Story:
The challenge, to hike rim to rim to rim in less than 24 hours. Could we do it? We weren't sure...well, one of us was not but I decided to try anyway. Besides, Brad and Tony said, "piece of cake," and I believed them...first mistake!! So for 6 weeks we trained on Telegraph Pass in Yuma, AZ. We researched what others had done to prepare, what they took to eat and drink, what shoes, socks were used, etc. Then the big day arrived, we decided to start in the evening so we would have the night time hiking finished before getting too tired so at approx. 545PM on Sat. Sept 18th we departed down the South Kaibab trail. Spirits were high, lots of laughing and joking around! I think both Brad and Tony got impatient with all the stopping to take photos but now I think they see it was worth it. We arrived at the bridge over the Colorado after dark, that was interesting. At Phantom Ranch we refilled out water supply, heard from several people that we were crazy (we heard that in Yuma also!) and went on our merry way arriving at Cottonwood campground approx. 10PM where we rested for alittle while, well Tony and I rested while Brad did pull ups! From Cottonwood up to the North Rim was difficult. The temp dropped to 40 degrees and we had to contend with a very strong headwind all the way up the North Kaibab Trail. We used headlamps which were great until the blowing dust made it hard to see. I nearly caused Tony to have a heart attack when I fell and one of my legs went over the side of the trail!! It's a looonnggg way down! "I know Tony, STAY to the inside!" Finally though we made it to the top at 3:30AM. We had planned on staying awhile to rest but quickly decided to head back down because of the cold. While we were savoring our accomplishment a van pulled up and unloaded 7-8 gentlemen who were hiking rim to rim in celebration of a birthday! It turned out that one of the hikers, Ken, who we got to know later on the trail, turned 75 years old and has hiked rim to rim 12 times!! He was certainly an inspiration to us, and just having more human contact on the trail through the long dark night really helped revive our spirits. The laughing and joking that we started with came back full force, going downhill was much easier plus the wind was now at our backs. It's unbelievable how much faster we got back to Cottonwood and then Phantom Ranch, it seemed so easy. Once the sun came up we just sailed down the trail. At Phantom Ranch we mailed postcards to family as they are carried out by mule and there is a cool stamp they use on the cards. So we headed out for the most difficult part of the trip, ascending the Bright Angel trail. It was hot 105 degrees, but "lucky" for us we live in Yuma and to us 100 degrees is warmish, we were acclimated for hiking in the heat, AND had been staying hydrated with lots of water and electrolytes! This made all the difference, plus we ate small amounts of food quite often, even when we didn't want too. This all because of prior research and learning from others mistakes. We went up the Bright Angel surprisingly fast I thought and achieved our goal of under 24 hrs which I was very excited about! All in all, I had a wonderful time and wouldn't really have done anything different...we plan to go again in May 2011! I guess that says it all!
The challenge, to hike rim to rim to rim in less than 24 hours. Could we do it? We weren't sure...well, one of us was not but I decided to try anyway. Besides, Brad and Tony said, "piece of cake," and I believed them...first mistake!! So for 6 weeks we trained on Telegraph Pass in Yuma, AZ. We researched what others had done to prepare, what they took to eat and drink, what shoes, socks were used, etc. Then the big day arrived, we decided to start in the evening so we would have the night time hiking finished before getting too tired so at approx. 545PM on Sat. Sept 18th we departed down the South Kaibab trail. Spirits were high, lots of laughing and joking around! I think both Brad and Tony got impatient with all the stopping to take photos but now I think they see it was worth it. We arrived at the bridge over the Colorado after dark, that was interesting. At Phantom Ranch we refilled out water supply, heard from several people that we were crazy (we heard that in Yuma also!) and went on our merry way arriving at Cottonwood campground approx. 10PM where we rested for alittle while, well Tony and I rested while Brad did pull ups! From Cottonwood up to the North Rim was difficult. The temp dropped to 40 degrees and we had to contend with a very strong headwind all the way up the North Kaibab Trail. We used headlamps which were great until the blowing dust made it hard to see. I nearly caused Tony to have a heart attack when I fell and one of my legs went over the side of the trail!! It's a looonnggg way down! "I know Tony, STAY to the inside!" Finally though we made it to the top at 3:30AM. We had planned on staying awhile to rest but quickly decided to head back down because of the cold. While we were savoring our accomplishment a van pulled up and unloaded 7-8 gentlemen who were hiking rim to rim in celebration of a birthday! It turned out that one of the hikers, Ken, who we got to know later on the trail, turned 75 years old and has hiked rim to rim 12 times!! He was certainly an inspiration to us, and just having more human contact on the trail through the long dark night really helped revive our spirits. The laughing and joking that we started with came back full force, going downhill was much easier plus the wind was now at our backs. It's unbelievable how much faster we got back to Cottonwood and then Phantom Ranch, it seemed so easy. Once the sun came up we just sailed down the trail. At Phantom Ranch we mailed postcards to family as they are carried out by mule and there is a cool stamp they use on the cards. So we headed out for the most difficult part of the trip, ascending the Bright Angel trail. It was hot 105 degrees, but "lucky" for us we live in Yuma and to us 100 degrees is warmish, we were acclimated for hiking in the heat, AND had been staying hydrated with lots of water and electrolytes! This made all the difference, plus we ate small amounts of food quite often, even when we didn't want too. This all because of prior research and learning from others mistakes. We went up the Bright Angel surprisingly fast I thought and achieved our goal of under 24 hrs which I was very excited about! All in all, I had a wonderful time and wouldn't really have done anything different...we plan to go again in May 2011! I guess that says it all!
Tips:
Drink lots of fluids, use electrolyte supplements in water and food, of course train before you go and be ready for significant weather changes from rim to river elevations.
Drink lots of fluids, use electrolyte supplements in water and food, of course train before you go and be ready for significant weather changes from rim to river elevations.
Tags:
grand canyon, day hike rim to rim to rim
grand canyon, day hike rim to rim to rim
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