Are You Ready to Go Rogue? I AM Going Rogue, and Will See You on the Other Side
You're Too Old to Spend the Rest of Your Life on the Couch: Let's Adventure!
I’m heading out this Saturday to leap back into adventure travel
It’s been a minute since I was able to do this kind of trip. I’m going to be rafting the Rogue River in Southern Oregon for a few days. The water will be damned cold (about 40 degrees), the scenery stunning and the cell service non-existent.
Sounds like heaven to me.
This weekend marks a return to the kind of adventure sports I’ve largely been unable to do because of reconstructive surgeries. Since 2018 I’ve undergone some twelve big procedures (shoulders, hands, hip, feet) all to repair the damage and wear and tear on this body. The worst were my poor feet.
I did plenty of adventures; but the adventures had finally done too much to me.
To wit:
Some very large horses (mostly draft, meaning they were between 2300-2600 lbs) repeatedly stood on my tootsies back in 2019 during two back-to-back trips with MK Adventures up in the Muskwa-Kechika wilderness, northern British Columbia. They were our pack horses, and I worked on them at night.
This is a draft, below. Mind you, ours weren’t this big, but you get my drift (or my draft, pardon the pun). They are BIG.
They liked me, followed me around like big sweet dogs, and every so often planted their pie pans on my poor feet. I came home with crushed metatarsals, among other damage. I couldn’t walk very well.
Okay, okay, not at all, really, for some time. That of course, for those of us past fifty or so and Caucasian or Asian and slim-ish, means that we can develop osteopenia from lack of weight-bearing work.
I did develop osteopenia from being unable to walk, hike and run.
When you can’t do what your body needs, and you know what needs to happen to stave off debilitating osteoporosis, it’s irritating- especially when this is a good bit of what you write about: health and fitness and nutrition past fifty. I don’t get to write about it if I’m not willing to do the work, so it’s been an interesting balancing act.
That said, the last several years, especially one twelve-month period during which I had seven major surgeries, have taught me a lot about training, aging, eating, chronic pain, stress, and patience with a body that I want to hurry up and heal. I heal fast, but not when subjected to that kind of stress.
It’s taken a great deal of work, including two major reconstruction surgeries, to fuse the metatarsals and allow me to walk again. We’re not done healing. I can walk for the most part. Running and steep hiking, we’ll have to see. Rocks and scree are still too much for right now, so Annapurna and Bhutan will have to wait.
For now at least I can navigate the basics, and that allows me to return to some adventures. River rafting, which I’ve only done twice but spectacularly (more on that later), is my re-entry point. It’s a gentle on-ramp, and as such, it’s perfect for me to write about for those who have never done it, and are considering it.
I identify as an adventure traveler. Have been for about twelve years now.
I put that hat on multiple times over the course of my life. When I was sixty, I threw myself into that field both as an athlete (albeit clumsy AF) and as a journalist.
If you’ve been enjoying some of my stories about being an ant smorgasbord or freezing my dentures in a cup of water in Mongolia (yes I did), that’s where those stories come from. I’ve been willing to put myself into some pretty extreme situations, and from that, a great deal of comedy and much learning ensue.
Part of what I write about on Too Old is how age is no excuse to slow down.
By that I mean life doesn’t screech to a halt because you pass fifty.
You and I screech to a halt because of a number, in more cases than not. When we bark to the world about how “aging sucks...” Really? What did we expect would happen, we’d all be Peter Pan?
So often we talk ourselves into being old decades before the body is ready to cave in. That’s where I come in. I want to invite, challenge, suggest, maybe inspire, share great stories about other people doing good things. I will keep sharing research and material which keeps me highly motivated because there’s just so much hope to be had from other humans who are living their best lives late in life.
Granted, what I like isn’t for most.
Doing extreme sports and putting myself in the wild where remarkable - and remarkably awful - things can happen is definitely my jam. You can just read the aftermath. Usually it’s pretty entertaining.
You can also head out to Costa Rica, one of the best close-in destinations for Americans eager for something wonderful and different, like
has been doing lately after losing her mother to age and dementia. Travel heals, adventure travel transforms. I’m all in.
Saturday morning I board my pupper for a few days and head out on the Rogue River with Oregon River Experience, an outfit that has gotten a well-deserved reputation for doing a great job with older adults. That will be my focus, along with a gear review for the fully-loaded backpack that I got from Near Zero.
About ten days ago I practiced setting up their tent in my basement. Based on the trip I’m about to take, I am taking the items I definitely will be using, which is all but the kitchen gear.
Quick side note about Near Zero’s kits.
I was in Newport, Oregon, last January when we got hit by a brutal ice storm. Suffice it to say that we lost power at the condo where I was staying. On the way back home I was detoured many hours and many miles in no-cell-zone back country, navigating icy roads and dead zones.
I’ll write more about the gear later. That said, if you are in an area, as I am, which is prone to wildfires, tsunami danger and the increasing storms from climate change, you might want to consider having something similar in your vehicle.
I can’t believe I was that stupid to not have such equipment in my car.
What I love about Near Zero is that they took all the work out of putting a complete kit together, saving us time, money, frustration and endless hours of “will I ever use/need this?”
Yes. I’m already a fan. By the end of this trip I can speak with more authority about how it all works on a real trip.
We need to add food, clothing, our own meds and water, but bottom line, it’s just a smart safety tip. Too many of us travel unprepared.
It will never happen to you. Until it does.
I’ll talk more about things like that, what I have learned from years of adventure travel which have direct application in life. Now that I’ve been at it for more than twelve years, even as I was healing from surgeries, there’s a lot to share. I hope you join me.
For those of you who don’t care about this kind of thing I will keep writing the musings and explorations of life as an aging woman living the best life possible, which includes all the potholes that come with age and our current society. I’m in good company on Substack. There are many of us, and as I find them I will continue to share their quotes and words and articles.
I can’t wait to get back out into the wild. I’ve missed it. I’m likely to discover what I can still do, what I still want to do, and recognize which extreme sports I’m no longer either interested in or which are just no longer smart for me to continue.
That’s not a concession. If you’ve had twenty-two concussions (not a typo, and you wondered what my problem was), you can’t afford to risk another. It’s an acknowledgement that some sports have had enough of me, and I might be a little slow on the uptake.
Meanwhile, I’m going Rogue so there will be no new posts starting Saturday morning until I get back on the 14th.
I’m going to go play. I hope you do, too.
Thanks for joining me today. I hope to see you when I get back, and have a chance to catch you up on what happened. If this article was of interest please consider
If you know someone contemplating a little adventure, please also consider
Either way, please don’t wait. Go today.
Julia, you’re an inspiration and I always appreciate your take on things. I’m 67 and healthy and can’t wait to do more traveling. Writing, traveling and living an uncomplicated life are what I aspire to. Your strong spirit and love of life always shine through in your work. Thank you!
Love this - enjoy your adventure. I may not be ready for adventure travel but I am pushing myself to do hard things, things I normally avoid. Like turning left on a busy street:)
But also doing the things I want to do, writing, composing, putting myself out there. Damn right I'm not too old. Gonna find me some shit to do!