THE DEPTH OF LIFE

It’s one of America’s most iconic sites, yet few visitors ever descend into the mile-deep heart of the Grand Canyon. On an intense three-day hike, Jamie Quatro heads below the rim of this extraordinary natural wonder to reconnect with her brother—and push her mind and body to their limits.

- Jamie Quatro

YOU LEARN QUICKLY, on the trails, not to ask questions of passing hikers. They’re on the way up, working hard to summit before the heat of the day. You also end up with conflicting information. My brother Johnny, who planned our rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon, had just learned that part of the North Kaibab Trail was washed out. It’s a treacherous section, a narrow cliffside pass with a steep drop on one side.

I didn’t know this at the time. We weren’t due to reach the washed-out part until the third day. Johnny knew that if he told me on day one, I’d only worry. I found out later that whenever I was out of earshot, he was talking to hikers coming down from the North Rim. How bad was it? Answers ranged from “It’s nothing” to “It’s definitely sketchy” to “Don’t even try it with your pack on.”

Johnny and I are from Tucson, Arizona . In college we often went on adventures together. We skied the moguls at Sunrise and the bowls at Alta and Snowbird . When I was a student at Princeton, Johnny came to visit and we took the train to New York City. We climbed to the tops of as many buildings as we could, including the Statue of Liberty.