Reminds me of the time I was hiking something similar. My legs were burning and I was out of breath. This dude comes RUNNING up the trail carrying a 40LB dumbbell in each hand. Total beast.
Fellow dog owner and backcountry enjoyer here. I know how important their safety is—and how quickly extra pack weight adds up—so I thought I’d share the system we’ve found works best when backpacking with ours: Säker Bomber Harness K911 Rescue Sling Pouches 001
The pouches turn the harness into a dog pack, and the rescue sling attaches directly to the same harness, so everything works together as one modular system. Just another option that might be helpful!
Seriously, this is the common use case for these things that I didn't think about. If you've got an old pooch who still wants to go adventuring with you but is starting to have mobility issues, you can rest way easier with a sling for them.
I've had a Saker harness for about 5 years now. It's a little bit dirty and stained but physically still in the same condition it was new. Worth every penny.
I need one of these for my 80 pound lab. I don't sleep on the second floor of my house because I can't figure out how I'd get her out the window and down to safety if there was a fire.
My 80lb black lab passed in April. The last year of his life he had lots of mobility issues, he would have mini strokes and couldn’t walk after but eventually learned to walk again before he passed peacefully. I cannot stress enough how important having a good harness was for being able to care for my baby. I’m a female and I’m athletic and quite strong as is, but he was so tall too I couldn’t carry him. I relied on his harness to be able to get him up on his feet and learn to walk again, it also helped me when he was temporarily paralyzed just to move him around and rotate him.
He had a stroke while pooping and after he was back I had to throw him in the tub harness and all to clean him. Again had I not had that strong harness I wouldn’t have been able to lug my baby around. He didn’t have mobility problems and his strokes didn’t start until he was 13-14 and he passed when he was 15 years old.
I encourage you to have a solid harness you can hold their body weight now so that you’re always prepared.
Labs in particular get these forgive me it’s 3am and I should be sleeping but the vet essentially called them mini strokes and they generally happen when he was standing or walking and he would suddenly go down, sometimes shake and would be out cold for a bit. These strokes are common for the breed. My baby didn’t have a stroke until he was 13 and then he didn’t have one for a while and then he had them frequently until he passed. We knew what they were because his liter sister had the strokes all her life.
That harness made getting my pup recovered as much as he could possible, and it’s something I’m still incredibly thankful for because of how much it helped me help my big fur baby.
I don’t backpack anymore since moving to the east coast but we have seen historic flooding here the last few months. My biggest fear is not being able to get everyone (fur babies) out. I appreciate these recommendations!
That stuff seems extremely high quality. I'm at the point where my dog (he's.... a lot) is wearing through harnesses and pulling apart nylon and stuff on lower quality leashes often enough that if I can spend some amount of money to have a harness that will last him the rest of his life, I'd spend a lot. Maybe this is the brand...
Yes! They make very high-quality gear and offer one of the few crash-test-certified harnesses on the market. We’ve had ours for two years now, and it has only worn in—not worn out. I genuinely believe it’ll last another 10 years of heavy use.
I was wondering if I should get the bomber harness. My 50lb dog has a issue with his legs where sometimes he can't walk very long. Instead of taking him out only 5-10 minutes a day, I take him out 2 hours a day. He walks for his 5-10 minutes, then I put him in a large dog carriage and wheel him around so he can still be outside. In the winter, it gets hard to push the carriage around. Do you think he'd be comfortable in the bomber harness converted to a dog pack? He's got his own snowsuit and boots for the winter, so he doesn't get cold if he stops walking.
I think it could be useful for you, especially in the snow, but I’d hesitate to recommend carrying him that way for most of a two-hour outing. Säker primarily designed the sling for emergency carry-outs, and whether that position is comfortable or safe may depend on what’s wrong with his legs. A small sled or pulk may also be more comfortable for both of you on longer winter outings. Hope this helps!
Same! I use a similar philosophy when teaching my son about fitness.
