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
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Cold, wet, windy, miserable day. Made our way to Mount Laguna for hot food and a room out of the storm for the night. Very hard day.
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Tough climb to start the day. First trail Magic of the trip. Hard end to the day and a brutal windstorm, complete with collapsing tent.
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First day on trail. Making friends and making miles. Rude introduction to the desert.
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Shuttled from San Diego to CLEEF campground. Started making friends and getting ready to start hiking to Canada tomorrow.
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Today’s Miles: 8.73 Trip Miles: 36.52 Day 3 – Four Pines Hostel to Pickle Branch Shelter Tuesday March 31, 2026. Up at 7:30. Sunny going up to mid-70s. I slept very well. My heels are hurting this morning but the rest of me feels decent. Thought I would feel worse. Should be a good day! The hostel crew made us a nice breakfast. I decided that my pack was way too heavy due to excess food. I sorted my food bag and left a lot of food at the hostel. I left 2.5 lbs of food! That leaves me 3.5…