Episode #52: Hike Strong, Hunt Better. Special Interview with Leslie Rice

We argue that hiking is the strongest lever a quail hunter can pull in the off season, then invite Leslie to share why desert miles build health, confidence and joy. We cover training basics, smart sun, scouting on foot and bucket-list routes in the Grand Canyon and beyond.

• why three to five trail miles make hunts fun, not brutal
• the math of seasonal mileage and realistic field demands
• heart, lungs, legs and balance as the hunter’s engine
• weight loss reducing joint load on rough terrain
• mobility as independence and longevity
• mental benefits from quiet miles and hard climbs
• vitamin D, mineral sunscreen and UPF layers
• scouting quail habitat while hiking Arizona trails
• Leslie’s favorite hikes, from McDowell to the Canyon
• simple starting plan, shoes, routes and consistency

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Arizona Quail Today, your go-to podcast for all things quail hunting in Arizona. We're dedicated to educating and inspiring the next generation of quail hunters. A big thanks to our supporters and proud partners, Arizona Outdoor Adventures, Fathers in the Field, and Marsupial Gear. Thanks for tuning in, and now let's dive in today's program.

How Many Miles Quail Hunters Really Walk

Off‑Season Hiking As Quail Training

Health Gains That Show Up In The Field

Mobility, Aging, And Longevity

Getting Started And Building Consistency

Sun, Vitamin D, And Smart Protection

SPEAKER_02 0:34

All right, welcome to another episode of Arizona Quail Today. Ryan in the studio coming at you. Want to do a little introduction on a special podcast about hiking. I know in one of the previous episodes I covered with you when the episode dropped March 6. I did episode number 50, 10 off-season habits for better bird dogs. Well, this is the number one thing that you can do, not your bird dog, but you can do to be a better hunter. The number one thing that you can do to be a better hunter. And I'm going to say hike. Okay, I could say number two. I think health, like eating of what you eat would be really, really important, but hiking. And so in this episode, I'm going to share with you um some interview with my wife, who's an avid hiker, and she's going to share some of her insights about hiking and some of the things that we like to do. So but before we do, I'm going to walk through a series of points about the importance of hiking and how my my thesis is that if you hike you'll a lot more in the off-season, you're going to be a better quail hunter. So typical quail season mileage, uh, a normal hunt can be up to about five miles on foot in a in a f in a few hours. And so over 10 to 20 hunts, you can imagine that's roughly 30 to 100 miles of hiking in quail country. So, you know, you put on some miles. And so in if you if you can't hike, um, and I said a normal hunt up to five miles. So I know some guys will go sometimes less, sometimes more, but I I just kind of came up with that number based on my own experience and um what I thought is is fairly realistic. I know plenty of guys that do 10 mile days from time to time, but that's a lot of country, and um, you're just touching a covey and running. And so anyway, I love to hunt the way I like to hunt. And uh getting out there running sometimes, maybe just maybe you don't need to do five miles because you bump into all sorts of birds and you have plenty of time and it's all good. So um I would hate the pressure of being a guide and having to manage all the covey site locations for me. Um so um it's if you're guiding, you're probably doing a lot more miles because you're gonna have to be good to the birds and not pound them, you know. So I get it. You're probably putting on more miles, but the average quail hunter, I'm gonna say, is probably a few miles on foot, and uh and uh you'd add that up over uh you know, 10 to 20 hunts. That's anywhere thirty to fifty thirty to a hundred miles. So hiking in the off season actually becomes pretty much like quail training. Hiking builds the exact systems that you need, like heart, lungs, legs, balance, endurance. And if you can comfortably hike, right, a few miles, three to five miles, uh, hunt feels like fun instead of brutal. I took a guy out hiking, uh, let's say hunting the other day, and the guy was just struggling, huffing and puffing. And so, and I say the other day as within this last season, and depending on when this uh podcast drops or you're listening to it, you're like, the other day, like when it wasn't, you know, during the quail season. So hiking in off season is quail training. That's how like quail hunting training, it's it's good for you. Uh another idea is that health benefits that translate into the field. I mean, if you're regularly hiking, listen, that's gonna lower your blood pressure, it's gonna improve your heart health, it's gonna help control your blood sugar, your weight, you're gonna better balance ankle strength, it means fewer falls, rolled ankles, and avoiding that I'm done moment in rough terrain. Yeah, and so like if you hike a lot too, that's gonna help with your weight and your joint