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: 0 Trip Miles: 282.9 “Sittin’ in the mornin’ sun I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ come Watching the ships roll in And I watch ’em roll away again, yeah I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay Watching the tide roll away Ooh, I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay Wastin’ time” – Otis Redding Up at 7:00. Overcast and drizzling. Stayed in bed tweaking blog posts till 8:30. I feel fine today. Still want to give my knee a day off, so I’ll take it easy. Very tempted to slackpack today, but will be good.…
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Today’s Miles: 0 Trip Miles: 282.9 “Got nothing against a big town, Still hayseed enough to say, Look who’s in the big town, But my bed is in a small town, Oh, and that’s good enough for me” – John Mellencamp Showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Up at 7:00. Didn’t sleep well. Not sure why. But it was a bed and a roof! Today will be rainy, tomorrow partly sunny, then bad thunderstorms and rain Friday through Sunday. Part of me wants to slackpack about 15 miles tomorrow to take…
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Today’s Miles: 17.6 Trip Miles: 282.9 “When you’re alone, and life is making you lonely, You can always go …Downtown” – Petula Clark Showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Up at 7:00. No rain!!! Shocked we got no rain last night, but pleased. It is overcast and the Garmin weather forecast looks good until 5:00. But that forecast is not the most accurate. I’ll still wear my normal hiking shirt even though it’s damp. Want to save my spare long sleeve in case I don’t make it to town today. Almost…
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Today’s Miles: 17 Trip Miles: 265.3 “Climb every mountain, Ford every stream, Follow every rainbow, Till you find your dream” – Oscar Hammerstein Scattered rain showers after 2 p.m. Cloudy. High near 65, with temperatures falling to around 59 in the afternoon. South wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch possible. Up at 7:00. Slept great! Best sleep in many days. Sleeping next to Mother Nature’s white noise machine helped. Snapped an arm off my glasses. I’ve done this once…
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Today’s Miles: 16.6 Trip Miles: 248.3 “Goin’ down hill, you got me goin’ down hill. And still I can’t get my fill of you.” – John Anderson Sunny, with a high near 67. West wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Up at 6:50. Dozed back off till 8:00. Out of camp at 9:40. Looks like a real nice day. No clouds and warming up to 65 and dropping 3300 feet in elevation. Mostly downhill today. Should be to camp by 4:30. Stopped at an overlook for some pictures of Pigeon Forge and on to…