DRAPER — A Utah couple believes their 7-year-old is now the youngest child ever to complete a rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon, after finishing the course in about 17 hours on Saturday.
The challenging hike details
Nate and Beckie Lambert said 7-year-old Tim didn’t tire until the final mile of the nearly 22-mile trek that featured approximately 11,000 feet of elevation change.
“This is rated as one of the most strenuous hikes in America,” Beckie said during an interview on Wednesday with KSL. “It’s a tough hike. It’s a tough hike for adults. It’s a really tough hike for a 7-year-old.”
Training process and preparation
The parents said they hadn’t always planned on taking the 7-year-old with them for the hike, but they began training about 5 months ago with their teenage children, and Tim seemed up to the task.
“We started going on these runs, these 4-mile runs, and he was, like, at the top of the pack and leading the way on these runs, so we were like, ‘Hey, we think he's got this in him,’” Nate said. “Then we did a 5K race, and he took first place in his division.”
Beckie said Tim was also able to run to the top of Corner Canyon with her, also raising confidence that he could do the rim-to-rim hike.
“It became pretty evident to us that Tim could outrun, out-hike and out-attitude nearly all of his older siblings, and he really, really wanted to go,” Beckie Lambert said. “We decided we’re going to let him, we’re going to let him go.”
Tim shrugged.
“My brothers and sisters were, like, training for the Grand Canyon and I wanted to train with them, so we did,” the 7-year-old said. “My parents just realized that I could hike the Grand Canyon.”
Extreme weather conditions encountered
The couple said the family started in 40-degree temperatures at 4:36 a.m. Saturday at the North Rim, continued along the North Kaibab Trail, traversed across the canyon near Phantom Ranch in 110-degree heat and then finished at the South Rim on the South Kaibab Trail at 9:43 p.m.
Safety measures during trek
During that time, they said the family took plenty of breaks and consumed salt pills hourly along with plenty of water and food.
“This was not about beating a time — anything less than 24-hours beats the record, so we let him take it at whatever pace he was safe doing,” Beckie said of Tim. “He aced it.”
Recognition and record pursuit
The family said Tim earned the nickname of “Rim-to-Rim Tim” for his performance, which earned the adoration of other hikers they encountered along the trail.
The Lamberts said several people signed affidavits for Tim’s record pursuit.
Tim said the hike proved he could do hard things and he planned to do more.
“If I can do this, then I can do all this, higher, hard stuff,” the 7-year-old said. “It was, like, super fun.”
The difficulty of the trek was the point, according to his parents.
“A lot of parents these days want to help their kids avoid any kind of suffering or chance of failure,” Nate said. “We feel like we want to give our kids the chance to stretch themselves and really push through the pain and show themselves that they can do hard things because that’s a big boost of confidence.”
When asked if his parents could talk him into doing the rim-to-rim hike again, Tim said “no.”
However, he said for his next feat he was hoping to complete a 10K run soon.
Nate simply beamed about what Tim had accomplished already.
“To have a son that has a world record is, like, really thrilling,” he said.
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