Canyon Kinetics

Behind the Scenery

How can you prepare for a hike into Grand Canyon? Explore the ups and downs of canyon hiking on the human body. Preventive Search and Rescue A.K.A. “PSAR” about share how you can best prepare your body to get ready for a long hike.

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TRANSCRIPT:

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CANYON KINETICS – Transcript L: Leslie Grove - unnamed hikers B: Brendan Oates A: Anna Marini S: Stan Lindstedt A: I won't consider myself a through-hiker just 'cause it was just 400 miles but I have done a 400-mile hike of the PCT... L: Wait, did I hear that right? That hike was ‘just 400 miles’? I think Anna and I might have different definitions of the word “just”. L: Welcome to Canyon Kinetics, a Behind the Scenery Canyon Cut. My name is Leslie and I’m an intern here at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. In my last podcast episode, What to Eat in the Heat, I chatted with all manner of canyon folk in my search for the perfect Grand Canyon snack. (Spoiler alert: it was salt. No really, salt, anything with salt.) In today’s Canyon Cut, I’m chatting again with rangers from Preventive Search And Rescue here, A.K.A. “PSAR”. While my last episode focused on how to best address your dietary needs as a summertime hiker in Grand Canyon National Park, this episode will explore the “ups” and “downs” of canyon country hiking – and how you can best prepare your body physically before descending below the Rim. You’re listening to Canyon Kinetics, a Behind the Scenery Canyon Cut. - ‘Down is optional, Up is mandatory’. The weight of that is starting to grow on me as we come back up. - I personally am, like, not a huge hiker but I trained a little bit for this B: Okay. - -and, uh… well, we trained to go from the bottom to the top; not both ways. But I ended up doing a pretty good job, I mean, I’m in decent shape.

