“Your body got you down here, and your mind will get you out.”
This is the phrase we heard at 5 a.m. as we stretched our weary legs in preparation for our ascent from the depths of the Grand Canyon.
We had spent the night at Phantom Ranch. As we enjoyed our family-style breakfast, the server/host talked about his Native ancestry and how the Grand Canyon has long been a sacred place to be both feared and revered. As one of the seven natural wonders of the world, it’s a place of inspiration and immeasurable beauty, with deep gorges, lofty spires and a massive canyon.
Our host reminded us of how fortunate we were to be able to witness such beauty.
Only 1 percent of the 5 million people who visit the Grand Canyon each year hike all the way to its bottom and of that 1 percent, a mere fraction stay in its lodge. Some are on waitlists for years. Multi-day hiking in the Canyon isn’t allowed without selection for a separate camping permit otherwise. We hit the jackpot. In fact, we had won the lottery.
For the last several years John Erbert and I, Iola High School Class of 2000 graduates, have organized hiking adventures. For 2023, our goal was to hike the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim.
As we began planning, we added friends.
In February, we were selected in the Phantom Ranch lottery for the Memorial Day weekend on condition that we have a sizable group to fill the cabin. With little trouble, we had a team of nine.
This crew has a shared history. It’s the fourth year John Erbert and I have hiked something of this magnitude and the second year with John’s wife, Magen, and Joshua Stiffler, IHS 1998 graduate, and of Oronogo, Mo.
This year the group also included other longtime friends as well as some new ones in Jud Hawley of Iola, Glaze of Lenexa, Karis Sutherland of South Carolina, Rachel Cox of North Carolina, and Don Erbert of Iola.
We all felt the call to put our fitness, perseverance and prowess to a test where the physical demands met the mental.
In preparation, we trained with 20-pound packs walking stairs, trails, hills and any other incline we flat-landers could find. With a team of nine coming from different fitness levels and regions, it was tricky territory.
We assembled near Flagstaff, Arizona on Saturday evening.
A starting time of 5:15 a.m. on Sunday was met with a glorious sunrise view at Mather Point.
We started at the south rim of the canyon, descending 8 miles and almost 5,000 feet along the rugged South Kaibab Trail down to the Colorado River and Phantom Ranch.