load. Every pound that you lose, several pounds of pressure off your takes pounds of pressure off your knees. So say you drop 10 pounds, and some of you guys could easily go to lose 10 to 15 pounds. You don't need that extra weight, it's hurting your body. It it when you when you uh take these thousands of steps um in your training in the off season, getting your body more acclimated to uh longer hikes, you're just gonna do better on your joints, period. And and hiking and weight management go hand in hand. A couple of miles of hiking can burn hundreds of calories at a time. And consistent hikes, you know, plus little small nutrition tweaks slowly chip away that extra weight that holds you back. And so um I'm gonna encourage you, like get healthy, get strong. You're you're you'll thank me for it. Uh and here's a phrase, mobility equals uh mobility and morality. Uh mortality, not morality, mortality. Think about this. Um your wake up call, your stat, here it is. When older adults can't walk even a quarter mile, listen to this. Their one year death risks uh risk jumps dramatically. Like if you can't walk a quarter of a mile, then you're you're getting close to dying. So losing your ability to walk comes before losing your independence and then the activities you love. So don't stop walking. Like the strongest muscle in your on in your body is your legs. Use your legs, ladies and gentlemen. All right. So hike. Hike. And I say hike because I think running is harder on your joints. So hike is good for you. Anybody can walk. Hiking is like mobility insurance. Every mile now is like a deposit into this bank account for uh exploring in the later parts of your life. So hiking protects your daily function, getting around, do what you want to do, go travel, see your grandkids, just you know, have fun and travel and go to uh hunting in awesome remote areas. So hiking is your mobility insurance. And and it also helps with just your there's all sorts of other other benefits, a mental and emotional and physical. It lowers stress, it lifts your moods, it gives space to think, pray, reset, whatever you want to do. It gives you an opportunity just to become more patient, more present as a spouse, as a parent, as a a leader, as a hunter, as a man, as a woman, and it's just good for you. So how how do how do you start? Well, you start with 10 to 15 minutes a day. If you're not doing it, you s you start at least a couple times a week, you take some flat ground and go for it. So whether that's in your neighborhood, whether that's on a nearby trail, if you're a quail hunter, obviously. Avid quail, if you're an avid quail hunter, um, then you're you know getting into some rough terrain. So just get active and get moving, stay active in your off season. And then um, you know, I think I think that if you can see yourself like in quail hunting, like reframe your mental framework. See yourself as a hiker with a shotgun in a bird dog, not just a hunter who happens to walk. Like, think of it when you're going hunting. I'm going hiking. I'm gonna cover a few miles today, I'm gonna cover maybe five miles today. Like, think about it in mileage of how much you know uh ground you're gonna cover in a given day. I'd commit to um in the off season, you know, two to three hikes, you know, um maybe it's a month that's where you start off, a couple times a month, uh, maybe short little walks in during the week, uh day, maybe a daily deal. Um, but be consistent getting out there. Uh another thing about hiking, which I don't know if you you know this or not, but but again, vitamin D is actually really good for you. You know, I wear the Suntec hoodies that Marsupial has to protect me from the sun. Love those things. Um, vitamin D is actually really good. I was actually vitamin D deficient, and that really affects your bones, your immunity, your mood, all of that. And so, you know, you can use hiking and hunting for healthy outdoor time, but you know, you don't want to get sunburned. You need sun exposure, you just don't need to be burned. So, anyway, all I'd just say is, you know, I think that there's some good crossover and for you to, you know, realize that in the off season, when you're covering lots of ground in hiking, you're also scouting for quail, you know, like if you're hiking in the uh uh throughout the various parts of Arizona, you can hear those quail calls. You beautiful quail country. You're learning access points, you're learning parking spaces, you're learning uh habitat, terrain, uh, you're learning bird behavior and biology. Like, there's so much that you can gain just from getting outside. So I'd encourage you to do that. Okie dokie. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna just jump into this uh interview, and I hope that you enjoy it. So here we go. All right, we're in the studio together, and I have a special guest with me, the one and the only. It is Leslie Ray.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

That's that's the first time I've ever rolled my R on the Ray.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

That's funny. She is my wife. We have been married, gosh, is it 24 years?

