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Yeah. We left our headlamps Bom bom bom. Up up on the rim.
Zeens:You're listening to the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show, the voice of Grand Canyon Hiking. Presented by Hiken. Built to help you hike your best hike. Here's your guide, Brian Special.
Brian:Forget their headlamps. I mean, who would do such a thing? Surely not a couple of experienced Grand Canyon hikers including one, Tom, who might be among the most experienced Grand Canyon hikers on the on the planet. But yes, lessons today in even experienced hikers can make mistakes and mess up and do things that, well, ultimately will hopefully, provide teaching moments. I don't know.
Brian:That's that's what we're going with. It was, one of one of those moments, but, know, in hindsight, I guess I'm glad it happened because it lets me talk about Hey. Year three of the podcast. 250,000 downloads or so later. We are still going.
Brian:Year one, we just kinda cruised right along. Year two, well, things got tough. Obviously, last year, the Trans Canyon Waterline Project disrupted so many things. And then, of course, the Dragon Bravo fire on the North Rim brought everything to a screeching halt suddenly. Rim to rim wasn't an option anymore, and it still isn't.
Brian:And that's what so many people come to us for. So it's left us scrambling a bit, wondering what to do, where we should go, what kind of content y'all want. But we just decided to, hey, get back at it, talk about all things Grand Canyon, and maybe give you some some more options that go outside of rim to rim or the corridor trails. But that's where we are starting year three of the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show. We are still at it, and we are still loving it.
Brian:It feels like a it feels like a mission. It feels like a service, and it feels like something that, well, somebody needs to do. So where are we right now as we start year three? A lot of unknowns obviously remain for all of us. No rim to rim for the foreseeable future as we have mentioned.
Brian:North Kaibab still closed just past Phantom Ranch at the junction for Clear Creek Trail. Why North Kaibab is still closed North Of Phantom? You know, I don't think nobody I don't think anybody knows for sure. It's one of those things where it seems like it could be open at least to maybe Cottonwood for so people could still access Ribbon Falls. We know there's gonna be some work still going on on the Trans Canyon Waterline project on the North Rim, so that would make sense that it's not open past there.
Brian:But why you still can't access the box here in the seasons? There's no threat really of flash floods right now. It's been a dry winter. You know, we don't we don't know. It would be nice to get some some answers to that so we could know the reason why it's it's still closed, and you can't access Ribbon Falls.
Brian:I think if there was a reason that was put out there, we would all say, oh, okay. Well, that makes sense. But with there being no reasons given, well, we're just everything's just kinda open to speculation. Rim to river, also still not an option on the South Rim, at least in the traditional sense. You can't do the South Kaibab Phantom Ranch Bright Angel traditional rim to river route because the Trans Canyon Waterline Project has shut down the river trail that connects the Phantom Ranch area in the bottom of the canyon to Bright Angel.
Brian:So right now, the only option is to go down South Kaibab and then back up South Kaibab, which isn't so bad this time of the year, Or you could go down South Kaibab to the river, then cross go back up to the tip-off on South Kaibab and cut across on the Tonto Trail, and then take Bright Angel out that way. That's another way to do it, or do a Bright Angel round trip, I but wouldn't recommend that because then you'd miss all the incredible views on South Kaibab. So Rim to River, the traditional route, should be available again on July 1 barring any other unforeseen delays with the Trans Canyon Waterline project. They can get the river trail reopened. They're planning to do so by July 1, so that would reopen it.
Brian:But, of course, that would do so in the most difficult time of the year, the most dangerous time of the year when you've got all the heat to deal with. So realistically, we're not looking at being able to do rim to river, the traditional route of rim to river, until sometime next fall if you want to do it safely. Plateau Point is also closed. It's been closed for more than two years now. Hopefully, that will be open sometime later this summer as well, but, again, the same warnings will apply there with the heat that will be present over the summer.
Brian:So another way to do this, another way to get some incredible Grand Canyon hiking done while you've got all these closures and detours on the South Rim and the North Rim closures still being in effect, is that you could venture off corridor and do some of the lesser known, the least popular Grand Canyon Trails accessible from the South Rim, which I have been doing and have been, you know, forced to do and been glad to have been forced to do because it's taken me off the corridor. And, you know, there are some incredible things you can still do out there. Tanner, Newhance, Grand View, and Hermit are all easily accessible off of Highway 64. A few weeks ago, I went out and did what I called the South Rim six pack. I'll do a full podcast on this in the weeks ahead, but that was essentially going down one mile and back on all six South Rim Trails that are easily accessible, starting with Tanner Trail, then to New Hance, then to Grand View, then to Hermit, all the way out there to Hermit, and then back and finishing up on the corridor trails, South Kaibab, and then Bright Angel.
Brian:It went a mile down each and a mile back up. Might not sound like it's too much, but really with all the driving and all the uncertainty on some of the off corridor trails that are a little harder to follow, it becomes a full day real quick. So that's another thing that is a super fun thing to do, very fulfilling, and be able to give you kind of flavor, a taste of of Grand Canyon hiking and what all the trails do have to offer. My next goal off corridor is to do all those trails that I just mentioned, rim to river, which is exactly what I did recently on Tanner. And I did it with the man who has been called Mr.
Brian:Grand Canyon. And yes, even Mr. Grand Canyon forgets headlamps, just like I did. You've heard Doctor. Myers on this show many times, Doctor.
Brian:Tom Myers, and his resume just speaks volumes. One of less than 50 people to have ever hiked the length of the Grand Canyon. He's the co author of the famed Over the Edge, Death in Grand Canyon book among many other books, and he has thirty five plus years as a physician at Grand Canyon Clinic. Tom Myers has made the Grand Canyon his life, and few know the canyon like Tom does. So when we finally made our schedules line up, we jumped at the chance for a January rim to river via the Tanner Trail.
Brian:This is also a rim to river route that I think with a little bit of planning and research, any of you listening could do as well. It was an unforgettable day as most days in the canyon are, but the Tanner Trail provided some surprises that I did not know that I was gonna see, especially the scenery. Oh my goodness. So many places out there that, you know, if they were on the corridor trails, they would instantly become iconic must look stop and look spots that you would run across on the trail. Phenomenal experience.
Brian:So a wide ranging conversation on all things Grand Canyon with doctor Tom Myers recorded just after we surfaced at the Tanner Trailhead. This is the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude show powered by Hiking. Alright. Doing something that we've never done on the podcast before, and that is we're doing it as we drive. Tom and I both like efficiency, and what could be more efficient than finishing a sunup to sundown rim to river hike from Tanner all the way to Colorado and back, finishing at sunset.
