Magic,

Sca-ish did the hammock route last August during our trip in and now swears by it........maybe he can teach and old dog, his old man, a new trick.

IC,

I have experimented with the half pillows and downsized pillows while car camping having my two old stand-bys along just in case. Many items on my list of gear have changed through the years but those two pillows remain as absolutes.


WR
     

As most people on this board know, we have been tripping in the BWCA (with a few excursions into the Q in days gone by) for 38 years.  We are now 64 and have finished our 25th trip, which was completed seven months after Spartan1 had a kidney transplant.  He has been an insulin dependent diabetic for 34 years, and we took trips for fifteen years while he was following the kidney disease diet restrictions.   I have arthritis in my spine, knees, and shoulders and have had shoulder, thumb, and knee surgery in the past ten years.  None of this has kept us from canoe tripping as often as we could  get the chance.   Our trips have ranged from 4-22 days in length, with the average being 8.  We didn't start out doing any layover days; we do now.            

There are some reasons that we choose to go to the Boundary Waters now rather than the Q, and for us they make sense.  We now take somewhat easier trips, on smaller lakes with shorter portages.  I prefer the convenience of the pit toilet because of my back and knee situation--it is just more comfortable for me.  We enjoy vacationing in the United States and not having the hassle of the Canadian paperwork and customs, etc.  We don't like getting a tow, and prefer all-paddling trips.

But we are NOT too old at 64 for canoe tripping.  We are planning now for our June trip.  Fortunately, we both sleep well on pads.  In fact, in spite of my back problems,  I sleep better up there than I do at home. 

The secret, in my opinion, to canoe tripping into your older years is to gauge what you can do, try to prepare physically for what you are going to need to accomplish, keep a positive attitude about your abilities as well as your limitations, and plan a trip that is appropriate for your own personal situation.  It isn't a contest.  There isn't a prize for the ones who do the most strenuous trip, who make the most miles or portage the hardest portages. 

The canoe country is for those who are willing to make the effort.  But everyone doesn't have to be young and strong to experience it.  Adjust your expectations, look for a trip that will suit your needs, and go for it!

"Two old"?? When you're dead...?

My Dad was 80 on his last Quetico trip with me and my Brother - like you stl, we wanted to do another trip with Dad.  I don't remember the particulars, but it would have been something like 120 miles and 50 or more portages.  I still consider that to have been one of the toughest trips I have ever done, mostly due to conditions.  We didn't let my dad carry the 69# Grumman, but he did carry a pack each trip across the portages - we double trip.

In hindsight, I wish I'd started getting lighter gear back then, rather than a few years later.  Now, I've gone to ultra-light gear for everything, planning on continuing my trips to Quetico as long as I can - making the trips a lot easier, even now,  by carrying less weight.  If I'm not in the Q at 80 (I'm 58 now) it'll be because my knees give out, but I'm planning on being there.  Looking forward to retireing someday, so I can spend more time, maybe longer trips, and trying some other loacations.

My grandfather made has last trip with us at 83. He was tougher than most well through his 70s. He lead us through a massive 6 hour bushwack when he was 79 and I was 19, barely made it through myself.

It was a pretty tough decision for him the year he decided to not go back.