Video by Jordan Frakes and Arielle Hurst. Photos by Beth Easterbrook.
Shadow and Light: The Bright Angel Trail hides in a shadow as the sun falls on the Western horizon. Sociology senior Tanner Robinson faces north toward a windy path that has led the visually impaired hiker more than 20 miles. Robinson has been hiking for more than 10 hours. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
“Up and over,” he said.
With one hand on Smith’s pack and another gripping his trekking pole, Tanner Robinson followed the verbal cue.
Robinson raised his foot in the air, but his waterproof boot never found its mark.
The sociology senior lost his footing, let go of the pack and gravity took control.
Smith looked back.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Robinson didn’t answer. The visually impaired hiker had fallen into a sitting position on a nearby rock. His chest expanded and contracted — the sign of a tough climb.
Beside the hikers, the Grand Canyon’s red walls were frosted with green shrubbery.
A postcard view of the national park lay before them to the north. The bright sun projected the colors — white, red and gray rock swam beneath a light blue sky.
Wall Walking: (Right to left) Zach Smith, Tanner Robinson and Cory Smith hug the canyon's wall as they step over a rocky path. Robinson clings onto Zach Smith's backpack. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
Then Robinson picked himself up, grabbed Smith’s pack and continued the journey.
Challenges
With the ultimate goal of raising awareness for the blind community, the ASU senior and most of his fellow hikers — both blind and sighted — spent 10 months preparing for the trek.
The Foundation for Blind Children, an Arizona nonprofit that serves the state’s blind community, organized the hike and raised funds for its summer recreation program.
Since 2008, cuts in state funding have caused the agency to tighten its belt — a reflection of how state budget cuts have affected Arizona’s disabled community.
But taking a creative approach to fundraising could help the agency stay afloat.
Marc Ashton, the foundation’s chief executive officer, said the agency does a great job of training and educating blind individuals through its various programs.
“The one area where they really need help is to challenge themselves just like you or I or anyone else would challenge ourselves,” Ashton said.
Break time
The canyon’s layers of red and white limestone stretched thousands of feet overhead.
Break Time: (From left to right) Zach Smith, Tanner Robinson, Cory Smith (behind) and Gabe Micheletti take a long break before finishing the last few miles on their trek. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
The travelers had been hiking for about nine hours, and another break was well-deserved. They had completed 17 miles, but their journey’s end was still hours away.
The 24-mile trek began on the North Kaibab Trail on the canyon’s North Rim. When they crossed the Colorado River, the path morphed into the Bright Angel Trail, a mostly uphill track that tested both a hiker’s patience and athleticism. The ground where they rested was 2,700 feet above sea level. To accomplish their task, the four hikers would have to make a vertical climb of about 4,100 feet.
“This is tough, but I’m going to finish it,” Robinson said as he munched on energy-filled jellybeans, one of the sugary snacks he had stuffed into his large hiking pack.
The camaraderie among the hikers was evident to the onlooker. Laughter seemed to cure the journey’s aches and pains.
Twenty-five-year-old Cory Smith quipped about the previous night’s sleeping arrangements.
“Me and Tanner cuddled a little bit,” he said. “It was good.”
The comment sparked smiles and chuckles.
But Robinson was quick to respond: “You were the one rolling over all the time.”
When break time was over, the snacks were packed and bags were slung over shoulders.
It was Zach Smith’s turn to guide.
With his left hand, Robinson grabbed onto Zach’s Platypus waterbag. He gripped the trekking pole with his right.
It was time to walk.
The blind hiker
For Robinson, the world is not all pitch black.
Family Photo: Zach Smith shares beef jerky with his brother Cory Smith as the group rests in a shady area near Indian Garden, more than 5 miles from the trailhead. Their cousin, Gabe Micheletti, sits between the two, munching on trail mix. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
But a recent development of a cataract in Robinson’s left eye has somewhat clouded his vision.
“It was definitely a lot clearer,” he said, adding that surgery to remove the clouded lens could take place in the near future.
More than two years before setting foot on a sandy path in the Grand Canyon, Robinson lived a different lifestyle.
He said most of his high school and early college days were spent indoors
“I read a lot of books and I played a lot of video games,” Robinson said.
But at the end of his freshman year at ASU, Robinson’s sedentary habits changed.
A coordinator of an FBC college prep program, which Robinson had been a part of in high school, gave him a call.
The proposition was appealing — traveling to Africa and hiking its tallest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro.
