Uncomfortable On Purpose: A Traverse City Crew’s Grand Canyon Misogi

This story was originally published in the Traverse City Record-Eagle

Sometimes, you have to descend into the depths to discover just how high you can rise. That’s exactly what my friend and neighbor Keelan McNulty — and seven other Traverse City dads — did last month when they took on a soul-shaking, body-breaking adventure: a rim-to-rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon (or an “R3,” as the locals say) in a single, continuous push.

This Traverse City team included Nick Hawkins, Drew O’Donnel, Jesse Schnitker, Jamie Sommerville, Jim Cooley, Matt Keiper, Jim Johnson, and Keelan. (Tony Steeno was also part of the original crew but couldn’t make the trip.)

They started on the South Rim, descended the iconic Kaibab Trail to the canyon floor, crossed the Colorado River, climbed to the North Rim, turned around, and came all the way back — 45 punishing miles, 22,000 feet of cumulative elevation change, and 23 hours on their feet. No sleep. No shortcuts. Just grit, sweat, camaraderie — and a whole lot of descent before they could rise again. Twice.

Keelan got the idea of doing an R3 from his doctor, Dr. Walt Meeker, who had done the same trek with his son in the 20-teens. From there, Keelan mentioned it to his physical therapist, Nick Hawkins. They started recruiting an all-star crew of local adventurers, committed by putting it on the calendar, and began training.

The Making of a Misogi

They called it their Misogi.

That word might be unfamiliar, but it’s the beating heart of this story. Misogi is a Japanese term that originally referred to ritual purification under icy waterfalls. But in “The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self” — a book the entire group read in preparation — author Michael Easter reimagines Misogi for our modern lives.

The idea? Once a year, do something so hard there’s a 50 percent chance you’ll fail. Something so off-the-wall it makes you nervous to say out loud. Something that pushes your physical and mental limits — and stays off Instagram. Misogi isn’t about performance or likes or follows. It’s about transformation.

In a world wired for ease and comfort, Misogi is a way to remember what it means to be challenged. What it means to be truly alive.

Keelan and his crew took that to heart. “This is going to be uncomfortable — but we can do uncomfortable things,” they told themselves. So they trained. The team pounded out miles on Wayne Hill, climbed and descended the root-tangled paths of the Commons’ Old Orchard Trail, and hiked circuits up and down Mount Holiday. One of their biggest prep days was a 20-mile hike on the Manistee River Trail, where they tested gear, nutrition, hydration — and maybe most importantly — their team chemistry.

“The coolest part,” Keelan said afterward, “was that even though some of the guys didn’t know each other, we gelled right from the start — and we all stuck together during the hike.”

Through the Pain Cave

There were low points, of course. Long stretches of silence in their own “mental pain cave.” Temperature swings from the 30s to the 80s. Aching feet. Doubts whispered in the dark canyon air. But they kept moving. They kept choosing to do the uncomfortable thing.

The concept of Misogi acted as their compass. This was their one big, hard thing for the year — not for a medal or a social media post, but to suffer, grow, and connect as a team. To get out of their comfort zones. To learn something about themselves. To appreciate the little things more.

More Than a Hike

That theme — discomfort as a path to meaning — threads through Keelan’s life. Before moving to Traverse City in 2015, he served in the Army and once hiked Denali before deploying to Iraq. Now, he lives in the Oak Park neighborhood with his wife, Meri, and their three sons. He’s the neighbor who’s always smiling, always waving, always happy. The friend who doesn’t just talk about adventure — he helps build a crew, sets a date, and gets to it.

Keelan called the Grand Canyon trek “an awesome adventure.” But it was more than that. It was a reset. A reminder. A reckoning. The kind of experience that sharpens your view of daily life — your work, your marriage, your parenting, your worries, your wins.

And of course, they’re already dreaming about what’s next.

So here’s to Keelan and the Traverse City R3 crew — for showing us that the path to growth and a well-lived life winds through some suffering and discomfort. For proving that we can all benefit from doing things that scare us a little. And for reminding us that the places outside our comfort zones are often the most beautiful places of all.

Let’s go find our own canyon. Let’s go do uncomfortable things.