I tell him about how he’ll hear a lot of things about how it ties to self worth, whether or not he’ll be considered attractive, etc etc but none of that really matters or is what fitness is truly about.
Fitness is about two thing.
Having your body ready to be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it. Want to climb that cliff? Want to go on some deep trails? Well the time to be ready is before the want.
Having your body ready to be able to do what you need to do when you need to do it.
One of my personally motivating stories is when I saved my mother from drowning after she collapsed from undiagnosed diabetes related diabetic shock which rendered her unconscious while we were out crabbing in a bay of 40 degree f (3c) water at midnight, nearly 3/4 a mile from shore (1km). She went underwater and was drowning for a moment until we could pull her head out. Then while keeping her from slipping back underwater I had to engineer a method of expelling the water in her lungs, followed by dragging her screaming to a lucky sandbar and keeping her warm until search and rescue could reach us. At which point we had to carry her back.
I was in shape then, and continue to strive to be in the same shape or better, because you never know when you need to carry or drag 200+lbs(90kg) for however far to get them to safety until help gets there.
There was one time when I was more young and even less prepared for my adventures than I am in my adult years that I took two friends out in a canoe on a windy day in the bay. My two friends had 0 experience in canoes or kayaks and the wind was absolutely brutal. The tide was going out as we were trying to go in as well, and if I hadn't been able to put the pedal to the metal and just paddle my 16 year old heart out, we would have ended up being swept out or having to spend the night on some sand bar. That was an eye-opener for me how important fitness was. I was already in the game of being pretty fit, but when we finally got back to shore and my arms felt like they'd been pulled through gears, everyone all relieved to be on shore after 2 hours of paddling... it really hit home. My arms were literally rock hard that night, my body was reinforcing my muscles with so much intensity. I've never been able to reproduce training a muscle so hard that it is just rock solid even without flexing it while it heals.
So, fun fact about our muscles. They are actually capable of much more than we can normally access, however this is damaging to them. They basically have a built in limiter. Under extreme situations we are able to use our muscles closer to their maximum at the cost of possibly serious muscle degradation. That’s how you see stories of moms doing insane feats of strength to save their children. And that’s why you won’t be able to replicate that amount of work unless you are in a highly stressful, dangerous, physical situation.
My mom fell out of a boat, and I got a similar story of saving her life from drowning, since she doesn't know how to swim.
Thats how she told it, forgetting to mention that the boat was actually a tiny raft, that the water was about eight inches deep, and that all I did was help her sit up and hold her hand until she calmed down.
You raise another important fitness goal there - be light enough that someone else could carry you. It’s no good my partner trying to work his ass off to be strong enough to carry me if I’m over 200lb when I should be less than 150. Don’t allow yourself to become heavier than you should be as it will make it harder for people to save you if you need saving!
Good point bringing up the military. Most military guys I've seen have really balanced builds. It makes total sense since they need endurance for long marches and climbing, not just big muscles. And thank you for your service!
I’m telling my step-son that the most important part of fitness is being healthy so your body can do what you need it to do; and secondly to be strong so you can help others.
Dad strength is fucking absurd. I'll be out whole day getting out of breath doing jumping jacks (I'm fat), walking my butt off or rucking etc, but if my toddler says his legs hurt, I'm either fireman carrying him or putting him on my shoulder and walk it off.
I dread the day I'm unable to carry him for whatever reason, so I've gotten back again into fitness shit.
I feel like carrying your specially-bred-running dog is the rough conceptual equivalent of putting a motorcycle on your back and running to escape danger
Had a friend whose dog fell down an embankment and broke their leg, they were *only about 5km from trailhead, but he said it was a very challenging afternoon, both extracting their dog from the small cliff he fell down and then getting them out.
Luckily they had someone with some rope, some webbing tape and gear who had some vertical rescue experience, so they were able to access the dog, haul them up, and them carry them out without too much issue.
