This article was written when Edith was in her mid-50’s.
Two magazines of which I am very fond are Backpacker and Dynamic Years. It seems incongruous that I would choose to tell you about both of these since one is for the very active person, bent on adventure, and the other is written expressly for the retired person or the about to be retired. I had been reading Backpacker for several years, underlining parts of articles I wanted to remember, making notes of places I wanted to visit, and secretly telling myself “I could have written that,” and that I most certainly would write about the next backpacking trip I took, then the postman brought another magazine called Dynamic Years.
“Dynamic Years”, I shouted when I looked at it more closely and saw it was a magazine published by AIM, a division of the AARP (American Association for Retired Persons), except AIM is for the pre-retired. I tossed it aside, for I didn’t want to have anything to do with a magazine like that. I had noticed mail coming in from the AARP, but usually tossed it aside, saying, “I’m not that old yet.” Goodness, I can remember my parents joining up with that group and that seemed like yesterday. I continued to read Backpacker and planned our next backpacking expedition to the Sawtooth Wilderness Area of Idaho to be followed by a six-day rafting trip down the Salmon. Dynamic Years indeed!
An additional two or three issues of Dynamic Years found their way to our mailbox. I still snubbed it and read everything but that magazine. One evening in bed, I saw an open magazine with a travel article on New Zealand. I assumed one of my children had picked it up to browse through. There was another article on a hike down the Grand Canyon, the same Bright Angel Trail I had hiked. I thought I was reading from the Backpacker magazine. But when I closed it, I was astonished to see by the cover I had been reading Dynamic Years! How could that be? I flipped through the rest of the magazine. I was shocked! Here was an article on hang gliding and motorized hang gliding as well. Other titles included “How to Conduct a Garage Sale,” “Time Share Vacations,” and “Base Hits Begin at Forty,” an article on Pete Rose, the famous baseball player. And of all things, “Veteran Climbers Challenge Mount Everest.” I read the entire magazine. I would write for this! No, I couldn’t do the articles on Social Security and investment programs.
I couldn’t do one like “Successful Retirement Depends on You,” but I could do an article on jogging, hiking, scuba diving, backpacking, traveling, and maybe with a little research, some more serious articles. Well, I won’t commit myself, but I have some in mind. And, if I get around to it, I may do one for Backpacker, too, but frankly, I like Dynamic Years. Dynamic Years is published bi-monthly. The address is Dynamic Years, 215 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, California 90801. It is published by AIM (Action for Independent Maturity) for working Americans in their middle years and is a division of the American Association of Retired Persons, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational philanthropic and scientific organization incorporated under the laws of the District of Colombia. It is a membership organization available only to members of AIM and is not sold on a subscription basis. Annual dues are $6.00. The editors assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or other materials submitted for review. But I intend to write them. I’ll let you know!
And, in case you’re also interested in Backpacker (and I still am, too). The address is Backpacker Editorial Office, 65 Adams Street, Bedford Hills, New York, 10507. All manuscripts and photographs will be carefully considered. If accompanied by an envelope and sufficient postage, they will be returned if unsuitable for the requirements of this magazine. I think that sounds pretty promising, too. Which would you take a chance on? Here are some of the stories I’ve come across in Backpacker: “Buyer’s Guide: Cameras for Backpackers,” “Trails to Take in California’s Joshua Tree National Monument,” “Montana’s Glacier National Park and Idaho’s Selkirk Crest,” “Toughest Mile on the Appalachian Trail,” “A Fourteen Mile Trip in Western Main,” and “Paddler’s Paradise - Five Weeks Exploring the Islands and Inlets on the West Coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island.”
How could they resist my story on a ….well, I’ll let you know when it is published, but first I have to read about the “Toughest Mile on the Appalachian Trail”.