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A grand adventure
By MELIA BOWIE, Times Staff Writer TAMPA PALMS -- The climb started at 2 a.m. -- when the weather was cool and much of the world was asleep. Headed toward the belly of the Grand Canyon, Bud Maney awoke and shoved 40 pounds of gear onto his back, the way he hoisted gleeful grandchildren during piggy-back rides. He chugged water, ate trail mix and headed out with a small group of men scaling down the rocky terrain during a weeklong hike through the canyon. In the pre-dawn hours, two imperatives took hold: Beat the sun's 110 degree rays and take in the beauty. "We all laugh and say its pay-per-view down there; you pay with your body if you want to see it," joked Maney who returned to his Wyndham home recently after four days and three nights in the canyon. Another year, said the semi-retired Tampa Palms resident, and "I'd be too old." At age 63, Maney was ready for an adventure. He trained for the great outdoors in New Tampa's suburbs. He rode his bike past pristine sidewalks and lush landscaping, arriving at the New Tampa YMCA before 6 a.m. for two-hour workouts on the treadmill, sandbags slung around his neck. "Bud, he's in here every day with the sandbags," said Stephanie Marr, fitness director at the YMCA. "He just came back and he told me no amount of training gets you ready for the Grand Canyon." Not for the craggy terrain and 8,000-foot altitude. Nor is Florida's humid heat a match for Arizona's scorching sun. Still, there was no way to keep him at home, said his wife, Patty Maney, who is active in several Tampa Palms organizations including the women's club. "It's typical of him," she said Tuesday. "He said, 'When I'm retired, I'm gonna do this.' And he did." Maney and his cousin, David Black, set up the weeklong excursion a year ago. Black, 63, of California and friend Steve Stephens, 64, hiked with Maney. The trio used alcohol stoves for heat and to cook at night (campfires are not allowed); they navigated the dark path with coal-miner headlamps and slept on the sun-baked ground. At 9 a.m. they would stop their hike as the temperature climbed. At night, they took in the stars but by midmorning, they were admiring the mile-high red and gray cliffs. "I don't know what I'd do to follow it up," said Maney, who owned his own food brokerage, now works part time at UPS and attends Grace Episcopal Church. The men talk about the Appalachian Trail, said Maney's wife. The staff at the New Tampa YMCA is trying to talk him into a triathlon, he said. He placed third overall in a fitness challenge with 40 participants (ages 19 to 63). A trip to the Colorado Rockies is likely, too. "It was a challenge," Maney said about the Grand Canyon. "But as long as I'm healthy I'll keep doing it."
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From the Times |
