Accidental Hiking Partner

Today is exactly 5 weeks before my 50th birthday. The weather was supposed to be nice, so I decided to hike La Luz -- a trail that goes up the side of the Sandia Mountains. It's a stunning trail, especially at its higher elevations (where my brain is usually so oxygen-starved, I'm too stupid to remember to take photos).

One of the saving graces of La Luz is that, if you hike a mile and a half further at the bottom, and a mile more at the top, you can take the Sandia Peak Tramway back down the mountain. That still involves a 9-mile hike, with a 3700-foot elevation gain -- but it beats the heck out of hiking back down.

So I set off this morning, already patting myself on the back about being almost 50 and still being able to hike La Luz. Well, New Mexico is an incredibly small state socially, and within a couple of hours, I'd run into someone I knew -- someone who'd been on a photo trip with me to Ghost Ranch this spring. In chatting with him, I learned that he was 67, had a health issue that made him worry a bit that he might not be able to make it to the top, but that he was going to try anyway. I asked if he minded if I hiked with him because I was a bit worried about him.

He turned out to be a fine hiking companion and we both made it to the top, without mishap. He was very impressive -- he just kept hiking along -- and although I'm still pleased that I can still hike La Luz at (almost) 50, I'm so much more impressed that he could do it (for the first time, no less!) at 67. I hope I'll be able to at that age also.