Local lawyer doing marathon Grand Canyon hike for vets

  • Published
  • By Ryan Stark
  • Nucleus staff writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Matthew Vance didn't follow in his father's footsteps and serve in uniform. But now, he's stepping up to help those who did, in a very big way.

"My path was different when I was younger," he said, "but sometimes I wish that I had (served) and I respect those who do."

Vance was an Air Force brat and knows the challenges faced by veterans. Through his involvement as an attorney with the Veterans Justice Project -- a program offering free legal services to veterans -- he will soon be undertaking a "rim-to-rim- to-rim" hike of Arizona's Grand Canyon, covering 48 miles in 22 hours. Dubbed the 2014 Feat for Justice, Vance is taking on the mammoth hike to raise money for the Veterans Justice Project.

New Mexico Legal Aid -- where Vance's wife, Lisa, works as development director -- initiated the project for veterans.

The Veterans Justice Project is intended to help veterans and their families navigate complicated legal situations, including evictions and foreclosures, bankruptcy, unemployment, securing benefits, divorce and many other scenarios for which top-notch civil representation would be hard for the veterans themselves to secure.

When his wife began sharing success stories from the project, Vance said he had to step up and help out. The Grand Canyon hike became his focus, with some people contributing money in support of his effort and others giving based on final results, such as finishing it in only 18 hours.

The hike will be an arduous one in a hostile environment.

"It will be a journey of one day. It will be exhausting," he said. "Definitely no camping, no sleeping and no slacking."

Going from the canyon's south rim to the north rim and back will involve a 48-mile hike and a total elevation change of 20,282 feet.

"The temperatures at the canyon rims will be moderate, but temperatures in the canyon may be closer to 90 or 95 degrees," Vance said. "The rock of the canyon walls absorbs the hot desert sun and radiates it back at you -- it will be like an oven."

But weather can quickly change in the canyon.

"The canyon is subject to monsoons with downpours of flooding rain at a moment's notice," Vance said.

He added that, while there are plenty of places to get water along the way, "the true enemy is the blisters."

"There are always tripping hazards, some narrow ledges and I have seen rattlesnakes just off the trail," he said.

True to the somewhat Quixotic nature of his campaign, Vance won't be travelling alone. Los Alamos restaurateur Pawel Listwan, a friend of Vance's, volunteered to go and help raise money as well.

"(It) was originally planned as a one-man endeavor," Vance said. "I never planned on anyone wanting to join me on the grueling, potentially very painful journey."

To learn more about the Veterans Justice Project, or to make a pledge for Vance's hike, visit www.nmlegalaid.org.