Another epic journey completed from Maggie’S Bucket List!
We got home on Wednesday evening. It’s been an emotional and physically hard week. Steve is back at work getting his classroom ready for his third grade class this year. I tried writing this update immediately after getting to the top of the South Rim, but in truth, we were exhausted.
Our route from our GPS SPOT Satellite device. We were able to provide followers with a link that tracked us, and also sent generic texts letting people know we were ok. We could have also used the device for emergency rescue should the need arise. Luckily, we didn’t. There are far too many rescues in the Canyon due to hikers becoming lost or hurt. We didn’t want to become part of that statistic.
The Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim is described by the All Trails app as a 51 mile heavily trafficked point-to-point trail located in the Grand Canyon, Arizona that features a river and is only recommended for very experienced adventurers. It also states its best used from September until May.
We realize the month of August isn’t ideal, due to extreme heat and the chance of monsoons but we had a window of time then, so got as prepared as we could to give it a go. The app goes on to claim that it is an “incredibly challenging route that should only be attempted by those in peak physical fitness and lots of experience.”
Maggie’s dad Steve, does have lots of backcountry hiking experience, having done many years of it. Including summiting Mt. Rainier, hiking even more remote sections of the Grand Canyon, hiking in Nepal in the Himalayas, on the Annapurna Trail, doing hundreds of miles on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) alone, and more. I’ve also had the opportunity to have done numerous backcountry backpacking trips in various parts of the world and even in winter, here in the Northeast. In fact, it is is how Steve and I came to meet. I joined the Post One Explorers on the advice from a mountain biking friend, and met Steve at a party in 1995. Steve was giving a slide show from his trip around the world, and we soon realized we had been criss crossing paths unbeknownst to us… visiting the same countries, and even staying in the same youth hostels. We had also both been in Alaska separately in the summer of 1993. Destiny?
I believe at least part of our success in completing this hike was due to muscle memory. Along with a strong sense of the immense suffering our only daughter had been through in her battle against cancer. That girl had grit and a determination I’ve never witnessed in my life.
AS MAGGIE ONCE SAID “I GOT THIS!” AND WE DID. IF ONLY MAGGIE’S BATTLE WITH CANCER WERE AS SIMPLE AND EASY TO BEAT.
Maggie’s extremely adventurous bucket list was inspired in part, we believe, by our own tales of adventure and exploration told to her while she was growing up.
The Start.
Maggie’s Bucket List.
We started our journey into the Canyon at about 1:00 Thursday, August 19th, 2021 - 7 years to the day we had hiked down the same trail as a very happy family of 4. The only difference was we started our hike in the heat of the day, not in the early morning hours like we had done with Maggie and Steven. Since we left from Las Vegas, it was the only time we could start in order to be down to Phantom Ranch in time for a stew dinner. It was important to us to hike down it on the same day, and we had only recently become aware of the date after reviewing a silly and fun survival video Maggie had made of herself at the bottom of the canyon in her tent. You can see the video by clicking HERE. Or watch her bridge video by clicking HERE.
Maggie couldn’t make it back to the Grand Canyon like she dreamed, but she was there both spiritually and physically with us every step of the way. We released some of her ashes in the Colorado River. We love her so much and feel that in some small way, we get to honor her beautiful spirit with every family we help and every bucket list item we cross off.
Colleen, who accompanied us, became ill with heat exhaustion at the beginning of the Kaibab Trail Suspension Bridge, where Maggie filmed herself in 2014. It was decided by all that she stay at Phantom Ranch to keep us all safe while Steve and I continued on our journey and mission to complete Maggie’s Grand Canyon Bucket List Rim to Rim to Rim Challenge.
Steve and I had dinner, checked in on Colleen, then went to sleep as best as we could in our very hot tent under a bat filled, moonlit sky in the Bright Angel Campground at the bottom of the Canyon. We awoke early to start the grueling 14 mile leg onto our next destination - The North Rim.
The air was somewhat cooler by morning after some rain. We ate some breakfast, packed up our tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, water, and food, said goodbye to Colleen, and were on our way. The first portion of the trail through an area referred to as “the box”, was easily manageable with shade. Upon reaching Cottonwood campground, we stopped for a little lunch break and rested our legs and my feet, which were developing some pretty severe blisters by that point.
Despite intensifying heat and tiring legs, we pushed through any pain we felt and made it to the top of the North Rim sometime in the afternoon. My feet were so sore by then, I slipped into my flip-flops and sat on a log at the top of the trail and began to cry. The physical and mental pain felt acute. Steve went to see about securing a room for us at the North Rim Lodge. I calmed my pity party for myself and hobbled around talking to whoever I could find keeping myself busy until Steve returned telling me there were “no rooms at the Inn”. Oh well, we pitched our tent on a spectacular site which had an incredible sunset view. It was the only sunset we’ve seen this entire summer, which made it all the more special.
