When Monday’s Fourth of July Parade commences across Newton’s streets, Dick Wobst will be on board a 101-year-old steam traction engine. He’ll be making his way along the parade route with some newfound confidence from a unique recent journey.
Wobst spent four days in late May hiking with a group deep into Havasu Canyon in northwest Arizona with a small group. The guide told Wobst, who is age 70, he’s the oldest hiker he’s ever taken on the 8.5 mile trek into the canyon and on day hikes in the area. The experience helped Wobst learn one more accomplishment he could add to a long list in life.
Wobst credits his close friend, whom he met through a local church, for helping him with the hike. Megan Crawford of Grinnell made it possible through her encouragement and moral support, he said.
“I don’t think I could have done it without her,” he said. “I told my wife Lorraine this was something I really wanted to do, and she said ‘I’m not going.’ So I had to find someone physically capable of this endeavor.”
Wobst’s life experiences include a tour of duty as a U.S. Army combat medic in Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star with a “V” valor device. The Milwaukee native said his military experience prepared him well for carrying a well-loaded backpack up and down steep hills in the canyonlands of Arizona, though he needed to prep vigorously to be in good enough shape for the hike.
His career as an engineer took him to the east coast and to a few locations in the Midwest — the last of which was Newton, coming to work for Whirlpool at Maytag in 2005. After the plant closed, he worked for Springboard Engineering before retiring.
Wobst’s volunteer work both as president of the Jasper County Vietnam Veterans and with the 1915 steam engine help keep him active, but when Wobst decided he wanted to take on a mountainous hike, some training was needed. He began climbing the stairs of the Cordova Tower located at Lake Red Rock State Park while wearing a backpack and getting in better condition.
The Newton resident credits Diana Swihart for her encouragement in going ahead with the hike. He also had the blessing of his doctor, and he’s grateful for having access to the Veterans Administration’s services – especially the kinesiology department of Des Moines’ VA Hospital — in preparing for vigorous physical challenge.
“Fortunately, I’m basically in good physical health,” Wobst said.
After flying into Phoenix, an early morning, three-hour drive took the group of six, its pack mule and its guide off the grid, to a trailhead on the Havasupai Reservation that is out of the reach of cell phones and most radio signals. A satellite phone for emergencies was all the guide had with him.
“It was like going to a different planet,” Wobst said.
The main hike was only 8.5 miles, but the first 1.5 miles was nearly straight down (or so it seemed), as it was an 18 percent downward grade. The spot where the group set up a base camp was on a plain near a Colorado River tributary, in sort of canyon within a canyon.
“We then took the next two days to take day hikes of about 10 miles each,” Wobst said. “Some of the up-down to get to the water required climbing ladders to descend from boulders. Climbing about 200 feet worth of ladders down and back up was, along with the hike back up to the top on day four, the toughest parts of the trip.”
In addition to seeing picturesque desert waterfalls and the mixed-color rock of the southwest, the group bonded, celebrating its diverse backgrounds as a pair of Iowans mixed with Canadians and one woman from the United Kingdom.
“We bonded so well, we didn’t want to go our separate ways when it was over,” Wobst said.
The return hike was rough, too.
“On that steep grade, I was really glad to have Megan with us,” he said.
Wobst said the training and the hike itself put him in better physical condition, which he’d like to maintain.
“I’m in better shape at 70 than I was at 69,” Wobst said. “And I’d like to be in even better shape at 71.”
Wobst said the experience reminded him of how physical endurance isn’t something most of us think about in the course of our daily routines.
“Our lives are filled with emotional hazards, but not many physical hazards,” Wobst said. “In the wild, it’s the opposite. The physical hazards are very visible, and there is little emotional risk there.”
Once they returned to Iowa, Crawford and Wobst agreed there are more challenges on the horizon.
“It could be something along the Appalachian Trail,” Wobst said. “But Megan and I definitely need a new target.”
Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com