Training For Hiking The Grand Canyon: Interview With Jodi

In this episode, I interview Summit Srengh hiker Jodi, who recently completed an amazing Grand Canyon hiking adventure. Inside, she shares how she trained and prepared for this adventure after she was told that she might need to give up hiking. 
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​Episode Chapters:

0:20 Introduction to Jodi’s Journey
2:30 
Jodi's Background in Hiking
3:31 
Training Before Summit Strength
4:59 
The Grand Canyon Goal
9:11 
Deciding on Extra Help
10:50 
Training with Summit Strength
14:57 
New Exercises and Challenges
18:30 
Roadblocks in Training
21:32 
Hiking Roadblocks
25:31 
The Journey to the Grand Canyon
27:13 
Arrival at the Grand Canyon
28:53 
The Beauty of the Canyon
31:13 
First Day of Hiking
34:50 
Reaching the River
38:30 
Day Three Adventures
43:48 
Climbing Out of the Canyon
47:01 
Reflecting on the Journey
49:45 
Future Hiking Plans
51:43 
Advice for Aspiring Hikers
55:09 
Closing Thoughts and Inspirations

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​Want to get fit, strong and resilient for your hiking adventures?
​
Check out the Online Summit Program: https://www.summitstrength.com.au/online.html

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How To Get Fit To Hike The Grand Canyon 

Episode Transcript:

​[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we interview Summit Strength client, Jodi, who has an incredibly inspirational story around conquering some amazing

[0:13] adventures after she's been told by a medical professional that hiking may not be the sport for her. And today she spends some time just talking through her background in regards to hiking, why this conversation sort of came up from a medical professional the resolutions and the steps she took to turn that around, make sure hiking was a good possibility and the awesome adventure she's been on recently. So, I think this is a really, really fantastic episode. I think it's going to be really inspirational for a lot of people who may have had a similar situation and I really do hope you can enjoy it. So, with that being said, let's get into it. All right, Jodie, a big welcome to the show. So, great to have you on. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Well, I think as we were literally saying just before we started recording, I think this is going to be such an interesting episode for so many people. And I think there's going to be a few cool things in your story which very well may resonate and inspire a lot of listeners. So I'm super excited to get into it. So I guess to kick things off, do you just want to give us the rundown, give us the basics? Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do? And what is your background in hiking?

[1:26] Yes, absolutely. So I am Jodi Steinbrenner. I live in the northeast section of the United States, small town of Independence, Ohio, just south of Cleveland. I work in the wound care arena for the past 28 years as a nurse practitioner for the last nine in a wound care center. I have a couple of subspecialties, but my most recent is a certification in the wilderness medicine. And I was kind of working through that when I started with Summit Strength. So that was pretty cool, and I think it really prepared me for a lot of the adventures I'm going to have. My background in hiking. So I grew up kind of in nature as a kid, always playing outside, exploring, swinging on grapevines, walking through the creeks, digging up rocks, but nothing really hiking specific. Um, once I got married and we had kids, I kind of began to get back out into nature again, taking my kids to the parks, going on Creek walks. And we started to take vacations, um, that included some hiking in our national parks.

[2:30] So really like many other people in 2019, when the pandemic hit, we were kind of forced from our indoor activities to our outdoor activities. And that's when I found out that we had so many great areas locally that we could hike and just kind of keep active with. So we started working with our local metro parks and found out that they were ranked number one in the nation. And we also have a national park kind of right in my backyard called Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And we found so many great opportunities between these two different local places. We did some helpful hikes. We've done a lot of frozen waterfall hikes, hidden histories, creek walking, extreme hikes that take us through kind of rough terrain in these areas, and just really learning and exploring about our surroundings. And kind of from that and what I remember as a child, I've just grown to love hiking in the parks locally year-round.

[3:31] And then before we started working together, what was your typical approach to training? So hiking for specific training, I really didn't have any. Early on, I did some different programs such as Curves, which was kind of a circuit-based training, a little bit of cardio, but mostly was machines, Zumba classes, track walking. I tried a couch to 5k but I found out I am not a runner and I really really hated those days, so just prior to summit strength I was working with a work-based fitness coach she's a bodybuilder and she was putting together some weight lifting and some cardio mix programs for me and I was just finding that these fitness programs just were not making any difference or improvements for me on the trail and that's when I started seeing your summit strength ads and kind of and looked into what you had to offer.

[4:29] And then before we, well, I guess as we were looking into that, what was the big hiking goal that you'd set yourself for? And what was the instigator for this particular goal you chose for yourself? So do you want the long version or the short version? Oh, the long version for sure. The long version. Okay. So the seed for this goal was planted at a doctor's

[4:53] appointment that I had on April 1st of 2021. And that's a day I will probably always remember. But the full breadth of the goal didn't really come to fruition until February of 2022. So kind of just a backstory. At the top of my bucket list is to hike in all 63 national parks in our country. And I've been to and or hiked in 24 to 63 of them so far. So that big goal I set for myself in early 2022 was to hike from Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon. So it goes from the North Rim down to the river and then back up to the South Rim. Specifically, I wanted to get to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back out.

[5:35] So that's when this came about. In September of 2020, my husband and I were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. We stayed at a cabin in the wilderness where we hiked for three days in this amazing Ohio State Park called Hocking Hills. And at that point, we did the longest hike I have ever done in my life, and that was 13 miles. We hardly saw anybody during this hike. The solitude was incredible. I fell in love with just being in the woods, seeing the waterfalls, exploring the caves, and just the quietness that nature brought us. And it was here where I found out how much comfort and peace being in nature brings to me.

