EISPIRATEN

This weekend myself and two hiking buddies headed out to the Grand Canyon. We began at the North Rim. Our objective was to hike to the South Rim and back. At 2:30 a.m. we headed down the Kaibab Trail. Surprisingly a group of runners passed us about an hour later. They were not prepared for anything to go wrong and hence were only carrying water bottles.

We ended up hiking through Bright Angel Canyon as the sun was coming up and were treated to an awesome view of the soaring canyon walls and the South Rim in new daylight through the mouth of the Canyon.

Our breakfast break was at Phantom Ranch and after that we proceeded up the Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim. The thought was that if we were toast by then we would overnight at the South Rim and then take the shuttle (or hike) back the next morning. It was not to be. After an hour rest and some lunch we moved to the trailhead and headed back into the canyon (3:15 p.m.)

Reaching Phantom Ranch by 6:45 we were in good shape to sit and have dinner (this is mile 33 of the hike). There was some discussion about catching a nap for a few hours there, but we ultimately decided to push on and hike out. The moon was quite bright and the Canyon by moonlight was awesome.

As we ascended back to the North Rim the temps dropped below freezing and a relatively strong biting wind came up. So the last couple of hours do not go down as the most fun hiking hours.

6 a.m crested the North Rim to complete our hike.

27.5 hours, 47 miles, 11,000' of elevation gain, and a totally amazing time.

Holy crap Jerry, that's a good day. Well done. Now show us your damn pictures.

Sounds like a pretty amazing enduro-hike.

Got photos?

HJ

Yep I have some photos and I'll post them as soon as I up load them -- probably this weekend. It was so coool!

Jerry

okay…I am going to plead lamo

I have tried to upload my Grand Canyon pictures using the attach-file at the bottom of this dialog box with no success.

Jerry

Do you have them posted anywhere like Facebook or Picasaweb? I just link to my photos from there.

HJ

What a huge hike, well done! And you did the more difficult direction at the end (south to north).

0230 and time to get on the trail




First light in Bright Angel Canyon




First view of the South Rim with morning light




South Rim comes into view




South Rim approaching Phantom Ranch




Selfie with Daniel as we get ready for breakfast and our hike out to the South Rim




Crossing the Colorado River

Looking at the North Rim from the South Rim … our car is way over theeere!




Time to head back down to the river




looking back at the South Wall as we descend back into the canyon




End of daylight in the canyon. In about a 1/2 hour it became dark. We hiked on to Phantom Ranch and through the night to the North Rim

Cool Jerry! I had a Rim To Rim (but certainly not back again!) hike planned last year but it got canceled by work (work!). I know ultrarunners do rim to rim and back, but I've never heard of anyone hiking it. You kept up a pretty serious pace to make that kind of time.

Would you mind providing some logistical details? What did you do for water?

And doesn't Phantom Ranch have limited hours sometimes? Did you plan around that? (Since you seemed to hit breakfast and dinner!)

Thanks!

Nice Jerry. I like that pic of South Rim from Phantom.

Hi VermillionPearlGirl

We did not buy anything at Phantom Ranch -- except a cup of coffee to go with breakfast. I carried trail mix and a couple of sandwiches with me on the descent. We stopped at Phantom to eat breakfast (sandwich No. 1). I expected to do both sandwiches there but ate the other for dinner. At the South Rim we re-supplied a little (though not much, just snacks and a bite for dinner for my buddies who did not have a sandwich left over and we carried them down to PR). Water was available the entire way. There were three water sources on the North Kaibab and three on the Bright Angel. We also carried a water filter just in case.

Jerry

Awesome Jerry, thanks for the info!

A quick update on conditions. I did the trip this past weekend and when consulting with Park Service staff at the Backcountry Ranger Station, they said that the water would be shut off this week, for the winter.

All services on the North Rim are closed for the winter including the campground as well.

Yeah, this was another problem I ran into planning this trip last year. It seems like you want to go as late in the year as possible but before the North Rim closure which evidently happens vaguely when it snows but not necessarily on a set date. I've heard up to about Oct 15th is usually safe. But it makes it tricky to plan.