A Barrhead woman can scratch one item off her bucket list.
The idea of hiking the Grand Canyon might not be your cup of tea, but it is something that local resident Janice Goderson, 78, has long wanted to do.
“It was a life-long dream for me, and when the opportunity presented itself, I took it,” Goderson said during a telephone interview on Tuesday, March 29. “My husband and I had always wanted to do this, to hike the canyon and take part in the mule trains, but he passed away two years ago and so we never got the chance. It was a wonderful trip and he was in my thoughts every step of the way.”
Goderson said it had been her intention to follow a mule train to her destination – Phantom Ranch, located in the heart of the canyon.
For the uninitiated, mule train rides at the Grand Canyon have been carrying visitors since the late 1800s and, according to information posted on the website www.grandcanyonlodges.com, more than 600,000 people have participated since the very first rides were offered at the park, in 1887.
Goderson said her trek began on March 17, at a resort called Bright Angel Lodge.
It was 10.5 miles from the lodge to a site called Indian Garden where she and the other members of her group had lunch, before crossing the Colorado River via the Suspension Bridge.
The return trip, she said, took roughly the same amount of time.
“I didn’t do the hike for him, but I did it ‘with’ him, if that makes any sense,” she said.