[6:14] So later that month, we came back home, and I mentioned that we live near some pretty awesome parks. So we joined a local hiking group for a 10-mile off-trail hike. And I figured, you know, I'd just done 13 miles. 10 miles, it should be no problems. But it was during this hike that things kind of went really, really wrong for me. The more I hiked, the more uncomfortable I became. And then by the end of that hike, I could barely walk. So one thing led to another, and I found out that as an adult, I had a condition called congenital hip dysplasia, and that was causing my pain and the reason why I couldn't continue to hike. So it got so bad that I couldn't hike, and even shortly after, I could barely walk to the corner of my street. It was just that bad.

[6:58] So at the ripe old age of 47, I found out that I needed to have a hip replacement because of that. So circling back to that appointment on April 1st of 2021, on that day, I saw a surgeon and he told me that the activities I wanted to do weren't acceptable for someone who needed a hip replacement, meaning hiking and kayaking and things like that. That specifically, I needed to have more realistic expectations and try to put up with things for as long as I can. Prior to this appointment with him, I really never had any plans for the Grand Canyon hiking. So finding this was not acceptable for me. I did seek out a second opinion, found a surgeon that said, yes, I do need a new hip. And he knew that my desire was to get back to hiking and being active amongst other things. So in February 2022, I had that hip replacement. So my goal really grew out of me wanting to prove that first surgeon how wrong he was about me and what someone with a hip replacement could actually accomplish.

[8:03] The Grand Canyon was such a far-off goal I just never really thought I could accomplish it for so many reasons one because I had had that surgery two it was just such an extravagant goal for someone like me like how could I ever do something like that permits are hard to get for camping I had never backpacked I have a fear of heights I was still dealing with a lot of weaknesses and balances from my hip surgery, but it was at that appointment back in April of 21 that that seed was planted and started to grow. And that's how the Grand Canyon came about. Yeah there you go and and i guess with with that seed planted as you said and that kind of in in your sights and and obviously going through all of that what was i guess what made you yeah well and exactly that that i know i know i know so many people listening to this will have had similar conversations so this is part of the reason why i wanted you on so hopefully well i don't don't hope it resonates but because it's you know obviously not a great conversation but I'm sure it does. Right.

[9:12] So with that in your side step, what made you decide that, you know what, you're going to get a bit of extra help on the training side of things? And what specifically were you like, look, between now and, you know, these goals I've set, what do I need to improve on?

[9:26] Oh, there was so much I needed to improve on. So the algorithm on Facebook kept showing me the Summit Strength ads. And it just seemed like a really cool program that was geared specifically for hiking that, you know, I just thought was pretty unique. And you would put up so many different posts that seemed so relevant to me and the things that I needed help on. Like you would say, do you have aches and pains or an injury that's holding you back from hiking? Do you have a big trip in your sights and you want to be successful? Do you get out of breath on hills? And it was like, check, check, check, you know, all those boxes, you kind of clicked off for me. So then I found your podcast and I started to listen to those every day, read all your posts on Facebook. I had already known that my current training wasn't improving how I felt on the trail, even though I was back at hiking somewhat locally. So after months of kind of taking in all that information that you had to offer in all those various areas, seeing the posts that you were looking for somebody to join your signature program, I decided after much time to, I think it was over six, seven months, to make that discovery call and see kind of what your program entailed. So I had that seed planted, and I need to do something to make it grow into reality because I just wasn't, I wasn't going to be able to do it with the condition I was in at that point in time. So that's what made me reach out to you.

[10:50] And then as you took that step and I guess got into the training with us at Summit Strength, tell us a bit about that training that you worked through. What was the program? What did the program look like? What were you doing? Yeah, tell us a bit about that.

[11:05] Sure. So I remember, you know, during the intake interview, when you and I were talking, you had said that, you know, you were interviewing me as much as I was interviewing you, because you wanted both of us to be successful. So you had requirements about checking in and asking questions and letting me know, you know, if something was working or not, or if I had plans that would interfere with being able to follow through with what, you know, my commitment was. And at the same time, I was trying to decide, you know, is this really right for me? And you, We have to agree on the communication. I mean, you are in a different country than I am. We were in different time zones. You know, how would I make it work? But I just decided to go for it. So I signed up for that 15-week program, and I did the work, and it paid off. We started with a series of assessments that I knew I had some issues with strength and endurance, but I didn't realize how much different I was from my left side to the right side. So when we did those assessments on my weakness and balances were really pronounced. One of the things that I remember specifically was that single leg quad strength assessment that we had to do. How many could I do on my right leg versus my left? And I couldn't do any on my right, which was my hip replacement side. And then throughout all the assessments, it was just the same. My one side was so much weaker, or I couldn't even do 50% of what I could do on my left.

[12:29] So that was just really eye-opening for me. After the assessments, I got started on the first round of training. And, you know, you asked me how many hours in a day I wanted to train, how many days a week, what could fit into my plan. So we came up with what our commitments would be. And initially, you targeted really all those specific muscles that I needed to work on to build on the strength and endurance. And I had done, you know, eight, nine months of physical therapy. And what you did really made a huge difference because by the end of those six weeks, I was almost equal in strength on both my legs. So that was just really, really eye-opening for me. I was really amazed at how quickly I was able to regain some of that strength because you just targeted those areas that were so weak.

