish I was Homeward bound Home where my thought’s escapin’ Home where my music’s playin’ Home where my love lies waitin’ Silently for me” – Simon & Garfunkel Up at 7:30. Packed up and got my backpack into the duffel bag Dana sent me. Shuttled to the airport at 8:45. Drove from Millinocket to Bangor. I-95 in northern Maine is just a bit less busy than in the mid-Atlantic! Got to Bangor International airport at 10:00. Nice little airport. Got checked in and had breakfast before heading through security. Had a…
-
I started my thru-hike on April 14, 2024 with my cold weather gear. I planned to ship the cold weather gear home when I got to Damascus, Virginia. I decided to start my hike without any cap shoes in order to save weight. Overall, my base weight was 21 lbs and my total weight with 4 days of food was 31 lbs. Half-way through the Smokies, I stopped in Gatlinburg, TN on May 9, 2024 and shipped a few items home. Overall I got rid of 2lbs 11 ounces of gear. I did pickup a pair of cheap flip-flops at…
-
I get a lot of questions about how this entire thru-hiking thing works and what have I done to prepare for it. As for how I have physically prepared, I have been trying to hike two to four times a week, moderate to difficult terrain, 10+ miles each hike and carrying my full pack for the last twelve months. The remainder of this post is a mini-FAQ.
-
I am attempting to walk continuously for 2,200 miles North Bound (NOBO) from Northern Georgia to North Central Maine along the Appalachian Trail (AT) over the course of roughly 170 days or five and a half months. This type of hike is called a thru-hike. […]