Scouting While You Hike Arizona

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Twin and a half.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Twenty-three and a half. Okay. So in this episode, what I want to do is, Leslie, is I want to talk to you about some of the best hikes. We're talking about health and fitness and the importance of it. So talk to me about we've done a lot of hiking together, but talk to our listeners about the importance of hiking and why you love it so much, because you are kind of like the master hiker in our in our team in our little tribe.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

No, you are totally.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

I don't know. Sam. Sam's done how many miles of backpacking?

SPEAKER_02 12:37

He's done a lot.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Yeah, like hundreds of miles of backpacking.

Meet Leslie: Avid Day Hiker

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Yeah, he's done a lot.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

So I would call him the master hiker. Because when you backpack, that's another level. You're spending the night out in the woods with everything you need, a pack on your back with everything you need to survive. Yeah. That's the next level. I'm not I'm not the backpacker. I'm just a day, I'm a day hiker.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

I'm not saying you're the backpacker. I'm just saying you're the you're the hiker. You're the hiker.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Sam hikes with the backpack overnight. I do the day hikes, and you hike with the shotgun.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

That's right. That's right. You've got now now you're talking.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Riley and Maya, they don't hike at all.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

They do not hike at all. They don't like hiking.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Three out of five of us like it.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Yeah. So um, but we hike a lot, and you hike a lot. You hike more than most and most of us. I I think you do. I think you win.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

On a on a monthly, weekly, daily, I I do it more often. I make time for it. I prioritize it.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

I bet I hike a I might hike more than m anybody in the family if you added all the quail hunting.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Miles per year.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Yeah, miles per year.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yeah, because you're uh but you're seasonal.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

I I'm very seasonal, but I yeah, I have you in the off season of quail season.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

And I'll hike. Um I'll I didn't when we first start moved to Arizona, I didn't hike in the summers, but now I'll hike in the summers because I'll get you know go a little stir crazy. So, but I'll hike in the summers, you just have to wake up early. So if I wake up at five or five thirty, I'll go hike once a week, maybe in the summer.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Well, I've enjoyed hiking with you throughout the years. Um, and I've just kind of like come to this conclusion that there's a wonderful crossover that if you're a strong hiker, you're gonna be a more successful quail hunter.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Oh, yeah.

Best Hikes: Arizona To Hawaii

SPEAKER_02 14:37

All right, so let's talk about just I've got you on the podcast for a little bit. Let's talk about some of the your best hikes and why you liked them and what you did.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Well, you know, I was thinking about that question because you prepped me with it. And I was thinking it's it's kind of interesting, but to me, my favorite hiking is in Arizona because I've hiked Arkansas, I've hiked Colorado, I'm gonna throw in there Canada and Alaska, and Amazon. I sound like a world traveler.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

And and Utah. You've hiked Utah.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Yeah, we've hiked through Rice Canyon and Yeah, national forests.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

I've done, I mean, um, national parks, Yellowstone. I'm gonna have to say my favorite hiking is Arizona.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

And um You hiked in Joshua Tree?

SPEAKER_01 15:31

The reason why California. Yeah. Yeah, Joshua Tree, and then um, oh, even uh where is it in that you're wanting to go climbing? Just the Yellowstone.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Tetons. Tetons.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yeah. That was really pretty. That was really pretty.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Tetons was Ginny Lake was probably that was kind of iconic. Yeah, that was but the thousands of people ruin it.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah. But here's the thing okay, Yellowstone hiking in Yellowstone, I was scared to death. I hiked with a gun, and there were buffalo and there were buffalo right there. We saw the bear right before I started my hike. So I had a gun, but then I still had this looming threat of even if I need to use it, I can't use it or I'll go to prison. So I know.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

And even if you shot it with that nine millimeter, it's still gonna come after you.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

And then so you're navigating wildlife, and then you're hiking through sulfur fields, and so then that feels dangerous. I mean, so Yellowstone was not my favorite for those reasons.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

That's funny, yeah. And then um who would have known you love the desert so much?