[13:15] And, you know, as we move through, some of the things I really enjoyed about the program specifically is that you would tweak those exercises every three weeks. So I wasn't kind of stuck doing the same thing over and over again. I really enjoyed the progression of certain movements, like you had to pay off presses in different areas, sitting, kneeling, standing. I love the dead bugs. So we went from something very simple to something really hard, which kind of worked on the core, Romanian deadlifts, moving up to split stance squats. And it was just it was just really great because I never got bored. And many times I'd forget that you were changing my program or that the three weeks was up and I'd open up my app and like, oh, look, I got a new program today. So sometimes it was always a surprise. And I just really looked forward to to those changes.

[14:05] So in addition to the training in like the gym with the weights, we also had aerobic power sessions, hiking, outside hill climbing sessions. And you always gave specific instructions on how to work on the endurance and how to work on the breathing. And then there's always that recovery and mobility sessions, which, you know, helped with the tension and soreness and stuff that I would get from time to time just because I was using muscles that were weaker or sore or even muscles that I hadn't used before. So it was great. You were always there that we could talk through it. We'd work or change up something if it didn't work for me. And it was just overall a great program. So I really enjoyed the programming you did. I love to hear that. And then I guess in amongst all of that, because as you said, you know, you've been doing certain types of training prior

[14:54] to this, which maybe wasn't quite with the hiking or whatever it may be. Was there anything different in all of that which you hadn't actually done ever before?

[15:04] There were so many different exercises I had never done before. Actually, most of them that weren't machine based. I'd never done those dead bugs, never done the payoff presses. Yeah. I remember the one time you had put in my program, the assisted pull up in one of my sessions, and that was a machine in the gym that I had never, ever used in all the years I've been going to that community gym. I was actually a little intimidated by it. And I saw that in my training and I thought, why did you put this in there? Well, I was working through an arm injury at that time as well. So that was one of the things that we were doing to strengthen my upper body. And I got on that after being so intimidated. And it was like, what was the big deal about this machine? Why didn't I ever get on it? So I thought that was kind of funny. You gave me a lot of Stairmaster workouts too. And initially those were so hard, just so hard and so boring. But, you know, you're like, you got to buckle it up. You know, I know the Grand Canyon is going to be a lot of, you know, down, down, up, up. So you told me find a good series to watch. And I did. I put that series on and I would just get on the treadmill, put my headphones in and just, you know, kind of walk away or even on the Stairmaster. And some days I actually went a little longer because I was so immersed in those series that, you know, once the 30 or 45 minutes was done, I was like, I can do another five or 10 because I wanted to finish the series.

[16:34] So one Stairmaster session that really stuck out to me was really towards the end of my training. And you said um can't remember which one we were working on but you said load up your pack as heavy as you can because you don't want to get out of breath and you were just working I think we're just working on endurance and so I kept on loading my pack because I was still I was it was easy for I was I wasn't getting out of breath it was easy for me to walk and you really wanted me to slow it down so I just kept on loading my pack with all the different weights in the gym And when I got off the treadmill, I walked over to the scale at the gym and I put my backpack on and I had loaded that backpack with 70 pounds walking on that Stairmaster. It was just, it was crazy.

[17:20] So that one really stuck out for me. Yeah, that's incredible. And that type of workout, it's so, when you are in that situation where you've got that training or foundation, it's coming to the head, and it can be so surprising when you just, for a small amount of time, load up that pack and see how much you can do. And just for full context, for anyone listening, this is type of workout that you wouldn't be doing right off the bat. This comes after lots and lots of training and building foundational fitness, strength, this and that. And the idea of this particular workout is called an overloaded elevation workout, where essentially we want to be on a stairmaster or a treadmill or a hill or stairs, whatever it may be, and essentially load up the pack so heavy that we ultimately are just slowed down so much that we can't push so much that we get out of breath. We are so slow. We're like a turtle, but we just grind it out with the legs. It's a really interesting thing to do. And the fact you got 70 pounds, that's huge. There you go. Yeah. I kept on pulling those weights out. My husband was looking at me and I said, I don't know. I just had to keep loaded up because I was able to keep going. So it was great. I enjoyed it. How good.

[18:30] So obviously through any type of training journey, it is very, very, very rare for it to be an entirely smooth journey. And I don't think it ever absolutely happens. So tell us about the roadblocks. Were there any roadblocks around the way when it came down to the training? And we'll talk about the hiking roadblocks in a second. And with the training for these roadblocks, how did you overcome them?

[18:55] You know what? I encountered so many roadblocks in the time from working with you right up until the day we left. As far as the training, early on, it was really my glute and hip flexor tightness. And that specifically was because of my hip replacement. I had been having it from the beginning. I actually had it right up until the time we left for the Grand Canyon.

[19:20] Ironically, I have not had any since I've been back from the Grand Canyon, which is crazy. But with all that hiking, we did. So early on, it was that glute and hip flexor tightness. And to kind of combat that, you gave me just some specific exercises, aside from my normal training, that I can do for glute release and flexor stretching that I can work on kind of any time. So sometimes I just work on that when I was just at home watching TV or at night before I went to bed and just to kind of really target those areas to help relax, relax those areas. Breathing was an issue for me as well, especially going uphill, which is probably very common for a lot of people. It took some time for us to figure out, for me to figure out in particular what was causing that issue. But for your part, you had given me some specific breathing sessions to work on and some specific breathing patterns to work on as well, like doing nose breathing or kind of really getting out of breath or a mix of both. And so I was finally able to work through that as well and so much better on the trails because of it.

