Blind Musician, Adventurer, and Martial Arts Instructor
As the Arizona Trail hike draws closer Team Armstrong has been stepping up our efforts to prepare for the 800 mile trek across Arizona. We created a Training Hike schedule for the rest of the year (Schedule) and just last weekend we hiked the Arizona trail in Flagstaff. It was a great hike but also […]
Sensei Mike Armstrong along with 5 other blind hikers were interviewed on the Today Show this morning. You can watch the full interview below.
I participated in another amazing hike on October 9th and 10th of 2010. This time it was a Rim to Rim to Rim hike across the Grand Canyon. This hike-a-thon was to benefit the Foundation for Blind Children. This forty-eight mile trek was a truly incredible experience, challenging my mind, body and will to succeed.
After our Kilimanjaro climb in 2009 everyone was asking, “What’s next?” There were several ideas suggested like; swimming to Alcatraz, climbing another of the seven summits, hiking the Arizona Trail, climbing Mount Whitney and several of us mentioned the Grand Canyon. After much deliberation it was decided that the next FBC hike-a-thon would be a rim to rim trek from the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This made the most sense because we have one of the world’s seven natural wonders right here in our home state. The date was set for 10/10/10.
Now are you wondering about that extra rim to rim I mentioned earlier? Well my team is in training for an eight hundred mile hike in April of 2011. The hike will run from the Mexico border to the Utah border on The Arizona Trail. We felt that hiking that extra twenty-four miles would give us a good idea of what to expect from our upcoming forty day trek across Arizona. We were not disappointed.
On Friday June 25th, Sensei Mike Armstrong will be traveling to Colorado to join the Adventure TEAM Challenge. Sensei Mike will not be the only handicap person there, as this is a race geared to challenge those with handicaps. The race will consist of trail running, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, and many more challenges.
Team Armstrong started the day at about 7AM and found Mt. Humpreys to have quite a bit of snow on it, making it difficult to find the trail. We reached the summit (12,500 ft) after approximately 7 hours of hiking, and after taking a few shortcuts finished the hike at about 7pm; making it a 12 hour day. We are sore and tired but it was a great hike, the snow made it much more technical than usual.
Trailer from Sensei Mike’s Kilimanajaro adventure. In 2009 Sensei Mike and 7 other blind climbers set the world record for the largest group of blind climber to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania Africa.
Video interview of Sensei Mike Armstrong for Channel 12 news.