Some of my buddies have this tradition of hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim each year. Me? I hate hiking. Well… hate is a strong word I guess, but let’s just say it’s not up there in my top ten pastimes list. For some misguided reason I decided to join them this year. Not just for the hike itself, but for their training as well.
Their training consists in the most part of hiking, in ever increasing distance and elevation. Did I mention that I really don’t like hiking? I do however like trail running. So I found that if I approached the situation as a trail runner then I was almost just fine. Now… fortunately much of the terrain we covered during the training was amenable to running, although much of it was of a pretty technical nature.
I suppose we looked like a comical crew out there on the trails. These guys looked like they stepped right out of an Eddie Bauer catalogue. The obligatory Khaki Hiking pants, hiking boots, floppy wide brimmed hats, hiking poles, etc. Whereas on the other hand, I’m usually dressed in lime green running shorts, with fluorescent yellow trail running shoes, and wear a trail running vest as opposed to a traditional backpack; so maybe like ad photo from a Pataguchi catalogue.
For those of you interested, what follows is a brief synopsis of the training hikes and runs I did in preparation for this:
| Date | What | Distance km | Elevation m | HRAvg | Terrain | Notes |
| Jan 4 | Trail Run | 7.5 | 323 | 120 | Rocky Trail | |
| Jan 11 | Trail Run | 14 | 714 | 122 | Rocky Trail | |
| Jan 18 | Trail Run | 4 | 120 | 119 | Rocky Trail | |
| Jan 25 | Trail Run | 4 | 120 | 105 | Rocky Trail | |
| Feb 01 | Trail Run | 10 | 600 | 118 | Rocky Trail | |
| Feb 08 | Trail Run | 14 | 715 | 125 | Rocky Trail | |
| Feb 15 | Trail Run | 7.5 | 323 | 122 | Rocky Trail | |
| Feb 22 | Trail Run | 4 | 50 | 120 | Sandy Trail | |
| Mar 01 | Trail Run | 16 | 811 | 123 | Rocky Trail | |
| Mar 08 | Trail Run | 8 | 416 | 116 | Rocky Trail | 1 |
| Mar 15 | Trail Run | 4 | 120 | 146 | Rocky Trail | |
| Mar 15 | Hike | 4 | 120 | 112 | Rocky Trail | |
| Mar 21 | Ruck | 2.5 | 0 | 75 | Dirt Roads | |
| Mar 21 | Road Run | 2.5 | 0 | 122 | Dirt Roads | |
| Mar 24 | Ruck | 2.5 | 0 | 75 | Dirt Roads | |
| Mar 29 | Trail Run | 16 | 922 | 126 | Rocky Trail | |
| Mar 30 | Ruck | 2.5 | 0 | 76 | Dirt Roads | |
| Apr 05 | Trail Run | 11 | 351 | 119 | Rocky Trail | |
| Apr 06 | Ruck | 2.5 | 0 | 75 | Dirt Roads | |
| Apr 07 | Ruck | 2.5 | 0 | 78 | Dirt Roads | |
| Apr 08 | Ruck | 2.5 | 0 | 79 | Dirt Roads | |
| Apr 10 | Ruck | 6 | 185 | 94 | Rocky Trail | |
| Apr 12 | Trail Run | 14 | 714 | 131 | Rocky Trail | 2 |
| Apr 19 | Trail Run / Hike | 20 | 1028 | 111 | Rocky Trail | 3 |
| Apr 26 | Trail Run / Hike | 20 | 1028 | 108 | Rocky Trail | |
| Apr 30 | Ruck | 3.5 | 0 | 83 | Dirt Road | |
| May 03 | Trail Run | 5.3 | 340 | 121 | Rocky Trail | |
| May 10 | Trail Run / Hike | 27 | 1700 | 110 | Rocky Trail | 4 |
| May 14 | Ruck | 5 | 0 | 74 | Sandy Trail | |
| May 17 | Trail Run / Hike | 37 | 1800 | 123 | Rocky Trail | 5 |
| May 25 | Trail Run | 7 | 783 | 126 | Rocky Trail | |
| May 31 | Road Run | 5 | 0 | 115 | Dirt Roads | 6 |
Notes:
- First use of poles.
- First really warm day of the year
- First day at altitude (2,700m) plus still snow.
- Very steep descent.
- Big day out.
- Very hot
Another note… some of the ‘trail runs’ I listed also had some walking portions due to terrain, circumstances, and fitness. And yet another note… I also did lots of cycling and kettlebell training along the way as well.
But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!
This fine and oft used quote ushered in the sad news that three weeks before our trip, we got word that the trail was closed to the north rim, essentially scuttling our attempt. Well… maybe not closed, but no water was available and our lodgings had been cancelled. Certainly not what we wanted to hear. After some confabs we decided that, as some form of consolation we would go to the river and back via the Kaibab and Bright Angel trails. Still a worthy day I suppose, although it definitely lacks the cachet of the rim to rim experience.
