That's a lot of rice...

My training is almost over. In 15 days I'll be on my hike in the Grand Canyon. I'm not too worried about the distance given that it's 24 miles in 4 days and I've already hiked 60 miles in less than 24 hours. But, I am worried about having to carry a heavy backpack. One of the ways they suggested to train was to fill a backpack with rice and practice carrying it.

So, I have 8 kilograms of rice in a backpack. That's a lot of rice. When I first put it on I thought to myself, "This is a piece of cake...it doesn't even feel that heavy." About 10 minutes in I began to think, "Ohhh, this is heavy." I probably should have started earlier with the backpack but, oh well.

I was checking out the website for the tour company (Just Roughin' It) again the other day and looked particularly at the difficulty ranking of our trip. It's ranked "moderate" which seems okay until it says "For experienced hikers in excellent physical condition." Hmmm. What exactly is the definition of "excellent physical condition?" How much more in shape can I be in 15 days? I am about to find out.