“I figured I’d never get another opportunity like it,” he said.
The trip was partly organized to raise funds for the foundation’s infant program, a service for visually impaired babies and their families. During his own infancy, Robinson had been part of the program.
With his family in full support, Robinson began a yearlong training process that would fuel a new addiction.
“The first two hikes were a breeze,” he said.
But his view soon changed when he tried to conquer the Peralta Trail in the Superstition Mountains — a path that stretches 6.2 miles (12.4 roundtrip) with a 1,360-foot elevation change.
Robinson said the hike started sometime in the evening, about 7 or 9 p.m., and his hiking group didn’t finish until 2 in the morning.
“And that was a wake up call,” he said. “I started taking it a lot more seriously.”
On June 29, 2009, Robinson reached an altitude of 19,341 feet as he stood at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in the country of Tanzania. It took his group six days to reach the top.
Creek Crossing: Zach Smith and Cory Smith prepares to lead Tanner Robinson across a shallow stream. Robinson has already lost his balance in two previous water crossings. But this time is a success. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
The absence of city lights and the contrast between light and dark gave Robinson a view to remember. For the first time in his life, he was able to see the stars.
How to lead
Since January, the hikers and guides had trained in different ways, using traveling techniques that best suited each visually impaired hiker’s condition.
“Some follow a bell that’s attached to a sighted guide’s pack,” Ashton said. “Some hold onto a backpack of a sighted guide. Some hold the arm of the sighted guide. So it’s really a matter of preference in what they’ve trained for.”
Ashton said hiking is not easy for a blind climber who can’t see the path, nor is it easy for a sighted guide who must give a verbal description of the of what’s ahead.
During the Grand Canyon hike, Robinson used a “verbal cue” method that involved hanging onto the backpack of a fellow hiker.
“You gotta kinda call out the rocks and everything as they’re popping up so he doesn’t have bloody toes at the end of the [hike],” Cory Smith said.
Cues like “up,” “up and over” and a general description of the path informed Robinson of how to navigate his feet. His trekking pole provided balance as his guide in front pulled him along the path.
“These guys are essential,” Robinson said. “These guys are my eyes.”
Where creeks and streams disrupted the path, Robinson’s guides would hold the 22-year-old’s hand and provide him with descriptive details of how to place his feet.
In the first half of the trip, Robinson said he had trouble on the stream crossings — instances where balance was key.
“The first time, I put my foot too far down this crack and kind of leaned a little too much,” Robinson said, adding that he caught himself before tipping over.
At another crossing, a spill was again avoided.
He said he was holding onto the hands of two guides.
Team Jurassic Park: (From left to right) Gabe Micheletti, Cory Smith, Tanner Robinson and Zach Smith have covered more than 19 miles on their journey from the Grand Canyon's North Rim to South Rim. But the 24-mile hike is long from over as they continue to march on a now uphill climb. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
Team Jurassic Park
“Stairs just for a long time,” Smith said. “As long as I can see.”
The hikers had made it to the Devils Corkscrew, an appropriately named section of the trail that wound its way around a vertical cliff of red and gray rock. In less than 10 minutes, the hikers would increase their elevation by hundreds of feet.
Micheletti was in the lead. Cory tagged behind Zach and Robinson.
Of the two brothers, Cory, a 2008 ASU graduate, appeared as the more vocal and outgoing one.
“You’re doing a great job Zach,” Cory teased his younger brother, a secondary education junior at ASU.
“Oh yeah,” Zach said. “Better than usual?”
“Much better than usual,” his brother answered. “Because I believe last night you were leading him right into trees.”
Zach and Cory Smith didn’t know Robinson before joining the Grand Canyon crew.
Cory and Zach’s mom, Katharine Smith, sits on the FBC’s board of directors and was the main reason behind the brothers’ involvement.
“My mom figured out we both went to ASU,” Zach said, explaining how he was eventually paired up with Robinson.
About a month before the trip, the Smith family invited Micheletti, Cory and Zach’s 26-year-old cousin from Minneapolis, to come on the hike.
Despite visiting Arizona many times before, the 26-year-old said he had never seen the Grand Canyon. Micheletti agreed to come and decided to put in some training time before the trip.
Red Staircase: The team takes large steps as they move up an artificial staircase on the Bright Angel Trail. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
The bond that had formed among the four-person unit was easy to detect, and their separation from the other hikers came in the form of a nickname — Team Jurassic Park.
