It’s A Way of Life

It’s your fourth day in the Grand Canyon, and you’ve had a long day of

hiking beneath the South Rim. It’s arid, hot and smoldering and the day has now

come to a close. You’re miles from civilization and completely isolated, as you lie

back into your sleeping bag without a worry in the world and look up at a sky so

dark it looks like black velvet.

This is what life is like for Lin and Jim Musgrove, a retired couple who

have developed an interest in hiking and take what they call an annual pilgrimage

to the Grand Canyon for multi-night backpacking trips.

The couple got started separately when Jim began hiking as a Boy Scout.

As an adult and now a Boy Scout leader he took his son, Grant, on a 10-day

extreme hiking trip to Philmont, a Boy Scout high-adventure park in New Mexico

in the Rocky Mountains. Lin’s interest in hiking evolved in the early 1980s when

she started kayaking and was drawn to the outdoors. She had to hike in order to

get to where she was kayaking so it became a natural progression she enjoyed.

In 1994, Jim took Lin on what was to be billed as a once in a lifetime

backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon and the couple has now hiked close to

1000 miles at Grand Canyon and are systematically covering all of the trails

below the South Rim.

“We typically like to go out there in either May or September when the

temperatures are moderate, but even at that we have hiked in the Grand Canyon

in June and seen snow and we’ve hiked in September and early October and see it

hit 115 degrees down in the canyon,” Jim said.

Hiking isn’t for the ill experienced. People do die every year, and that’s not

just a scare tactic used by the rangers. Generally those people don’t know what

they are getting themselves into and that’s when things go wrong. An experienced

hiker knows that the unexpected can happen, but will generally have multiple

backup plans.

Having hiked in the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone in

Wyoming, Big Bend in Texas, the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, the

Appalachian trail, and all parts of the country, they both agree hands down that

their absolute favorite is the hike in the Grand Canyon.

“I think we’ll know when we have to cut back on some of the extreme

things we do, but I think God-willing and feet, legs, and hips holding up, we can

do it forever,” Lin said.

From scratch, backpacking could be very expensive, but they’ve

accumulated and upgraded equipment throughout the years. “It’s the kind of

thing where you can spend whatever you want on it, however much you’re

willing, but you don’t need that much,” Jim explains.

A typical pack consists of a tent, which costs $250, sleeping bags for $200,

a sleeping pad for $50, a stove for $40 and water filters for $100.

Just ask Margaret Winkler an outdoor enthusiast. She’s been hiking since

she was in college and says that if you wanted to just start out backpacking today

and have the proper equipment, you’d probably expect to spend between $600-

800 before you ever leave home. The good news is once you make the initial

investment, it’s almost free after that because you just pay a minimal park fee to

enter and the costs associated with traveling to get you to those places.

Perhaps the most essential aspect of hiking is footwear. A good pair of

boots will cost you anywhere from $130-$250 depending on the brand and

material used. The process of breaking in a new pair of boots is a slow and

sometimes painful process and requires months of wearing before ever using

them on a trip. Proper socks are a must and once your feet have stopped growing

a good pair of boots can easily last a decade.

Preparation is just as important. Knowing where you are going and the

terrain of the land, how you’re going to get there and what the weather will be like

is key.

Ray Watts became interested in hiking through hunting as an adolescent

and realized he enjoyed being outdoors. He became re-interested in his thirties

and forties when his son, Aaron, was a boy scout. “Now, I would never go on a

hike of any distance anymore without the capability to deal with cold weather,

wet weather, not being able to get food or water, not being able to go out without

a flashlight, a compass and maps and ways to start a fire,” Ray said.

Water is also a critical element and it’s advisable to take at least one to two

more bottles than you think you’ll need.

Margaret laughs as she recounts of a story about an incident when she

went hiking in Glacier National Park; afterward the trek was affectionately

nicknamed the “Death March”. Ray and two other friends were with her when

they left to begin the 15-mile hike. Ray and Margaret were prepared, each had

lots of water, but the other two had forgotten to pack any or at least didn’t have

very much. “By the time we got back from doing the last five miles, we each

bought two big Gatorades and drank them all right there.”

Another important aspect of hiking is the people you hike with. Jim and

Lin prefer to hike by themselves, while Margaret and Ray prefer groups from two

to six people. For Margaret, pleasant company is a must. “You have to be able to

enjoy spending time together to be able to sit there and talk to each other all day

and still that night after you’re finished hiking.” Silence is just as important

though. You have to be comfortable to sit and share the scenery also. It’s a time to

be quiet, peaceful, and sometimes spiritual.

Hiking is something quite addictive. Once you experience it, you always

want more. Both Margaret and Ray, and the Musgroves still hike year-round no

matter the weather and continue to keep a list of places yet to be visited. In

addition to their annual trip to the Grand Canyon, Jim and Lin set a goal to hike

to the highest point in every state.

Margaret and Ray are planning a trip this August to Crater Lake in

Oregon. “It’s glacial blue, and is just pristine looking. It literally is just a big old

crater about 30 miles around and I’ve just always wanted to go there ever since I

saw a picture of it,” Margaret describes.

As far as taking pictures, they’ve all learned that it’s not the most

important thing anymore. “You have to have been there for a picture to evoke a

feeling and that’s what I want, a feeling of being there and I can do it just by

closing my eyes,” Lin said.

Lin says that hiking is a unique opportunity to see things in a different

way. “Hiking is just sort of a natural way to get to where you are going for the way

we live our life.” For Margaret, the adventurer, traveling to new places and being

outdoors is a must. As for Ray, “there are all kinds of amazing places around, it’s

just a matter of finding the time to get to all of them.

For many, hiking is something that can be done no matter your age or

physical fitness, it’s about being immersed in nature and enjoying the simple

things in life. Just ask Lin, Jim, Ray or Margaret and they’ll tell you.