Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to THE home of Grand Canyon hiking. If it happens below the rim—from short day hikes to Rim2Rims and beyond—you'll learn all the tips and tricks to have your safest and most memorable Grand Canyon experience.
Host Brian Speciale brings you stories of triumph, tragedy, and trail-won wisdom—told by first-timers, seasoned vets, and Canyon insiders alike.
But don't just take our word for it; here's what our listeners say:
“I am continually inspired by the guests and the vulnerability of everyone to share their story—so others can learn and make their own.”
Whether you're planning Rim2Rim or just dreaming of hiking the Grand Canyon, this is the podcast that prepares you—mind, body, and spirit.
“An invaluable resource.”
"Brian and the community he has curated is such a welcoming place and wealth of information."
“It’s the perfect mix of inspiration, realistic caution, and tips for success.”
🎧 New episodes weekly
👣 Join the conversation in the hiKin Grand Canyon private group on Facebook
This is the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show presented by Hiken. Hiking plus kinship. That's Hiken. Together, we roam. Here's your host, my hubby, and cofounder of Hiken, Brian Special.
Brian:Well, unforgettable Grand Canyon experiences can still be had here in the most forgettable times perhaps in the recorded history of the Grand Canyon. From the Dragon Bravo fire destroying much of the North Rim to the hotel and trail closures caused by the Trans Canyon Waterline Project, 2025 has certainly been the year of disruption. Well, but the canyon is a big place, and it turns out there are plenty of places to turn for adventure if you're just willing to look outside the main corridor trails. Look, that's something I've been reluctant to do. I'll admit it.
Brian:I know very well that the audience for this show is primarily interested in Rim To Rim or any of the other iconic hikes that are on so many bucket lists. So that's what we spend the majority of our time talking about here. But sometimes it turns out the best experiences are born of circumstance. With North Kaibab and with it rim to rim not even being optional for the foreseeable future, I decided to take the first chance I got to venture outside the cozy confines of the main corridor. It was a call from Canyon vet James Tennelssoff that did it.
Brian:He was driving up from Tucson for a couple of training hikes in advance of a big backpacking trip he had planned and asked me if I wanted to tag along in his attempt to bag a peek, he said, deep inside the canyon. I couldn't say no to that, and so I made the three and a half hour drive up from Phoenix, scooted in the East entrance, and met James at the Tanner Trail for an adventure we will not soon forget. One note, James and I are chatting during the time that Phantom Ranch was still closed after the North Rim fire, and so too is the South Kaibab Trail below tip-off. So when you hear us talking about those closures, know that things have since changed. South Kaibab is again open to the river, and Phantom has reopened as well.
Brian:Alright. This is the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show powered by Hikin'. Check out our Born in Grand Canyon hiking packs and more at hikin.club. That's hikin.club. The goal was to come out here to Lippen Point, which is spectacular, by the way.
Brian:Coming in the east entrance and out by desert view and going down the Tanner Trail, and our goal was to bag Escalante Peak down there. And we got down there and what happened? Oh, we got yeah. Not the route that I thought we were taking.
James:And then it just kinda got clipped out. Now one of the things to the canyon is is always trying to figure out how to get across those kind of rock wall rock corridors and found a couple spots where we probably could have gotten up, but there was no way we could have gotten down. And, you know, I think the upshot to all the rain the last couple of days is that made for great traction going uphill. But coming downhill, as we discovered, rocks that should have been solid were not. And I think both of us kinda propelled a couple of big sized rocks off into orbit.
Brian:Yeah. That's a that's very true. It's a long way of saying that we failed to bag Escalante Peaks today. We went down there and, man, I I just think we went up the wrong way, unfortunately, because you you take the Tanner Tanner Trail down and then it becomes route finding. You can see it right there.
Brian:Right? But then it becomes, okay. Well, you go this way, and suddenly you gotta get up this layer of cliffs. And there were a couple spots that were getting really, really sketchy. And it looked like, you know, it's like, oh, I think I can see us getting up there, but how the hell are we gonna get down if we get up there?
