Adventure Timeline

Martial Arts has always been a great influence in my life. The first time I ever started martial arts was when I was a little kid. I don’t even remember how old, but I do remember I was studying a blend of Kenpo and Kickboxing. I may have started young I was not able to stay in martial arts long.

When I was 10-11 I started up again training under Sensei Alex Santa Maria, he thought a blend of Kenpo, Tang Soo Do and Chinese Water Boxing. But yet again, I was not able to stay long enough to get past yellow belt (the 2nd belt from White).  At the age of 14 I tried to start again at American Karate Studios at 32nd Street and Greenway in Phoenix, Arizona. This time I achieved my orange belt, however being a teenager decided to take over my life and I dropped out yet again.

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Second Hike: Rim to Rim (Camp) to Rim

This weekend Team Armstrong which consists of Mike Armstrong (Blind Hiker/Sensei), Greg DePinto, and myself (Ben Cane) joined the Foundation for Blind Children’s Canyon Crawlers for a hike across the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. But much like we usually do we decided to step it up a notch and use this to train for the Arizona Trail; Below are the details of our adventure.

On 10/09/10 at 05:50 Team Armstrong left the South Rim via the Bright Angel trail. 14.5 hours and 24 miles later we reached the North Rim via the North Kaibab trail. At that time we joined up with the rest of the Canyon Crawlers team at the North Rim camp site. We were greeted with a garbage bag full of chicken (bones were flying) and a few Grand Canyon lagers, a perfect way to end a day.

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Imagine if you will that you’re boarding an airplane and luckily you have an aisle seat. The excitement sets in…. but what’s this? You look at your number again…. no it can’t be….you’re sitting next to that guy…?

You know the guy I’m talking about, the one so fat (excuse me must be PC) so obese that he doesn’t really fit in the seat. With his belly rolling over the armrest taking up all of that lovely real estate you’re going to be neglected the whole flight, the real-estate that doesn’t involve you getting smashed in the head when the drink cart goes down the aisle.

Let’s face the truth here people, no one, absolutely no one, wants to sit next to that guy. But what’s worse than sitting next to him is BEING that guy!

In May 2006, I went on a company trip and not only was I “that guy”, I was so large that I couldn’t even fit the seatbelt around me!

Talk about a moment of realization. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a realization that I was fat. Since I was 8 years old I’ve always been chubby. Hell in middle school I was called titty boy because I was so fat my man boobs (or moobs if you will) were bigger than most of the girls in school. I knew I was fat. However, this was a realization of just how fat I’d gotten over the years.

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First Hike: Rim to Rim

The first time I ever hiked the Grand Canyon was pretty interesting. Only a few months after getting home from Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro one of the team mates Soon asked if I was interested in hiking the Grand Canyon; Rim to Rim.

Seeing as how I’ve never done the Canyon before I said sure, but I haven’t been hiking much. Soon told me to do a few strenuous hikes in the next coming weeks and I should be prepared. Especially after Kili.

So of course, I did one little hike and it wasn’t that difficult; but around came the weekend to go up to the Canyon. I loaded up my backpack and drove up to the South Rim.

Seeing as how this is the first time since I was 9 that I was visiting the canyon I didn’t realize how cold the South Rim was. We setup camp and were geared up to wake up at 5am to depart on our little adventure.

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On November 2008, I joined “Team Kili” a group of 8 blind climbers and 17 sighted guides from the Foundation for Blind Children.

They were hiking the Phoenix 7 Summits Challenge as part of their training to summit Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. I was invited to join the training hike by Sensei Mike Armstrong my martial arts instructor and best friend. At the time I’ve known Sensei for about 1.5 years and was used to him performing feats that would be considered impossible for someone who is completely blind;

However when I joined the group I saw something I didn’t expect. I saw 7 other blind people with a huge challenge ahead and the determination to conquer it; At that point I knew I wanted in on this!

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