“I am a retired pilot and feel hiking is like flying. You are continually managing the risks. As we get older, the risks change, the pace gets slower, but the peaks can still be had. The best physical conditioning I know is to put a pack on your back and go hiking.” – Ray Wild, Colorado

“I’m extremely afraid of heights. And that kind of led me to be a mountaineer. Just because I didn’t want my mind to control my whole being, my soul. So, I decided to control my mind. I learned how to set my fear to the side. And so, to me that’s the fountain of youth. Pushing yourself beyond your limits. And being able to put that fear aside and move forward, in spite of it.” – Lisa Veraldi, Colorado

“I had never hiked before, and I noticed hikers coming out of a trail at a rest stop in Vermont. I was a biker at a motorcycle rally, and asked one, ‘What are you guys doing?’ A woman answered, ‘We’re hiking the Appalachian Trail.’ Now, I’m hiking the thing myself! I left on my 65th birthday. I discovered that anyone could hike, even long distances. It’s pretty great not to watch all the negative news on TV every day.” -Tim Andrew, a retired firefighter from Connecticut, now living in the mountains of New Hampshire — and — immersed in hiking the entire Appalachian trail himself.

“When I climbed the highest mountain in Colorado, I still had drainage tubes coming out of my side after my mastectomy two weeks earlier. Doing that climb gave me the certainty that I was still me, and nothing else could have accomplished that. Many years later, I broke my back, and I turned to the same source of healing. And by healing, I mean all of me—mind, body and spirit. Now 75, I’ve found over and over that as soon as I get outside, breathe in the fresh air, and get my body moving, I instantly feel better! It’s the synergy of putting it all together that is magical for me.” – Susan Mitchell, Colorado

“When I turned 61, I decided to become more adventurous. I have found, when I go out and hike, there’s a joyful peace in it all. And, while it can be difficult to actually start a hike, there is a true joy in completing it. A great sense of accomplishment and you feel good about yourself as a person. I will continue to hike for as long as I am healthy enough to continue. The simple joy of being out there far exceeds any discomfort that one runs into while hiking.” – Ralph Jesseman, New Hampshire

“I am 67. I started hiking when I retired. I will hike about 1,600 miles this year. I’ve had four knee replacements over the past ten years with the last one in 2016 and much more planned for 2020. I have two friends that I hike a lot with that are both 70. I have another very active friend who is 80.” – Tony Eichstadt, Colorado

“I was limping from leg surgery and did a lot of flat walking with a loaded pack to work up to walking 20 miles at a time. Showed up in Colorado. Hiked Mt Elbert. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done and, without a doubt, the most satisfying. Since then, I’ve returned every year and climbed two or three 14ers. I struggle. My right leg still doesn’t work right, but I love hiking to the point that I plan to move to Colorado. I’m going to climb as many mountains as I can for as long as I can.” – Kevin Brumfield, Texas

“I turn 60 in a month. I still climb mountains regularly and live in the mountains for that reason. I frequently hike by myself. My mountains are my stress relief and my religion. The mountains give me a way to get away from the noise of people, expectations, and time. They are also an excuse to have a goal to see and learn something new.” – Rhonda Bellavia, Colorado

“Most of my hikes have been solo. I love the solitude and the sense of completeness it brings. Everything is so serene and orderly. I live for the next hike or climb. It gives me purpose. The sense of wonderment and feeling of gratitude is overwhelming and oh so welcomed. It makes me feel small but yet special and so lucky to be a part of it all.” – David Clark, Colorado

“It was amazing—the sensory overload of wind, vista, space, exhilaration. What have I been missing my whole life? I’m going to do more of this!” – Susan Williams, from Connecticut, discovered hiking at age 45. Now 73 and as fit as ever.

This is Sandy Sherman from Vermont, who began hiking just ten years ago. She’s a small business owner, mom, and cancer survivor, who has now, at age 54, hiked the 67 tallest peaks in New England and inspired many people along the way. “Magic moments happen all the time in the mountains. I feel honored to witness some of the sights I’ve seen through the years. You will gain perspective, expand your thinking, and experience awe.”