Brian:So it can become pretty dangerous out there in a hurry.
James:You know, and honestly, I think it might have been a blessing in disguise because as soon as we got back down to the main trail and got up about a half mile, it did start to rain. And the one my experience with doing anything off trail in Arizona, whether it's the Grand Canyon or anything down in Tucson is wet rock in Arizona turns to ice as soon as it's wet. And stuff that's really, really grippy when it's dry turns it's like trying to ice skate. So it was probably a blessing that we kinda got spooked off.
Brian:Yeah. I mean, when we got when we got cliffed out there, we're talking about probably, I don't know, 15 to 30 foot worth of worth of cliffs. Again, that you could you could find little crevices to work your way up. We found, like, three ways up, it looked like. But as soon as you started going up, it looked so much easier to go up than it would be to go down.
Brian:Because as soon as you start getting up a little bit, it's like, well, how am I gonna get off this thing? Right? So then it becomes, you know, a real safety issue. And, you know, off off corridor, off trail, hiking in the canyon is no joke. If something goes wrong out here, man, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble.
James:You know, the the kind of the two rules going off trail or doing any kind of peak bagging is making it to the car is the goal. Yeah. Bagging the peak is a is a bonus. And most people don't get hurt going uphill. Most people get hurt climbing down on peaks.
James:Mhmm. So getting up is generally easier than getting down.
Brian:Yeah. Could see that because it was so sketchy even picking our way back down to where we left the Tanner Trail. So, man, I can't imagine getting all the way up onto Escalante, but we're gonna come back Yeah. And we are gonna do it. Definitely.
Brian:Yeah. So this is a I know you're you're typically a day hiker like I am, but you're making the transition to the dark side here pretty soon. You're going you're you're becoming a backpacker, James.
James:Yeah. I'm actually coming back to the Tanner Trail in three weeks to go to the Confluence. So gonna take the Tanner Trail down to Tanner Rapids, hit the Beamer Trail, camp on the Beamer Trail, hike out to the Confluence. So I did the math, and it's it's 38 miles of hiking. And it was too long for one day, so breaking it up into three.
James:And but, yeah,
Brian:I'm joining the dark side. What made you finally, you know, go to the dark side and say, you know what? There's more to life than just than just day hiking. What is it that finally put you over the top?
James:Actually, a couple things. I've gone north to south a number of times, so going North Rim to South Rim, South Rim to North Rim has kind of lost its allure. And honestly, I started reading Tom Meyer's book and like, maybe I should think about going east to west.
Brian:The Grandest Trek where he'll walk the length of the canyon?
James:Yeah. So I'm I don't have the Grandest Trek in me. But
Brian:You say that now, but this backpacking might open up a whole new world.
James:But I'm thinking, yeah, what would it take to go from the easternmost point of the park to the westernmost point of the park? And it looks like I've already done bits and pieces of the Tono, so I might as well just keep on going. You know, a couple buddies of mine, they're they're kind of into fast packing, so they're kinda like backpacking with a lighter pack, a really super light, go super fast. So see how it goes.
Brian:How was it getting all the gear gathered up for that? Have you purchased it all? Have you done it all? Have you figured out what you're gonna
James:forget yet? I've pretty much got everything. It's kinda, you know, kinda nice. Like, the biggest obstacle is getting my wife's blessing to buy a lot of gear. But I simply remind her that I don't golf, so I don't have to pay for tee times.
James:Fair enough. And and, you know, I I don't play fantasy football, so that doesn't cost us any money. So Is she
Brian:okay with you doing all this Grand Canyon stuff?
James:Honestly, no. No. No. She is definitely a Grand Canyon widow. Probably about two weeks ago, she asked me when I was gonna be done with this whole Grand Canyon business.
James:And I said, oh, probably in about four or five weeks when I'm done with Beamer Trail. And she goes, no. No. I mean, done done. And I'm like, well, no.
James:That's not gonna happen. Not happening. So
Brian:But she actually went for it,
James:Yeah. Yeah.
