Darkest January.  You have been indoors too much. You’ve counted the fireplace bricks. You know how many paces it is from wall to wall. The terrible and terrifying stories of cabin-fevered trappers suddenly seem plausible. You’re not capable of dismembering anyone. But you can understand how it could happen.

 

Not should.

 

Not yet.

 

This means you should be planning something that will force you to stop being indoors, which is why we call it an outing.

 

Here’s a thought: If you haven’t been to the Grand Canyon, you’ve thought about it. Make this the year. If you’ve already stood at the rim, or maybe walked a ways down the Bright Angel Trail, you’ve thought about hiking to the bottom. Maybe you thought about going rim-to-rim—or R2R in canyon-speak—because everyone says the north rim is more beautiful (which makes you wonder who decided to build all the amenities on the south side). And if you are a real dreamer, maybe you thought about going R2R2R.

 

But then you got old. Or older. And you decided going R2R2R was too much of a challenge.

 

Possibly, but not inherently. And retiree Renee Clark will tell you why. She has a nice piece in the Sierra Vista [AZ] Herald, in which she is both encouraging and informative. (Side note: Sierra Vista claims to be the “Hummingbird Capital of the United States,” which, if you were planning an outing, ought to rank right up there.)

 

This is the encouraging part: If you are over 60 with a bit of hiking experience, and you’re in reasonable health and willing to put in a little time training, she says, “the R2R or even the R2R2R hike may be more within your reach than you might think.”

 

This in the informative part: She broke her R2R2R trip (around 50 miles with side trips) into five segments over seven days, so that she had time to relax and enjoy the surroundings. She recommends going just after mid-May or just before mid-October, so you’ll need to amuse yourself until then. But sometimes just having that adventure on the calendar is helpful. And it gives you a reason to get out there and train.

 

The really informative part details how to go about coordinating accommodations, dining reservations (if desired), and camping permits with the concessionaires. It’s complicated and you need to plan ahead, but this is all doable. So get on it. You’ll feel better.

 

Photo: Trail in the Grand Canyon, via NPS archive.