[20:32] Towards the end of the initial 15 weeks that I worked with you, I also had some hamstring tightness. I'm not really sure where that came from. But again, you had given me some specific stretches and releases regarding that as well. Then I took a vacation and somehow I injured my ankle when I was down in Florida. And, you know, I messaged you. And again, you adjusted the program. I was still able to work through, you know, a lot of my training because some of it was upper body. some of it I can do on mats. So you just kind of changed up a few of my programs and I still be successful and able to, you know, work through and not have to miss any of my training because of that. So it seemed like anytime I had an issue, you had something to target and combat it with. And that was great. But there were so many kind of niggles that I had to kind of work through. Sometimes it was frustrating, but all the things you gave me really made a big difference.

[21:32] And then let's talk about the hiking roadblocks and i guess you know you had this goal ahead and yeah i was looking forward to chatting about this tell us about that story um all right about what happened with the with the goal what'd you go through tell us about that oh yeah yeah i mean roadblock after roadblock so after about 22 weeks of of working with you um i took a few months off just to kind of work on some other things. And we were waiting to see if we'd win the lottery because we were doing a backpacking trip with an outfitter.

[22:08] So just before we started back in June of 25, we found out that we had won the lottery for our rim-to-rim in the Grand Canyon. And it was perfect timing because I was going to start off with you and we had three months before I left. So...

[22:25] One month into the training, we had a huge setback. We found out on like right around July 4th that the Grand Canyon North Rim was on fire. And the route that we were taking started on the North Rim and it was no longer safe to hike. The fire actually took probably near eight weeks or so for them to kind of get control. And it seemed like every day it was getting deeper and deeper. I think they clocked the fire going down almost nearly a mile on the North Rim in the Grand Canyon. And at that point, I thought, oh, my gosh, you know, my dreams are crushed. I've been training so hard to accomplish this. And it just, it was devastating. I kind of fell into a funk and I just, I didn't want to train anymore. It was just, it was tough. So, you know, I let you know, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with my training. I'm really not, I don't know what's going to happen with this. And you kind of gave me some assignments to work on. And one of them was just choosing a different adventure that I could put that training towards. Because I'd worked so hard for so long. And this news was just devastating. Not only for me, but the Grand Canyon is huge. But there's such a small community of people who do the Rim to Rim. So, like, everybody was feeling, you know, that devastation.

[23:45] So eventually I figured out what we do for a training plan and we were trying to still see if we could get down to the Grand Canyon so the Grand Canyon was a part of a two-week, vacation that we were planning so it was only a small part of that two weeks so trying to find something else we can do in the area is what we decided would be our alternate plan.

[24:06] Then while I continued to train, I had some more really impacting hip flexor tightness when I was carrying my backpack on one of my training sessions. And that soreness with that flexor lasted really right up until the week we were supposed to leave for the Grand Canyon. And it was pretty bad, so much so that I thought I might not be able to hike because of how bad my hip flexor was. But again, you know, we worked with some modifications and you talked with me and sent me some information on how to properly load my backpack for overnight adventures and where to put things in the pack as far as setting it up for success. And I guess maybe so the weight is more towards the back and the bottom rather than the top. And so that made a really big difference going through those education series on that. And the hip flexor started to feel better. So I thought things were going to be okay. We had an ultra-set plan. The Grand Canyon was kind of still on our sites because they were talking about some alternate things. But at that particular point, you couldn't even get to the bottom of the Grand Canyon because there was a lot of, I think there was a chemical spill in the bottom. So the gases were at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. So you could only go so far as about, I think it was three miles down.

[25:17] But eventually we found out we could get down. Our plans were still a go, but they were going to look different. And then our government shut down. And that shut down, that was three days before

[25:29] we were scheduled to leave for our trip. So we had planned like our fifth or sixth itinerary working with our outfitter. It was not the north to south bucket list item like everybody needs to do, but it was enough to get me to the bottom of the canyon and back out. And then when the government shut down, we again had no idea if we were going to be taking our trip. We had been planning this trip for nearly three years. And these setbacks really had an emotional toll on me. It was hard to just kind of grasp having this dream being so close and not being sure whether you're going to be able to do it or not.

[26:07] So lucky for us, they did allow the outfitters to continue with the permits. And then by the time we went, even though we couldn't do our original plan, we were kind of on our sixth itinerary. It was different than we envisioned, but we were still able to go down to the bottom and come back up. It was supposed to be a group backpacking trip, but everybody else in our group canceled their plans. So it was just my husband and I and the guide. So it turned into being a private trip with just the three of us. Initially I really didn't have the same excitement as I did the day we found out I won the lottery, getting permits to do the rim to rim and securing the campgrounds you need to go from the north to south is very difficult and we had won it on our first try so that was just astounding, and then we wanted to backpack we wanted this group adventure and it was just going to be the two of us so we weren't quite sure how we were going to manage that and what it would look like But we decided to keep our plans and hope for the best. And we got on the plane and headed out there.

[27:13] And now that the trip was finally here, and I guess the new iteration of the trip, tell us all about how to go, give us the story, take us through it. Oh, geez. So the adventure, it was just absolutely amazing. I mean, words really can't describe what it feels like to have set this goal, which for me seems so unrealistic. And then to be staring that goal right in the face, I didn't know what to expect. You know, how would my body manage? How would I overcome my fear of heights? How was I going to get all the way down to the river and back up from where I was standing? When we first went, you couldn't even see the river from where we were. That's how far down it was. What about all those injuries that I had gone through?