“I started hiking at age 60 and am going strong at 73. I did the 273-mile Long Trail in Vermont, end to end. Hiked and rafted the Grand Canyon, hiked in the Tetons and High Sierras, and will be hiking around Moab this coming April. Hiking has changed my life for the better in many ways.” – Keld Alstrup, Vermont

“I’m 63. I thru-hiked the Long Trail last year. I once thought of myself as more of a golfer than a hiker, but over the years, I became more interested in hiking. At first, my wife and I would do short hikes with the boys, and then I would do some longer solo hikes. I kind of got hooked on hiking around that time. It always feels great walking into the woods. I enjoy the challenge that hiking presents, the sights and smells of the forest, walking above treeline, the summits. I feel a sense of accomplishment after completing a difficult hike. I kick myself that I didn’t start hiking in my teens and 20s instead of waiting until my 40s.” – Brian Cunningham, Massachusetts

Jenny Swinden: “The mental focus that’s required to just live in that moment; the only thing you’re thinking about is the next few steps. This living-in-the-moment feeling is such a nice change—not to be thinking about things and worried about problems. It’s like a meditation in that sense. You’re intensely focused on the immediate world. For me, the hook isn’t the physical part of this. It’s the mental part.”

Adds Jim, “When you’re on some of these longer walks, you become a different person. You become a trekker. You become a pilgrim; you’re living a different lifestyle altogether. You’re stepping out of your normal life. You live a lot more simply and learn what you can do without.” -Jim and Jenny Swinden, Melbourne, Australia

“I was not a hiker in my first 48 years. I was getting noticeably older and slower, and that motivated me to get in shape. A funny thing happened on the way to the mountain, the gym was nice, but the hikes were sublime—Just me, the woods and hills, and the miles. My secret weapon to get through stressful days at my office job are my lunchtime walks in the woods and thinking about past or future hiking experiences.” – Thorn Jarvis, Illinois

“I’m 62. I go to the mountains to find things, not lose things. I go to the mountains to widen my horizons, not narrow them. I go to the mountains not to escape what I leave behind, but to contemplate what I have. I go to the mountains for the sheer thrill of making my body move and to still my aching mind. If you are continually out there walking and moving, well, that’s the best thing that you can be doing as a woman. Weight-bearing exercise staves off osteoporosis. It builds your skeletal frame. My doctor says she can’t find anything wrong with me, and that I have the health of a 40-year-old, because of hiking.” – Josephine Johnson, Washington

“I got back into hiking in 2010

when I was a couple of months shy of 61. I completed all 48 of the New Hampshire 4,000 footers in 2015 and finished the 67 New England 4,000 footers this August, just shy of my 70th birthday. I got back into hiking because a near-fatal auto accident in 2000 left me with severe leg injuries which require ongoing strenuous exercise to maintain my mobility.” – John Benham, New Hampshire

“We began first with smaller local hikes to get familiar with the area, and then after 15+ hikes, we were ready to try a new challenge—a winter hike in the Whites. We snowshoed Mt. Willard and were hooked by the incredible views. The feeling we got from our time in the woods was so recharging that our hikes compelled a ‘clearthe- calendar, must do’ priority. Nothing else has ever given me the enormous sense of wellbeing and confidence boosting that I get from hiking. One day on Mt. Pierce, with freezing rain drizzling down and embracing it all, was the beginning of our commitment to do all 48 of the New Hampshire 4,000 footers—in less than two and one-half years. We completed our quest, and I’ve never felt in as good physical shape as I do now.” – Cathy Carabello, New Hampshire

“In 1971, I finally got to go to Mount Washington. My dad took my brother Michael and me to stay at the Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch. The next day, we hiked up to the Hermit Lake Shelters and into the massive glacial cirque of Tuckerman Ravine. The following day, we climbed to the summit up the Lion Head Trail. I loved every second of it. I didn’t want to leave. The memory of it—snow in June, the vast expanse above treeline, the rugged trails with very few people—all almost as clear in my mind as the reality of it was nearly fifty years ago. And I remember thinking right about when this picture was taken, that maybe, just maybe, I might actually be able to climb The Matterhorn someday, the mountain that had fascinated and called to me since I first saw it in a Disney movie at age six.” -Martin Pazzani, Connecticut

So, this is me on top of the Matterhorn, about 20 years later. Childhood goal achieved. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Life-changing. Energizing. Trippy. Transformational. There’s a saying that “your mind, once expanded, can never go back to its old dimensions,” and this was certainly the case for me. It’s also said that at the tops of some mountains, particularly those with very narrow, pointed peaks, the universe is able to focus its energy on those lofty spots, allowing you to absorb that energy when you stand there. It does feel that way sometimes. It was so profound I couldn’t even put into words what I was feeling. The only thing that ever came close to describing it was Rob Schultheis in Bone Games: “Imagine that someone, a terrible wizard, gave you a potion that made everything perfect for a few hours; you knew everything, you could do anything, all your dreams come true. Then the potion wore off and you found yourself back in your old, tired out body with your old, ignorant mind. The wizard has gone away, no one knows where, taking his potions with him. You had tasted heaven, now you were stuck back on earth, with no sign of redemption” (Schultheis 1986).

I did have that experience. And it was so addictive it took me back to the top of the Matterhorn four more times to find it again.