There’s no stopping 84 year old Hannah Alger. This Oakland, California senior community resident recently finished a 300 mile trek across the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Yet over the last six years, she has racked up thousands of miles on her hiking adventures. Beginning at the age of 78, Hannah caught the “hiking bug” and hasn’t looked back since. “It’s simple”, she says. “There’s nothing that I have to do other than get up and move one foot in front of the other”.
This article from Fox explains this senior’s story. Hannah Alger is a former tech worker and teacher. In addition, she’s a mother to five and grandmother to nine. In just six short years, she has hiked thousands of miles, including five long treks through Europe. Most avid hikers are in search of something. For Hannah, it’s the chance to be free and recharge. While spending much of the last two decades caregiving for her husband of 54 years, hiking has been her most recent therapeutic outlet.
She currently resides at the Oakland, California senior community of Piedmont Gardens. The staff and other residents there are highly inspired by her and act as her cheerleaders. Yet her senior community friends aren’t the only ones who find her to be an inspiration. She claims she’s not too surprised she is viewed as an inspiration to many. However, she was not expecting people she met along the trails to say that seeing her determination had changed their lives.
People often ask Hannah what she does to train. But to this, she replies, “Absolutely nothing”. She says to do this, you don’t have to be fit. You just have to get up and do it. For those who need a little push to get out there, she leaves a little piece of wisdom. She tells us that so many people put off doing things. Yet they fail to realize the only time we have is now. “There is no other time but now”, she clearly states.
In the unforeseeable future, Hannah has no plans to quit. Up next on the agenda is a trip to Turkey with her older sister. And maybe a trek from Tuscany to Rome, or even a return trip to Spain. The possibilities for this tenacious senior are endless!