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah, same thing, Alaska and Canada. You've got the threat of bears there, yeah. Um, Arizona, um, Arkansas, there's bugs and all the humidity, and the forest is dense, but in Arizona, you have amazing skies. Huge skyscapes, yeah. The views are amazing, and then there's there's actually a lot of diversity in terrain here, and so yeah, even just our hike in the McDowell Mountains, like you go through various terrains just in just in a single hike, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Um, we just hiked what 10 miles and 2,000 something feet in elevation, 2,700 feet, yeah. 10 miles. That was a good little loop.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

So I'm gonna have to say my favorite all-time hike. Um so far. So far, number one for sure, the Grand Canyon. Amazing. And I thought I was gonna be a one and done, and now I'm hooked. Now I'm like, I wanna do well.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Wait, save save your bucket list for later in the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Okay, Grand Canyon was amazing. Um, and then my other second favorite hike actually was Hawaii. And really, unfortunately, you missed out on that one. I hiked alone there.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

What where was I?

SPEAKER_01 18:04

On our 20th anniversary, I hiked alone. Where was I? You were scuba diving.

Why Desert Trails Win

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Well, I don't regret that. Right. I know I think I literally was face to face with a shark. And I and I approached the shark with mad skill fast, and and this shark got scared of me and swam away. And later this dive instructor actually said, You did the actual very best thing. Because if you run away from the sharks, they think you're the prey and they'll bite your foot.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Well, let me tell you about the hike. Why I love the hike in Hawaii, because the views were amazing. I mean, I'm hiking on a ridge, and there's the epic waterfall. So beautiful. You see the ocean, you see the green, you see the waterfall, and I was hiking through eucalyptus trees. So then you have the smell of the trees, and just the trees. There's like different, there's two or three different types of eucalyptus trees that you're even hiking through.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

It was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

You never told me all that when we were back in Hawaii, or maybe I just it was eclipsed by the scuba dive.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah, I told you. You just don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Wow, that actually sounds wonderful. Yeah, I definitely want to do that again. Was that on Honolulu?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

That was in Maui.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

In Maui.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

So I don't even know if I could find that hike again. But I found I used all trails for it. Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

Oh, you should totally find that hike again. Okay, but Arizona, you're hiking in Arizona. That's pretty good. I mean, that's a pretty good little list of hiking. You said you hiked in Hawaii, Yellowstone, California, you hiked Canada, Alaska, Canada, Alaska.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Colorado. The reason why Colorado is not my favorite. I do this summer, I'm looking forward to um waterfall hikes in Tell You Ride in Uray. Um, so I'm sure those will be great. But the reason why Colorado is not my favorite is because of the altitude. The altitude just messes with me. I mean, we've done 14ers in Colorado. I have done Humphreys here. Um, but yeah, the altitude.

Faith, Awe, And The Outdoors

SPEAKER_02 20:21

Yeah. All right, let's talk about we've talked about some of the best hikes. Now let's talk about um let's talk about the benefits. Like what what do you what do you love about hiking? What does it do for you? What does it do for you?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

What I love about hiking, oh, just number one, experiencing God's creation and experiencing Him in the creation. So uh Psalms 121 says, I look to the hills, where does my hope come from? My hope comes from the Lord, the makers of heaven and earth. And so when you're hiking, it's just like this amazing connection with the God who created it all, and so taking it all in and giving him praise for his creation and getting to enjoy his creation, yeah, that's just so fulfilling. It just fills my heart, gives me energy, gives me joy. So I just love experiencing um, and there's something about I know who made all of this. Yeah, like I know the creator, yeah. And um, so it just feels so personal. Um, so I love that.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Well, let me speak to that for a second, because I know we have some listeners that come from like an evolutionist, you know, perspective. So they're always talking about, you know, well, well, a million years ago, or you know, once all this came together. And here's what I would just say to those of you that hold to an evolutionary idea is that, you know, at best it's a theory. And so there's faith that you're gonna have to put into the evolutionary theory and that we've evolved from monkeys you know and the the hard part is is just like you know it it it all just there's a there was a a definite beginning and and we know that right so it's either the big bang or there is an intelligent designer and so I would just argue just to be open to the intelligent design conversation just because it is so uh powerful and wonderful and I don't think it requires any more faith than the evolutionary perspective if you could see that God actually made a very mature earth so the earth that we see is mature just as he made Adam and Eve mature. So FYI that was a side pastor note but I just want listeners that are in the evolutionary concept to just understand that perspective.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Intelligent design at least okay yeah um the older I get the more I appreciate just the diversity of um plants and the you know like I was saying the terrain and um rocks and the geological you know all those aspects of creation so um yeah the creosote the smell of the creosote I love pine is one of my favorite smells um yeah I just I just I love the sound of walking on gravel.

