Tom Hickey


It’s easy to underestimate Tom Hickey if you don’t get into a conversation with him. A retired tax accountant who lives in Santa Fe, I met him atop Desolation Peak above the Santa Fe Ski Basin on an afternoon hike. His stiff-kneed walk gave me the impression of an overambitious senior citizen. He was also on his way to Lake Peak, so I followed him towards the ridge, and was surprised when he clambered right along the spine of the rock catwalk rather than the easier, lower route. We chatted enough for me to realize he was intending to do a longer, better hike than I was. To my very good fortune he invited me to come along, and let me interview him. As you’ll hear, there’s far more to Tom Hickey than meets the eye.

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As I’ll hear? Your post ended with that, or maybe it’s my out of date operating system. I hiked with Tom Hickey a few times in 2003, when I was in Santa Fe taking care of my ill mother. I could never keep up with him! Talk about a fast hiker. I finally figured out that I could slow him down a tad by asking him questions about the various subjects he was learned in. Otherwise, I was always running behind him to keep up.

That sounds right! Tom was troubled by arthritis in his knees on our hike. I’m nearly 30 years his junior, and he still kept up a pretty good pace. The interview was actually conducted over two hikes. Only the second was a full day. Even though a long stint was spent with some slow-hiking backpackers, we still covered a good 22 miles.

Thanks for the tip on the video, I’ll check it.