Brian:I thought she knew might know you better than that.
James:Yeah. She she does. So it's we have a very well balanced man. I'm a I'm a risk taker by chance, and she's an accountant. Right.
James:So we balance each other out. So, you know, definitely the accountant in her.
Brian:Well, you can tell her. You know, you you can come with me on these trips if you so desire. Right? How would that go over?
James:Not very well.
Brian:No. I'm not having
James:any She'll she'll come up here and drop me off and come back in a few hours to pick me up.
Brian:Yeah. I know the feeling. And sometimes somehow it's better that way. If everybody gets their taste, man, you know, it's all good because everyone loves coming to the canyon. You came up yesterday.
Brian:Man, you wanna talk about dedication. You left Tucson at Left Tucson at 03:30, made
James:it to Sky Harbor around five. That's in Phoenix. And then got to the Grand Canyon because it was raining really hard. So what should have been three and a half hour drive was about four and a half hour. Got to the rim about trying to think, 08:30, 08:45, called the taxi.
James:And they said the taxi is full. Your best bet is to take the shuttle to the South Kaibab. So waited and waited and waited for the shuttle. Finally got to South Kaibab about ten, took off at ten, and did South Kaibab, Tano, Bright Angel yesterday. How'd it go?
James:I was determined to beat my best time,
Brian:and I did. Good job, man. Good job. You were under five hours, I think.
James:Total. Four hours and eighteen minutes. I don't
Brian:know how that's even possible, man. There's gotta be some running involved in that. There has to be.
James:The A little bit. I just hiked very fast.
Brian:I guess so. I guess so. You know, a lot of people are since not happening, obviously, a lot of people are pivoting and doing either that hike that you did yesterday, in which I did a week or two ago, the South Kaibab across Tano and then Upright Angel, which is about, you know, right at 14 miles. It's a it's a it's a big day. It gives you the full canyon experience.
Brian:It's awesome. It's a great hike to pivot to. But a lot of people are doing an XL version of that. And when they go down South Kaia Bevan across Tonto instead of going straight Upright Angel to the to the rim, they're turning downward and heading down to the to Pipe Creek to the river because they're so intent on getting to the river and then going back upright angel to the rim. So by the time they're all done, that's about 20 miles, just between twenty and twenty one miles, which is essentially rim to rim distance and elevation gain.
Brian:Did that even cross your mind to do that yesterday?
James:Not whatsoever.
Brian:So What do you think of people doing that?
James:I I mean, I I get the allure of doing the going down to the river. I mean, I've I've obviously done it myself a number of times. So I get if you haven't done rim to rim and you've got an intent that you're gonna do 21 miles, it's a way of scratching that itch. But I'm I'm one of those where I'm training for the backpacking trip. I could I probably could have done the trip, but it's like, no.
James:I just I I'm trying to get used to doing more back to back long days because the backpacking trip is gonna be three long days of hiking. So just trying to get used to hiking one day, sleeping, getting up the next day, doing another long day. So I'm I'm I'm a big believer in plan your training and do exactly what your training is, and don't get tempted
Brian:Yeah.
James:To do something else. Yeah. Because overtraining or doing some you know? Yeah. Yeah.
James:I could have done it, but it probably would have taken me a week to recover. Yeah. Whereas I knew if I did this, I'll be recovered in two or three days, and I can probably be doing long hikes on the weekend.
Brian:Yeah. That's a lot. It's 3.2 more miles just to get down to the river. So six and a half, you're adding to your to your hike. It's a that's a massive difference when it comes to a hike that's as difficult already as it is when you get to when you get across from South Caliabab to Tonto to Bright Angel, by the time you get to Bright Angel, that junction, usually speaking for myself, you know, I'm feeling it already.
Brian:I'm pretty beat up, and, you know, that downhill is no joke, and it's a lot of miles. It's nine miles to get there. And, you know, I might want to go down to the river. That's tempting, but at the same time, it's not that tempting because it's just it I knew it was gonna take so much mental fortitude that I that I didn't have that day. And I have nothing but respect for the people that are doing that because that is that's biting off a lot, man.
