An epic blog post (in two parts) to match our epic adventure. As always thanks for reading!
Pre-run
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| Looking at the north rim from the Bright Angel trailhead on the south rim. |
Mike, Artie, Tressa (Artie’s wife), and I drove all day and
arrived at the Grand Canyon after dark on Thursday. We caught a few glimpses of it in the
moonlight as we arrived at the park, but the plan for the night was to get to
bed for a good night’s sleep as soon as possible. Mike and I split a hotel room this night to
give us a better shot at quality sleep.
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| Our crew: Arte, me, Mike, Wendy, Dave |
Friday was mostly about relaxing, checking out the canyon,
setting up the campsite, and getting Saturday’s logistics nailed down. The day was easy with a little walking around
and seeing the sights—the canyon was beautiful and big. Dave and Wendy arrived mid-day and we all ate
a nice dinner in the Arizona Room overlooking the canyon. After
a short campfire, we hit the sack—at 8:30pm.
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| Dave and Wendy sorting out nutrition |
I managed some nice sleep…for a few hours, then tossed and
turned with anticipation until the alarms went off at 2:30am.
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| Tressa and Mike |
South Rim to Phantom
Ranch
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| Moments before taking the first step into the canyon. |
We arrived at the South Rim at 3:15 and, after some bathroom
trips and posed photos, we stepped into the canyon at 3:30am. Within 3 minutes, the temperature became
noticeably warmer. I peeled off my
jacket right away. We took the descent
very easy—no running. We were concerned
about blowing out our quads on the way down and ruining the day. We got passed by two groups of runners
heading out on the same challenge. Even
though it took nearly three hours, it felt like we reached the Colorado River
in no time. The sun was just coming up
as we ran the mile along the river to the Bright Angel bridge. We reached Phantom ranch in a little over
three hours after we started where we filled up with water, used the bathroom,
and rested for just a minute or two.
Everyone was feeling good and just getting down there felt like an
accomplishment (even though it would be the easiest thing we did all day).
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| The mighty Colorado River at sunrise |
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| About to cross the river. All smiles--getting to the river is easy... |
We hadn’t set a time goal for the day, but thought 15-17
hours total was reasonable. Our
conservative estimate had us reaching Phantom in 3 hours so we were off that
number, but completely unconcerned. My
fear with setting a time goal was that doing so could lead to bad decisions in
the canyon. So the day would take shape
as it took shape and we’d make adjustments as necessary.
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| Moon setting (tough to see) over Phantom Ranch |
Phantom Ranch to
North Rim
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| A relatively wide section of "The Box" heading toward Cottonwood |
We began the long run up the hill at a very easy pace. Each area of the canyon was beautiful in its
own way. Through “The Box”—a high-walled
red canyon within the canyon—and then into a more dessert-like area and past
Ribbon Falls as we came to the Cottonwood Campground. Although we gained about 1,500 feet over the
nearly 7 miles, we really hadn’t begun to climb. At Cottonwood, my fluids looked good so I
didn’t top off to try to save a little weight.
It was only 2 miles (but 1,100 vertical feet) to Roaring Spring.
This section was our first taste of serious climbing. Not the steepest we’d face, but there was no
question that we were going up in a big way.
Running quickly turned to hiking as we managed to go (unintentionally)
right past Roaring Springs without refilling water. From Roaring Springs, the next water stop is
the Supai Tunnel 2.7 miles (and 1,800 vertical feet) later with the rim almost
two miles (and another 1,500 vertical feet) beyond. The water at the rim was set to be turned off
for the season at noon (our estimated arrival time at that point). We had been told the seasonal water would
remain on in the canyon all day, but there were some conflicting opinions about
that depending on which ranger we spoke with.
As far as mistakes go, this could have been a big one. We all ran very low or completely out of
water before reaching Supai. The trail
includes a flat-ish section here, but the climbing portions are very
steep. We passed over trails carved into
the solid rock of the canyon walls and saw some beautiful fall colors.
The last half-mile to Supai was very tough mentally and
physically. Our limited water and the
uncertainty of being able to refill wore me down until we passed someone coming
down who told us that the water was indeed on.
At the tunnel, I was tired and climbing the steep sections is not my
strong suit. We were at about the same
elevation as the South Rim. The North
Rim is 1,500 feet higher. This last
section to the rim is probably the steepest sustained section of climbing on
the north side. I quickly started
falling back from the group. I had the
energy and the will, but my hip flexors were shot and each step was hard
work. Artie waited for me and then
walked with me most of the way. By the
time I reached the rim, I was looking forward to heading back down not because
down is easier, but just so I could use a slightly different muscle group.
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| Supai Tunnel |
We arrived at the rim at exactly noon and found out the
water had been turned off an hour before.
This wasn’t a big deal since we were still pretty full and knew it would
be quick back to Supai. It had taken us
8 and a half hours to cross which would put us at 17 hours if we came back at
the same rate. We have read about some
people coming back the same or faster because the North Kaibab trail is longer
(so more downhill), the Bright Angel
trail (on the south side) isn’t as steep, and the south rim is
lower. We spent about 10 minutes
resting, taking pictures, and eating and then stepped back into the canyon for
the return trip—all of us feeling pretty good, considering that we had just run
and hiked across the Grand Canyon.
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| The last few steps up to the North Rim |
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