[28:00] I was really concerned about my hip flexors. I, you know, right up until pretty much the week we were leaving, I had issues. What about a backpack? Could I carry it? I mean, the backpack was 90 liters. Could I carry this thing? So I have to say I was pretty intimidated. I've never seen the Grand Canyon. I have that fear of heights. The trails had these really, they're almost like some of them were deer trails, so very narrow and they were sheer cliff drop-offs on the one side. I'd never backpacked, no idea what to expect with that. And then to top it off, we get out of the truck to go on the trail. And I was greeted by a tarantula that was walking like right across my feet, kind of saying, welcome to the Grand Canyon.

[28:39] And tarantulas, it happened to be tarantula mating season. And so we did see quite a few of them. But all in all, I mean, it was amazing. Hiking in the Grand Canyon, I think, has got to be so different than hiking anywhere else in the world.

[28:53] There's so much unique geology and history of the area. We pass through so many different rock layers. So when you start at the top, you're kind of in the Paleozoic area. There's sections of ancient seas that you pass through. You go through some metamorphic rock and some igneous layers, which are down at the bottom. And as you're hiking down or up through these layers, depending on where the sun is in the canyon, the way it just radiates off the walls, the colors, I mean, you can't even imagine the colors. They were just absolutely beautiful. With the history, there's granaries where Native Americans used to store their grains. and to see them like built up in the cliffs, wondering how they even got in there. There are some areas that had some picture graphs just showing how people lived. And you wonder, how did they live and survive in this ecosystem?

[29:49] Especially where they had put these granaries and these pictographs were just on these cliff edges. It was just so interesting to see. And the ecosystem there in the Grand Canyon is so different than any other place in the world. So what I learned since we were just going with our guide, he had given us a lot of information on the history. And I learned that because of the different changes in elevation, the variations in temperature, you're cooler at the top because you're nearly at 8,000 feet. And then when you get to the bottom, you actually get hotter as you go to the bottom when you're hiking the Grand Canyon. And we learned that that ecosystem, the Grand Canyon, is like traversing from Mexico to Canada in a short distance as you go from the top to the bottom. And that kind of extended from their weather to their animals and their different plants. So there were so many different things to see as you were hiking in that whole top to bottom area of the canyon. So, like I said, we have an alternate itinerary. We did not start on the North Rim. We couldn't get to the North Rim at all. They're not even sure if it's going to be opened next year because of all the damage from the fire. So, we had a choice and we chose Hermit's Rest, which was an off-corridor, non-maintained steep trail.

[31:10] It was considered very strenuous. So, like, welcome to the Grand Canyon. Here's one of the hardest trails to go.

[31:16] So day one, we hiked about eight and a half miles with an elevation loss of 2,750 feet. And then we had to hike all of that back out. We actually ended up using day packs rather than our overnight packs, which was good. And I think we did that in about six and a half hours. So I just remember as we were dropping into the canyon, like, I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm actually here. Nothing can prepare you for the beauty and vastness of the canyon. Like I mentioned before, the colors, the ecosystem, the history. It was hard to hike initially and then take it all in. I just found myself stopping just to kind of soak in the views. It was just, it was amazing. I was actually in the Grand Canyon after all of those roadblocks we had gone through.

[32:06] So day one um that was was one area had a very narrow trail and i knew it was going to come up because i had watched some youtube videos i really wanted to prepare myself because that fair of heights and when i came to this part of the trail i remember saying to myself this is where most people with the fair of heights turn around because it's like you're walking on that dare path that very narrow dare path with a slope that just dropped off to the right And it was a really long way down. So I remember I just kind of stopped. I took a deep breath.

[32:39] Gave myself a pep talk and I'm like, I can do this. I'm strong. I train for this. And so I remember hugging kind of towards the left side of the trail because the drop off was on the right. And I got through that. And as soon as I got through that, something was bothering my feet. And I remember right before I left, you had sent me something to go over. It was like preparations or review this before you leave. And in there it said, as soon as you feel a hot spot, you need to stop. So I stopped I said guys I was my husband it was a male guy to myself I'm like guys we got to stop, I got to see what's going on my feet Rowan says I have to do this so I stopped took off my shoes, it wasn't a hot spot I had no issues with shoes what Rowan didn't prepare me for were the cactus pokes that were going to come through my shoes so I had a lot of these little cactus needles because I was afraid of heights I was hugging towards the trail I was brushing against the cactus that were on the side of the trail, but I didn't know that at the time. So I had to sit there on the trail and just like pluck all these little fine needles out of my feet, just on the one side. So once I plucked those out, we headed to this beautiful green oasis that was about two and a half miles down the trail.

[33:56] And it's neat because you're walking in this arid desert and then you come across this little trickle green oasis. And we had lunch there. We then hiked all the way across the back past where we came down to another rest house that had a natural spring and some just amazing views. And then we had to hike up. And that uphill hike was so hard for me. It was much harder than I imagined it would be. I'm not sure if it was because it was so hot. It was in the mid-90s and the air was very, very dry. It was just so much uphill. And it was in the sun because there's not a lot of shade in the Grand Canyon. So I remember just taking a lot of stops in the shade, just catching my breath, you know, kind of hiking my own hike. And then we finally made it out. And that was just my kind of welcome to the Grand Canyon.

[34:47] This is going to prepare you for the next three days that you're going to do. And it just felt so accomplished when I got back up to the surface. And I knew that after I did that on this day that I would be able to get down to the river. I just knew that I would be able to do that. I did drink five liters of water that day. So if you're hiking in the Grand Canyon, just make sure you have enough water.