Brian:It's essentially doing a rim to rim, but it is a hike that's kind of born of necessity. Because the first time someone brought it up, was like, I don't think anybody's even ever done that hike before, that route, because you've never
James:had to. I mean, honestly, South Kaibab Tonto Bright Angel was rarely done up until two or three years ago. Mhmm. I mean, I I saw more people on the Tonto Trail yesterday than I think I've seen on it ever.
Brian:And it was probably still just a handful, wouldn't it?
James:Yeah. I probably saw one, two I probably saw probably a dozen people. Yeah. That's a lot on Tonto. And I'm used to seeing one.
James:Yeah. And and even and even when you do see one person on the Tonto, you usually stop like, what are you doing here? The Tonto is seeing a lot of use.
Brian:Yeah. It is. A lot more than it ever has, and I do wish that South Kaibab was open all the way to the river. I have a hard time at this point understanding why it's not. I guess I guess it's to keep people away from Phantom Ranch in the in the bottom down there.
Brian:Since North Kaibab is closed after the fire, the Phantom Ranch area is still closed. I guess they just wanna keep the, I don't know, the looky loos out of there or something. I don't know. I wish that they it seems to me that they could have South Kaibab open from tip-off to Boat Beach, let's say. Water's still on down there.
Brian:You could refill your water down there and head back up. That's a way better hike in my opinion than going down Bright Angel to to Pipe Creek. So I don't know why the park service has kept that closed for so long. It seems like it could be open.
James:My my probably my biggest frustration with this whole entire summer has been transparency. We're all adults. Just tell us, hey. The trail is thrashed or we're worried about x y z, but just closing things and not letting us know exactly why things are closed. Yeah.
James:I I I agree with you. I just there's really no reason why you can't at least have a you know, go down to Boat Beach, come back up.
Brian:I mean, maybe there is a reason. But if there was a reason, I'd like to know what that reason was as opposed to, hey. We closed this on July 12 when the the North Rim went up in flames, and it was closed for smoke at that time. They said that they weren't gonna let people down there because of the smoke. Now it's the flash flood threat at the at the Phantom Ranch area, which is completely understandable.
Brian:But, again, that's pretty far down from where Boat Beach is and where Black Bridge is. So South Kaibab not being open down there past tip-off is something I don't understand. And again, there might be a good reason for it.
James:But Yeah. Okay. Mean Let
Brian:us know what it is.
James:Yeah. Exactly. Just if if there's a reason, just let us know.
Brian:It's already been such a such a disruptive year. And I don't know if you picked up what I was talking about last week that, you know, I've kinda heard a little bit through the grapevine that they're talking about making North Kaibab, at least the upper stretch of North Kaibab that was affected by the Dragon Bravo fire, that they were talking about designating that as wilderness trail, taking the corridor trail designation and the funding and maintenance that goes along with it to make it, you know, ready for for the general public and making it a wilderness hike at your own risk kind of kind of thing. That's something I had never even considered that they that they could do or would do. But if that gets Upper North Kaibab open sooner rather than later, man, that is best case scenario stuff. And and I've heard that the superintendent is pretty intent about making it a priority to get North Kaibab hiking back to North Kaibab open again maybe as early as sometime next year.
Brian:It sounds impossible right now. It sounds impossible, but that that's better than what we've been talking about for the last three months.
James:I mean, if you've hiked a you've hiked off corridor, you've hiked any of the wilderness things, yeah, I I could I could see yeah. If you if you hike around some of the sketchy sections and the landslide sections, it wouldn't be any worse than what we hiked today.
Brian:Yeah. Yeah. Hiking off corridor today on the Tanner Trail, it goes down about what? 1,700 vertical feet in a mile. And it's incredibly steep, and it's not particularly maintained, but it was doable.
Brian:Right? It's a hike at your own risk.