Brian:It's now almost dark. We're driving you back to Flagstaff, and then I'm gonna continue on to Phoenix. Figured we'd talk about the hike on the way back. How's that sound? Sounds great.
Brian:What did you think of today, man? This was Amazing.
Tom:This was kind of a special day, thought. That was pretty epic. I mean, we had the perfect conditions, and we had the trail to ourselves. Pretty mind blowing for 2026.
Brian:I mean, do when you say to ourselves, I mean, we were on this trail on Tanner from sun up to sundown. We started at 7AM, finished nine hours and fifty four minutes later, and or started about 07:30AM, I guess. Finished nine hours and fifty four minutes later, and more than a mile of vertical feet down and then back up, and about 16 and a half miles. Big day. Put our feet in the Colorado.
Brian:But when you say nobody on the trail, we did not see a single person the entire day. Yeah. We didn't see anybody at
Tom:the river either. I was kind of expecting probably some backpackers, you know, Tanner and Sister Crates place to to back to camp, but no one there, no river trippers either. So we added entire entirely to ourselves. Pretty pretty astonishing to me.
Brian:Tanner is this is the third or fourth time I've been on it now. And it it's a it's an incredible trail. I had not been down it more than two and a half miles down. Went down that far a few months ago when we tried to bag Escalante Peak and failed. I did that with James Tenlisoft, and had not been any further down than that.
Brian:So this is my first time below that that point and getting down, you know, to the red wall and below. And I gotta tell you, man, there are some hidden gems out here if you get yourself off the corridor trails because you saw what my reaction was. Tell them what my reaction was when we got essentially to the top of the red Wall, and the the canyon just opens up all around you. What was what was my reaction? It was crazy.
Brian:Right? It's crazy.
Tom:I I mean, your your jaw hit the red wall, basically. Your jaw dropped. You're like, woah. Just clearly blown away by that the vista and the panorama. It's just spectacular, and you yeah.
Tom:Your reaction was, that was worth a thousand words, and mine was the same. Didn't matter if you see it, you know, one or a 100 times. It just blows you away. Super pretty.
Brian:I mean, that's the the view is basically similar at that point to what you'll find on the rim at Lippen Point, which has quickly become one of my favorite views. Maybe my favorite viewpoint now on the South Rim because there's just something special about that, man. It just you can see for so far to the East and so far to the West, and you can see the river to the East and to the West. It's just a different perspective than it is at any other viewpoint I've seen. Yeah.
Tom:I agree. I've always thought desert view, you know, Lippen areas. Matter of fact, when you pointed out Lippen is your favorite because I've always thought, you know, the desert view, Watchtower area is always my favorite. It just a little bit different, but very similar in it. You get that spectacular that amazing view way out into the distance to the Painted Desert, to the Red Cliff Wilderness, and and then obviously, this you see the river snaking into the distance.
Tom:And then right below us at with Tana Rapid, that big serpentine turn, very few place in the canyon where you have that. And the fact that the out in the distance, the the rim country drops away, so you're looking down on it. That perspective is always, to me, very incredible. Alright. Let's talk
Brian:about the hike because Tanner is Tanner's pretty special, and we knew that we were gonna need spikes today. This is the, what, January. There hasn't been a lot of snow up here. There hasn't been snow in, man, a week or two, I would say. But there was there was a lot of snow at the on the upper reaches of Tanner.
Tom:Yeah. It was nice to have those those crampons and the trekking poles for sure that have been slip and slide without it. I I I had forgotten how steep it is for the first what is it? About a mile and a half?
Brian:Yeah.
Tom:And then you get that nice reprieve, that relatively level, you know, as you blow the soup eye and you're heading toward you're getting down to the top of the red wall. It's a nice break. Coming back, it was a great setup for the last, you know, climb, but I forgot how steep it is at the beginning.
Brian:And then at the end.
Tom:And at the end. Yep.
Brian:Yeah. Those are some slow miles coming back up, especially with the the snowpack. It was pretty much solid snowpack, I would say, for that last mile and a half where you're you're, you know, walking on the snow the entire time. Hard pack, not hard to follow because there had been people before us. But, man, I would hate to be on that, like the first one on it after a fresh snowfall.
Brian:Have you ever had that experience before?
Tom:Not not completely. I I was on the Tanner oh, shoot. When was that? Probably about, let me guess, fifteen, sixteen years ago, and and then we had had about two feet. But somebody had come through before us so I could see a few, you know, some footprints and stuff, but we were post hole in a lot.
Tom:You know, it was easy to get off a route. You're just kinda going down and hoping that you're in still in the drainage, still where the trail is. Eventually, you know, it thinned out. But the one thing I will say about today too, it was warm enough to where it wasn't like a sheet of ice. Yeah.
Tom:So it wasn't like we're skating. You you know, crampons, you hit that flat rock with the the light sheet and you just we didn't have that. Thank God. It was a little softer. So
Brian:It was 40 degrees when
Tom:we started, and it wasn't that fast. Way more forgiving Yeah. That temperature.
Brian:Yeah. And then you get down below the below the snow line. And, you know, the the the only the other major steep part of Tanner is when you're when you're going down the break in the Red Wall. That's that's pretty steep. And when we were going down that, the views out to the, you know, out to the river were amazing at that point.
Brian:But you're going down that knowing you were gonna have to come back up it.
Tom:Yeah. That that Red Wall there is pretty cool. I I I like how it's sort of a it's a double stack, you know, and you work your way through. And, fortunately, it it it does go, I thought, pretty quickly. The steepness is not the worst, you know, it can be, but it's still pretty steep.
Tom:And you get some reprieve every now and then with a little bit of a flat. So I actually I like that Red Wall quite a bit. Yeah. You know?
Brian:Some are far worse. Yeah. Seeing the breaks in the red Wall are are pretty cool. And then you'd you, of course, wrote a book on Harvey Butcher, and we talked about him a lot today, the probably the most legendary of all Grand Canyon hikers, the legend himself. And he was the master of finding the the breaks in the red wall all throughout the canyon.
Tom:Right? Oh, yeah. That was his his thing, you know, kinda come up from Flagstaff out from his teaching job at NAU teaching mathematics. He come up, and his goal was just to get rim to river roots that didn't require ropes, and he knew the big obstacle was the Red Wall. And he found a 116 over forty two years of exploring it.
Tom:And why why was the red why
Brian:is the Red Wall? Why was that the big obstacle? It's the thickest. You know, its
Tom:average is probably about 500 feet thick, 600 feet thick. Just as essentially sheer cliff. Exactly. Because it's limestone. It's so dense.
