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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Today’s Miles: 17.8 Trip Miles: 738.5 Clear, humid, going up to 92 degrees. Up at 6:30. Big day today. Hitting the last 2 spots on the VA Triple Crown. We reached Mcafee knob about 9:00. This is one of the most photographed places on the entire AT, and for good reason. YouTube video of McAfee Knob. Roanoke airport from McAfee Knob. It’s hard to overstate the awe of being on McAfee. It’s spectacular in its own right, but it’s a huge milestone on an AT thru-hike. People have been talking about McAfee since starting in Georgia. We may have take.…
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Today’s Miles: 15.7 Trip Miles: 720.7 Up at 6:00. Eric made us bacon and eggs! Got to the trailhead at 7:30. Hot, humid, and clear today. On the trail at 7:50. Carrying 4 days of food and 3 liters of water. Ouch! All the water sources are dry. We have big climbs and plan to road walk to the Catawba market for water around noon. Stopped for a second breakfast at 9:05 and mile 2.6. Done with the first big climb today. Major milestone at 9:30 today…. 700-mile mark. Nasty climb and hand and knee rock scrambles. Scrambling boulders with…
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Today’s Miles: 18.2 Trip Miles: 705 Upper 70s, clear, and humid today. Last “cool” day in the forecast for over a week. Up at 5:45. Eric bought us lovely chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. Yum. Had two. Left Eric’s to drive to the trail at 6:40. On trail at 7:30. We passed the Keefer Oak. Largest oak on the AT. Walked through several farm fields. Stopped for second breakfast at 9:30. Making good time now that we are up on the ridge for many miles. Traversed a lot of rock ledges with awesome views towards Roanoke about 3 mountain ridges…
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Today’s Miles: 9.10 Trip Miles: 686.8 Clear day going up to low 80s. Very humid. Up at 7:30. No hurry this morning as we have a short day with a nasty 3.5-mile climb to start things off. Yey! On trail at 9:00. Walked through a nasty set of blowdowns. All massive trees uprooted. Tornado? Summitted this bastard at 11:30. Mountain is very steep and it’s very humid with zero air movement today. Stopped for a break at 11:30. Low on water and no more water sources for 4 miles. Tripped over a rock and hurt a toe on my right…
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Today’s Miles: 12.6 Trip Miles: 677.7 Up at 7:30. Slept great. Ate, packed, did morning chores, and on trail at 8:40. Probably doing a short 13 miles today to War Spur shelter and saving big day for tomorrow. Got a 10-mile water carry again today. Mid-60s going up to 85 with 35% chance of rain between 3:00 and 5:00. Very, very humid already. Crossed a substantial footbridge and got more water at 10:00. Making good time. And now it’s time for this thing. Yuck. They call this hill The Elevator because it goes straight up. Ugh. This was rough. Made…