James:It it I mean, it's not maintained at all. That's yeah. I mean, if if they could if if they could if they could get North Kaibab redesignated to Wilderness Trail so at least people could like get through it. I mean, not only does it affect us, but I mean, I don't know if you've if you've follow the Arizona Trail community much at all. Yeah.
James:But you know, the AZT people who are bound and determined to hike the AZT, I mean, this just kinda throws a wrench into their plans as well. And I think there's a large percentage of people that would be able to handle a wilderness corridor. Yeah.
Brian:Hike at your own risk. Mhmm.
James:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'd
Brian:be I'd be totally down with that. That sounds amazing to me. And if it's if it's too sketchy, then, you know, don't do it. But it's I think what they're saying is, look, we're not gonna be able to build this thing back up to corridor trail status or standards for many, many years. Yeah.
Brian:And that's that's just right now. With what they know now, I've already I've already heard they have years worth of work to do on that trail if they were to start today. They're not going to do anything to Upper North And Upper North Kaibab, I would define right now as the upper 1.7 miles from Supai Tunnel to the trailhead, the part of the trail that we know is affected by the Dragon Bravo fire. They're not gonna do anything to it. No maintenance until they see what happens with the spring runoff.
Brian:So if we have a rough winter and even if we have a normal winter and a normal runoff, you'd think that there's gonna be some significant damage to that to that trail, especially with the burn scar and with there not being the vegetation to hold the the land in place. So it could get pretty sketchy up there, but, again, where there's a will, there's a way. And if the superintendent wants it open by next year, well, maybe there's a way they can figure out a way to make this happen. Hey, guys. Brian here.
Brian:The new hiking packs have arrived. You can check them out at hiking.club. We finally got a shipment of our rim to rim packs in and our brand new Canyon Elite, which is essentially the rim to rim pack with a hip belt and multiple sizes. These packs were designed by Zena and me and based on what I wanted in a pack through all my miles below the rim. What I really wanted was a pack roomy enough that I didn't have to leave anything behind, but one that would fit snug like a runner's vest.
Brian:And most importantly, have plenty of front pockets so I didn't have to stop every time I needed something. So both the rim to rim pack and Canyon Elite do have six front pockets and pouches built into the shoulder straps, so you've got access to everything while on the move. They can fit your phones, snacks, a soft flask, anything you can think of, really. And on the Canyon Elite, with its hip belt, there are two additional pockets giving you eight pockets and pouches within reach without ever having to take your pack off. Can you believe that?
Brian:Both packs also have our signature insulated hydration pocket, which is meant to keep your water and snacks cool longer. That was a big hit in our first run of rim to rim packs. The feedback was amazing and proves that it works. Both packs offer 25 liters of capacity. The rim to rim pack is one size fits most, but the Canyon Elite comes in two sizes, small medium or large extra large, so that it fits those with short and long torsos.
Brian:You can get yours at hikin.club. That's hikin.club. Supplies are limited, so please check them out today. The classic 25 liter rim to rim pack and the new 25 liter Canyon Elite. That one with a hip belt now available at hiking.club.
James:And, I mean, honestly, you never know. I mean, the way the Grand Canyon is, I mean, maybe the runoff creates a new route. Or, you know
Brian:That's glass half full stuff right there,
James:James. I
Brian:like it.
James:Gotta be optimist.
Brian:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that that very well could happen because we don't know what's gonna happen. There are you know, the parts below Coconino Overlook, I can't imagine those switchbacks being able to survive the the runoff with the the burn scar that that's up there. And even worse than that, in my opinion, would be the part below the burn scar, below Supai Tunnel, from Supai Tunnel down to Redwall Bridge, which is the section of trail that they have the the most trouble with even in normal years.
Brian:Well, now if they've got everything crashing down from above on top of that, I would imagine there's gonna be significant problems. So maybe Wilderness Trail designation from Redwall Bridge to the to the top might be in the off.
James:Yeah. And I mean, even remember, it was what? Two years ago? Three years ago where the North Rim was closed until June? Yeah.