B: Nice. And how did you guys – so, I know you said you trained a little bit – but how did you guys prepare for this hike otherwise? - So, like, seven of our friends all live in Portland and we, uh, we've been running up and down stairs at one of the parks. And then I was doing, like, body weight exercises, trying to prep for this hike out. - And I live near the beach in LA, so, I took- I just walked in the dry sand for like 2 1/2 miles after surfing every day. B: Is it hard to get, like, the elevation? - Yeah, I thought that would work out my calves out a lot – oh, and I also packed a pack so I had, like, 20 pounds on my back. B: Okay, sweet. L: I remember sometime in the past year, I was at the gym back home, just on the treadmill. And usually when I’m on the treadmill, I get this kind of tunnel-vision and don’t really notice the world around me. But this time, something caught my attention. There was someone using a machine in the row ahead of me, this individual on the StairMaster. And he had this massive hiking pack that he – I assume – had fully stocked with whatever he would take on a potential trip and he was just going up the StairMaster. And now that I think about it, that was probably an excellent workout for whatever this person was training for, I assume some extreme mountainous trek. But at the time, I couldn’t help but think… the StairMaster is hard enough as it is! Like, without however many pounds of gear were loaded up on his back. And this was just practice! So that kinda blew my mind in that moment. How do you prepare yourself for a hike? What questions do you ask yourself before stepping onto that trail? Here’s Anna Marini, Grand Canyon PSAR Lead, with her approach: A: Before my hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, I was definitely training and doing training hikes with my backpack on. You know, making sure you know your gear is helpful because that's gonna be on your back and you don't want to carry too much. And what happened with me personally when I was on that hike is, I injured myself because my pack was too heavy and I probably didn't train correctly. So, after that I have completely changed how I want, you know, how I want to train for things like this in the future. I am a big advocate for hiking poles. After I did a long distance hike in 2015, I have realized that I can't leave home without my extra set of arms. They just are such an assist with hiking uphill and downhill to save your knees, you know, and to have a little bit extra stability especially if you have a backpacking pack on, you know. It's so heavy so it's nice to be able to have that balance and have that support for your body I'm getting a little older and so I wanna I can't just bounce back as I did when I was in my young 20s right and so I wanna make sure that my body is ready and prepared for those- for the hiking that I do here today and the possible extended hikes in my future. L: Anna started us off with some excellent ideas on how you can begin training for a hike. But there’s one thread that she mentioned that I really want to emphasize – hiking downhill. Here with an explanation of the goings-on in our bodies when we hike downhill is physiology professor-turned-PSAR Ranger Stan Lindstedt. S: And, as I mention to people on the trails, we’re an upside-down park. Normally, you go up a mountain until you get exhausted and then turn around and come back. But hiking down first can be deceptive. If they hike down in the mornings, it’s cool, when you turn around all of a sudden it’s a lot warmer and it’s a lot harder going up than down. The challenges of hiking uphill and downhill are very different. So, hiking uphill, the big challenge is the amount of energy that’s required by the muscles and the amount of heat that you’re producing – people are not aware of the fact that anytime you use your muscles, you’re producing heat. That’s great in the winter, if you’re cross-country skiing, but not so good if you’re hiking in the summer. So, you have a huge amount of heat that you have to get rid of. And that’s where sweating is important. Hiking downhill on the other hand, it’s not energy, as much as it is biomechanics. Anytime that you’re hiking downhill, you use your muscle as a break. And that is, especially on a long hike, for example, hiking into the canyon, that is something that we don’t do very often. And your muscles are very plastic in the sense that they’re used to, whatever it is, the way you use them. And if you’re using your muscles in a novel way, using your muscles as a break, hiking downhill, the muscles themselves are likely to respond with microdamage. And that damage can be pretty significant. So, I always - we all have had experiences where we’ve talked to people who have done a long downhill hike, woken up the next morning – or worse, it’s 2 days later – and they have pretty serious... it’s called delayed onset muscle soreness. And that delayed onset muscle soreness results in muscle weakness. So now when they’re hiking uphill, they’re not having as much muscle strength as they would have had if they didn’t have that muscle damage. So now you’ve got a hiker, who is down at the bottom of the Colorado River, very sore muscles, and those muscles are now weaker than they normally would be. And that hiker now has to hike out and they’re not going to have fun doing so. L: Personally, I wouldn’t want to be that hiker, would you? What can you do before you start your hike to avoid being in a situation like that? Anna and Stan have a few more pieces of advice regarding building and repairing muscle, knowing your personal limits on the trail, and gear for hiking in a place like Grand Canyon. S: That kind of muscle use is called eccentric muscle use, using your muscles as a break. And for those people, you want to have a sufficient amount of protein in your diet that you can replace that protein that got damaged in your muscles. And so, the protein diet will provide the building blocks for new proteins for yourself. So that’s the extent to which I would recommend making sure that you have an adequate amount of protein in your diet. Not for calories, but for the building blocks necessary to repair any muscle damage that will inevitably be caused on a long hike. A: I think there's a couple different categories of people. There's people that didn't really look at a map, didn't really look at the time, you know, just kind of decided to keep walking downhill 'cause it's really easy to walk downhill, right? There's people that plan their day as far as timing. Like, we're going to hike for another hour and wherever they get, you know, they stop, which is kind of a good thing – until you realize that going downhill is very fast so you make it farther than you planned in an hour. And then there's those people that are, like, we’re turning around at 3 Mile, at the 3 Mile rest house. So, there's, you know, a couple of different types of people and you can kind of gauge through conversation what kind of those kind of types those are. So, with all that I always encourage people to stop before you get tired 'cause you need to save your energy for the hike up. And little trick that we use is, I tell people to spend a few minutes, turn around right now, and hike uphill. You know, feel how difficult that's going to be and realize that that's going to be the rest of your hike out is that much hiking and exertion. And so that's something that we like to encourage people to do when they're not quite sure when they want to turn around, you know, try to hike uphill for a little bit, see how that feels. But people surprise us every day, you know. You really can't predict who is going to get sick and who's not or who you know I even fall and get hurt. You know, I don't judge anybody wearing sandals 'cause I love wearing hiking sandals myself but say it's flip flops that don't look sturdy enough or it’s loafers that really will probably be uncomfortable but who knows maybe they hike in them all the time. I don't know until I ask them, right? I think it's it's more of what you're used to, hiking-wise. It's just whatever your feet are going to be happy in, is my best recommendation for footwear. And as far as clothing… I am really an advocate for sun protection all around so not only do I wear sunscreen but I also wear some clothing and that sun clothing is made out of material where when you soak it in water it's actually really nice and cool on your skin so you'll see the PSAR rangers in the creek full on or under the water spigot completely trying to drench themselves because it's actually really nice and cool when your when your body is soaking in water in the heat of the day. We call that “Grand Canyon air conditioning”. L: Honestly, I could have used some air conditioning on the trails this summer, even up here on the North Rim! Anna, Stan, any closing thoughts? A: I don't think so. I think it's just more, you know, telling… making sure people know that if they need to take a moment before they step on trail to think about what's in their pack. To think about, did they have breakfast, did they drive all night from Las Vegas so they could get to the Canyon, you know, what is their – what's their training then, like, before this hike.

