Fear At the Bottom of the Grand Canyon Turned Into Determination
Journey to the other side of fear
Nature is beautiful, embracing, colourful — amazing, but it can be brutal and life-transforming.
Two years ago, without any training but a wish to experience something unique during the COVID-19 pandemic and a simple trust in my good friend’s confidence that I could hike the Grand Canyon up and down, I went with her in June of 2022.
We planned to hike down the South Kaibab Trail (7 miles and 5,000 feet in elevation) and hike back up via the Bright Angel Trail (8 miles and 4,400 feet in elevation) the next day.
She said it was like walking up and down from the San Francisco waterfront to Nob Hill (0.7 miles) round trip 10 times. How hard would that be?
The ability to “wear a bigger hat than your head” (being overconfident) is a big motivation to try something new!
We started descending the canyon around 5:45 am before the temperature rose beyond 100°F.
I was proud of myself as walking down the winding path and steep slope felt easy. While I was drinking a lot of…