James:Because of snow damage? Mhmm. So it's I mean, in even in normal circumstances where there has not been a fire, it does happen every few years where North Cobb had a good just because of snow.
Brian:Yeah, just in normal years. So we know something's coming. We know it's gonna be it's probably gonna be a rough spring, and next year who knows when they go back and look at this and they're like, Oh, we can't do this. It's not even We can't even make a trail out of this right now. Maybe that'll happen, or maybe best best case scenario stuff will happen.
Brian:But I'm encouraged at least that they're talking about it and that they're talking about making it a priority and getting it open sooner rather than later. And I know that congressman Eli Crane from Arizona has just introduced a bill in congress to expedite the reconstruction of the North Rim to shorten some of the permitting processes and the bureaucratic red tape that's gonna have to be cut through in order to get the lodge rebuilt and all the infrastructure on the North Rim, wastewater treatment facility rebuilt, the water situation, everything up there. If they can expedite that process, well, again, we're talking about best case scenario stuff. That's still years down the line, but think before we have a lodge or anybody's living up there again. But but who knows?
Brian:Again, where there is a a will, there's a way. But if they can get that trail open and get rim to rim hiking open again, and, you know, the poor people at Kaibab Lodge and the poor people at Jacob Lake Inn are suddenly gonna be in in boom times.
James:Mhmm.
Brian:You know, it's gonna be the opposite if that happens because they're not gonna have competition from Grand Canyon Lodge, and suddenly everybody's gonna have to stay at Jacob Lake or in Marble Canyon or at Kaibab Lodge or even into Fredonia. So it's it's it would be great for for small business and tourism on the North River.
James:Yeah. And even for, you know, the Grand Canyon shuttle. I mean Oh, yeah. For sure. I mean, so many small businesses were affected by Yes.
James:This fire.
Brian:Yeah. Trans Canyon shuttle would be able to run again. Our buddy Krocke Meshkin who's got his shuttle and doesn't know what he's gonna do with his life right now. If he was able to to have the opportunity to do rim to rim shuttling again next year, I mean, again, best case stuff. Let's hope it happens.
Brian:Let's keep our fingers crossed.
James:Mhmm.
Brian:But at the same time, let's not hold our breath. Right?
James:Exactly. I mean, the canyon is the canyon, and I mean, the reason it's there is due to erosion and things falling off.
Brian:It's nature, man.
James:It's it's So, you know, who knows? You know, this just could be the the next evolution of the North Rim.
Brian:Yeah. Nature always wins. Man, what a day this was. This was this was awesome. You were you were up here last night.
Brian:You did the Tonto hike that you talked about yesterday. I drove up this morning to meet you because I was so intent on that Escalante Peak, and there's a section of it that I that I was able to see that has a, what, a three or four foot, like, crack, a drop off that you have to jump with some exposure. You have to jump between it.
James:Mhmm.
Brian:Oh, man. I saw that, and that's been in my head for a week. I was so excited to get up there to do it today and to see if we would chicken out
James:at that rate. I know. I just I've attempted probably five or six peaks in the canyon and have been successful about a third of the time. It's just part of it. It's just part of the canyon, like the curveballs.
James:You know, one one peak that I had to bail on because I ran I, you know, I'm a big believer. Like, I my my wife calls me like the human metronome. Like, I could like, if I go out hiking, I can tell her, oh, this hike is 10 miles. It's gonna take me x amount of time. I'll be home here.
James:Yeah. There's one hike where I got almost to the base, looked at my watch. I'm like, there's no way I can get off this cliff in the light, and I'm not doing it in the dark. Or today where like, even if we had gotten up, I don't know how we're gonna get down because it would've been raining. So I think that's just the beauty of the canyon is like no matter what, the
Brian:canyon always wins. Yeah. It does. And we didn't win today. The canyon won again.
Brian:And you're right. It always does even when you even when you succeed. But, man, this just gives gives you motivation to come back. Tanner is Tanner was awesome. I I absolutely love going down that trail.