Tom:It doesn't erode like, say, Coconino sandstone or some of the other, you know, tapetes or esplanade sandstone. So you don't get as many breaks through it. They're they're fewer and far between. And and I know that when he was going down, like like what we did, we're going down, but we're looking at the Red Wall on the opposite side of the canyon. It's like, oh, is there any break over there?
Tom:Well, clearly, there wasn't. You know, we were where the fault is, and there's a break. But I know that Harvey did that. Every time he went in, he'd look around, and he'd scan for potential breaks through the red wall, and then obviously the other layers too to see if there's a potential rim to river route. That was for sure his thing.
Tom:And how many did he find? A 116. 100 and sit throughout the canyon. Yeah. All the exploration he did, you know, over a thousand days.
Tom:Let's see. What do you have? 12,000 miles. I forget exactly how many days, but a lot. Over a thousand.
Tom:And mostly, roof finding. You know? He just that's what his thing was, trying to find roots where there were no trail.
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Brian:I don't wanna digress off Tanner, but when you start talking about Harvey Butcher, you wrote the book on Harvey Butcher Grand Obsession. Perfect name. Right? What kind of a what kind of a guy was he? I mean, and he this is a this is a guy for maybe describe him for someone who doesn't know him.
Brian:What's the Reader's Digest version of who Harvey Butcher was?
Tom:Well, yeah, was the book I co wrote with Elias Butler, and, you know, got to know him. And he was I would if I had to put give him one word, kind of accent I would say eccentric. He was a genius. He taught he had a PhD in mathematics, and he taught it a little bit somewhere on the spectrum, I think. Not the best with social skills and, you know, very mostly a serious person.
Tom:He would chuckle every now and then. He was very friendly and certainly incredibly kind with any information or knowledge he had about hiking in the Grand Canyon chair with anybody who wanted it from him. So I really respected and admired Harvey for that because it wasn't like he would have all this information, just hoard it and keep to himself. He he tried to share it, and he and he did. He rode Grand Canyon tracks one, two, and three.
Tom:And, yeah, I really I really liked him. I wish wish he had he was the age of my grandfather, so we didn't have a lot to talk about other than the canyon hiking. Couldn't relate to him on any other things, but overall, a really nice guy and certainly a genius when it came to Grand Canyon route finding and hiking.
Brian:You know how how many miles he ended up doing in the canyon?
Tom:About 12,000. 12,000. Yeah. And they were difficult miles.
Brian:Yeah. You know, if you
Tom:did it all in the BA or the Kaibab or, you know, some of the name trails, most of his were like, you know, these are route finding miles. This is like, you know, you're in granny gear, as opposed to the Autobahn of the the Kaibab or BA. You know? He's just rock crawling essentially on his feet, you know, and with his hands at times. So really hard miles.
Tom:You know? Not all miles are quit, created equal. We know that in Grand Canyon for sure. Yeah. I've learned that
Brian:more and more as I've gone off corridor. I would say new hands, especially. Oh, yeah. All miles are not created equal, but that's the same too too with Tanner. Yep.
Brian:And a lot of the other off corridor trails, and, of course, going off trail, period. If you as you have done so much, walking the entire length of the Grand Canyon, hello, with your son, Wes. The Grandest Trek, everybody, that's Tom's latest book. We've talked about it before. We did a podcast with him and with Wes recently as well.
Brian:So go back and check that out if you wanna learn more about The Grandest Trek. All proceeds, I have to add it add that. Go to the Grand Canyon Conservancy because, again, that's the kind of guy the guy I'm riding back to Flagstaff with right now is. That's the kind of guy Tom Myers And and one other thing on the Harvey Butcher thing, you pointed out to me today as we were headed down, the butte that was named after him. That's a pretty cool story.
Tom:It is. Eli Butler and I well, actually, there were several people that were involved with, trying to get a feature, a geologic feature in Grand Canyon named after Harvey when he passed away. He died in 2002. It takes quite a bit of work to do that, and they gotta be dead at least five years, I believe it is. Anyway, this one is off the North Rim.
Tom:It's by Siegfried Peyer, Cape Final area. Pretty hard to reach. We thought it was a good choice just because it was a very humble looking beaut, but really rugged looking. Not not huge, and but it's and it's really remote. It's really hard to get to.
Tom:So that's perfect. That's Harvey. That's the essence of the man. Like, know
Brian:can get to it, but it's hard to get there.
Tom:Hard to get to it. Yeah. It's not really big. He wasn't a big man. He was about five foot seven, a hundred and thirty pounds.
Tom:And but nerves of steel, you know, muscle and tendon tendons that are he was he was one of a guy hiked with him. Robert Packard said he was built out of piano wire, you know, and he was. He was just so that that was neat that Harvey does have that feature named after him, and Eli and I got to hike out there shortly after it was named and bring Harvey's ashes and and climb the thing and leave a little, oh, ammo can with a little some information about who Harvey was just so anybody who climbs it could, you know, read about him. You knew him. You think he'd like that?
Tom:Yes. He's he was kinda timid and and pretty shy. I'd he don't he didn't like a lot of attention. I think he would like it, but he'd almost be embarrassed by it. But certainly was worthy of it, so I would try to convince him.
Tom:It's like, Harvey, you're worthy of this. So don't take it as an offense. And I don't think he would've. I think he would've actually been actually been flattered.
Brian:It's a beautiful story, Tom. Re I mean, it really truly is. I mean, everything the thought that went into that to not just name any feature, but to really relate it to who the man was. I mean, that is that's pretty special stuff. Thank you for sharing that story with us and with with me today, and I'm glad that I got to see where
Tom:Butcher Butte. Is that what it's called? Yep. Butcher Butte. Mhmm.
Brian:Perfection. Simple. Just like the the man was. Yep. So we continued on down today.
Brian:The the goal was to get to Tanner Rapid, and we got there eight and a half miles about is what I had. I think 8.6 or something like that. You know? It may vary to to what your mileage is or what NPS says, but that's what what I had, and over 5,000 feet. And I thought that part was was really interesting.
Brian:I digress a little bit here. When you stand at the rim at Lippen Point, you know, at Tanner Trailhead essentially, and you're looking out over the canyon, you always talk about the grand deception and how things you people can get themselves in trouble because everything looks closer than it actually is. I think at Lippen Point, for whatever reason, the canyon doesn't look as deep as it does when you're in Grand Canyon Village or you're looking down from Bright Angel Trailhead or South Kaibab. It doesn't look as deep. I think it's because it's so expansive, and it's right in front of you.
Brian:So I wondered, I'm like, oh, the canyon is not as deep there. It's shallow, so I don't think it's South Qaibab's 4,800 feet to the river. Bright Angel's 4,400 feet to the river. It doesn't look like it's that deep. But when we got to the river today, it was 5,300 vertical feet, and that blew me away.
