Back on the Arizona Trail (with a small detour to Sicily)

Dear Trail Friends,

First, my feet. Sorry I didn't write sooner but I was depressed about my foot problems, and the possibility I might never back-pack again. First I learned I had irreversible, age related "fatty pad atrophy" (which basically means the heel and metatarsal cushions so brilliantly created by evolution of fatty tissue interwoven with connective tissue – have almost totally worn out, and what's left is loose and not well-anchored in place so it tends to slip and slide and become swollen and inflamed.) Then, when I finally followed the podiatrist's referral to a orthopedic shoe store in Everett (ferry ride and all-day trip from Orcas), and realized that by giving up all I thought I knew about shoes and allowing experts to guide me, that I actually could walk again (though whether I can walk long days, day after day, remains to be seen), life got hectic as I tried to plan an adventure with not enough lead time.

The plan is to hike the rest of the Arizona Trail (from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the bottom, up the North Rim, and on to the Utah border). This is a short hike for me and will be a good opportunity to see how my feet do on the trail with the new shoes - smaller, tighter, more cushioned, less flexible.

I have been training diligently. Unless I get lucky and get a "last minute" campsite at the campground partway up to the North Rim, I will be hiking the whole trail from the primitive site at Clear Creek (where I also camped last spring) - which means about 2 miles and 1200 feet down to the bottom, then 13.5 miles and 5600 feet up to the top. I actually created a training hike with 5600 ft gain by hiking (for those of you who know Orcas) from Cascade Lake up to the Cold Spring sign (2.3 miles, 1650 ft gain) - going up and down 3 1/2 times. That was quite a demanding and all-day training hike. I have now done it three times carrying a 25 pound pack, and I believe I am in great shape for the trail. I know I will lose training during the month we are in Sicily, but I wanted to get to the Grand Canyon as fast as I could after we return, before the hot summer temperatures really settle in. As it is, it may well be over 100 degrees at the bottom of the canyon, although it will get cooler as I hike up.

Several people have suggested I blog about Sicily. That will be much harder for me. Instead of days of hiking through the quiet solitude of the wilderness, I will be riding in a bus full of 30+ people. So my introvert needs will be neglected, and my extrovert capacity well-used. Also, my sister Judy (who is going on the hike with us) and I have a practice of contemplative drawing at the end of each travel day. So I will have limited time or energy for blogging.

Nevertheless, the Sicily trip seems related to the backpacking trip this year, and several people have asked if I would blog about it. I know I probably will not find time to blog every day, but I love the challenge of trying to share and reflect by blogging on a trip so different from the hikes I usually blog about.

Chris has led quite a few trips to Greece and one to Turkey, and lectured on mythology at the ancient Greek sites. I have had the chance to join several of those tours. I have loved them, partly because I love Chris's lectures. She is one of the two greatest lecturers I have encountered in my life. The other, George Steiner, was teaching at Harvard Summer School the summer I was 18 and his lectures on Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, and Russian novelists were unforgettable and life-changing. I also loved the community that emerged during each tour - many of the participants were former students of Chris's, and there was a zest for learning and for mythology and a comraderie that was intoxicating.

I would love it if I could  bring you with me to Sicily, and share some of the richness of Chris's lectures and the community of the "trail." I also would love to have a record of what may well be the last such tour Chris leads.

We can't have a blog - however introductory - without a photo, so here is one as I approached the crest of my training hike. A typical misty Pacific Northwest morning, then the sun bursting through and patches of blue sky. Just before I pulled out my iphone, there was a misty rainbow-colored ring around the sun, but it was shy about having its picture taken, and vanished as soon as I aimed my iphone at it.

So, that's all for now, I will see you in Sicily - and then on the Arizona Trail. Thank you for traveling with me, and especially this time, for helping me to weave together such disparate parts of my life (my shared and very civilized life with Chris, and my solitary passion for wilderness).

See you on the trail.