Brian:If you ever get the chance to to go down Tanner a mile or so or actually about a mile and a half down, you've got this incredible view of 75. Could see all the way to the Colorado. That was spectacular. This view up here that we're looking at right now at Lippen Point, which is just in the East entrance, not very far away, just a couple miles inside the East entrance, close to Desert View. By the way, you could see the Desert View Watchtower for the majority of this hike too when we were all the way down, you know, a couple thousand feet below the rim.
Brian:I think we went down 2,500 feet or so, something like that. 2,002 down, and then about 500 that we tried to climb up and we failed and had to come back down.
James:Yeah. If we would have succeeded, it would have been a grand total of, like, $28.50.
Brian:Yeah. That sounds about right. But you could see Desert View, the watchtower up there just perched on the edge of the cliff from way down below, and that was was really cool. Some awesome views, some great hiking. It was great to get off corridor.
Brian:I encourage everyone to do it.
James:Yeah. And, I mean, we were down there for five hours, and
Brian:we ran into one person. One person. Yep. One one backpacker who was on his way down to the river.
James:I love the corridor trails. I mean, but they're they're the the Grand Canyon Super Freeways. But if you if you look at the corridor trails, I mean, that's only like was it between North Karabab and Pridey, that's five miles? So that's like there's it's a five mile wide corridor. And the park is, what, a 100 miles from one end to the other?
James:So there's a ton of other trails to explore. I think one of the nice thing not nice, but probably one thing that the fire has inspired a lot of people to do is explore things that aren't the main corridor.
Brian:Absolutely. You're looking at them.
James:Yeah. Look look at things that are not the main corridor. You know, explore other parts. I mean, yes, the Bright Angel Trail, the South Kaibab Trail is very scenic, but it doesn't look like this at the Tander Trail. Yeah.
James:It's different. Whereas or it doesn't look like the Hermit Trail. I mean, every the beauty of the canyon is like every half mile, it changes its perspective.
Brian:You know, and I was just asking you if you had listened to the podcast we did a couple weeks ago with Facebook Joe, with Joe Adlock, and he had talked about doing that smorgasbord of hikes where he would come out, like, instance, would start here at the Tanner Trail, and he would park, and then he would go down a mile, and then he'd come back up. And then he would go down farther to Grandview and go down a mile and come back up. Go out to Hermit, go down a mile, come back up. Hit all the South Rim trails, go down a mile, and then come back up. That's a huge day.
Brian:You're gonna get a full experience of what the different canyon trails are all about. I cannot wait to come back and do that. I think that's one of the best ideas I've ever heard.
James:Yeah. I mean, yeah. Sign me up.
Brian:Yeah. Canyon Palooza. Canyon Palooza. You heard it here. Alright.
Brian:Well, this is an unsuccessful day. It's the most successful unsuccessful day I've ever had.
James:Yeah. Do. But I mean, there's there's never a bad day at the canyon.
Brian:As long as you don't end up in Tom Myers' book, you're right.
James:Yes. As long that's the joke in my house. I didn't make it into the book. I didn't make it into the next edition of the book.
Brian:And of course, we're talking about Tom Tom Myers and Michael Guillory's death in Grand Canyon. You don't wanna end up at the edge. Over the edge. Yeah. Iconic.
Brian:We did not end up in there and lived to hike another day. Who knows what would have happened had we continued up and it started to rain and then we had to get our way off that butte. Who knows? It was probably for the best. I'm glad that I was with someone who takes precautions and is cautious and is smart about it.
Brian:And the human metronome said we'd be out there five hours, and I looked at my watch when we finished a little while ago, and it was four hours, fifty nine minutes and ten seconds. Your wife will be proud.
James:Thank
Brian:you. James, thanks, man. This was a lot of fun today. Thanks for thanks for making this happen because I don't think I would have ventured up here if you hadn't invited me. I'm glad we did it, and can't wait to hike with you again.
James:Yeah. Very good. You you just joined my shortlist of people to
Brian:On the shortlist, baby. Let's go.
James:Alright.
