This was one of the most physically demanding excursions I've ever attempted.

Several years ago, when I was in much better physical condition, some friends and I arrived at the rim of the Grand Canyon. I've got to tell you, that is one big ass ditch.

It was an afternoon in August when we decided to descend that night, and ascend the following day. Sixteen miles round trip, no problem. This was a bad decision.

How we made it to the river, I'll never know. We were drinking beer all the way down, and hiking down in the dark is dangerous. You are history if you stumble over the edge of a switchback. At the bottom, we had some more warm beverages, did some stargazing, went skinny-dipping, and made breakfast.

At about mid morning, we headed back for the rim, and it was Hot. Really really Hot. About half way up, we were all in pretty bad shape. We'd already discarded most of our supplies due to weight, refilled the wine sacks with water, and bummed salt tablets from passing hikers. Yeap, we never considered that one.

At about the two-thirds mark, we were becoming delirious and I thought I was dying. To save distance, we decided to climb the switchbacks instead of hiking them. The first one I climbed, I came face to face with about twenty rattlesnakes, and I busted my ass making my escape. We kept walking.

At about the three quarters mark we happened upon a Park Ranger with a donkey. One of us could barely stand, and needed to be evacuated. The Ranger agreed, so we strapped his ass on the donkey, and off they went.

The rest of us continued on, discovered a pool with a waterfall, and immediately dove in. This resulted in all of us developing some mysterious skin spots that lasted for a year or more.

We made it up and out, but after I took the last step over the rim, all of the muscles in both my legs cramped, and I collapsed. That hurt, and I was sore for a long time.

When it's 120+ degrees - never, ever, hike eight miles uphill.

That was stupid, but I’ve never seen so many stars.