Tom:Yeah. I know. And you said that that blew me away as well. I I've never I've always thought it was a little bit, you know, like shallower.
Brian:Yeah. That's what it looks like.
Tom:So, yeah. It's it's stunning. Shocking. The the I think one of and it for sure at Lippen or Desert View, because the rivers looks fairly wide there, it looks close. It's always deceived me that way too.
Tom:Even we're halfway down, it's like, god. You know, it seems like the river we're I mean, we're it still seems really close, but it seems like we're not that any closer.
Brian:Not even down the Red
Tom:Wall yet. Yeah. I know. Was just it was very deceptive. I that's that's for sure grand deception fits the Tanner Trail.
Tom:Yeah. But super interesting. One thing I will say about Tanner too, I I I don't know how to if you were gonna have mentioned something else, but I think it's a user friendly trail. I I really like the fact that once you get down the steep part at the beginning and you got that more of a gradual traverse, you know, as you get toward the top of the red wall over there, you get through that, then you're on that shale, and it opens up. And it's far less intimidating some of the, like you said, the hands Yeah.
Tom:Or some that are really steep, really rocky. You're you're in side can or, you know, side drainage. You don't have this wide open, just huge panorama in front of you. So over there, it just seems a little more friendly to me, if if that's the word for it. I don't know.
Tom:What did you think?
Brian:Yeah. I think that the only place where and I I I wanna try to relate this to folks who may consider doing Tanner as opposed to South Kaibab, North well, you can't do North Kaibab, but South Kaibab, Bright Angel, the more traditional hikes. I feel like Tanner is a really good one to to take on as your first maybe off corridor hike because you're right. The trail's not overly difficult to lose once you get down the first mile or so. That's the only I feel like the only place that you can you can lose it a little bit at the at the top maybe, but you're not gonna lose it for long because there's not a lot of places to go.
Brian:Right? Right. And then the only other place that I thought that you could potentially lose it is when you're in the the drainage, the creek bed Yeah. Down at the bottom where there you have to kinda look for some cairns to Right. I think there are some cairns that that go off to the west to Beamer.
Brian:Right. And then you gotta just make sure you take the the right trail. But that's the only place, and that didn't that wasn't overly difficult. No. But you're right.
Brian:It's it's fairly gentle the rest of the way, and it's gonna be very difficult to to lose.
Tom:Yeah. And you eat that extra with a couple miles versus the Kaibab South Kaibab. Right? Yeah.
Brian:Something like that? Yeah. South Kaibab is about six and a half to the river. So
Tom:Yeah. So it just sort of has, like, gradual, and you're on that sloping, you know, on that slopy shale, which is so easy on the the joints. Yeah. It's just not near as hard.
Brian:I will say that the one thing that I think I'll remember the most is looking up all of a sudden and seeing the river. Like, just like a 100 yards away, you suddenly look up, you're going down this this drainage through this creek Mhmm. Bed that you wouldn't wanna be in in a flash flood, but you see the the today, the river is running green Yeah. And you could just see the water at at the head of Tanner Rapid, and that water was just pumping. And then we went off to the left and went up a little bit and looked down on the river.
Brian:Yeah. And then went down to the river and dipped our feet and had lunch and looked at Tanner Rapid. And I know you are a river junkie. Always a good experience to be sitting at the on the banks of
Tom:the Colorado, isn't it? No. I I love it. I've always kinda likened you know, when the river comes when you when you hear the first murmur and I know we heard that probably what you know, We're pretty high up. We were pretty high up.
Tom:I don't know if it's top of Red Wall. But anyway, you hear that. It's it's always a sort of a refreshing and Kind of exciting because you
Brian:know you're going down there.
Tom:Well, it's really exciting. It's also reassuring to you. It's like, hey. The the river's I can hear it now. So it helps to ease any any nerves and stuff.
Tom:It helps the nerves. But then when you finally get down into the drainage and you you see the river for the first time, it's kinda like the the rock star entering the stage
Brian:Yeah.
Tom:At this concert you've been waiting for. You know, maybe you got there early or you've been waiting there for hours, and finally, you know, the main act, the the rock star enters, and it's a guaranteed thrill every time. For me, it is. When I see the river, it's like, oh, yeah. And to get down there and hang out and just listen to the the burbles or listen to the roar of the rapid like Tanner today, I just love it, especially to sit there and eat your lunch and just enjoy it.
Tom:It's so pretty. And like you commented on this the slick of the tongue, it's just so so graceful, so elegant. And then the maelstrom down below of the white water, that juxtaposition is fascinating. Yeah.
Brian:I think I said there was something I was like, there's something sexy about that fast moving water in the middle that is just like glass before it turns into the white water. It's just Yep. Man, it's incredible. And and when you're sitting down there on the banks of of the Colorado at Tana Rapid, I mean, you're talking three feet in front of you. That water is just moving.
Tom:Yeah.
Brian:So, I mean, you're just right in the right in
Tom:the the throes of it. You are. You know? So and, you know, obviously, you put your feet in there, but we didn't do anything stupid, like try to walk in there, and it was pretty cold. But even on a hot day, you don't wanna get in that current because it's very deceptive because it does move really quickly.
Tom:As soon as it starts funneling into the rapid, it's like, it it really accelerates fast. And so you gotta be careful when you're around. It's like, enjoy it, but, you know, don't push your luck swimming in it It's at the top of a rapid, especially.
Brian:What I was I meant to ask you when we were down there Yeah. Being, of course, that that you've co wrote Death in Grand Canyon, Over the Edge, Over the Edge, Death in Grand Canyon with Michael Guillory. And it was this is this is crazy. Right? It was essentially in that area down there where the idea for Death in Grand Canyon was born.
Brian:Will you
Tom:tell us that story? Yeah. Well, I'll I'll try to condense it down. Yeah. I that's where the birth of death.
Tom:That's I love it. That's where it was birthed, death in the Grand Canyon.
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Tom:I was on a solo hike, a day hike. I was feeling I was young. I was a lot younger than I am now, thirty years younger almost. And I had a day off from the clinic, and I wanted to go hike all the way to Little Colorado and back down Tanner, over to across the Beamer over the LCR and back probably about 35 miles.
Brian:Which would have been another eight miles from where we were. Right?
Tom:And then
Brian:eight miles back. Yes. That's a
Tom:day hike. Holy mackerel. Holy mackerel. And I I played a prank on some private boaters. I'm not gonna go into all the detail there, but was quite funny, I thought.
