The Grandest of the Grand

I did it!!! After taking a year off I returned to the Grand Canyon to hike from the North Rim to the South Rim in 12 hours. It is such a great feeling of accomplishment for me. I love knowing that I can do hard things and that I want to do them. We had a incredibly large group with an incredible planner behind it all. There was a total of 25 hikers and 3 drivers. And my cousin Kelli kept track of everything from who rode in what car and where we slept. Thank you Kelli for doing that. We got to the North Rim on Friday night had a great dinner and an okay folk singer entertainer. Then off to sleep to start the hike at 5:15am. To be completed by 5:15pm. It was so nice to hang with my dad for a day. Being one of eight kids I don't get a lot of one on one time with my dad but I had an entire day. I loved it. It was his 65th birthday and he spent it hiking the Grand Canyon. Incredible. I think my favorite part though was coming out and trying to race Abby. Karrie had made the trip up and Jake and Abby hiked down about a half mile. Abby had way too much energy and kept saying she was going to beat me. I tried running with her for about 30 seconds and then decided yep, she is going to win and beat me out. I also loved having everyone at the top cheering for me as I came up. I felt like a champion. I had such a great time even though as I type this the bottoms of my feet hurt, my calves ache and I will have trouble standing up. I will go back next year and push myself. I want to go in under 10 hours.

Random pictures from the trip. I tried to put them in order and it wasn't working.
The Goodman hikers: Aunt Diane (driver), me, Matt, Luke (he finished in 5 hours 48 minutes, wow!!), Craig, Dale (my dad), Jodi, Kelli, Ryan (who hiked about 17 miles on a broken foot, once you are in the canyon there is only one way out and that's up, he is amazing), Uncle Jim, Nick and Jeremy.

Most of the hikers: Steve, dad, Katy, Jodi, Matt, Jeremy, Luke, Nick, Craig, Ryan, Pam, Kelli, Richard, Cami, Kourney, Chuck, Dyan, Ryan, Uncle Jim. We are only missing, Billy and Karynn, Sherry, Penny, and Duane and Royann



The North Rim of the Grand Canyon with my dad, Jeremy and Matt. It is one of my favorite places in the world. It is so incredibly beautiful and peaceful. I love it.


The bridge over the Colorado River, the bottom of the Canyon. Me, dad, Penny and Jeremy.

Matt and Katy left a birthday message for my dad. It either says Dale, Happy birthday to you or Dale, How bout them Yankees. Not sure which one it is.