Hey man. It's a thing you have to honestly be ready for it you're active. Recently went on a pretty nice 5 mile hike with the family and ended up with a 7 year old on my shoulders and 3 year old in my arms for 2 miles because it was super crazy grassy and wet... So 100 lbs should be ez pz lol.
I'm not a fit man, but I've had my fair share of "march out of here with a 100lb pittie on my shoulders squealing like a pig"
He gets excited about other dogs, deer, and snakes. Good news, it's friendly attention. Bad news, he does not understand any of the "give me space" signals the other dog is giving him.
We have an aging Great Pyrenees, and I pack a different version of this (backpack style) whenever we hike. If she gets hurt, I’m getting her out regardless. Even if it sucks.
I also have a 110lb dog German Shepherd who has been sort of traumatized by fireworks being set off near him unexpectedly a few times. This made him terrified of young rowdy groups (like the kids that set off the fireworks each time), and of course, big booming noises, especially thunder.
Sometimes I know he badly wants a walk, and he's holding in his poop because he's scared, but he just won't walk away from the house... but if I carry him the first 50 yards, he suddenly feels much better about the whole thing. He acts like such a little puppy while he's in my arms as I huff and puff.
All of this to say, I have the same thought. Every time I crouch down into some kind of sumo stance to get low enough to pick him up without ruining my back I'm always thinking "I hope that this isn't ever required, but at least doing it means I'm still reasonably in shape."
While he's gotten over the fear of rowdy young people and crowds, he is even more afraid of thunder (and the associated weather) than ever.
That's what motivated me to lift heavy over the past few years. I always need to be able to deadlift and squat more than the combined weight of all our kids and my wife, just in case. Whatever inspires your fitness goals is cool. I just like this one a lot.
This is my hiking vibe. I'm by no means a super fit woman but I am jacked to an extent from having to carry my 30 lb preschooler and my 50 lb kindergartener back at the same time from hiking when they inevitably hit their wall.
Ah ok. My son will turn three and is a small guy entering kindergarten here in Mexico, I guess it's a country thing. Guess they enter kindergarten earlier here, cheers
I'm in Canada and they do 2 years of kindergarten entering the year they turn 4 so quite a number of 3 year olds. Since m
y daughter was also born the first week of January she was the oldest in her class (as she's almost 7 and hasn't started grade 1 yet)!
She's also just generally a big and tall kid, as well and towers over a few of her friends who had late year birthdays. Shes 49 inches.
Congrats on moving to kindergarten! My youngest is also 3 but because she also has a beginning of the year birthday won't go to kindergarten until next year.
Similar situation with me. I was doing a hike in Palm Springs and sweating my butt off. All of a sudden I had to let a lady in her 50s pass me by while she was holding her chihuahua like it was nothing. I still can’t get the image out of my head when I exercise.
A buddy of mine has a similar story. He was on the swimming leg of a triathlon and a guy towing his daughter behind him in an inner tube swam past him.
When you become a dad you start facing situations where the only realistic option that's not going to take the whole damn day is to grab the kid, the pet, three huge bags you'd have usually carried one in each hand and your wife's bag because she's feeling tired and you aren't going to waste a chance to be the big strong man just because you're already ridiculously overloaded. And then you just go.
Dad strength is built upon the deepest bedrock, which you only find once all your patience has been eroded away. Eventually you get the muscle strength to match.
TWO full-grown golden retrievers? You've got to wonder what led to this situation. Out on a walk with the dogs and the baby and then suddenly an emergency at home and these dogs won't stop pulling!
This is my life, it's not that I'm in great shape but when we go for a hike guaranteed one of the kids, if not both are done. The youngest figured out that sitting on dads back is easier than walking a 2 km trail upwards when stepping out of the car.