Tom:I was by myself, and they they didn't think so. But, anyway, it did stall it did stall my hike for quite a bit. But it just so happened that delay allowed some boats, some river trip from Oars, a commercial river trip, to actually come into view and float down about the same time I got off top of the Tapeats Cliffs, the the the Tapeats band, and and could jog back down to the river and meet them. The timing was perfect because of that delay. And you
Brian:were trying to hitch a ride.
Tom:I wanted to hitch a ride bad because I was really tired. I was pretty beat. I was on my way back. I'm like, crap. I got you know, I still have, you know, 15 miles or whatever to do at that point.
Tom:Anyhow, I happened to know know I knew the trip that came out. It was Oars, and I had done some baggage boats and rowing some baggage boats for them. And I knew the lead boatman. That was Michael. He was in the front boat.
Tom:I I had done a trip or two with Michael. And so I called him over to the side of the where I was hiding in the tamarisk and stuff. And, anyway, I was just teasing him that he was late to pick me up. But he I hopped in his boat, and he gave me a ride back to Tanner. But during that boat ride, we discussed what riding stuff either each of us was doing.
Tom:And he finished up a book, and I was doing this monograph called Faithful Journey. It was about how dangerous dangerous it is to run the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, and then we sort of brainstormed about collaborating on a book about my monograph was about whitewater injury and death. And Michael said, hey. Let's do something together on the whole canyon on injury and death. And, you know, I thought it was pretty daunting because I knew how hard the river was.
Tom:But eventually, I thought, yeah, you could probably do it. I did it on the river. We could probably together, he and I could do this. So so that's how that death in the Grand Canyon came to be. That moment on the river, just a little bit upstream from where we were, where Michael and I concocted the idea, and and then it was a couple years later that we had a book in print.
Tom:Sometimes you just gotta find that go button and push it. Yeah. I know. It was it was serendipity, and, yeah, looking back, it's like, really glad we did.
Brian:Yeah. I mean, how many books have
Tom:you guys sold now? Shoot. In the hundreds of thousands. Probably about 420,000.
Brian:Oh, man. That's amazing. Congratulations.
Tom:No. Thanks.
Brian:You guys deserve it. I mean, that book is legendary.
Tom:Well, thanks. I didn't plan that, honest to God. No. It was never my wildest imagine you know, wildest imagination or dreams. I never would have thought of that, and I didn't.
Brian:Yeah. You're doing more for
Tom:the for the for the project, for the work, for the you know, to save a life. I mean, honest to God, it sounds maybe cliche or something, but, really, that was a big goal of the monograph for sure. It's like, hey. What on the river, what can we learn about how people get hurt and die if they do a trip in the Grand Canyon? What can we do to mitigate the risk?
Tom:That's that was the whole point of that. Yeah. And a lot of the stories in the Over the Edge, exactly the same premise. Yeah.
Brian:That's how that's that's how that book reads. I've talked about this many times before. And now this is the third book we're promoting for Doctor. Tom Myers here on the on the podcast, but thank you. I know.
Brian:And it's It's all my doing. You would never ever promote something because that's just not who you are.
Tom:Well, you know I'm not gonna do it for you. Becky, my wife, yeah, I gotta sell some of these books, but just to recoup costs, you know, it's like, dumped a bunch of dough in it. But, you know, that that whole goal, like you mentioned early on, is if it doesn't make anything overall, it's all going to Grand Canyon Conservancy. And our we've already given them quite a bit a chunk of money for it, so it's pretty cool. You know, I'm I'm pretty proud of that.
Tom:And that book is Death in Grand Canyon. Over the Edge Death in Grand Canyon is it's a survival guide. And I do feel like and I've said this from day one, from the first the first time I read it, first time we talked about it. I feel like it should be required reading for anyone who is going below the
Brian:rim because these stories, I think there's a misnomer out there among some people that are like, oh, this is a depressing book. It's just about people who die, and who wants to read about that? Well, of all, lot of people wanna read about that if that's what it was about. But the reality is when you start reading these stories, and the way you guys did it is that it's almost like a narrative. It's a story.
Brian:It's not just facts and figures. Right? There are those, but these are individual stories that you guys have humanized and make you make you make us, you know, care about these characters, who these real life people, and what they went through. And sometimes in the book, they die, and sometimes in the book, they don't. You know?
Brian:You never know really what's gonna happen the way you guys did this book. But the overarching thing theme is that it is a survival guide, especially the long chapter on heat related deaths in the Grand Canyon. I think if if you don't read anything else, that's the most preventable thing that can get you in trouble in the canyon. And and I know you're you're proud about of of that with all the the heat related injuries and deaths that you've dealt with at Grand Canyon Clinic. Yeah.
Brian:Heat became a focus for me, trying
Tom:to wrap my mind around it and then use any information or understanding or knowledge that I glean from things I would read and and also, you know, latest and greatest in what we know from science and medicine about preventing and treating heat illness. You know? And then have that focus and use it to educate our visitor are super important. And, Brian, one of the things just going back to, say, the birth of death when I talked to Michael about doing it because I just you know, I knew it'd be a ton of work, and it's like, well Oh my god. You know, do we do this?
Tom:And will it make any will it sell? Well, death does sell. We know that. And if you can get somebody's attention and and say, tell a story about some tragedy. Maybe maybe this person will live.
Tom:And if you don't give it away right up front, you can hold somebody's interest. And if they do die, but you hold their interest interest because there's a series of decisions made that led to the fatal outcome. And then at the end, slip in the life saving lessons. Well, here's what could have been done different. But, anyway, talking to Michael and our strategizing about how we might formulate the book, one of the things that did stick out in my mind was the death of Philip Grimm in 1996 who let's say he was only 10 years old, and he died of heat stroke down the South Kaibab.
Tom:And they flew him out to me at the Grand Canyon Clinic. They had run a a full code on him, because he went he went, unresponsive. He was pulseless, and he was, needed advanced life support measures to try to get him back. And even though his temp core temperature was back to normal, he he didn't he wasn't resuscitate we couldn't resuscitate him. And to pronounce him dead, that was one one of the saddest moments in my whole medical career.
Tom:And I thought, no no child should die like this for sure. And and his mother called me a year later and said, you know, it just destroyed my life. It's it's just ruined my entire world. Losing Philip was the has been so horrible, and it's destroyed my family. You know?
Tom:None of us talk to each other. You know? And, unfortunately, he Philip was down there with his his great aunt and his great uncle and his grandmother, and his mom wasn't there. But so that was a big impetus his death was a big impetus for death in
Brian:the canyon. Yeah. I know you've talked about that often, and we've had that story. We've done full episodes on that on the on the podcast. An incredible story.
