We did it!

We're back from our big hike, and although we are tired, stiff and sore, we feel great. We totally conquered that hike!
We'll each post soon about our experience, but I wanted to give you a small taste of what we saw.

A view of the Grand Canyon before our hike, at about 6:45 a.m. on Saturday:

Down we go:

There we are, at Plateau Point, 6,500 feet deep in the canyon:

More to come!

It's go time!

This is it. We're heading out. Wish us luck!

The final countdown

This time tomorrow, I will be throwing some last-minute items into a bag, packing a lunch, loading my car, and heading up north with Kelly.
We’ve gone over our packing list several times, trying desperately to ensure that we don’t forget something.
I’ve tried to think of everything, including extra zip lock bags for our cell phones in case it rains and bobby pins for when Kelly gets annoyed that her hair keeps flying in her face (I’ve got you covered, Kel).
But we also want to pack judiciously, as whatever goes in our day pack must be carried for the 12 to 14-mile hike.
We’ve discussed snacks at length. She’ll bring the trail mix and granola. I’ve got the dried fruit and pretzels.
All this week, as I thought of random things I might need (a hat! hand sanitizer! extra contact lenses!), I threw them on the kitchen table:

We’re almost ready!

A pile of support

Since I began this fundraising/hiking journey, I've received many donations. A lot of them came through my online fundraising website, where family, friends and co-workers left comments of support.

But I also received several checks in the mail, attached to handwritten notes of encouragement.

Some were funny.

"Remember, watch out for mountain lions and boulders. Otherwise, enjoy the hike." That was from one of my former journalism professors at Kent State.

Most of the notes reminded me about how many people are rooting for us to succeed.

My Aunt MaryAnn said, "I'll be anxious to hear all about your adventure," and my mom's cousin wrote, "I'm sure it is going to be very challenging. I think it is great what you are doing ... You go, girl!"

Friends of my in-laws requested that I take lots of pictures, and of course, I'm all too happy to oblige THAT request.

One of the most touching donations came from an unexpected source. Mike forwarded my note about my hike to several of his friends, including Adam and his wife, Annalena.

Adam and Annalena donated, and then they passed the note along to Annalena's parents. Both of her parents, whom I've never met, donated. Annalena's mom sent me a note that said, "Thank you. I hope you have a great hike in the beautiful Grand Canyon."

Having so many people behind us is what is going to get us up those last few miles.

The real goal

We've been hiking all over Phoenix to train our bodies to handle hiking the Grand Canyon, but the last few months have more importantly been about raising money that will support cancer research.
Meghan and I hope that our efforts, through the help of all of you, will indeed progress treatments and find a cure to eliminating all cancers.
It's a big goal and I'm not sure our $6,000 will cover it.
But I can tell what the money you helped us raise will do.
Scientists will have additional funding to conduct more trials, putting them closer to identifying a cure. The financial burden for patients struggling with cancer will be eased. And through the programs like TEAM in Training offered by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, others will be motivated to raise money for the fight.
If you haven't already noticed, there's a list of people on the left side of our blog that we are hiking in memory of.
Since the hike is this weekend, I thought it was the perfect time to take a moment remember each one of these special people again.
The first one on the list - Kathleen McCormick-Carr - is my mom. She passed away after a five-year battle with breast cancer in 1994.
As we hike this weekend, you can bet we'll be thinking of her and all the other, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and friends on this list who are no longer with us. In fact, the logo above will be on the packs we carry on Saturday.
We're hiking to keep the people we love here and also help ones we've never met. Hiking the Grand Canyon will be a life-changing experience and a great physical challenge conquered, but the real goal will always remain - finding a cure for cancer.

Bees, gnats and a freaky-looking chuckwalla

On Sunday, for our last hike before our bigbigbig hike, we decided to hit the Holbert Trail at South Mountain. Kelly has done part of this trail, which takes hikers to a summit with an amazing view of the entire Valley.

We find the trailhead with no problems (for once), and step onto the trail. We hear a buzzing sound that seemingly comes from everywhere.

“Is that … bees?” Kelly asks, horror written all over her face.

I don’t answer her. I just speed up, thinking we will get past it soon. After several minutes, we realize that we are surrounded by tiny wildflowers. And the bees are all throughout the flowers.

So we do what any rational, well-trained hiker would do. We run.

See, we figure the faster we hike, the quicker we’ll finish the five-mile trail. The only problem is -- we’re not runners. We both hate running. So this gets old after about five minutes.

We stop. The buzzing is louder than ever.

We finally pass another hiker, and she tells us that if we can just make it to that tower up there (she points), the buzzing gets much quieter.

We start jogging again. She’s right. About a quarter mile up, the buzzing subsides.

That’s when the gnats begin attacking Kelly, much like they were attacking me on our last South Mountain adventure.

As I listen to her behind me, describing how they are landing on her eyelashes, I catch a glimpse of something grayish move through a bush just ahead of me.

It’s the size of a large bird, so I bend down slightly to catch a glimpse, and I see a GIANT REPTILE WITH A RED TAIL.

I stop dead in my tracks and start slowly backing up.

“Is that a bird?” Kelly asks.

“Nooooooo,” I breathe quietly.

“IS THAT A GILA MONSTER?!?”

You don’t want be bit by a Gila Monster. It would not be good. We verrryyyy carefulllyyyyy crept past it.

However, after some extensive Internet research (i.e., looking at lots of freaky lizard pictures), I have determined that what we saw was actually a harmless chuckwalla. Our guy looked like this one:

Anyway. We finally get the top of the mountain, and I realize I’ve been on this summit before! Many times! Only then, I had DRIVEN up.

It’s my go-to outing for all out-of-town visitors, the only mountain in the Valley you can drive up. It’s an awesome way to see the Valley from high up without having to hike.

Funny how it always seemed like a long drive.

By this point, the gnats are in full force attack mode.

“Can we go? Can we go? Can we go? Meg, I gotta go!” Kelly yells as I desperately snap two pictures. I turn around, and she’s running back down the mountain, trying to escape the bugs.
After a minor ankle twist, more bugs, and a return to the surround-sound buzzing, we were finally done. And we’d never finished a five-mile hike so fast.

I think it’s safe to say…. We’re ready for the Grand Canyon.

Tackling Piestewa

This past weekend, Meghan and I logged our final hikes, gearing up for our quest into the Grand Canyon on May 9.
On Saturday, we tackled this monster shown above - Piestewa Peak.
From this viewpoint, it's easy to grasp that this would be a rather difficult hike. But from the bottom of the mountain, it doesn't appear all that daunting.
We learned quick though as we weaved through tons of people (this is one of the most popular hikes in Phoenix) that this was one tough challenge.
Piestewa is only about 2.5 miles round trip, but you are going up the whole time until you reach an elevation of 2,608 at the summit.
Every time we thought we were close to the top, we would turn another corner and see that there was another leg of the hike to go. This seemed to go on forever.
But the satisfaction of reaching the very top of a mountain is something that's hard to beat. And once we reached the summit, we made sure to take a moment to soak up the amazing views.
Another challenge conquered. Now there's just one more to go.