I have not read those articles yet. It is on my to do list, but work (I work nights) has been killing me the last few weeks and this week is no different. Don't they know I have trips to plan!

Far as the heat here, well... We live in the Phoenix area, so the inner canyon will be a few degrees cooler than what we have at home. It's taken us a bit to "get used to" the heat as we moved out here from Orange County and San Diego. We should be to the inner canyon (if all goes well) while the temp is still in the low 90s; not the best hiking weather but doable. We'll be getting plenty of water along the trail as all the water stations are currently up and running right now. We also will each be carrying about 4L at the start of the trip and have cut caffeine and alcohol out of our diets until after the trip.