Brian:Definitely go back and listen to that one. We did one on Margaret Bradley, the Boston marathoner who tragically passed away in the canyon. So a lot of lessons to be learned from what happened to to them, and I'm glad that they're that you talk about that in the book. And I'm glad that the people can, you know, relate to those stories and hopefully not make the the same mistakes. So there's something else I wanted to talk to you about that I didn't tell you that we were gonna talk about.
Brian:But, you know, I know a couple of weeks ago, you lost your mom who was in her nineties and lived near you in Flagstaff and is the one who introduced you to the to the Grand Canyon. I'm just curious if you wanted to speak on that a little bit.
Tom:Oh, well, thank you. I I owe so much to my mom. I think there's besides her introducing us to the canyon and and taking it, that was our big vacation going to the South Rim. It was it was close. It was, like, cheap, and it was iconic, from Fleisstaff 80 miles away.
Tom:With a lot
Brian:of kids in tow. Right?
Tom:Yes. Nine of us. Wow. So and we were a welfare family. And but the thing about my mother that I really, really appreciated and admired about her was her resolve for anything she wanted to do.
Tom:I mean, she would never say never. I've always thought my mom she was almost 93, but she'd be one of the last people alive in Auschwitz, and, I would never want her in that situation. However, my mom just had an incredible will and resolve and toughness. Never, you know, never give up. Winston Churchill, fight.
Tom:Fight. Fight. You know? Work hard. You know?
Tom:You can do a lot of things if you put your mind to it and you never give up. And that's what I'll always remember best about my mom was her resolve and encouraging me to, you know, challenge myself. And and the biggest challenge at that time, a young lie my young life was, like, you know, running down, like, Kaibab, for example. But yeah. Mean, you just
Brian:said you you grew up in a in a welfare family.
Tom:Yeah.
Brian:And there were you said nine of you. Yep. You had every possible reason and excuse to not end up becoming a doctor. And then when you became a doctor, to have children who followed in your footsteps. So your mom, really, by encouraging you to do that, when you the odds were against you, Tom.
Brian:I mean, it's changed your entire family tree.
Tom:It has. You know, you you flatter me, but it has. You know, to to break the poverty cycle was was pretty cool. It's been I mean, it's been really cool. And my mother would say, go to school, work hard, don't give up, you know, just, you know, work hard and stuff.
Tom:And I I took it to heart. Like, I was a I was a mama's boy and, my mom pleaser. And, so that really played a role in all that. I I didn't wanna disappoint her. I just I really loved and respected her.
Tom:So but just that, you know, hurt those mantras, Go to school. Work hard. Challenge yourself. Don't settle for less than your best. You know?
Tom:Try to live my life by that. And my kids try to teach them the same thing. It's like, look. You know? Anything worth having, it's not gonna, usually, it's not gonna just fall in your lap.
Tom:You gotta work for it. You gotta earn it. You know? It's like, if it was if it was easy to get everybody have it, then we probably wouldn't be worth anything. So, yeah, I'm really proud of my kids kinda sort of following in the the the footsteps and also, you know, using my mom's words to help encourage them.
Tom:And you said she was tough and from a different generation. She was.
Brian:A single mom. Yeah. All that stuff, raising all these kids. But could you ever tell? And the answer might
Tom:be no. But could you ever tell that that she was proud how you how you ended up? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. She was very proud of that.
Tom:I think this sounds kinda bad, but a a lot of her hopes for success with her kids hinged on me to to degree. And that's not to discount my my siblings. They're all really hard workers, mostly blue collar, you know, just salt of the earth. And but I know that she really, really wanted, you know, somebody to become a doctor of my seven brothers, and and she didn't really the girls, you know, she would talk about Chris for them, but and then wanted to be a a priest. I want somebody to be a banker or somebody to be a lawyer.
Tom:But I think we didn't wanna disappoint her. And, you know, I felt like a lot of pressure to a degree to to to kinda help my mom with this sort of hope that, you know, one of her kids would maybe get an advanced academic degree like a doctor. And so I I I I think she felt it maybe helped her and the family status, you know, all of us to, you know, you know, we're not trailer trash for lack of a better term. It's like, I I hated looks, you know, if you have food stamps and people would flash you a trailer trash look like, oh, you know, you're just from a crappy family. That's why you're on those things.
Tom:It's like, no. There's a lot of reasons for this. And so to get past that meant an awful lot to me, and I know it meant a lot to her. And when I got in, I'll never forget the day, we both cried about it. We we're together together, and she hugged me, and we cried because it was a hard road to just get in.
Tom:That's for me, that was the hardest part, just getting in. So what was her name? Sharon. Sharon Myers.
Brian:Yeah. She did good. She did good.
Tom:She did. And thank you for thanking of her, and I really appreciate that. And I love you, mom. And, yeah. She would be really proud of this.
Tom:Big part of your story, Tom. Big part
Brian:of your story. Okay. Back to Tanner. We eventually had to get ourselves out of there. And this is this is something that we've got to own.
Brian:Alright? As what are supposed to be experienced Grand Canyon hikers, especially you, by the way. I'm nothing compared to you. False. But we both made this mistake, Tom.
Brian:Yeah. We did. So we get to the river. It was just before we got to
Tom:the river when we both realized that Yeah. We left our headlamps Bom bom bom. Up on the rim. Think I left mine in my house. Yours was in your car.
Brian:Yep. Two of them two of them in the
Tom:car, charging. Yeah. I know. And we both I did that big swallow, like, gulp. Uh-oh.
Brian:Uh-oh. That changed the calculus immediately. It did.
Tom:It's like, how'd that happen? How in the world did
Brian:that happen?
Tom:It does.
Brian:You know? It don't. These and that's that's a there's a lesson there.
Tom:Well
Brian:Because these things do happen no matter how experienced you are or think you are. You can leave something out. You can make a mistake. We did not have a written checklist. We did not check with each other.
Brian:No. Both things that we should have done because, I mean, there's probably I don't know if there's anything more important than having a headlamp. Filter, water, food, you know, first aid, but I'm
Tom:a sort of hairdo fit
Coach Arnie:in there.
Tom:I gotta have the headlamp. Gotta have a headlamp.
Brian:Okay. Especially in January when the days are short. Right. And we didn't know how long it
Tom:was gonna take us. You know, you Becky calls me the absent minded professor, you know, because she does because I forget a lot of stuff. I I just I know. I'm embarrassed to say that, but my kids love to tease me about that. It's like, ah, shoot.
Brian:Add me to the list, baby.
Tom:Yeah. One time I went pack wrapping west, and I forgot the pack raft. I'm like, you you couldn't believe it. I like, dad, you what? And I'm like, I got everything but the raft.
Tom:I'm I'm it was right there. It was right there, son.
Brian:That changes things.