The Foundation for Blind Children dubbed the entire hiking team the “Canyon Crawlers,” but as Robinson put it, “we thought [the name] wasn’t cool enough for us.”
Cory Smith said the four believed each group of hikers should have their own team name.
“After a lot of thought … we eventually settled on a Michael Crichton novel,” he said.
The funding challenge
State and private revenues have dropped $755,000 over the past two years, Ashton said in an e-mail, and fundraising has been difficult during a poor economy.
Much of the foundation’s funds come from the Division of Developmental Disabilities, which is part of the state’s Department of Economic Securities. In addition to providing state services, DES also gives funds to many outside agencies like the Foundation for Blind Children.
In fiscal year 2010, the DDD’s budget saw a reduction of $5.5 million from the state’s general fund.
DES officials decided to make more of the program beneficiaries pay into services by increasing fees and carrying out means-testing — a payment method that requires service receivers to contribute what they can based on their finances.
“What we tried to do was spread the pain as fairly and comprehensively as possible,” DES spokesman Stephen Meissner said of the department’s funding cuts.
Ashton said in an e-mail that the foundation had to get creative in its fundraising efforts. Besides the hikes and climbs, the agency has also partnered with Arizona Diamondbacks for an opening day fundraiser, and even auctioned off a car, he said.
The Kilimanjaro climb brought in almost $80,000 for the foundation. The fundraising effort for the trip was focused on the foundation’s infant program, which provides services to visually impaired babies and their families. Robinson was one receiver of these services.
Follow His Lead: Cory Smith (left) directs blind hiker Tanner Robinson by calling out directions, which guide Robinson's foot placement. Robinson hangs on to Smith's pack and keeps balance with a trekking pole in his right hand. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
The Grand Canyon hikers raised more than $40,400 for the trip — funds that will go toward the foundation’s SHARP program.
The Sports, Habilitation, Arts and Recreation Program is a summertime service that trains youth to become self-reliant in areas like sports, technology and the arts.
“We are the only ones who provide this service to the blind and visually impaired children in our community,” Ashton said.
Funds for the Grand Canyon hike continue to roll as the story of the endeavor spreads, Ashton said.
In the past year, the foundation has been forced to suspend two of its services — a preschool program and a program that teaches visually impaired high school age students to live independently.
Ashton said in an e-mail that he expects the foundations funding to diminish until the economy stabilizes.
Last mile
Robinson rested on the trail.
All Smiles: Zach Smith (left) and Tanner Robinson rest near a grassy area and stream not far from Indian Garden, about 5 miles from the Bright Angel trailhead. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook | State Press Magazine)
The temperature has dropped and tiny lights dotted the Bright Angel path — a sign of evening travelers.
Robinson would later recall the difficulty of the final half hour.
“That’s when the teammate support is so crucial,” he said. “I knew that I had come way too far and I wasn’t going to have an EVAC or something come take me out. The thought kind of sounded appealing, but I wasn’t going to do it. I just needed to catch my breath.”
Cory Smith led Robinson on the last part of the hike.
With 50 yards left, Smith could make out the buildings and structures at the top of the South Rim.
“Oh, this is it,” he said.
He gave another direction: “Up and over.”
It was 7:56 p.m. The hikers had been in the canyon for nearly 14 and a half hours.
“Where we at now?” Robinson asked as they marched up the last few feet of incline.
“We’re almost to the very end,” Smith said. “I see water and toilet.”
The four travelers had made it.
Family and friends hadn’t noticed the group’s emergence from the darkness. A wrong turn in the last 100 feet had led them away from the main trailhead.
A couple of yelps and sighs of relief were given.
Team Jurassic Park had finished.
Journey’s end
He compared the climb to his summit day in 2009.
“This was more difficult because you’re out here for so long,” he said.
Zach and Cory Smith agreed that the final climb to the Bright Angel trailhead was the toughest part of the walk.
“That was a lot more than I expected,” Zach Smith said. “That was tough on the way up.”
Cory Smith said the “uphill kind of killed us.”
“Really gets your calf muscles,” he said.
Robinson said completing the Grand Canyon was something that made him feel better about himself.
“Despite how hard this was, despite all of what we just went through, I love the chasing the goal.”
But half the accomplishment was meeting the team and getting to know the people who helped him to the summit, he said.
“I think there are going to be more challenges for sure,” Robinson said of future climbs. “I don’t know what yet, but I’m really looking forward to them when they come.”
Reach the reporter at kjdaly@asu.edu