The night before our hike we stayed at one of the south rim lodges. Bit of a dump considering the room price, but you are sort of held hostage up there. We stopped in at the backcountry office to check drinking water conditions on the trails, and exercised our gallows humor at this:
However, we did take our excursion seriously; and this is how I was outfitted:
- Shoes: Brooks Cascadia
- Socks: Darn Tough Running
- Pack: Black Diamond Pursuit 15
- Trekking Poles: Black Diamond… which I did not use at all
- Water: 1.5l in a bladder
- Skratch: 0.5l in a flask
- A spare bladder and a Be Free water filter
- One spare pair of socks
- Camera Olympus Tough… which I did not use
- Small first aid kit comprised of mostly drugs, tape, tweezers, and a small knife
- Food consisting of: Small handful of mixed nuts, 2 Cliff shot packs, 2 packets gu, 2 cliff bars, 1 kind bar, 3 small meat sticks, 3 Skratch packets. (Did not eat the gu, any bars, and only half of the nuts)
- Phone… used for all pictures.
- Hat: OR running hat
- Shorts: Prana Zion
- Technical Tee Shirt
- Sunglasses
After a quick breakfast of a hard boiled egg, a bagel, and some jerry rigged coffee we caught the first shuttle, which was packed with hikers of all sorts. Once at the trailhead we wasted no time and were walking by headlight at 0430. We could see some lights further down the trail from some folks that obviously got to the trail by other means, but we ended up catching up to all of them. In fact on the descent to the river we were only beaten there by a few trail runners. As much as I wanted to run after these guys, I behaved myself and kept with my two buddies.
It took us about 2:45 elapsed time to get all the way to Phantom Ranch. We only stopped for a couple of bathroom breaks and to snap some obligatory photos. There is no water supply on the Kaibab trail, but it was very cool, and obviously all downhill, so we didn’t end up using much. Once at Phantom Ranch we stopped for 20 minutes or thereabouts to top up water, eat some grub, and chat with some folks that were there. It was starting to warm up considerably so we didn’t dawdle. It was expected to be 39C later on in the day, and we wanted no part of that.
Soon we were headed off back over the river, this time using the Silver Bridge that would take us to the Bright Angel trail and the 16 km and 1,400 m back up to the south rim. Our only brush with a calamity occurred along the portion of the Bright Angel trail that parallels the river. This is where one of the saddle packs on a mule in a mule train knocked poor Tom off his feet. I quickly grabbed him and held him next to the uphill rock wall, lest he be trampled.
It was going to be all uphill from here and warm. Unfortunately our buddy Mike was having one of his knees start to bark at him. It was going to be some long hours ahead for him, and although our various pharmaceuticals helped him a bit, the only real cure was going to be once we reached the rim. Nothing else to do really, but soldier on and gut it out, which he did of course.
One nice thing about this trail as opposed to the South Kaibab, is that there is more shelter in the lower sections along with some nice stream crossings where we could wet our hats. The first real drinking water is at Havasupai Gardens which we took advantage of, both to refill our bottles, but also to soak our shirts and hats. Being later in the day, and a more popular trail we saw way more people. Coming down, or going up. No one passed us going up except for a lone trail runner who had passed us going down earlier. But man o man… the higher we got the more like Coney Island it got. Even down where we were there were folks that looked like they shouldn’t have been there, and were going to be in a real world of hurt later on in the day.
Onwards and upwards. Next stop is the Three Mile Rest House. More water. More people. Seemed there was a large group hiking down to meet up with a raft excursion.
Finally we arrive at the 1.5 mile Rest House. It’s pretty much all over but for the shouting. I soaked my hat and looked at my watch. It was looking like I could beat 7 hours moving time if I got a wiggle on. I told the lads that I was just gonna motor on, and that’s just what I did. Lots of folks on the trail now, coming and going. Many just coming down for a pleasant hike to one of the rest houses and back. It was the people going up that I was interested in. Each of them that I could see became a mark. A challenge. I picked them off one by one, and in this fashion I was able to cover that last mile and a half in short order. I finished strong, hitting the rim feeling good and stopping my watch at 6:56 moving time.
It’s a funny thing… once you reach the rim you are immediately immersed into the bustle of the throng of the top-side tourists, yet very alone at the same time. I was happy to see the guys arrive not too long after; The only ones who understood what we just did.
Off to Flagstaff for much deserved burgers and beers, and to start planning for next year…
On what I would do differently…
I had lots of opportunity to ponder what I would adjust if I were to try and repeat what we had just done and to shoot for a ‘better’ time. Some things would be… go earlier in the year to avoid the heat, likewise start earlier in the day. The heat was never dangerous, but it definitely had a performance impact. Go lighter. For sure. I had way too much crap, but that stemmed from unfamiliarity. Now that I know the lay of the land, I would have ditched a bunch of things like my camera and phone. No camera, means no need to stop for photos. I only ate about half the food I had, so I would pare that down. I would take zero water for the South Kaibab trail. Knowing where the water is on the uphill portion I would take less on that. And I would definitely run as many sections as I could. I figure I could run 90% of the way from the rim to Phantom Ranch. Everything being equal I bet I could shave almost an hour off my time. That being said… I couldn’t find any FKT’s for what we did, but for what we were going to do… the R2R… the record is 2:39, and the R2R2R is 5:55! No need for any of those guys to worry about me.
Fitness…
Our preparation and fitness were definitely up to the task. Of course… there is no such thing as being too fit. With that in mind I would do some things differently here as well. In addition to our weekly hiking, I would incorporate some more trail running, and some more pure leg strength training. I would also fit in some more heat adaptation efforts. All of this was done with some varying states of discomfort due to dealing with a minor groin injury, an arthritic toe, and mild plantar fasciitis.
