Bob Knowles / Loves To Take A Hike

At age 75, Skagit County's Bob Knowles could walk most of Generations X and Y into the ground. His feet have deteriorated so much that it hurts to walk barefoot in his home, but every Wednesday year-round he pulls on his orthopedic boots and joins up to 40 friends in an Audubon hiking club. Their weekly six-to-12-mile romps range from flat to a 3,000-foot elevation gain. The retired Weyerhaeuser engineer also grows enough vegetables to take him through the winter, rows, volunteers for more than half a dozen organizations, and posts signs on Skagit County farm fields to identify crops for city slickers.

Q: How many miles have you hiked with this group in all?

A: Just over 3,000 in the last 10 years.

Q: Do you belong to a gym?

A: Never have.

Q: Do you use exercise machines?

A: I'm no good at exercising.

Q: Do you eat a special diet?

A: I eat what I like. I happen to like vegetables, and seafood, but I also eat meat. I drink wine.

Q: Are you a sports fan?

A: I'm consumed with apathy about professional sports.

Q: Are you a fitness fanatic?

A: I'm not. It's just that the things I enjoy doing require that I stay in reasonable shape. I do what I have to do to keep doing the things I want to do.

Q: How did you get started hiking?

A: In my youth I wasn't athletic. When I was 30 or 31, I got into mountain climbing and climbed about 15 years. I climbed all the major peaks here. Then I didn't do much for 25 years. At the tender age of 65 I started hiking again. I struggled to get back into shape. It's hard to build muscle at that age.

Q: What's your secret to good fitness?

A: I've got so many interests that I'm always outdoors. I garden. I've built several boats. I do boat repairs. I'm a compulsive volunteer. I help repair trails. I sample clams for the health department. I do stream-water sampling for the conservation district. I'm enjoying retirement because I can do things that interest me, not things that pay money.

Q: Where did the idea for the crop signs come from?

A: I was curious what they were growing. I guess if I'd had the chance I would have been a farmer. When my wife, Carol, and I were raising our boys, we'd take a week's vacation to go help with the wheat harvest.

Q: You put out nearly 100 crop-identification signs each season. Is there much vandalism or theft?

A: Not much. I did put one out once that read "grass," and it disappeared immediately. I wised up, and now I use "pasture."