354. Rim to Rim Hike in Grand Canyon: My Experience

This week I’m taking a break from our usual podcast topic, TMS and chronic pain, and instead, tell you all about our rim to rim hike (#r2r) in Grand Canyon.

We didn’t have a ton of time to prepare for this hike. About 3 weeks ago our friend who lives across the country, messaged us and asked if we’d like to do the hike. Somehow he had managed to get the camping permits which usually need to be booked about 6 months ahead! So, we decided that of course, if we got so lucky, we’re going to give this a try.

Over the course of 2 days, we hiked a total of 25 miles / 40 km, going first all the way down to the bottom of the canyon and then coming up to the other side of the canyon. On day 1, it was all decline (5740 feet / 1750 meters elevation change) to the bottom, and on day 2, it was all incline (4340 feet / 1322 meters).

It was hard, fun, challenging, beautiful, and it definitely tested our physical and mental strength. It was definitely one of the hardest physical challenges I’ve ever done in my life, similar to running marathons which I’ve also done but the last one was over 10 years ago!

In today’s episode I tell you all the details about this hike, including what we brought with us, what we ate, where we slept and so on. I hope that you find this episode helpful if a long hike, either this one or another long one, is on your bucket list!

I certainly am super grateful for being able to do something like this. When I’m hiking, I thank myself every time for doing step ups, squats and lunges at the gym every single week.

And if you’re wondering about chronic pain (TMS)… During the hike, I didn’t feel any of it. I did feel some back pain at the end of the day just before going to sleep, but for the most part my sensations are really gone because I have worked on my TMS for a long time and I am not afraid of it the tiniest bit.

Of course, you still want to have a good level of fitness before doing the rim to rim hike, so not having chronic pain doesn’t mean that you’re ready for it. You need to be pretty fit to do this hike.

Here are the products that I used on my hike (affiliate links).

Freeze dried camping food we ate on our hike: https://mountainhouse.com/

Collapsible water bottles that saved us space and weight in our bags: https://amzn.to/3Nchnfb

Phantom Ranch where we had our delicious stew dinner and brownies: https://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/phantom-ranch/

LMNT electrolyte drink – an absolute MUST on a long hike and also the only thing I drink during my gym workouts: https://amzn.to/3YeHFU4

My Columbia hiking boots: https://amzn.to/3YeHFU4

Check out my FREE 14-day course Strong + Sensitive, meant for Highly Sensitive People and people with TMS: https://kerstenkimura.lpages.co/ss-14-day-course/
This course combines mindset tools + FREE strength training workouts!

Emotionally Fit is my new emotional healing program for chronic pain or other chronic symptom recovery. You can find it here: https://kersten-kimura.teachable.com/p/emotionally-fit

If you are looking for a safe and effective, BEGINNER level strength training program, check out my brand new Train to Build STARTER: https://kersten-kimura.teachable.com/p/train-to-build-starter

For an INTERMEDIATE level strength training program, check out Train to Build: https://kersten-kimura.teachable.com/p/train-to-build

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