Huge news! Although smartphones with navigational capabilities ( for instance, Atlas Guides AKA Guthook’s) that are accessed offline while in the wilderness are ubiquitous, I advise clients to always carry paper maps as backups. PCT thru-hiker hopefuls now have the capability to carry waterproof, state of the art paper maps ! When I thru- hiked the PCT in 2010 I carried selected pages from Delorme Gazetteers for each state. Now this!
It’s snowing like crazy this Thanksgiving morning here in Maine as I put together this blog post. During the night, an inch of rain preceded the whiteout so I’m sure there will be some ice hidden under the new cover of snow.
The wind is howling, clouds of white are swirling, and the air temperature is exactly 32 degrees. All of this adds up to me sitting beside the wood stove soaking up the heat before I fire up my heavily-studded-tire-equipped VW Golf and my wife Marcia and I creep out way down Route 1 to join two of her sisters and their families for a Thanksgiving feast.
Thanksgiving morning of 2018 had no snow fall; however, the mercury in the thermometer that day bottomed out at a bone chilling 5℉.
My neighbor Andy and I ride our bikes year ’round and up to now, have embraced a Thanksgiving morning tradition of riding our bikes for an hour and a half or so, usually reaching Camden Hills State Park.
Andy, setting the route
Camden is a vacation destination in all seasons, and sits in a protected harbor off Penobscot Bay. It’s at sea level. Our houses face the ocean sited at some 450′ in elevation. All of this geographic data equals bike rides that undulate up and down on the numerous hills and little mountains that stretch from inland to the coast. It is a workout that invariably pushes our heart rates back and forth into the zone that is normally characterized by the upper reaches of an interval workout of moderate to more intense intensity.
This past Monday and Tuesday found me braving a drive of some 220 miles away to Pembroke, MA to visit with my 93 year old mother Isabel and bring her to a medical appointment. It’s a sad visit, only buffered by my appreciation that Isabel had experienced 90 good years of remarkably healthy life before she was diagnosed with late onset Alzheimer’s disease.
At my age, I worry if genes will overcome my efforts to remain cognitively intact as I age out. My father, Chester died at age 72 of congestive heart failure, before any noticeable decline in his memory. His own father died when Chester was a baby, but my dad’s mother, Mary, died of old age and likely Alzheimer’s. I was only little, but I do remember how strange it was for me to realize that in her later years, Mary was unable to recognize her own son.
The following Globe and Mail article came into my inbox a couple days a go. Do check it out:
“In 2017, a team led by the lab’s director, Jennifer Heisz, published a five-year study of more than 1,600 adults older than 65 that concluded that genetics and exercise habits contribute roughly equally to the risk of eventually developing dementia. Only one of those two factors is under your control, so researchers around the world have been striving to pin down exactly what sort of workout routine will best nourish your neurons.”
Any and I might have missed our bike rides this morning, but we’ll probably both be back at it tomorrow, doing what we can to keep moving and remembering today all those that we treasure as we sit around the tables of bounty.
Hosted by Maine Sport Outfitters, 115 Commercial Street, Rockport, ME 04856
Saturday Nov. 23, 10 AM- 12 PM
Tom Jamrog will discuss research from his forthcoming book on endurance related to essential psychological, physical, and mental training for long distance backpacking success.
Topics include: evolutionary biology, Stoic techniques to buffer pain management, negative visualization, recovery science, heart rate variability, meditation, gait analysis, coffee as performance enhancement, compression socks, overhydration (hyponatremia) , optimal walking speed, and maybe more.
Tom received the Triple Crown of Hiking award from the American Long Distance Hiking Association in 2014. In 2017 he published “In the Path of Young Bulls: An Odyssey on America’s Continental Divide Trail (CDT),” a daily account of his 2013 five-month continuous hike over the Rockies and the CDT.
Presentation starts at 10am followed by a Q&A session and book signing.
Lessons from 8,000+ Miles of Backpacking: Attitudes, Actions (and Apps)
Tom Jamrog will share research from his forthcoming book on endurance about what he has learned through experience and his research.
Updated information about psychological, physical, and mental training that can extend your outdoor adventures as we age!
Tom received the Triple Crown of Hiking award from the American Long Distance Hiking Association in 2014. In 2017 he published “In the Path of Young Bulls: An Odyssey on America’s Continental Divide Trail (CDT),” a daily account of his 2013 five-month continuous hike over the Rockies and the CDT.
Presentation starts at 10am followed by a Q&A session and book signing.
Every year I freeze 13 ten pound boxes of Maine wild organic blueberries. Half my freezer is full of them. I will continue to do so, primarily for the taste, but secondary gains regarding memory loss, and anti inflammatory buffering research shows that frozen Wild Blueberries offer more health-helping antioxidants called anthocyanins than fresh blueberries. Learn more.
— Read on www.wildblueberries.com/blog/freezing-enhances-wild-blueberry-nutrition/
Tom Jamrog's Weblog 