We were able to get cell service to make some phone calls back home to let family know all was ok.
Steve and I relaxing for an hour before eating our dinner of dehydrated camp food.
A spectacular view from the North Rim. We feel so thankful to have made it this far.
Our first sunset of the summer taken from the North Kaibab Campground. Maggie would have loved it here.
They recommend starting before sunrise when attempting hiking in the heat of summer, but the cold overnight temp of 39° and a pretty bad altitude headache kept me from leaving the security of our tent and my sleeping bag. Finally, the feeling went away and we packed up and were on our way back down. The first part of the journey is a path cut into cliffs with sheer drop offs on one side. I’m not a fan of heights, they make me feel a bit “off”. I hugged the inside and felt a whole lot better.
“We met a lone hiker on the way down the upper section of the North Kaibab, who very seriously said to us… “whatever you do, don’t attempt the Old Bright Angel Trail, that trail hasn’t been serviced in over 70 years!”
No worries, we intend to stick with the slightly more traveled corridor trails. But thanks for the chuckle and the warning!”
After making it safely back to Manzanita Falls, we stopped to cool off in the creek and rewrap my blisters which were getting bigger by the second. Other hikers lent us scissors and more moleskin, and a great tape called Leukotape, I highly recommend taking this on long treks.
The heat increased as we descended into the heart of the Canyon. At one point, while we were in “the box”, I said to Steve, it was the hottest I’ve ever felt, hotter than sauna hot. The temp was in the triple digits. We cooled off in the Bright Angel Creek which runs along the bottom half of the trail, the water felt amazing and helped bring our body temps down.
Unfortunately the water wreaked havoc on my already hurting feet. The pain became unbearable with wet socks and I was forced to switch back to flip flops, not ideal footwear on treacherous rocks, but it was better than the torture of the hiking boots. I was glad we had passed the multiple rockslides that blocked the trail which had to be scrambled over.
Upon our welcome return to Phantom Ranch, we found Colleen had rented a cabin. We stowed our gear in the cabin, chatted with the friendly strangers, drank some lemonade, showered, and ate a hearty dinner. We were thankful for all of it.
Even though the cabin felt nice and it would have been amazing to just rest and relax, we were on a mission and needed to get a very early start to beat the heat of the day. We got up at 3:00 am, readied ourselves and our gear and said goodbye to Phantom Ranch in the dark and quietude of the still morning.
Lucky for us, Steve had done a reconnaissance of the Bright Angel Trail the night before. Finding your way in the pitch black night with only headlamps and bats flying in and out of your path is disconcerting and spooky. I kept thinking to myself, are we are on the right trail? I didn’t remember hearing the Colorado River for that long on our hike back in 2014. Your mind starts to play tricks on you. The thought of going off course with how much my feet hurt was intimidating to say the least. Soon though, we passed by a group of other hikers and they assured us we were on the right trail. We found out that one person of the group did actually start her hike up the wrong trail, though she realized it before it was too late to backtrack.
We stopped numerous times along this last leg of our trek to rest, and take in last of the beautiful scenery, while enjoying some much needed food, water, and to chat with strangers. Telling everyone we met that we were about to finish hiking 50 miles by doing R2R2R (Rim to Rim to Rim) in the heat of summer in the Grand Canyon for Maggie’s Bucket List. We told them to google MaggiesMission.org and Maggie’s Bucket List to learn more about Maggie and why we do what we do.
Steve carried the Dora rock Maggie’s teacher Dan Barrett had painted for us for approximately 47 miles of our hike. We finally left it at the rest house 1.5 miles from the top, we are hoping someone takes it with them on their journey and hashtag us so we can follow the rock’s exploration, which epitomizes Maggie and her favorite cartoon character when she was just a wee babe.
At the top, in flip flops. It’s almost a week later and I still can’t put on proper shoes.
Warning, graphic photo of some very ugly, hurting feet, after gaining almost 11,550 feet in elevation hiking over 50 miles in the Grand Canyon.
Even though the photo above depicts the small window of suffering I personally endured, it doesn’t compare to the pain and suffering Maggie and children and their families go through every single day after a cancer diagnosis. The treatments are outdated and painful. Chemo causes all kinds of terrible side effects, as does radiation. There is hair loss, sight loss, hearing loss, constant nausea, diarrhea, actual burning of the skin, neuropathy, painful surgery after surgery, and years upon years of life lost.
What we witnessed in our own daughter’s suffering compels us to make change in discovering better treatments options along with the scientists and doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering, while also easing the financial and emotional toll a sick child and their family faces.
Please help us help these children. It’s what Maggie asked us to do before she died. Consider a donation in any amount. Thank you as always for following Maggie’s journey and our journey and for your continued support.
We did it, we survived Maggie’s epic Grand Canyon Bucket List Rim to Rim to Rim Challenge. We wish we could say the same for the many children who die every day from cancer.
