Photo By 1st Lt. Wes Parrell | Members of the Arizona National Guard participated in a single day 23.9-mile...... read more read more
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Grand Canyon, Ariz. – The National Park Service reports that more than 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon every year. Ninety percent of those visitors see the canyon from the South rim and less than one percent of visitors ever venture below the rim into the vast rugged wilderness below. This would not be the case for the nearly two dozen Arizona Guardsmen on this trip.
When we arrived at the North Rim Visitor Center, the NPS statistics rang true. Staring comfortably from the ledge above, flocks of tourists in crisp, conventional rugged wear and name brand hiking boots with little worn tread gazed out into vast openness of the canyon as they strolled along the lookouts of the North Rim lodge. All seemed pleasantly content with the creature comforts at the lodge, with no intention of ever entering the canyon below.
It struck me that we, as a culture, try to stay on the well-beaten path. Just like visitors of the Grand Canyon, we stick to our areas of comfort. We all know someone who is struggling in one area of life or another, but we don’t want to get too deep. Going through our own challenges in life, we would rather just watch from afar than commit ourselves to helping someone headed down a steep rocky trail.
Since 2001, our nation’s veterans have turned to suicide as a way of coping with the demands of life at an alarming rate. A recent study released by the Department of Veterans Affairs, nearly 20 veterans a day commit suicide, 21 percent higher than the adult civilian population in the United States.
The Arizona National Guard’s Chaplains Corps has taken on the challenge to help save our Guardsmen head on. In 2013, they began a new initiative under the Strong Bonds program to connect with service members and provide them a tangible perspective to the challenges of life.
The basic concept is simple. Service members participate in a single day 23.9-mile rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon. The event, obviously physically challenging, is focused on building interpersonal resiliency of service members as they endure and enjoy what the canyon has to offer.
Started in 1999, the Strong Bonds program is a chaplain-led program that builds relationship and individual resiliency. Its mission is to increase Soldier and Family readiness through relationship education and skills training.
Chaplain Johnathan Lockhart, chaplain of the 98th Aviation Troop Command and organizer of the Strong Bonds retreat, explained that the rim-to-rim hiking experience is a 13-hour snapshot of the everyday challenges a person may face in life.
“As you enter the canyon from the North Rim it seems easy as you head downhill and you’re just cruising along,” Lockhart said. “As you begin to cross the bottom of the canyon, you just start going through the routine of walking, resting, eating and snacking. This parallels daily life of going to work, home, sleep, repeat. Then you realize you are in a hole. In life, this may be a financial hole, emotional hole, a wavering marriage, or dead-end job. You have to find a way out and the only way out is to climb. The only way out of the canyon is to hike the long hard climb out.”
We began to unload our vans and set up camp not far from the North Kaibab Trailhead. Our tents would be home for the night. As the group prepped gear and went over their packing lists Chaplain Lockhart began a fireside chat with an open question about why each person signed up for the trip.
There are as many reasons to go on a rim-to-rim hike as there are hikers on the trail. With the participants of this trip’s ages ranging from 19-57 years old and covering all demographics of life and military experience, individual motivators varied. For most of the Guardsmen on this trip, it was the search for adventure, and many were looking to prove to themselves that they could still rise to the challenge of a major obstacle and accomplish a personal goal.
As he explained in our pre-trip meeting, Lockhart shared with the group the 13-hour snapshot of life and the trail. He expressed the importance of building strong, trusting relationships in one’s life and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Soldiers and how to apply those concepts to each person’s life. At the conclusion, everyone was released to self-reflect and prepare for the upcoming day’s challenge.
The day of the hike began early. The group awoke eager to hit the trail and talk of trail snacks and hiking pace dominated the morning conversations. Some final tips about the lacing of hiking boot to prevent blisters and proper height adjustment of trekking poles was given and the group loaded into the vans to be shuttled to the trailhead.
We arrived and the North Kaibab Trailhead at 6:30 in the morning. The light overnight rain stimulated the natural aroma of the surrounding evergreens and the smell of wet soil enhanced the view of the rugged terrain that laid out before us. It was easy to sense the building anxiety of the hikers as we awaited our release into the wild.
Chaplain Elmon Krupnik, the state chaplain for the Arizona National Guard, reiterated the importance of teamwork and safety. “This is a long trail and in some areas rough. Remember to lookout for one another and pace yourselves. The strength to complete this hike comes from one another, not just from yourself.”
As promised, the initial miles were easy and progress was swift while the mind was preoccupied taking in the sheer beauty of our surroundings.
Whether by common pace or complementing personalities, for most of my hike I fell in with Staff Sgt. Craig Dilka, a sheet metal mechanic with the Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site. Dilka, a young fit Soldier, had an easygoing outlook on life. He joined the Guard at 19, and has served 11 years, with one deployment to Afghanistan in 2007.