Even a simple day hike, people can get into trouble and not have fun the rest of their trip. So, just taking that moment before they step down trail to- making sure that they thought about what they're about to do. And a, you know, three-mile round trip hike isn't a big deal for a lot of people but anything can happen to anybody and you never know when your body is going to have a hard time. So, do what you can before you start hiking to prepare so you could have a fun time. I always start with the belief that everyone is there to really enjoy the experience. And so, I tend not to be very rule-oriented as much as I am experience-oriented. So, my job is, when I’m interacting with people, is to try to join them as a partner. I like to ask everyone, “Hey, where are you headed today?” And oftentimes, I can give them an alternate turn-around location that maybe isn’t as deep in the canyon, but is a wonderful place to – and I’ll say this – a great place to stop and have a snack, enjoy the view, drink some more water, and then head back out. I do this because I myself love the Grand Canyon so much and I want to make sure that our visitors leave the Canyon loving the Canyon as much as I do, to ensure that their experience is one that they really enjoy. And they leave the trails saying, “Wow, that was fantastic. I want to do that again.” And I know that’s only possible when their hike is enjoyable and they don’t exceed their own limitations. L: I think that that is the key to hiking in Grand Canyon: knowing your own limits. It’s really important to take the time to consider two things: realistic goals for your hike and how you will achieve them. Before hitting the trails, ask yourself: ● What brought me here? ● How have I physically and mentally prepared myself for this hike? ● What supplies have I chosen and why? ● Have I had an honest discussion about my abilities and expectations for this hike with my hiking mates? ● What resources are available to me? What questions should I ask a Preventative Search And Rescue Ranger? ● How can I hold myself accountable so that emergency response resources can be directed towards those in serious need? If we all take the time to prepare ourselves for our hikes and listen to our bodies, we can all have an amazing experience visiting the Grand Canyon. This has been a Behind the Scenery Canyon Cut. A Grand-Canyon-sized thank you to Anna Marini and Stan Lindstedt of Grand Canyon PSAR, Ranger Brendan Oates of the Inner Canyon District, and everyone else who lent their voices to this podcast. Here at Grand Canyon, we gratefully acknowledge the Native Peoples on whose ancestral homeland we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home here today. For more information about Preventative Search and Rescue operations at Grand Canyon National Park, refer to the Emergency Services webpage at nps.gov/grca. And if you run into a roving PSAR Ranger, say Hi! And have an honest discussion about your hiking capabilities, expectations, and supplies. PSAR Rangers, volunteer and full time, can be found at trailheads and along the trails in the Canyon to help you make the best of your experience. If you enjoyed this podcast, I encourage you to listen to “What to Eat in the Heat”, my other Behind the Scenery Canyon Cut episode, in which I interview Anna, Stan, and others about dietary health while hiking in Grand Canyon. Alright, all this talk of muscle damage is making me sore. I’m gonna go stretch or something. Bye!