Grand Canyon Training

Mason and I have worked really hard the past couple months walking and hiking. We were invited to hike with a group that hikes the Grand Canyon every year on Memorial Day weekend. Because of my work schedule I wasn’t able to hike every single Saturday hike but my friend Christine offered to take Mason on those hikes. We stuck to the scheduled hikes and walking schedule as best we could. With our busy evenings of spring swim team and meetings Mason and I got up early in the morning to get our walking mileage in. It wasn’t easy Mason got up sometimes as early as 4:30am on school days. We stuck to the schedule pretty well and the anticipated day was approaching. I finally went out and bought some Hiking shoes the week before our big day and tried them out on our evening hike up Piestewa Peak (it’s like the stair master times 10!) Tuesday May 14th, our scheduled hike was a double hike of this mountain up down, up down, and done. Well... on the first trip down the mountain I don’t know exactly what happened but my ankle slipped in a small hole and I fell. Pain shot up my leg and I knew it wasn’t good. I thought I could walk it off so I hiked down the mountain and decided to grit my teeth and head back up. Probably not the smartest move I’ve ever made but I survived. By the end of the hike I could tell the swelling was bad and sadly it only got worse over the next few days.  I shed a few tears over the realization that I had to cancel my hike. Mason was really sweet when I asked him if he still wanted to go he told me he wanted to do it with me. I’m confident Mason and I will train and go next year. That said, we did have some pretty fun hiking experiences and encounter some pretty cute creatures.

Black Mesa Hike

Weaver's Needle in the back ground

Squaw Peak or Piestewa Peak (aka the Stair master)

Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim Hike Schedule

Memorial Weekend, May 2019

Here is the schedule for the Practice Hikes to prepare us for the Canyon hike on May 25.  Please mark your calendars and plan on attending.  

Those marked with an asterisk (*) are considered mandatory hikes.

Tue. – 4/9  6pm   Town Hike  -  5 miles

Thu. – 4/11 6pm   Town Hike  -  5 miles 

*  Sat. – 4/13  7am   Superstition – Fremont Saddle - 5 miles 

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Tue. – 4/16  6pm  Canal Hike – 6 miles

Thu. – 4/18  6pm  Canal Hike - 8.5 miles

*  Sat. – 4/20  6am   Superstition – Hackberry Spring – 5.2 miles

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Tue. – 4/23  6pm  Canal Hike – 7.7 miles

Thu. – 4/25  6pm  Canal Hike -  9.5 miles

Sat. – 4/27   Rock climbing up to Flat Iron. (5.9 miles)

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Tue. – 4/30  5pm  Squaw Peak  -  2.5 miles – bring headlamp

Thu. – 5/2    6pm  Town Hike  -  10 miles

Sat. – 5/4  Fathers and Sons outing – hike if you can

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Tue. – 5/7   6pm  Canal Hike  -  10 miles

Thu. – 5/9  6pm  Canal Hike  -  9 miles

*  Sat. – 5/11  6am  Superstition – Black Mesa – 9 miles 

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*  Tue. – 5/14  4pm  Squaw Peak - TWICE - 5 miles – bring headlamp

Thu. – 5/16  6pm  Canal Hike  -  9 miles

*  Sat. – 5/18  6am  Superstition – Miner’s Needle Loop – 8.7 miles 

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Tue. – 5/21  6pm  Canal Hike – 6.8 miles

Thu. – 5/23  6pm  Town Hike – 3 miles

*  Fri. – 5/24  8am  Drive to North Rim

*  Sat – 5/25 Hike the Grand Canyon-North Rim to South Rim–24 miles