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This week I started my planning and what I know will be long and arduous training to get ready for my challenge hike of the Grand Canyon in October 2022, 16 months from now. I'll call it rim-to-rim "lite" as I will be hiking down the Kaibab Trail from the South Rim to the Colorado river and then back up the Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim. See Day Hike -South Kaibab Trail (nps.gov) for information from the National Park Service. There is a longer hike from the North Kaibab Trailhead on the North Rim to the Bright Angel Trailhead on the South Rim. The distance for this hike is approximately 19.5 miles. Even the rim-to-rim lite hike difficulty level is rated as extremely strenuous and thus will be a lofty goal for me as I am not a hiker, Yet!. I am doing this to help me recover and achieve new life from a long illness, Pernicious Anemia, that had left me handicapped for a short while and now in a weakened state. As part of my recovery, I will train to make this happen and in this blog I will document my progress and hopefully and ultimately my achievement hike in October 2022. I will be starting at the South Kaibab Trailhead hiking down the trail to the bottom, spending 1 night at Phantom Ranch and returning via the long arduous trek up to the Bright Angel Trailhead also on the South Rim. The total distance is 16.5 miles with an elevation change of approximately one mile. My first near term challenge is to conquer the local Colby Trail in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Glendora California. This is a 1.4 mile trail easy for most but I had to stop three times to rest just to get half way up. The elevation change is 508 foot. I will conquer this trail and then move onto a new goal. My hope is that this will energize me and make me a healthier and better person. to start getting ready I have increased my daily neighborhood walk from 1.5 miles to 4 miles each day. This is astonishing to me since it was only a few months ago that I could only walk about two houses down and then hobble back. My handicap was caused by an incurable but treatable autoimmune condition causing severe and painful peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage) in my feet and right hand. The pain was resolved do to diet, no more gluten or dairy for me! who knew, and most all of the remaining numbness was resolved by Neural Therapy that I received starting in February 2021 from Dr. Karima Hirani MD MPH at Hirani Medical Wellness Center in Culver City CA. This week I purchased my very first pair of hiking shoes, Merrell Moab 2 waterproof hiking shoes, at REI Co-Op . I will post my progress weekly to keep you updated and hopefully that I haven't quit! No plans for that though. I also found a great website that is extraordinarily helpful for a beginner such as myself "https://www.earthtrekkers.com/hiking-gear-guide/"