[35:09] So we camped at the top and that was an experience. It was cold. I think it got down to 27 or 30 degrees, but we were prepared for that. And I slept pretty well. So the next day, day two, we dropped into the South Kaibab Trail of the Grand Canyon. We took that. This was the alternative itinerary to get down to the river. So we went down the South Kaibab Trail. So that took us to a place called the Tip-Off, which intersects with the Tonto. And the Tonto was the trail that we were going to get across to get to our campground. And Sound Kaibab is all downhill. Then the Tonto was kind of rolling, and then Bright Angel was a little bit uphill to get to our campsite. So we did about nine and a half miles this day. Everything was downhill. So it was about 3,800 feet of downhill hiking in about seven and a half hours. So we were carrying our full packs, everything we needed to carry for the next three days. So I had about 35 pounds in a 90 liter pack. I was dead set on not carrying 40 pounds because when I was training, the 40 pounds are what kind of irritated my hip flexor.

[36:25] So away we went. It was downhill, constant switchback after switchback, just absolutely stunning views. There was no shade unless you happened to get just a small section of the canyon wall for just a short section, and then it was back to full sun. The trail was steep. The declines were super uneven. You really couldn't get a pace. Some of them, some of the steps were, and I'm pretty tall. I'm 5'9", so some of the steps were like mid-shin. Some of them were like just above my ankle. So it's just really uneven, and using the poles really, really made a huge difference. We got to a place called Skeleton Point, which is about three miles down, about 2,000 feet. And that's when we first got our glimpse of the river. And it was just so cool to see that river. It was so far away. Such a beautiful sight.

[37:16] We went down to the tip-off, and we had lunch. We crossed the rolling hills of the Tonto, where it was just canyon walls all around. You were kind of like in this flat-ish oasis, and just left or right, all you saw were the canyon walls. And the Tonto was super, super hot. It was in the upper 90s. Again, no shade on here.

[37:38] But I really enjoyed that section of the height because it was just, it was easy. We reached our campsite and the whole campsite was shaded with cottonwood trees. There was a creek and a marshy area, which I really didn't expect in the desert. And then this is where we set up for our camp for the next two days. And it was quiet because of the shutdown. Most of the time and our guide kept on saying you know usually this place is packed in October because that's rim to rim season but because I think the fire and the shutdown many people just kind of aborted their plans so we probably came across at any given time six to ten people on the trails and most of the sections it was just us so it was just super quiet so day three day three was the day we were getting down to the river.

[38:31] And I really, really looked forward to this day. So our day three was about 12 miles. We did an elevation loss of about 2,000 feet, and then an additional gain of 2,000 feet to get back where we started. And we did about seven and a half hours of hiking.

[38:49] We woke up to the alpine glow of the sun rising on the canyon walls. I mean, there's just nothing like sleeping below the rim of the canyon. The campground was half empty, So it was super quiet that night.

[39:01] So we started downhill. Our goal was to reach the river and come back up. We did two off-trail adventures. One was looking for those granaries that I had mentioned before. And then another was taking a little side trip into this area called Pipe Creek Canyon. And this was super amazing. It was probably one of my favorite sections of the, it was kind of off-trail. It's not considered part of the corridor trail. And there were towers of pink granite walls. I mean, I don't know how many feet high they were. but it was just beautiful it's almost like a slot canyon but not quite and we spent you know some time exploring in that off trail before we went down to the river itself and then we reached the river and that was just such a sight to behold the mighty colorado the bottom of the grand canyon here i was standing in a place i just never thought i was gonna able to get to it was just unbelievable and took off our socks and shoes and i know the guide like got in the water and kind of dipped in. And there's no way I was going to do that because the river was flowing. It either flows green or brown. And it was flowing like chocolate brown that day. Not thick, but just nice ice cold chocolate brown. And I just sat on the rock. You know, I went in up to about mid-thigh and just kind of stood in there for a while, just amazed that I had gotten down here. And we kind of sat there and talked. There were a few people down at the river. Just amazing that we had made it down there. It was just the coolest feeling ever.

[40:30] And then we climbed back up to camp. Again, uphill climb. This particular section of the trail, it was steep as well. There were some switchbacks that had grades from like 14 to 30%. It's called the devil's corkscrew. And I remember I just crushed those switchbacks. I just climbed nonstop. I had no issues with my breathing getting up there. And I just felt so great about that. because prior to working with Summer Strength, just getting out of breath on the hills was one of my biggest issues. There were hills here that I couldn't climb 10 feet without stopping. So it was just amazing to kind of crush through that.

[41:09] We went up, had a little rest in our tent. I didn't get any more cactus pots for the rest of the trip. We decided that we were going to take another adventure because we had some time to kill. I think it was like 3.30 or so in the afternoon. So we decided we're going to go to the cliff's edge to see the river again from a higher vantage point and we were gonna have a sunset dinner there so we started um on our adventure and we were doing some cactus hopping and we ran across um we actually the guide almost stepped on a grand canyon pink rattlesnake so it's super cool to see this this is a venomous species of rattlesnakes that's not found anywhere else but in the grand Canyon. And it's pink. I mean, it was neat. It was just laying there, didn't rattle, didn't even seem to care that we were there because it looked like it had just eaten. But that was one of the things that was on my bucket list of not to see in the Grand Canyon, but I'm so glad that we did.

