Last week I and my two brothers and two of my nephews made a four day trip into the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We spent four days and three nights in the canyon. We walked to the bottom and crossed the Colorado river on one of two suspension bridges across the river. We spent some time at the Phantom Ranch and listened to a biologist explain how the canyon was a critical part of the California condor recovery program. We even got to see a couple of these larger carrion eating birds in flight over the south rim of the canyon.
Many people have seen the canyon from the rim but only a small portion of the park’s visitors actually make it down into the canyon. The canyon is over a mile deep and it has canyons inside of canyons inside of canyons. Once inside one of these inner canyons it is hard to grasp the concept that this is all part of an even larger canyon.
Of course, you don’t walk down there without lots of water and lots of gear if you are planning to camp in the canyon. Try as we might, there seemed to be no way to trim the pack down below about fifty pounds. Putting this pack on was a rude awakening to fact that it was going to be a along haul into the depths of the canyon and an even longer haul back out again.
I did a lot of walking and treadmill work in preparation for this trip, but I would be less than honest if I said it was easy. However, I really have no room to brag about the fact that I, a man in my mid-fifties, had any superhuman qualities during the trip into the canyon. After all, my older brother was a carrying a pack equal to my own and he is 74 years old.
Let me tell you about this guy. He lives in Tucson and moved there in 1960 because of a severe problem with asthma. The climate certainly helped his asthma problem and somewhere along the way he started climbing mountains and then running. During the 1970's he ran at least a dozen marathons and once finished the Boston Marathon in less than three hours. That was when he was in his forties.
He eventually quit running but has continued to climb the many mountain peaks that surround Tucson. He is retired now days and still manages to climb one of these mountains every week. He walks several times a week as well and looks and gets around like a man even younger than me.
Though this story may seem like it is about my brother, it is actually about the fact that continued exercise into the later years of your life can have a very beneficial affect. He is living proof that this is true and I intend to stay as active as I can for as along as I can. My brother may not live any longer than anyone else, but I know for a fact that his quality of life has been greatly enhanced by his active life style. My older brothers were always role models to me but I think my oldest brother may have given the greatest gift of all, which is the realization that, although, we will get older, we sure don’t have to act like we are old.
PITTSBURG —