Brian:That was James Tenelssoff. Oh, and about that crack on Escalante Peak you heard us talking about, I have to post a photo of that in our Facebook group. It was seriously in my head the whole week leading up to this hike because everything I'd read talked about it being an easy jump, but psychologically terrifying. I so wanted to try that and maybe even make a t shirt out of it. But next year, count on it.
Brian:We will be back. Alright. Slow down. Stop. Change direction.
Brian:Those instructions can have many applications in life, and I'm sure for coach Arnie, they'll have something to do with Grand Canyon hiking.
Arnie:Hey, everybody. This is coach Arnie with another Grand Canyon tip of the week. And once again, I've gotta thank Brian for allowing me to bring this information to you guys. I really appreciate it. And the bottom line is we've gotta get everybody ready to get back to their adventures in the canyon.
Arnie:So here we go. This one is about slowing down, stopping, and changing directions. And why do I mention those three things? Well, those three things are the major cause of ACL and hamstring injuries and general knee pain because they are involved in what I call the canyon dance, going downhill. Those three things engage so many of the muscles that all of you need to be working on, and we're gonna talk about that here.
Arnie:But going down South Kaibab, North Rim, whatever, Bright Angel, you are constantly slowing down, stopping, and changing directions as you move down the trail. Okay? And just remember, as a reminder, knee pain is not a knee problem. It's a foot or hip issue. Meaning, how you place your foot on the trail will start a chain reaction throughout your whole body.
Arnie:See, weak feet and probably the number one thing that I get phone calls about are foot problems, plantar fasciitis, and other issues, which cause you to put your foot improperly on the trail. Think about it. You're going downhill for potentially seven miles. Okay? And so the those weak feet will cause your hip muscles then to overwork the glute medius, the glutes.
Arnie:And as those things start to fatigue, now you put stress on the hamstrings and you put stress on the IT band and then bang, your knee starts to hurt. So all these things are adding up. And so this train chain reaction is gonna cause muscle and tendon injuries. And like I said, when your knee gets out of alignment, you start to feel serious pain, but it all started potentially with your feet. So bottom line is when your muscles can't hold things together so think about it.
Arnie:When your hip is out of alignment, when those glute muscles get weak and tired, the the bone, you know, your femur that's in your hip, it starts to get out of alignment, and it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your knee, and it hurts. So what do we gotta do? Here's the solution. We've gotta get our feet stronger. We gotta address.
Arnie:Now is the time. You need to start strengthening your feet. You need to adjust your foot problems. You need to figure it out. Okay?
Arnie:And then you gotta strengthen those hip muscles and those hamstring muscles. Those are the muscles that you're using to go downhill. They are the most important muscles. They're gonna make all the other muscles work better. Just do these things, and you will start to learn the dance because you have the muscle strength to do the dance.
Arnie:You can't dance without the muscles. Alright, guys? And your and believe me, your tendons will love you. Okay? So there you go.
Arnie:There's your tip of the week, and I hope that this inspires all of you to get busy, figure out these problems, and get super strong so you can have a great adventure. I love you guys. Talk to you later.
Brian:That's coach Arnie. Arnie Fonseca junior, our resident exercise physiologist and Canyon coach. His contact information is in the show notes. And remember, Arnie's old school. His phone number is in there too.
Brian:Yes, his real phone number. He encourages phone calls. Text if you prefer, but Arnie's got a perfect record for getting back to folks in this community. So if you have questions or wanna work with him, we hope that you will reach out. Hey.
Brian:Don't forget to check out our new hiking packs at hiking.club. Sales directly support this show and everything we do from the Facebook group to the Grand Canyon Shade Tracker and beyond. That's at hiking.club, hikin.club. Alright. That's it for now.
Brian:My name is Brian Special encouraging you as always to go hike the canyon. Take that first step. Embrace the journey. And when you get there, whether it's for time goals or taking your time, just hike your own hike and relish every step in the majestic Grand Canyon. We'll see you next time on the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude show powered by hiking.
Brian:Hiking plus kinship, that's hiking. Together, we roam.