Moab, Utah.  Mike Corenella & Mrs. Corenella, thank you both so much!  Not only for the water while I was walking into Moab, the advice, the stories, the new Montrail shoe insoles, and the excellent tour of Arches National Park -- but above all that, thank you for your enthusiasm for life!  Keep up the excellent job you and your wife are doing.

Mike Corenella
Moab, Utah
Guided Hiking/Backpacking, Scenic, and Photo Tours
(435) 260-1696
[email protected]
Deepdesert.com

6/5/13
SoilTrek.com

Grand Canyon, Arizona.  Walking 22 miles from the southern rim into the Grand Canyon and up the northern rim seemed like a simple undertaking.  However, the 110+ F temperature added a different element to the task.

The sprint down into the Canyon was fairly quick & easy.  Once I got a good pace going the only person who passed me was a trail runner, which I thought was cool.  I miss running and was actually a little jealous.

I chilled at the canteen for a bit drinking several cups of lemonade until my belly ached and talking to Noami, the girl behind the counter.  I took another siesta at the eating table, woke, filled my water bottles, and kept trucking.

At this point I had 15-miles to go to reach North Rim and I was seeing less and less people.  After wiping dripping sweat from my face several times, I knew things were about to get serious.  That trek down to the bottom was to easy for me.  They advise park visitors not to go down and come back up in one day, but I'm hard headed and had to do it.

The journey back up to the other side of the Canyon was long, hot, and uncomfortable at times.

Once the sun went down 6-hours after I left the ranch.  Shortly thereafter it was completely dark and the Canyon took on another personality.

The colorful landscapes were gone, besides the area in front of me lit by my headlamp all I could see was the black silhouette of the scaling Canyon walls surrounding me beneath the stars and satellites.  Seeing the Milky Way spanning across the sky for the first time I realized this was the clearest view I've ever seen of the heavens.

I then stopped took off my pack, sat down, took a ibuprofen, two sips of 5-Hour Energy, and several gulps if water.  Cleared my mind while massaging my feet for a bit.  I played DJ Shadow's Gi Mix (from "Do Androids Dream of Electronic Beats"), I got up and was ready to go!

With all of the switchbacks and being in the dark, the last 3-miles were the toughest.  I seemed to be going nowhere, the elevation would rise then fall for quite some time, and it was extremely frustrating.

"Don't think... be", a Bruce Lee quote and "Battle physically, conquer mentally" line were somewhere in that mix (along with a nice Whitney Houston track) and at that point I was fully engaged going full speed being careful not to slip off the ledge on one of the turns while working my way up.  

I finally made it to the top and felt accomplished. I wanted to pass out but the adrenaline was still pumping.  Great walk, beautiful scenery -- this is probably No. 4 in this trip's greatest challenges.

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Mesa County, Colorado.  This was the second day of walking through White River and Grand Mesa National Park.  The first day was extremely challenging, I could write a whole article about.  However, the second day things started to come together.  I found a reliable trail and shot this.

5/22/13
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Moab, Utah.  On my way to Moab I ran into Jason, Phil, Alex, & Simon (who took this photo).  They are from The University of Buffalo Geology located in upstate New York.  They saw my sign while driving by and couldn't believe it, these guys were great!  We talked for a bit, they offered me water, and also made a donation. 

5/3/13

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Lakewood, Colorado. On the day I left Denver I spotted this awesome statue which was dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives for this great country.

5/6/13
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Denver, Colorado.  Thank to Frank Donofrio for finding this!  This is an interview I did the day I left Denver's city limits and up into the Rockies.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7AKCTgCHig

PLEASE NOTE: I will be posting more as soon as I get to Grand Junction, Colorado in a couple of days, connectivity has been spotty within the last week.

5/6/13
SoilTrek.com

Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Thanks to Frank for taking these great photos, it was really a pleasure talking to you!

5/19/13
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5/9/13
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Davenport, Iowa. On my way out of town I was very hungry and wanted some breakfast to get me going. The local Subway restaurant was closed as well as all the other eateries, I guess because it was early Sunday.

Not wanting to start walking on an empty stomach I saw two gentlemen walking the opposite way I was going and so I asked them where I could get some food. At first they were a little hesitant, but by my attire and manner they could tell I really needed food from somewhere.

One of the gentlemen was Matthew and he told me to follow him to a place that serves meals. We walk into the place and it turned out to be a soup kitchen. I normally serve food at one of these places, however now I was on the receiving end and had no shame about it.

Matthew kind of stayed away in the corridor and so I interacted with the other individuals there. Most seemed to have fallen on hard times and had a tough past. Some of the guys there didn't want me there because I wasn't homeless and thought I was getting preferential treatment from the staff which I was totally unaware of. The rest had great interest in my journey and had a barrage of questions.

Before Matthew and I left, I said my good-byes to the guys and to the staff before the facilities manager handed me a music CD sang and recorded by her, which was a great gesture.

From that point after leaving the soup kitchen Matt and I was together a majority of the time. Which was cool because until then mostly everything I did was solo dolo.

Before Matthew and I left, I said my good-byes to the guys and to the staff before the facilities manager handed me a music CD sang and recorded by her, which was a great gesture.

From that point after leaving the soup kitchen Matt and I was together a majority of the time. Which was cool because until then mostly everything I did was solo dolo.

We went to church together that same day after a lady recognized me from the TV news and invited me. I got a great tour of downtown Davenport along with video I shot on the Skybridge where I met some of Matthew's good friends.

That last day was extremely cold due to the brutal wind, I was one layer short of being okay but I manned up and just dealt with it. Matthew had a non-verbal urge to join the trek I was on. It would have been great however I'm glad he chose to stay and iron out some challenges he was facing.

Matthew was definitely a great guy to hang with, we said our good-byes that day, however our paths will most certainly cross again.

3/3/13
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4/28/13
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