[42:04] So we had that sunset meal after seeing that pink Grand Canyon rattlesnake. And it was just breathtaking. The views of the trip, the views of the Colorado River from where we were on the edge of the cliff. The sunset was coming in. There was a little bit of a rainstorm that was also coming. So the way the sun and the clouds with the river and just the canyon in the background. We took a picture of our food kind of on the cliff there. And that's just one of my favorite photos. There's just the view was just indescribable anybody that goes there should go down and take a take a look at this view it was just that amazing and that night we spent at our campground, wasn't a good night's sleep because one of the things about camping is you can't control who's around you and there was a a pretty decent snore in the campground next to us which didn't impact me because I packed had I packed earplugs but my husband had a little bit issue sleeping that night. Day four, after spending the second night below the rim, We got up, had a leisurely breakfast, strapped on our 90-liter backpack. I think it was probably weighing about 30 pounds now since we had all the food and stuff. And we didn't have to carry as much water out because there were water spigots every mile and a half on the way up.

[43:25] This day was a little challenging in the respect that the days prior had been in the 90s. So it was really arid, very, very dry. It was easy to get dehydrated because everything evaporated. But today, the weather we had on the day out was super humid.

[43:46] We climbed out. It was 73% humidity. There was no rain, but there was a hurricane that was coming in from the West Coast that was impacting Arizona.

[43:57] And when we trained here, I remember one of our training days, we hiked in some really awful humidity. So, so we were prepared for that because we were used to it. And I just remember I, you know, climbing those last four and a half miles. So from the campground to the top was four and a half miles, a total of 3,092 feet. And I crushed that health climb. It was, it was easy for me. And I was just shocked. We were able to get up and out in about three hours and 42 minutes. We had about two hours and 40 minutes of total hiking time. So each mile and a half, we would stop at the rest house. We chatted with some other hikers, sharing our stories, sharing our snacks, because I had like the most amazing snacks and the other hikers were struggling with some of their food. So I shared that with them. And my husband was struggling because the night before he had a poor night's sleep. So he ended up kind of lagging behind me on the switchbacks. But I told him I needed to keep going because I was doing really well. I wasn't having any breathing issues. I wasn't sore. I needed to keep my momentum going.

[45:07] So every mile and a half or every half mile, you know, I'd stop, kind of wait for them to catch up, regroup, and then we continue. So we did that up until about the last half mile. And when you're climbing out Bright Angel, there are two tunnels that you come through. And that kind of tells you you're nearing at the top. And that's where you see some of the tourists and whatnot. Most people, if they're going to come down, come down to about a mile and then go back up. And I remember as we were going up, you know, we had just spent three days in the Grand Canyon. I was coming out on our fourth. I noticed that all these tourists, they smelled so clean. And it's just, you're so used to smelling nature that this was just such a different smell than we had been used to for the past couple of days. And hearing the comments coming from the parents, you know, telling their kids, you know, hey, move over. Those people just came up from the bottom.

[46:01] Seeing the joy on the faces of the people who were even just coming down a mile, just being below the rim, it's just such a unique experience. And so as I was getting up there, you know, I had that 90-pound pack on or that 90-liter pack. I felt like I was walking a little taller. I just, I was covered in everything nature. I had been immersed in all this beauty. I had seen and experienced so many things that so few people do. My soul was just refreshed my heart was full and I was a little bit shocked I was a little bit sad I mean it was over but it felt amazing I actually crushed that goal that that surgeon said I would never do something like this again and I didn't think I'd be able to do something like it it was just it was amazing anybody who has the chance to go to the Grand Canyon should should absolutely do it, And then, you know, that just sounds like such an incredible journey and so

[46:58] many like, yeah, it just sounds absolutely amazing. So I guess in the days afterwards or even the weeks after this trip, how did you feel after it? Like what was going through your head in those days afterwards? And did you do anything in particular to celebrate just exactly what you'd accomplished?

[47:17] We did. We absolutely did. I mean, I felt amazing. I didn't have any pain. I didn't have any issues at all the entire time I did the hike after all those roadblocks I had before. I felt so accomplished.

[47:31] The Grand Canyon sees about 5 million visitors a year, and only 1% of those people actually go below the rim all the way down to the river and back. And I was a part of that, 1% of people that do it. I mean, the Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and some people don't even get to see it. And here I was, you know, with the memory of being at the bottom of it. It was just incredible. I had been working to get to this trip for years and it was over, you know, it was, it was amazing. I got down there, I did it. Um, one, one thing that I felt when we came out because the government shut down, there wasn't anybody there. And, you know, everything that I had read, people would say, you'd come out of the Grand Canyon and, you know, people are clapping and they're ringing bells because they know, you know, by the backpacks, who's been down there and who's not. And there was nobody at the top when we surfaced like literally nobody standing there to say help look at them they just came up from the bottom so just for a minute I was sad we had been off grid for so long um we finally turned on my cell phones and I sent a message just letting people know hey you know I'm done I did this I'm still alive and then all these messages came in about you know congratulating me a job well done they knew I could do it how proud everybody was and.

[48:49] It was just, it was incredible. We were there for two weeks. Like I said, Grand Canyon was just the four days of a two-week trip. So we ended up celebrating by spending the next two weeks visiting several other national parks. We spent some time in the Sonoran Desert. We overall hiked 95 miles in those two weeks with a cumulative elevation gain of about, 18,000 feet in the two weeks we were gone between all the ups and downs that we had did. So this was our delayed 30th anniversary. Our anniversary was in September, and we decided that this is what we're going to do to celebrate that. And it couldn't have been a better way to do that. Not many people want to be dirty and unshowered for days in the Grand Canyon for their 30th anniversary, but for us, it was exactly what we needed just to get away and experience the beauty of it.