Although we had never met before this trip, it was easy to find topics of conversation on the trail. We spoke of family, and work, and our military experiences, pausing only to take pictures and make comment on the awe-striking views of the canyon.
“It amazes me how much more emotionally balanced I get after only a few hours in nature,” Dilka said. “Even though I may not be consciously thinking about anything specific, my mind is so much more clear when I do have to make a more complex decision after going on a good hike or a weekend of camping.”
Throughout the day, other participants echoed Dilka’s self-reflection to his hike almost unanimously.
Veterans have turned to the wilderness for therapy throughout history. In 1948, Earl Shaffer became the first person to report a thru-hike, walking the entire 2,190 miles, of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He was a World War II veteran and part of the reason he was drawn to hike the A.T. was to "walk the Army out of his system." In 1965, he hiked again, this time from Maine to Georgia. On his third thru-hike, 50 years after his first, he became the oldest thru-hiker at age 79, a distinction he held until 2004.
After reaching Phantom Ranch, a campsite near the Colorado River and just beyond the distance halfway mark, many of the hikers stopped for an extended break to eat lunch and nurse blisters and muscle aches. Very few of the hikers were immune to these common ailments, and with over 15 miles complete, the daunting 9-mile climb out of the cannon was still ahead.
“This is where things start getting tough,” Lockhart said as he witnessed a few of the hikers moving slower than they did at the start. “Make sure you are looking out for your fellow service members and stick together. Remember, the only way out is to hike; giving up is not an option.”
With weary legs, the hikers pushed on and the gaps between groups grew on the steady uphill climb from the canyon bottom. Physically tired and emotionally drained by the never-ending switchbacks and false summits, paces slowed and breaks lengthened.
Darkness began to fall quickly as the sun fell in the sky and the mile-deep canyon blocked the light. After completing a rigorous climb on a section of the trail dubbed “the devil’s corkscrew,” the hikers came into full view of the final climb from Indian Gardens to the South rim.
It was nearly dark and the light from the South Rim Lodge shined as a beacon to the final destination. Headlamps from hikers still on the trail dotted the canyon wall as they climbed the 4.9-mile, 3,090-foot accent from Indian Gardens.
As you hike, your world closes in and you are just focused on the situation you are immediately in; sore legs, fatigued muscles, and you just focus on the next step. You forget to lift your head up and look around at the big picture. You’re in the middle of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and there are other people around you going through the same thing you are. Eventually, one by one, each of us exited the canyon, completing one of the most challenging day hikes in the country.
To put it into perspective, the Grand Canyon’s rim-to-rim hike is commonly compared to climbing Mt. Whitney in California, the highest peak in the lower 48 states, which is a 21.6-mile, 6,000-foot climb undertaking.
The next morning Chaplain Lockhart conducted a reflection on the experience with the group. One by one, the group expressed how they found strength within and gained support from the other hikers to make it through their difficult times on the trail. Each person gave acknowledgement to their hiking partners in helping them find the strength to go on when they thought they had reached their limits.
Many of us go through life on autopilot as if following a predetermined path to our final destination. We begin life exploring the vast options that lie in wait for us. We make it a point to have new experiences, participate in different hobbies, and find what will define who we are.
As time progresses, we become more routine, take on more responsibility, establish a family, and build careers that shift our motivations. As the responsibilities make constant demand of our time, our pleasures in life are redefined. It’s not because we have stopped enjoying one thing for another, but we have less free time and we must prioritize how we spend the time we do have.
Eventually the list of enjoyed doings becomes a list of “used to do’s”. I used to fish; I used to rebuild cars. The list goes on and continues to grow with age as personal fitness and medical conditions create limitations to our capabilities. Faster than we care to admit, the ever-increasing pace of life and the dwindling amount of free time, we have turned vacations into places we visit rather than places we experience.
Eventually, our stress relievers are overshadowed by the sources of our stress. Developing ways to identify stress and ways to deal with it are key. If the situation is becoming too difficult, using your resources and getting help from your support system is the next step.
“Just as in life there will be times that you cannot go at it alone,” Lockhart said. “It is important to establish a support group of people that you trust, people that will tell you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear. That is what Strong Bonds is all about.”
In the end, each of us agreed that this was a life-changing event that everyone should experience. No classroom curriculum can compare to the fully captivating and tangible experience that this event provides to service members about resiliency, teamwork, and the importance of having a strong bond with your fellow Guardsmen.
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 09.26.2016 13:52 |
| Story ID: | 210606 |
| Location: | GRAND CANYON, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 1,474 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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