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By Davy Crockett
Part 4 of the Rim-to-Rim History Series. See also Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
For anyone hiking or running rim-to-rim, most people will usually stop at a location about a mile below Roaring Springs that today is called the Manzanita Rest area, named after a creek coming down a small nearby side canyon. But the name and the rest area are a fairly new, a 2015 creation. Newer visitors have no idea that there is a rich history that took place at that location from 1973-2005.
For veteran rim-to-rim hikers and runners, they still call this place fondly, “The Aiken Home.” Yes, a couple lived there and raised three children in the depth of the canyon for more than three decades. The Aiken family made a deep impact on rim-to-rim history by helping, greeting, and even feeding thousands of visitors over the years. Bruce Aiken managed the crucial water system at nearby Roaring Springs completed in 1971, and Mary Aiken taught and raised their children and assisted hikers.
Who were the Aikens? How did they come to live in the Canyon? What was it like for three energetic children to spend their childhood in the Canyon away from many modern conveniences and “normal” entertainment and childhood friends? What was life like for them? Their tale is now almost forgotten, and evidence that they lived there has been replaced by a rest area and ranger station. But when I visit that amazing spot (nearly 40 times), I always think about the Aiken family and visualize the unique family that lived there for so many years.
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As the Grand Canyon entered the 1940s, the corridor trails were in place along with the Black Bridge across the Colorado River, making rim-to-rim travel on foot possible. By the early 1960s, a few daring athletes were hiking or running rim to rim in a day and even a few completing double crossings in a day. Credit goes to Pete Cowgill (1925-2019) and his Southern Arizona Hiking Club from Tucson, Arizona, who demonstrated to all that crossing the Canyon on foot in a day was not only possible but was an amazing adventure.
This is the second part of the Rim-to Rim story. 
Phantom Ranch was established in the early 1900s. The same tourist continued, “It is beautiful down here now in the dusk with the towering cliffs above and a mountain brook singing along in front of my cabin, and the weather at least 20 degrees warmer than up on the rim, where the ground is covered with snow. After a hearty, well-cooked beefsteak dinner, I am settled in a one-room, stone walled, cement floored cabin, with a roaring fire in a cute corner open fireplace.”
For both ultrarunners and hikers, the Grand Canyon is considered by most, one of the greatest destinations to experience. Thousands make their pilgrimages each year to experience the joy of journeying across the Canyon’s great expanse, rim-to-rim (R2R). Crossing the Canyon and returning back is an activity that has taken place for more than 125 years. Native Americans crossed the Canyon centuries earlier.
This is the second part of the Dave Kunst story. 
Who was the first person to truly walk around the world? If your search the Internet the answer that come back is: Dave Kunst, an American who claimed to do it in 1970-1974. Dave Kunst, originally from Minnesota, claims that he is “the first person verified to have completed circling the entire land mass of the earth.”
Attempts to walk backwards for ultra-distances has taken place for more than two centuries. Why? One backwards walker once said, “With the whole world going backwards, maybe the only way to see it is to turn around.” Obviously, such attempts caused a stir of attention. Common comments heard around these individuals were, “What is that fool doing?” and “When did he get out of the asylum?” In recent years some have actually encouraged the practice as a way to burn more calories, sharpen senses, train your peripheral vision, and improve balance. But walking backwards for hundreds and thousands of miles is simply bizarre. Let’s first take a look at the very early history of walking backwards for ultra-distances and then examine the stories of attempts to walk backwards across America and around the world.