Hi,

First time poster and generally a newbie. I just found this site and happy it is here. I'll be spending alot of time reading here over the next few months.

I am female, 36yrs old, and my family (husband, and 14yr old son) along with another family are going to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim in June. I'm here to learn, train and get ready for this trip

My background: I live in southern Florida (where the closest thing we have to a hill is an overpass on the interstate). We do head up to North Carolina every summer for a few weeks of hiking and mountain biking and do day hikes (usually I have a 20 to 30lb day pack). I've never done an overnight hike. Those day hikes are generally 7 to 10 mile hikes on the AT or similar trails after we've spent the morning mountain biking several miles.

Besides that, last fall I participated in the3day, a 60 mile walk for breast cancer, where I walked over 60 miles in three days in the heat and humidity of Tampa Florida. (again, I wimped out on the tent camping and opted for a hotel. )

My biggest concern over this upcoming trip is not the distance or the climb or the gear. I've been to the GC 2 other times and done day hikes down and back of 10 miles (5 down, 5out) for a few days in a row. But those were always with just day packs. So I can do distance and the climb - but doing it with a 40 or 50lb pack has me nervous.

My current training routine is:
3 days a week - 1hr treadmill at 20% incline (no pack yet) at 2.5 mph.
3 days a week - full body weight workout
2 nights a week - 4 mile walk at a rate of 4+ mph
Weekends usually I'll do 30 to 40 miles biking along with 10 - 15 miles of kayaking, weather permitting.

by the by - my 14yr old son - is 6 ft tall, 150lbs and has gotten Presidential Fitness award every year for the past 8 yrs in school. He is also a lacrosse player, for both his middle school team - and is also playing at the highschool level for the school he will be attending next year. Bottom line - he's fit - but he will be joining me on some of the training to prepare for carrying his pack.

My husband is also quite fit, but I will be the first to admit - none of us are ready for that pack.

I'm also worried about making sure our friends are also prepared and trained for this. They are also pretty active and fit, but being in FL, we all don't have mountain experience.

We have 4 months to train and to get all our gear and get ready for this trip. This has gotten long winded so I'll cut it short. I'm sure someone will reply with a concern about the June trip and heat of GC - we have plans for that I can explain in another post.