[blparent] Article from USA Today News 2010 10 15

[Veronica Smith]

If you all have any doubt that a blind child can do anything they set their
mind to, just read this article.  V

Blind hikers know no limits

By Dennis Wagner

Don't look down' not a problem for adventurers tackling Grand Canyon

GRAND CANYON

Just before dawn, 13 blind and visually impaired hikers begin a descent into
the abyss, unable to see the trail  or the gaping chasm they're about to
enter.

Their plan seems audacious if not crazy: A group of adults and kids from the
Foundation for Blind Children is out to complete the Grand Canyon's
24.3-mile trek from rim to rim in one day on a rock-scrabbled route where
even sighted hikers are one false step from a fatal plunge.

The challenge, considered grueling even for experienced sighted outdoorsmen,
is so demanding that signs warn not to attempt it.

But the Canyon Crawlers, as the hikers facetiously dubbed themselves before
last Sunday's expedition, are out to make a point to themselves and to the
world -- that those who can't see can achieve and appreciate one of the
planet's Seven Natural Wonders without viewing it.

By day's end, 10 of the adventurers make it out, some of them long after
dark, sporting blisters and scrapes as badges of courage. Two spend the
night with guides on the canyon floor exiting a day later. One gashes his
leg so badly in a fall that he must be flown out by helicopter.

Marc Ashton, chief executive officer at the Phoenix-based foundation, says
he believes the expedition set a rim-to-rim record for hikers who can't see.

Our goal was to prove to the world that blind people can do anything," says
Ashton, whose 14-year-old son, Max, was among the successful trekkers. Our
climbers proved they could.

Something to prove

Camping Saturday night, the hikers share dinner and anxious humor around a
bonfire at 8,500 feet.

Seven men, four women and two boys trained for months with volunteers,
practicing on urban peaks. But the Canyon crossing has no comparison: More
than 50,000 steps, with extra strain and stress for those unaware of what's
underfoot.

By firelight, the youngest, 12-year-old Dillan Owens of Mesa, sits in silent
trepidation. Dillan's vision began to fail in fourth grade. Doctors found a
brain tumor. Two surgeries have followed, then repeated chemotherapy
treatments since last September.

I'm pretty nervous," the boy admits. But we're going to prove to people that
the blind and vision-impaired can do something.

Mike Holsten of Phoenix, the oldest participant at 64, was a correctional
officer at a state prison until late last year. An infection after cataract
surgery took nearly all of his vision in January.

Holsten chokes up briefly at his loss -- "It was like getting hit with a
baseball bat, you know? -- then apologizes for what he considers his
momentary weakness.

Though Holsten and his wife, Rosey, are experienced hikers, he admits being
unstable. I can't see my own feet when I'm standing up," he says. So every
step is a crapshoot.

Staying on their on toes

Wakeup call Sunday is 4 a.m. Fed and prepared, the group assembles an hour
later. The guides are wearing headlamps.

Each visually impaired person works with at least one sighted guide who
provides step-by-step instructions that reverberate softly against canyon
walls: "Step down here. ... Step down again. ... Mule crap here. ... Now a
big rock. ... Step up. Cliff on the left ...

Dillan latches onto the backpack of his father, Jay Shingleton, and seems to
become a trailing appendage.

Mike Armstrong, a 40-year-old with prosthetic eyes, follows the jingle of
cowbells on a guide's belt and uses a pair of walking sticks as antennae,
reading the trail like Braille. When he strays near a ledge, a guide to his
rear shouts, "Whoa, Mike, where are you going? and taps him back in line.

Because paces vary, the Canyon Crawlers are soon separated over several
miles. Sighted people along the way are curious and amazed.

Pretty ambitious," says Brian Clark, 33, of Pittsburgh. I thought about what
it would be like to do this with my eyes closed. ... I'd be filled with
anxiety.

At noon, word spreads that Michael Holsten fell after only a few miles,
cutting his leg, and was evacuated by air. Twelve remaining hikers, duly
sobered, continue.

Debi Black, 51, of Sun Lakes, blinded by retinitis pigmentosa for nearly 30
years, falls several times, twisting an ankle, suffering scrapes and
bruises. Undaunted, she listens as guides describe majestic cliffs beneath a
dazzling blue sky. She says she can picture the scenery from their words, as
a person conjures images while reading a book.

Everything echoes in the canyon," she adds. You can just feel how huge it is
. 

By dusk, hikers are strung out along switchbacks on the Canyon's Bright
Angel Trail. Fatigue and reduced oxygen levels at high altitude take a toll
on Dillan, who begins wheezing. His father and another guide urge him on.

As the boy summits the South Rim, he seems stunned, speechless, proud.

He tells himself he can't do things, and I know it's totally the opposite,"
his dad says. Debi Black is the last to complete the trek on Sunday, --
after 17 hours.

That was the hardest thing I've ever done," she says later, "worse than
childbirth. But it was just beautiful. So beautiful, but so painful.

Wagner reports for The Arizona Republic