Tom:Yeah. So, anyway, that's kinda like, you know, it happened, but I had it there. I knew it. But, you know, you're I'm gonna just say your idea to have the laminated checklist for essentials.
Brian:Yeah. That's what came out of this.
Tom:Yeah. I think that's a great idea. I wish I woulda had that because I have a a whole list, and it's on a file on my computer, and I print it print it off for a big backpack trip or for a river trip. I didn't do it for a day hike. But if you have one even for like, even say the backpack, but here's the essentials you need whether you're doing a day hike or Yeah.
Tom:An extended, you know, backpacking trip, a river trip. You know, it's like, well, what do you need for Right. You know, just for a The basics. Yeah. For it to maybe sustain your life
Brian:Yeah.
Tom:For self rescue. Yeah. I mean, I've got
Brian:it on my phone. Right? We've got it on our phone. You've got it on your computer, but you need it right in front of you.
Tom:I think so. Think of
Brian:it I'm sure plenty of people have laminated checklists. Yeah. But maybe we just need to create one I we can give away or Yeah. Are you hooked up? People to download because I I need it.
Brian:And you need to, like, put it on your pack or in the pocket It of your needs to become a ritual that you go through that, and if you're with someone, that you go through it together because, I mean, let's be honest here. I mean, for we we had our phones. We could've used our phones for light if we needed to. Right. But not having a headlamp on a trail that is snow packed and hard to follow, you know, when we would be coming up potentially in the
Tom:dark, not necessarily a good idea. No. I I I've I've been on trails, not in the snow, without a headlamp where I was my my batteries were dead and stuff, and it can be horrible, especially Yeah. You know, tonight, it's not very much of a moon. Right?
Tom:No. No. So that had been really and then you gotta think about bivouacking, which could be really bad, especially you don't have like a space blanket or something to keep warm. But I I think the laminated list and you maybe you hook it on, clip it onto your pack. Yeah.
Tom:You got it right there. It's like, alright. Let me go down this. I'm gonna check right now. Last you know, pull everything out.
Tom:Make sure to put everything in. Make sure it's on the off the list is now in the pack. And, I mean, I love that idea. I think that's something I need. I just I need lists.
Brian:Yeah. Most of us do. Or I
Tom:need my Becky. I need Becky. You know? I mean, she's always make sure nothing is missing. Yeah.
Brian:What's her reaction gonna be when you
Tom:tell her this? She'll roll her eyes. She'll be like, really? I mean, really, No, seriously. Yeah.
Tom:She'll be like, that did surprise me.
Brian:So that did change our calculus, though. I mean It did. When we were at the river, it's like, alright. We gotta get we gotta get out of here, because you're looking at the watch. And honestly, when we finished, we probably had twenty minutes, thirty minutes of dusk that that we still had to play with.
Brian:Yeah. But there was not a lot, man. We had to we had to get moving. I had to stop filming so much and taking so many pictures, and that nat by the way, that naturally stops on the way out anyway because things are no longer as beautiful, no longer as amazing, no longer as cool. You just wanna get the hell out of there.
Brian:We'll just use that as our alibi.
Tom:So if you hadn't done any of that, then then we would have been to the river an hour earlier. We would have been out an hour earlier. So we'll just blame it on that, Brian.
Brian:Blame it on that. Blame it on that. And and getting out of there, by the way. Getting out of getting out of that that trail. Again, coming up through the Red wall, very, very steep.
Brian:Have gotta gain 5,300 feet on the way back out over those eight, eight and a half miles or so, and that last mile and a half is just relentless, isn't it?
Tom:Yeah. That's the worst part. I overall, I I think the Tanner is pretty forgiving, you know, because when you come up out of the river, get that nice, easy, gradual slope. Mhmm. You're on that shale, which is actually really nice on the feet.
Tom:It's not like it's really rocky and, you know, really, impact impacting your feet, pounding there. So it's nice and gradual. Then when you get to Redwall, yeah, that's pretty hard to get on top of that, and then you're buzzing over to the to the base of the sup eye level or hermit. And then it's that ascent is really hard. It is.
Tom:But overall, it's like, god. It's a it's a great trail. I love it. I've always loved the Tanner, though.
Brian:It's awesome.
Tom:Yeah. It was nice to be on it again.
Brian:Yeah. I love it. It was an it was an incredible day. Yeah. Could not have enjoyed it more.
Brian:One thing that that did happen at the end is, you know, I know I'm I try not to ask you for medical advice or medical opinions or anything like that. Yeah. But I got to the point at the end when I put my spikes on, and I've been having just extraordinarily, like, excruciating foot pain and toe pain over the course of the last year and ball of foot, and I just cannot get rid of it. And so I asked you what to do, and you told
Tom:me. I have the same thing, and I can't get rid of it.
Brian:Not what I wanted to hear.
Tom:I know. I it kicked in on a hiked to Clear Creek in Chiava Falls probably about five, six years ago, and I just stepped you know, I'd done another big hike right before that, but I stepped in a rock just right. And it was between the the balls of this second and third toe. And it's metatarsalgia. It's an inflammatory process there.
Tom:I'm pretty sure that's what mine is. I've already seen a specialist, and I've tried a bunch of stuff, and it hasn't worked. Especially if you keep hiking. Even if you don't, it can mine hasn't gone away. Yeah.
Tom:It just really calms down and then almost gone, and then it'll flare back up. So I'm sure it's gonna be talking to me tonight. Yeah. I was I was looking like for yours.
Brian:I would yeah. I was looking for
Tom:The cure?
Brian:I was looking for something, man. Was looking for some hope, and you just dashed it right there. So I guess I'm just gonna
Tom:Sorry to disappoint you. Continue to quack.
Brian:It's it's worth it to hike the canyon,
Tom:I suppose. I think so. Yeah.
Brian:This was, this was an amazing day, Tom. So grateful that that we were able to to do it. Yeah. I know there's gonna be more. Yep.
Brian:And, I just wanna say, as always, man, thank you so much.
Tom:It's a
Brian:it's an honor to know you and an honor to hike with you. And, so excited that we'll be able to to do it again someday, bad feet and all.
Tom:Well, the feelings are mutual. I'm just glad we made it happen. We've been talking about it for a couple years and, you know, kick that can too far down the road. So I'm I'm really glad that we could make it happen now and the weather cooperated. It was perfect.
Tom:It was a great day.
Brian:That was doctor Tom Myers, a k a mister Grand Canyon. By the way, we discovered one other tidbit about each other on this hike that I don't think either of us will ever forget. We know someone who has the same birthday, and that's Tom and me. January 18, we are exactly ten years apart. I'm ten years older.