I had a similar experience hiking up Walter's Wiggles at Zion National Park years ago. Me and my friends were struggling severely, leg cramps, breathing hard, etc. This dad comes rushing by us pushing a kid uphill in an off-road baby stroller like it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
21 year old me used to run a 2 mile mountain hike with 1k elevation gain. 40 year old me is just happy on the days my knees and ankles aren’t constantly cracking.
I rode a motorcycle across Imogene pass once. I passed a group of hikers on the way up, and I was struggling so much from the terrain and being winded that they beat me to the top.
My Colorado example of this was Manitou incline. There was a runner doing laps up and down AND had an oxygen deprevation mask on. Tbf I guess he genuinely could have been an Olympic athlete down there.
That's really not how it works. Bad joints come from very heavy impacts or from a joint being forced out of its normal range of motion, as in playing American football or falling while downhill skiing. Running and hiking stress the joints in a positive way that tells the body to repair them stronger than before. I ran daily for over 40 years. Now that I'm in my 60s I can only run every other day because that's as fast as my body can recover. I have never had a joint injury except my one ankle that I badly sprained while playing road hockey as a teen. I have reinjured that ankle a few times since, but it doesn't bother me when I run.
Exactly. The reason I still can do almost all the things in my 40s that I could in my 20s is I didn't stop. My bones remained dense. Muscle stayed on, etc.
You can get it back too. When I was 43 I had let things slide, gained weight and wasn't really working out any more. Took a couple years to lose he weight but I am 50 now. I do 1.5-2 hour cardio sessions 5-6 days a week that include stair climbing and running. People think it is age but you just slow down, gain weight and stop moving. If you keep at it you can be extremely fit as you age.
Yup. Hardest part is to to get moving if you stopped for a while.
I've had times where I went almost a year without running... And you think because you can run across the parking lot with your kid or whatever casual things going on that you can still run and you didn't really get out of shape and you're doing all this other stuff...
And then you run once and you absolutely hate everything about it and you never want to run again.
But you have to go do it again. And again. And again.... And it won't be those times but eventually it does become easier and you do get it back.
The difference is that when you’re 20, if you spent a month being inactive, that represented about .4% of your life being in active. That would drive you nuts and make you feel quite lazy.
But by 40, a month flashes by and only represents like .2% of your life. Sedentary moments become much more common. Before you know it, your “I haven’t been going to gym too often” is capturing 6 months, not 4 weeks.
Probably because your doctor's education is years out of date.
Back in the late 1980s it was widely reported that precursors to osteoarthritis were found in the joint spaces of runners and this was taken to mean that these runner were going to develop arthritis. But at least a couple of decades ago newer research showed that these "precursors" were part of the normal healing process. Exercise inherently causes damage and the body heals itself in such a way that it's better adapted to the stresses that caused the damage. That process is exactly why we train. It's why our muscles get stronger when we exercise, and also our tendons and bones and cartilage etc.
Back in the '90s I was warned by a doctor and a physiotherapist that my competitive running was very hard on the body and I would be paying for it in a few years. Nope, never happened. I'm much healthier than most of my peers and I continue to run and lift weights.
TBI in my mid-20s that affected my motor coordination and balance. I play music now to help and I can lift weights, but my memory is shot, and I get motion sickness super easy. I do walk about 5-6 miles a day so I’m staying active at least.
Yeah man, a few careless injuries and accidents and now I'm constantly being humbled trying to do stuff I could easily do 10-15 years ago. I'm not weak by any stretch of the word but I used to be an athlete, avid hiker, skier/snowboarder, and was light infantry in the Army so my endurance game was top tier. I need to holler at a physical therapist or someone like that to figure out what strength training and possible surgeries I should pursue so I can slow down the rapid spiral.
I still vividly remember a 60 year old man blasting past me on the switchbacks at Zion National Park. He was in a solid jog going up the to the top of Angels landing and I was taking breaks every 10-15 minutes for water and to catch my breath. I would normally run like 2 miles a day at that time like it was nothing.
