Putting the saying '60 is the new 40' to the ultimate test

Whoever came up with that widely popular notion that “60 in the new 40,” I hope they’re right.

Because as you pull this edition of the Free Press out of the mail box or newspaper stand for some leisurely reading I’ll be somewhere along a trail by the Lostine River in Northeastern Oregon headed for Mirror Lake, with an elevation just short of 7,400 feet.

The ultimate goal is the tip-top of the 9,572 foot Eagle Cap, the namesake peak of the wilderness area in the Wallowa Mountains about 200 miles south of here.

A trio of us, all 62, have been busily preparing for this since we finally decided that an August date would not only fit into our busy schedules, but the snow would have sufficiently receded to allow access to the high alpine meadows and lakes in the Eagle Cap.

I’m not exactly sure when the crazy notion of slapping on a 42-pound backpack for the first time in nearly 40 years emerged, but I do know it was my idea.

Having given up the sport following what our circle of friends all fondly call “The Trip to Hell” — a hike into the North Cascades in 1978 that was fraught with enough misadventure to last decades — I turned to navigating rivers for my wilderness fix.

Letting gravity do the work has allowed me to see wonderful places since, but instead of consuming rice pilaf from a bag, I worked to craft a killer Dutch oven meatloaf and a wine to go with it.

But I often told my friend Pat that IF I were ever to go backpacking again it would be to the Eagle Cap.

My infatuation with this area might have come from waking up in July 1976, poking my head out of my sleeping bag draped across the ground at Wallowa Lake State Park, and seeing the towering snowcapped peaks overhead.

Having arrived in the dead of night and transitioning from the barren canyons of the Snake and Grand Ronde rivers to visions of ”Oregon’s Alps” must have been what did it.

Regardless, when it was decided we were really going to do this thing, we found a photo taken atop some high ridgeline or peak that turned out to be both inspiration and comic relief as it made the rounds on Facebook.

Many “friends” questioned our quest “at our age.” Others offered encouragement

But none of us feel ready for Social Security. Age is just a number and appears to be backed up by at least some research.

“Your chronologic age — that is, the number of birthdays you have — isn’t your biologic or what we call real age,” Dr. Michael Roizen, chief medical wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic said in a recent NBC news story.

Despite all of us being in pretty good shape from our regular routines we took additional measures to prepare.

We hiked the steep trails to the Rocks of Sharon and one morning did a brisk top-to-bottom, and back, trip to Latah Creek from High Drive.

The overnighter to test how we’d handle packs never happened. But twice we met and carefully weighed every part of our gear, with the idea to shave as much weight as possible.

Along the way preparing for this journey, we spoke often of how at our age we were the polar opposites of our parents at the same point in their lives.

Like us, all of our parents were active in their younger days. They were athletic in their youth, and into their 20s with the proof being old black and white photos of snow or water skiing, or taking on exhaustive building projects.

But upon reaching their 40s — when we were all approaching the teen years and able to be better observers — our parents noticeably slowed their once active lifestyles. In our 40s, Pat and I hiked into, and out of the Grand Canyon on consecutive days.

Perhaps it was the cigarettes that were so much a part of their lives, and a contributing factor in so many of their deaths? While each of the intrepid hikers tried tobacco, the Surgeon General’s warnings came in time and maybe saved both our lives and ambition.

While it may seem to some like we’ve lost our minds trying to recapture youthful memories, proof that we have not come with the reward we’ve given ourselves: comfortable beds and good food in Walla Walla on the journey home.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.