Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Listening Point - General Discussion :: Knowing When it is time to Quit
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mooseplums |
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Thwarted |
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Pinetree |
yellowcanoe: "That should be fun.mooseplums: "I have thought of this a lot lately....for me it isn't a age or health thing, but a desire to experience other things." |
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Hawbakers |
Spartan2: Are you still planning a vacation in Minnesota this summer, Linda? |
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nctry |
mooseplums: "I have thought of this a lot lately....for me it isn't a age or health thing, but a desire to experience other things." There are other things? Haha. I've made feeble attempts at paddling and it ain't working out to good. Might have to try some of these other things.... |
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yellowcanoe |
mooseplums: "I have thought of this a lot lately....for me it isn't a age or health thing, but a desire to experience other things." I can understand this.. Everyone has a bucket. Everyone's buckets is full of different experience they want to enjoy. At some point you realize that Someday is Now and you have to start emptying the bucket. For us it was visiting Iceland for a month and foregoing a long canoe trip. |
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Pinetree |
yellowcanoe: "Well PT it was. yellowcanoe your statement is right on "Retirement gives you a lot of time but maybe not so much energy as you used to have". Too many people in life that by neccesity(sp) could retire but don't at a certain age. They wait to they get tired at work and already start slowing down. If you want to be very active retire when you still feel good and can still do everything you dreamed of. |
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andym |
Got to credit them for both finding us our first canoe (a $50 aluminum monster that had been wrapped around a rock in white water and then straightened out and welded) and introducing us to Zaveral paddles. When he retired, a Zaveral was our group present to him (based on his wife saying, "get him this."). When we started thinking about the BW, we ordered a couple for ourselves. |
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yellowcanoe |
We're still doing a ten day canoe trip but two hours from home. In deference to age... portageless. Retirement gives you a lot of time but maybe not so much energy as you used to have. I get a lot of pleasure from paddling some 0.3 miles from our dock to a creek to check on Mama Loon on her nest these days. |
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boonie |
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scat |
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mastertangler |
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Hawbakers |
We've already discussed just going out on Seagull Lake or Saganaga where we could just stay for a long weekend. Bring the chairs and cooler! Eat steaks and drink beers! Like others have said, I'm not going down without a fight! In 1984 we left on a trip from Fall Lake. There was an old man named, "Checkers" hanging out at the landing talking to the young people who were heading out. We enjoyed his stories and have always remembered him. He is long gone now, of course but perhaps it will be one of us one day, hanging out at the EP, telling our stories of trips gone by all the while wishing we could hop in that canoe and go with them on the journey! |
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yellowcanoe |
I went paddling , however , with a friend about two months ago. No deficits, she pounded out the miles. Shortly after that she became unwell. She died yesterday of a brain stem hemorrhage. So that was a different and abrupt journey for her ( She had been paralyzed and mute for a week but awake..what a horror that must be) But for us its been a shift in venue. While we used to love portaging we don't any more. We are returning to some rivers and big lakes we love that do not require portaging. Lake Superior, the Allagash and Penobscot Rivers in Maine, The Maine Island Trail, and the Yukon and Green Rivers all require more checking out ( though they have been checked more than once already!) I don't see the need to give up canoe tripping.. We are in our mid seventies. Last year we did the Bowron Lakes Circuit in British Columbia. We did it in short order even with ten portages three of which were lengthy. Hint: canoe cartable. This year we will do day trips on Moosehead Lake in Maine which we have NOT explored yet we have lived here in Maine for 20 years. And then off to float the West Branch of the Penobscot and Chesuncook Lake. That is about fifty miles but no ports. Wonderful moose country. I think the flowers and the animals attract us more now than pounding out the miles. |
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Twins87 |
Spartan2: "Hawbakers: "Spartan2: Let us know if you're swinging through the Twin Cities on the way ... it would be fun to have coffee or breakfast or lunch again if it works out. |
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Spartan2 |
Hawbakers: "Spartan2: Yes, we will be at Clearwater Lodge at a cabin in mid-August. We are looking forward to it. |
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MikeinMpls |
I've decided that I will remain as close to the BWCA as my body will allow. I don't mean geographically "close." What I mean is that If I can't portage, I'll base camp. If I can't paddle, I'll camp in a rustic campground close to the BWCA, like Baker or Kawishiwi Lake. I'll carve out what I can the best way I can and do my best relative to any physical or mental limitations I may have. Mike |
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sunnybear09 |
Dylan Thomas wrote, "do not go gentle into that good night". They were both right--but the balance, oh the balance! |
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DrBobDg |
He was a speaker again at 'copia last march... tough guy. A few years ago he was at copia talking about a death march somewhere in Europe dragging those canoes across rocks for miles trying to find water.. That would have killed me off. I never thought it would happen but a year ago last spring I bought a 1990 24' RV to take my wife and me to Alaska via Idaho.....a promise I had made 5 years earlier... 9400 miles but it made it....just. Anyway I was able to rig a system on the roof for the SR canoe so we could take it along as well... some awesome spots to paddle along the way.. The nice thing is it just takes a few minutes to set up at a NF campground etc compared to setting up tent, screen house etc... and then shoehorning it all in the car the next morning..sometimes in the rain.... It has already been on two trip this year... another option to keep going.... I paid around 6K for it and put about 3K in getting it roadworthy... A camera mounted on the back to see who or what is behind you really helps if you have never driven a box this big. we are both 68 this year and don't have anything to prove anymore dr bob |
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schweady |
Amen. |
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andym |
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GraniteCliffs |
The thousands of miles of shoreline. The hundreds of miles of portages. The campsites shared with family you love and friends you love. Those talks sitting by the lake at night. Hundreds of campsites shared so many years. So many nights staring into a campfire. Hundreds of trips into the places I love the most. Yes, It will end someday and I will miss it terribly. But my life has been blessed with the opportunity to paddle and portage the border waters and woods all these years. When I do have to let it slip away I will let it go but will forever be grateful to have had such a passion in my life. |
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missmolly |
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missmolly |
sunnybear09: "Dirty Harry said, " a man's gotta know his limitations". Yes! |
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GraniteCliffs |
BUT, in the meantime, I started a little pre-packing for my next trip up in two weeks. What do you know? No worries about when it will end but rather pure excitement once again! At 67 I am still like a little kid. |
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Spartan2 |
We decided to hang it up in 2014, at the age of 69. But we didn't quit going to the canoe country. We still make an annual trek from Michigan, we stay in a cabin on the edge of the BWCA, and we do get our canoe out in the water. Fortunately we are blessed with a teenage granddaughter who loves to go along with us, and has been doing it since she was four years old. And somehow, I suspect that even if Anna loses interest in these yearly trips, we will still try to keep going up there for a few more years yet. It does get in your blood, doesn't it? But knowing when it is time to quit. . .that is just a part of life. And it hurts. |
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carmike |
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Pinetree |
I thought this article from Cliff whom many of us know is pertaining to many of us including me. There is a lot of soul searching and thought here. I thought a few of you might like reading this. Soul searching I do hope when my time comes I still am able just to adjust and still go in maybe a trip just inside the BWCA where I can reflect and enjoy the silence,scenery and companionship of fellow paddlers. |
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thlipsis29 |
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