[49:45] And then looking ahead now, now with this, you know, a little bit, you know, a little bit accomplished and behind you, what's the plan of attack for your hiking moving forward? What have you got on the calendar or what are you dreaming up? Talk us through that.

[50:01] Well, I wish I had more time to do all the things I want. But in the short term, I'm going to return to just continuing to hike my local trails that are available to me in the metro parks and our national park. I do volunteer in our national park twice a week, cleaning and repairing the trails, so I'm going to continue to do that. We're coming up to my frozen waterfall hikes, and we do about seven or eight of those in the snowy season. So that starts up in January, and I'm super excited to get back to doing that too. And then beyond that, we're trying to decide which national park we're going to visit next year. We have planned a hiking trip in Hocking Hills for April, which is where my love for all of this really started. And the long-term goal, which I might have to come back and see you, Rowan, is looking at a two-week trip backpacking in the Swiss Alps. And that would go from Venice to Munich over that two-week time, kind of staying in some different huts and castles. And if I'm going to go overseas that's one of the first places I'm going to go is the Swiss Alps.

[51:12] Yeah fantastic oh how good well as we're coming towards uh the end of this episode now um as I said I think a lot of the listeners like will definitely resonate with a lot of the things you've kind of said said today so I guess if anyone was listening to this and maybe they were in a similar situation to where you were, you know, as you were talking about previously, or even was just considering an adventure in this type of part of the world, what advice would you give them?

[51:44] Well, kind of like I was telling myself when I was recovering from my hip surgery, I mean, life is kind of about taking risks. And if you never take those risks, you're never going to achieve your dreams.

[51:56] So, I mean, the Grand Canyon specifically, it's a hike like no other. I mean, the extreme heat, depending on when you hike there, the unique challenge that the Grand Canyon brings is that you have to hike downhill first and then back up. And it's all or mostly exposed terrain with lack of consistent shade and there's really no water on a good part of the trail so being prepared if you're going to do a trip like the grand canyon is definitely something that you need to to take into thought just to be successful i mean specifically for the grand canyon looking at like heat mitigation strategies because it's so hot when you go you sweat and evaporate so you don't really realize that you're dehydrated.

[52:41] So because of that, you also need to know where your water sources are, carry extra water, cache the water, making sure you're drinking electrolytes, have salty foods. You got to stay hydrated. You got to eat while you're doing these hikes. Otherwise, you're going to end up in trouble. And then the hiking poles. I use hiking poles all the time, specifically because of my hip surgery and having some balance issues from time to time and because of that lack of strength I used to have. But in the Grand Canyon, I think you need to use those for the support because of how uneven the terrain is. And it'll save your joints with all that downhill hiking as well. And then have a plan. Talk with others on the trail. Look out for each other. There was one person that was hiking alone. She never made it into camp the night that she was supposed to. Came in the next day with the rangers. So she ended up getting dehydrated, got lost, and spent the night on the trail. So you need to make sure you have a plan. Let other people know and talk. So people know to look for you if you don't show up.

[53:43] In regards to the hip and having a hip replacement, don't underestimate your abilities. I mean, trust yourself. Think big. Prepare and make it happen. You know, if you train well, not just physically, but mentally as well, do your research. Know what you're getting into. You'll have an amazing time. You'll see so many incredible things. You just have to do it. It's totally worth it. Yeah, fantastic. Well, I think this has been such an awesome episode today, Jodie, and I think we've just covered so much really interesting stuff. And as I said, I think this is just really going to resonate with a lot of people. So from my side of things, you know, thank you so much for coming on board and taking the time to share about your adventure and everything like that. And I really appreciate it, and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing, yeah, all these adventures you have ahead for the future.

[54:41] Yeah, I mean, I really appreciate you being out there on Facebook. That's where I first saw you doing what you do. It's just such a unique training aspect of training. You don't really see that. Can't give anything like that locally.

[54:57] So it's really such a unique thing that you do that made a huge difference for me. It made me accomplish a goal that I never thought I'd be able to do.

[55:05] So I appreciate it. Kudos to you for putting that program together for me. No thank you jody so there we go guys i really do hope you've enjoyed today's episode and i really do hope it's inspirational for a few different hikers who maybe have had a similar conversation in the past around their future as a hiker or maybe just eyeing off some fantastic adventures and maybe do have some limitations or something like that holding them back and i really do hope this has been a great episode, to give you that inspiration.

[55:37] Last thing I will say is if you were a hiker, maybe iron off something that you want to do and you're not 100% confident if the body is quite where it needs to be, or if the training you're doing currently is really aligned to what you need as a hiker, then I would love to chat with you. If you did want to find out a little bit more about this program that Jodie used to get ready for her adventures, you can go to summitstrength.com.au slash online. Now, on that page, we have a big video which talks a lot more about our program, dives into kind of what it's all about, how we go about things. And if it sounds like something you want to learn a little bit more about, there's a link on that page where you can book a free call with our team. We can have a little bit of chat, learn about you, your situation, your hiking, and ultimately see if and how we may be able to help you out. So with that being said, If you want to find out more, go to summitstrength.com.au online and we can take it from there. So with that being said, thank you again for listening. Hope you've enjoyed it and we'll talk to you very soon. Bye.

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