Guess what?! I did it! I "hiked the rim"! I accomplished something that I've wanted to do my entire life, but have never been in good enough shape to do it. It was SO exciting! I did take a few pictures that I will post after they're developed (if the rain didn't ruin the film). I brought along a disposible camera to record the scenery.
The hike lasted 10 hours and at the peak we were at about a 12,000 ft. elevation. I can tell you that the air was mighty thin when you were going up a 50 degree angle. WHEW! It was tough work in spots, especially climbing up and down a few of the rock (giant boulders really) slides. One of the slides took 2 HOURS to climb down. It was massive and quite difficult to manuever.
Guess what else? My hubby and two of my girls went with me. SO not only did I accomplish something wonderful, they did too!! It was really cool! I kept telling the girls how proud I was of them.
Next year I hope to hike the more southern rim, the one that's closest to the cabin, as we hiked the farthest northern rim. (Actually we went way farther North than we were supposed to have gone). It was beautiful up there though and the view was amazing!! (I can't wait to show you the pictures).
I have no idea how many calories I burned but I'm sure it was in the thousands. I forgot to put on my pedometer before we started out (darn it). I have no way of knowing the actual mileage or number of calories burned. Oh well, that's not as important as the climb itself...not even CLOSE. :-)
For the next two days my muscles were pretty sore so I only walked about 15 minutes on the second day. We got home Tuesday night and I resumed going to the gym on Wednesday. It felt good to be in there and I wasn't sore at all. (I did 30 minutes on the Cybex on "Weight Loss Level 10" and 25 minutes on the treadmill. I'm intermingling jogging at 4.5 mph with my fast walk 3.5 mph--remember I have short legs....LOL). Hubby and I, hopefully the kids, will be going to the gym tonight too. Boy, it feels pretty great to be in shape! I know that it's only going to get better too! How exciting!!
Hugs from AZ,
Shannon
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4 comments:
YAY! I'm so excited for you and proud of you!! I can't wait to see the pictures!!
Welcome back!
Elizabeth
Thanks!
:-)
Shannon
That sounds like a wonderful day! But, um.. what rim? Grand Canyon? Sorry for me lack of knowledge. In Albuquerque, there is a mountain on the eastern side of town. (Sandia Mountains) I live about 2 miles from the base and there is a trail up to the top (La Luz Trail). Elevation goes from 5000ft to 12,000 feet. I've always been intimadated to try to hike it, but I think I'm going to go for it soon!
Good for you, Shannon.
Rich
Thanks Rich!
YOU can hike that mountain, I bet! The only thing that seems to hold us back is ourselves. I think a lot of our battle is in our own mind. We think "Oh I can't do that" or "that'll be more that I can do right now". NO WAY! Give it a try! Without trying, we never succeed...right?!
By the way...the "rim" was the peak of a mountain that is by my parents cabin in Utah. It was a lifetime goal---I still can't believe I did it! Sooooo cool!
Hugs,
Shannon
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