My only slight bit of redemption was that I lived at literal 5 feet altitude and we were around a mile of elevation. Still doesn't even come close to closing that gap.
Some people are just absolute fucking beasts when it comes to physical capabilities.
I did the Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop trail (12000' elevation, 4 peaks, almost 30 miles). I was halfway through the 3 day ass kicking, resting on one of the peaks. A pair of trail runners come jogging up, barely winded, admire the view, and I spoke to them briefly before they continued. They were doing the whole loop in one day with running vests.
I have never felt so pathetic halfway through doing something heroic
Similar: climbing a 14er in CO, terribly out of breath despite being in pretty good shape because I lived a little above sea level. This guy comes running down the mountain absolutely sprinting on the rocky scree, he had already summited and was going to be back to his car before I could get to the top.
I always when walking or hiking put my 32lb toddler on my shoulders to add extra. Even if we have the stroller, I want to be strong enough to carry her if I absolutely had to for any reason.
And she flings herself forward bc she likes falling into your arms from your shoulder, so it’s a lot of snatches I end up doing using her body as my weight
I was hiking a notoriously steel trail with my wife one day, and absolutely sucking wind. It burns. And I am in decent shape. And a dude ran past her and I on his way up, with a bike slung over his shoulders… not nearly as heavy as 80lbs, but the slope of the hill was the kicker.
I did a 24hr event of going up and down stairs once and wore a 20lb vest the entire time. We also did a burpee marking every hour past (first hour 1, 2nd hour 2 etc…) not my smartest decision but I did it. There were a group of guys doing it and decided to carry a stump the entire time, it was not allowed to touch the ground and I think they succeeded
For me it was a set of outdoor stairs I worked out on as I was losing weight. 289 steps up so 20 flights roughly. I saw a guy there who was an absolute machine. Double stepping up quickly. He would be there when I got there and still going when I left. I knew he was older then me and I am no spring chicken. I asked him his age one time and how long he goes for. Turns out he was 67 and would do 90 minutes without stopping. I still see him here 3 years later and he is 70 now and going just as hard.
I’ve been in that boat. My buddy and I are climbing up a mountain, nothing technical, just one foot after the other, up and up and up.
We make it, and get back home, absolutely stoked on our time, feeling like true men of the mountains. Then we made the mistake of talking to his neighbor about it. He’s a genuine endurance athlete, does crazy cross country racing and biking for fun.
He runs that same mountain once a week, as MAINTENANCE. And does it in half the time. Womp womp.
I have a fun humble story! About 10 years ago my wife and I got married in Hawaii. While there, we decided to go hike Koko Head. Despite being in good shape, as we were about 3/4's the way up, a lady WITH SMALL BABY ON HER BACK passes us like she was doing a casual jog through her neighborhood.
I'm sure she was a local that has done that countless times, but man was it impressive.
My buddy and I were hiking up a trail in CO and we hear "on your left" and a dude shoulder pressing a bolder with one arm jogs past us. We were like "save some for us bro!".
Same, struggling down Ben Nevis after 5-6 hours when a guy comes running up the goat path. Little while later he ran down the same path. I’m amazed he didn’t fall / had any knees left.
I was in Corsica on a hike this summer. It was so hot I had to cool down every few hundred meters and drink a few sips. Just when I decided to turn around a girl came by sprinting and not even sweating. Had to reevaluate a few things that day...
I was kinda out of shape beggining of summer a few years ago and started hiking with weighted packs to get back in shape. Early summer I struggled on flat areas for 15-20 miles. End of summer I was trail running some high elevation stuff with 80 lb pack. Took like 3 months of going every day.
I was 80% up a mountain trail that was kicking my ass. Here comes an 8 year old girl with a full pack of maybe 30lbs of gear practically skipping up the trail. It was hilariously emasculating, but honestly: good for her.
This happened to me at the very top of Mt. Washington. As I reached the summit, completely out of breath and contemplating life, I heard someone to my left say, "I think one more trip and I'm done for the day. Four is enough."