Quiet Miles, Big Conversations

SPEAKER_02 23:34

I mean it's funny just these little things that uh you can take for granted but the sun rises and the sunsets oh I love doing a sunset hike that's that's so fun to be able to we've done that a number of times and you're always the instigator of that which is really cool which is great like I mean like I totally would do that but not near as like intentional as you do it which is sweet.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yeah I mean one time we were hiking do you remember this we were doing a sunset hike back here behind our house and it was a full moon oh yeah and not kidding you this is this only happened to me ever once we're hiking the full moon it gets dark so it's dark the moon is up full and literally a coyote starts howling at the moon it was so cool. Oh yeah yeah no that's not my that's not the only thing that's happened to me because I've been in the backcountry a lot at you know when the sun sets and it gets dark but I do remember that and it was like yeah it was like huge moon and then sweet that was a good sound effect um I I like perspective that you get I like uh like with the Grand Canyon um you know doing hard things like we can do hard things and and it's good for us like when you're hiking out of that canyon and it is you're dying but then you look back and you see how far you've come um that's a great feeling and to be able to to to accomplish something like that so hard um yeah it's you know just the the feeling of accomplishment and perspective that you get from being outside I love just being able to um get away clear your mind it's a great hiking solo hiking is a great time to clear your mind to pray and then also it's relational time like it's so fun to um it's a great time to catch up and have conversations and talk about stuff you'd never maybe you'd never get time to talk about um when you hike with friends when I hike with you when I hike it's like hours like how many we had five and a half hours of hiking yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Yeah which is which is a long hike.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

There were times on the uphill where I I can't talk that's so low so low time just thinking.

Dogs On Trail And Vitamin D

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Yeah but that's good. Yeah yeah and I mean I l I love getting out like that too and you know I think there's a benefit in hiking just because I feel like you get the opportunity to have this kind of like extended time away and especially if you start doing a little longer hikes I see that you kind of break from the crowds once you get like just get a two miles in you know like once you hit the two mile mark usually because a lot of your you know underachievers they're just gonna go for that mile and say they went hiking and turn around because they know they went one mile they got to come back. So I love how once you break that like mile and a half two miles all of a sudden like the crowd just thins. And then you're like okay this is what I was after. Yeah you know I I wish we would have done that in Yellowstone. I think that's one of the bummers that we didn't do.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Oh I was away from the people but there's still like I said just too much the animals there was no I didn't see a single person on my trail.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Really?

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah and then But you did see buffalo yeah like close yeah yeah and then uh yeah sometimes yeah those are the scary hikes like the time I hike hiked Humphreys and we only saw ten people on the trail that day well it's because there was snow at the top right exactly you should have had crampons right when they told me it was clear um the other benefit a couple more is I love hiking with my dog so that's true um I've a corgi and he's a really good trail dog can you testify?

SPEAKER_02 27:36

I can the guy's got he's got short little legs but but Leslie what is it he he does four wheel low he does four low he goes into four low and he can just crank it out. He did 10 miles with this yesterday 2700 feet in elevation and people like act like he can't do it and I'm like back up dude this dog hikes better than you do.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

He's a working dog he's a hurting dog and then the other thing is that it's good for you the vitamin D is good and so it's good for for your mood.