Brian:No. I'm just kidding. You're ten years older than me. You'll be 63, on Sunday. Yeah.
Brian:I'll be 53.
Tom:I love it. You know, Yeah. I don't know. What what, what do the astrologers say about that? I
Brian:don't know.
Tom:I know there's some significance in it other than I think it's really cool, but hey, maybe maybe it was meant to be. You know, the stars align that you and I would share the same. And then I you'd like you said, it's nice to have that even number ten years apart. Yeah. Yeah.
Tom:We didn't do that that Navajo taco and the beer at Cameron, which we need to do that. One of our birthdays. Okay? I'm gonna take you there for one of those because you're gonna love it.
Brian:Maybe birthday hike should be a tradition, man.
Tom:Yeah. Navajo taco and a beer, though, over there at Cameron Trading Post. I love them. They're the best.
Brian:We'll have to do it. Yeah. Honored to share a birthday with you, my friend.
Tom:Titto.
Brian:Oh, I just love it. Okay. So for the numbers. Now I usually rail on personal GPS devices, but I have found the Garmin Epix Pro to be pretty spot on in comparison to NPS numbers. So I started going with what it tells me, but still, take it all with a grain of salt.
Brian:Now NPS has this hike at 9.5 miles to the river. I only got eight point three and sixteen and a half overall, so that is a pretty big discrepancy. But NPS has the elevation loss to the river at 4,700 feet, and I measured 4,731. But total elevation loss and gain when you take into account the ups on the downs and the downs on the ups was 5,850 vertical feet. So more than a thousand feet more elevation gain on the way out than South Kaibab has for comparison's sake, which is pretty significant.
Brian:Difficulty wise, at least on the same level, I would say, as a South Kaibab to Phantom to Bright Angel rim to river. Tanner is steeper in spots than South Kaibab is, especially the last mile to the rim. But overall, I would say the effort is very similar. So if you've trained for a traditional rim to river, I would say you would fare just fine on Tanner. And boy, is it memorable.
Brian:In terms of time of year, this one definitely falls into the never category for a day hike during the warmer months of the year. It's very, very exposed, especially the bottom half, and there is no water availability whatsoever between the rim and the river. So you will need to pack all the water you need for going both directions or filter the river water, which can be somewhat of a challenge when the river is running brown and full of sediment, but it is doable. The Tanner Trailhead is located not far inside the east entrance of the park at Lippen Point, which is incredible in its own right. I've been talking about this a lot lately.
Brian:If you are looking for the the best and the coolest Grand Canyon overlook, Lippen Point right there near the top, again, just inside the east entrance. So it's a bit of a drive away from Grand Canyon Village, but it's worth it. The canyon just presents itself to you in different ways out there on the East Sides the East Side than it does anywhere else. So the Tanner Trail, Lippen Point, 10 out of 10. Highly recommend.
Brian:Put them on your list. Alright. Let's hear from coach Arnie for the first time this year. Now if you don't know, Arnie Foncica Junior is our resident exercise physiologist and canyon coach who has helped many fulfill their dreams below the rim. He's also an accomplished canyon hiker who not too long ago became the only known person over the age of 65 to do a quadruple crossing of the canyon.
Brian:That's a rim to rim to rim to rim to rim, which is just it's mind boggling to even say, much less think about doing. Coach Arnie has many proven strategies for successful Grand Canyon hiking, but none more so than the one he has become known for and he's talking about today.
Coach Arnie:Today's tip is one of my all time favorites, walking backwards. And, you know, besides the big toe and the the tib raises, walking backwards might be the most important thing that I teach. So I'm gonna go through some points here, and then I'm gonna give you an assignment. So first, here's a little history that I'm not sure I'm not sure if I've ever shared that I have a bone on bone right knee, and I hear that all the time from people about why they can't do things because of, you know, the bone on bone knee. Well, I've got that, and I've had it for a long time.
Coach Arnie:So I just wanted to clear the air with those of you that might be experiencing something similar. But I also did my r five last year and only hiked once a week with an easy barefoot walk as recovery. So just wanted to share that as well. But but I walked backwards at least five days a week. Did everybody hear that?
Coach Arnie:I walked backwards at least five days a week. And so my next point is this. Did you know if you lived in China and you had knee pain, debilitating knee pain, they would make you walk backwards. How's that? They would make you walk backwards.
Coach Arnie:So here's my tip. Here's my tip. It's really a question. Why isn't everyone here walking backwards? And let me be clear.
Coach Arnie:I don't mean working it in. That's a coach Arnie sore spot, working it in. I mean intentionally walking backwards. Intentionally walking backwards. So here's your assignment.
Coach Arnie:Let's commit to doing three backwards walking sessions a week, and I mean a minimum of ten minutes a day. Now you could do more, but I mean a minimum of ten minutes a day. Okay? And that's important. Then I want you to report back in the Facebook group.
Coach Arnie:Okay. How how's it going? I wanna know. Is it better, worse, sane? Let us know.
Coach Arnie:Let's have a conversation. So report back in the Facebook group. Because look, we want to be better in '26. We're gonna be better. You know, I'm 66.
Coach Arnie:I know some of you are older than me and some of you are younger than me. I'm committed to being better each and every day and each and every year. So that's my challenge to all of you. Let's commit to those ten minute sessions. I love you guys.
Coach Arnie:And as usual, if you have any questions, you can reach out to me anytime. And most of you know, I will answer the phone. I will answer your questions. Alright? So I love you guys.
Coach Arnie:So let's make '26 better, and let's commit to being backwards walking machines. I love you guys. Talk to you later.
Brian:Yeah. If you're in our Facebook group, Hike Club Grand Canyon, you know that there are many testimonials from folks who have jumped on the walking backwards trend and had a lot of success with it. If you'd like to reach out to coach Arnie to talk about that or anything else with your own personal health journey, his contact information is in the show notes and that includes his phone number. He usually answers the phone too by the way, but if he doesn't, he will call you back. He does it because he cares and because he shares the mantra that influences everything we do here on the show and in the Facebook group and even through our hiking packs and gear at Hikin'.
Brian:We exist to help you hike your best hike and have your best possible Grand Canyon experience. It all comes straight from the heart from all of us. Hey. We would appreciate it so much, by the way, if you'd leave us a review wherever you are listening. That helps us out so much.
Brian:So when you go and do that, we would really appreciate it. Alright. That is it for now. We're after it. My name is Brian Special encouraging you as always to go hike the canyon.
Brian:You can do it. 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 savor every step in the majestic Grand Canyon. We'll see you next time on the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude show powered by Hiken.
Brian:Support the brand that makes this show possible at hiken.club. And don't forget your headlamps, everybody.