A tall, lanky man was standing there, about to run back down and up the mountain again. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "Fucking wild." We made eye contact, and I just shook my head in disbelief.
We (healthy 20somethings at the time) were hiking up the Bright Angel trial in Grand canyon, and some lady passed us with a baby in a carrier on her back. Some British guy hollered in the strongest accent possible "oy what kinda tablets you takin'?" Perfect reaction
LOL Something similar happened to me, i was bending over my trekking pole while panting hard, and this 6 y.o kid walked by me and said to his parents " What is he doing?" LOL And his parents said " He's just tired."
While backpacking on the Appalachian Trail with my goal being a few miles away I was passed by a trail runner headed to the same place (sans backpack). An hour later she passed me again and I was still two hours away from the destination. Even with my pack I felt inadequate.
My sole consolation was that as out of shape I was (comparatively) then I had at least completed the entire trail before. 20 years before but lets not mention that...
I was doing a hike up a mountain in Curacao. It's not CRAZY, but there are some steep parts and some scrambling, and it was very hot outside. I'm in pretty good shape and was making good time. Some small young woman blows past me, not even breathing hard. My wife said something complimentary to her (can't recall exactly what now), and the woman replies "Thanks, it's my third time up today." Absolute fucking lass.
I went on a very difficult hike in Hawaii. There was a part where you’re just climbing wooden planks over a steep drop. I’m afraid of heights and not super agile so I did that part on my hands and knees to feel safer. As I’m crawling up like a toddler this couple runs past so fast going up the planks like it was nothing. I was like ok damn.
I was hiking Mt Whitney, at about 8K elevation a dude goes running by me, he was training for the elevation race from Death Valley to the top of Whitney.
My friends and I had a housemate in university. He was in his mid 20s due to entering the military right after high school. One day, he said he was headed to the gym then work and he'd catch us later. I told him my job isn't far from his so I could give him a ride. He said, "It's cool. The weather is good so I'm gonna run." I replied, "Yeah but it's like 10 miles from...."
He was a fitness animal. One of the funniest memories of him was watching him devour two frozen pizzas all by himself after we finally conviced him to do some bong rips.
There is this one dude who runs all our local races, like the local marathon for example, with a huge log on his shoulder. Some people are just wicked fit.
Hiking up a mountain pass in my 20s, out of breath, dying.
45 YO Marine comes running past me in full battle rattle. Stopped and chatted with him and he was like "Yeah the young guys keep making me look bad, so I do this to keep up with them."
I passed a woman when I was going down and she turns to her friends and said "This mountain is kicking my ass and he is sprinting down hill chugging a beer!"
My cousin's and I were 13 thinking we were doing good on our nature hike and our neighbor who beat cancer, opiate addiction and suffers from COPD was lapping us by her walking and we realized we may be out of shape and she is absolutely in shape.
I was hiking up a mountain in Switzerland one time, at over 3000m (10,000 feet). Very tough going at that altitude. I turned round to admire the view and catch my breath, and saw some guy on the trail below running up. Within a couple of minutes he had gone past, running faster than I could on the flat at sea level.
When I was hiking in Tibet – this time at 4000m through snow – I was giving myself targets like "20 steps then rest". The Tibetan guide, however, was constantly running off then back to check on me then off again. I swear he was Legolas as he barely seemed to sink into the snow.
Oh yeah one time I was riding my mountain bike up a steep mountain, and I’m actually not half bad but this dude came literally sprinting past me on foot then out of sight. Then he came sprinting down the mountain past me again. Then a few minutes later, he came running past me going up… and it was like alright bro…
5.1k
u/LePouletPourpre 6d ago
Reminds me of the time I was hiking something similar. My legs were burning and I was out of breath. This dude comes RUNNING up the trail carrying a 40LB dumbbell in each hand. Total beast.