Gear, Sunscreen, And Safety

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Yeah yeah I I actually did a little research on vitamin D. Vitamin D and smart sun exposure um a big chunk of adults are low in vitamin D, which affects bones, immunity and mood and so you can use hiking or outdoors hunting for healthy outdoor time but pair it with good sunscreen and if needed vitamin D rich food supplement with doctors. So do you have any sunscreen you recommend? I know I know this is kind of interesting topic but go for it.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yeah suntegrity is the b is the brand we use there's a lot of good clean ones but you want a mineral based with mainly it's like zinc is the main ingredient and so um some some people say you don't you shouldn't even put it on right away um you should you know get out there 20 30 minutes of sun exposure before you even put on sunscreen um but the main thing is that you don't get burned the sun's not what causes cancer but some burns do.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Yeah that's that's a good word. And I found that I was vitamin D short which is so weird because I hike so much but I do cover up a lot like I I cover up a lot like but I've also had my f my neck and my face covered cut off yeah I mean cut off yeah cut into me too I've had spots removed yeah if you're in Arizona it's just a matter of time I know I there is this feeling of I don't want to look like a piece of leather so I do protect and yeah I wear a lot of hats how many times have we seen that we've seen like leather lady yeah leather lady if you are leather lady listening to this like hey way to go for hiking but that sun did wear you out. You might be from Arizona you might be okay so did we cover the benefits are there other benefits you want to cover your dog was one of them sun getting outside I think friends and family hike with hike with friends and family I'm I like doing a solo hike but I also like hiking with people.

Grand Canyon Goals And Havasupai

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Yeah I go both ways it's good social time yeah it's good healthy mobility too and so um okay for time's sake you want to keep moving okay let's go to the bucket list so talk to me about your bucket list yeah bucket list is I mean I've done um Grand Canyon South uh rim to river to rim and that was Kayabab Trail and um like I said I did it once I thought it was one and done but now I'm hooked now I want more of the Grand Canyon it is so amazing and um it's there's this intimidation factor about the Grand Canyon but that's what makes it so amazing when you actually do it and complete it. And really it just comes down to training like you just got to make the time to train and so um I'm in a few weeks I'm doing Bright Angel and uh we're doing rim to river but I want to do with you and Sam and Annie I want to do rim to rim. I do not want to spend the night down in the canyon because I do not want to carry a pack out. I'll carry your pack all right yeah I do you want to do rim to rim but you don't want to camp out at the bottom yeah okay um but my big bucket list honestly it's not too over the top really I want to do have a soupie falls um I I part of the reason why I don't want to spend the night in the canyon is I don't want to backpack with a pack a big pack the overnight pack the other reason why is I don't want to mess with a lottery and having to get into the um oh come on whatever the Phantom Ranch down there.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Oh yeah that'd be so cool though.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

So it's already a lot of work but doing the lottery it's then that determines like when you go and um all that and so with have a suit pie it also you have to have the lottery and it costs a lot of money. So I really want somebody to plan that trip and then invite me into it. That's my bucket list.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Maybe maybe I'll do that or Sam will do that.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

So ideally do we stay the night yeah I think you it's like a two or three night minimum at so cool. But ideally somebody that's done it before.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

But is have a soup is it is that where Phantom Ranch is no oh so it's not it's different? Yeah oh so do you hike down and then hike to the other side or do you just hike down to this place and then go back up the same way you came?

Simple Tips To Start Hiking

SPEAKER_01 32:59

I don't know a ton. I don't know all those details but I know you you hike in there's falls you spend a few days exploring and playing and then you hike back out.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

I'd be fine with that that I could do I just I just don't feel the I don't have I don't think I have the internal motivation to go I want to hike from rim to rim in one day and not enjoy everything down there.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

It's like if I'm down there right I know that kind of I just said I didn't want to hike with a backpack and I I would do that in Havasu Pie but I don't think my understanding is that Havasu Pie is not um as much mileage or elevation as the Grand Canyon.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Okay. Well that would be good I'll definitely check that out with you. Yeah I think that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

So um other than that my yeah I mean my main thing my main two bucket list items are just hiking the Grand Canyon with my family and then doing a Habasou piece.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Yeah that you got this well proud of you sweetie all right anything you want to share with listeners that maybe they they know they need to get into hiking but they just haven't been able to do it what would you say to do? Give them some tips. Give them some encouragement to get out there and start hiking.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Oh just get you a good pair of hiking shoes buy some REI because if you don't like 'em you can take them back and find a friend. Find somebody you want to hike with and um if you can't find anybody still go hike alone and get started with some short little trails. Do start with two mile trails, four mile trails and um just get out there and enjoy your state.

Closing And How To Support

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Yeah yeah that's a good word. It's been a joy to hike with you so thanks for sharing with us today and look forward to doing many more trails. Yep so happy trails.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Happy trails thanks for listening in to help further our work please consider making a tax deductible gift. Visit us online at azquailtoday dot com and be sure to follow us on social media for the latest information and updates. Till then remember to get outside