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| Just before crossing the Colorado River |
My daughter and I hiked across the Grand Canyon, rim-to-rim (R2R), in a single day.
Last year I asked my daughter if she wanted to hike the Grand Canyon R2R with me. She said yes. A LOT has happened since that day.
I did a lot of research and decided that the best way for us was to go to the north rim, stay overnight, hike to the south rim, stay overnight, and be on our way. I also concluded that the best time of year to do the hike is the middle of October because:
- That time frame offers the coolest temperatures.
- The lodge at the north rim closes after October 15.
- There’s no guarantee the road to the north rim will be open later in October because it may snow.
I researched getting a reservation at Phantom Ranch near the Colorado River. It’s a great spot to overnight about halfway through the hike. It’s ridiculously hard to get. So I settled on R2R in a single day. I started with lodging at the north rim. Even though I was trying to book more than a year ahead of time, the latest date I could get was September 27. Then I reserved a room on the south rim for September 28. Then we planned our travel around those dates.
The next problem was transportation. My wife agreed to drive from the north rim to the south rim, a 250 mile trip. So, we all planned to meet in Phoenix, then drive to Flagstaff, stay for a single night, then drive to the north rim, stay for a single night, then, while my daughter and I hiked, my wife would drive around to the south rim, check into the hotel, and then meet us at the completion the hike.
With the plan made, I had a year to train. I ride my bike a lot. I have a good level of fitness, but not for hiking, at least not before I started training to hike. So I started walking a lot. I went to the Shenandoah mountains whenever the weather allowed, so I could hike with some climbing. Then I found out I had cancer. I had surgery in May of this year. I’m cancer-free now, but this sidelined me for several weeks. Then I had a long-planned trip to Alaska to visit my daughter, which also kept me from training. Finally, after the Alaska trip in July, I started training as hard as I could. I walked every day after work in the hottest part of the day. I went to the Shenandoah Mountains every weekend to hike. I worked my food plan out. I worked my water plan out. I worked my sun protection plan out. I decided on my clothing, shoes, and hat.
My daughter also worked out a lot. She went to the gym and spent lots of time on the stairmaster. She did a lot of leg work. She hiked in the mountains near her home in Anchorage. The one thing she couldn’t train for was heat. This was a big concern for her, but short of putting a treadmill inside a sauna, there was really no way for her to get ready for the heat that we knew we would endure in the canyon.
We met as planned in Phoenix, made the trek to the north rim, and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon exploring the area around the lodge and preparing for the hike. The lodge is just a main building with a restaurant, surrounded by a bunch of cabins. The cabins are pretty spartan and the beds in #105 were awful. None of us slept well. The park service web site reported that the water supplies were shut off between the north rim and Phantom Ranch, so we made sure to have plenty of water packed. We were prepared to filter water if needed.
At 4:30AM we drove to the North Kaibab trailhead and my daughter and I got started while my wife drove back to the cabin to pack up and check out. We were among quite a few other hikers as we descended the first few miles in the dark, using headlamps to see. Eventually morning twilight was strong enough to turn the headlamps off, and we made steady progress all the way to Manzanita, where we were surprised to find that the water was actually turned on. We rested, took a layer of clothing off because it was warmer, had some food, refilled our water supplies, and got moving again. We were eager to get through “The Box” canyon before it got hot.
We passed through Cottonwood campground without stopping, passed the Ribbon Falls trail (which we skipped), and entered the box. This is the part of the hike that I liked the most, with great scenery and it was still cool, with running water in a stream alongside the trail. After many turns and miles, and in rising temperatures, we finally exited the box and arrived at Phantom Ranch, tired and hot. We sat on some rocks in the shade, had some of the famous lemonade at the canteen, rested, ate, and refilled our water supplies. We had gone 14 miles, almost all downhill, and knew that the hard part would begin soon. We watched another hiker yell at a squirrel that was stealing her sandwich.
After a good rest, we went to the river, crossed the Silver Bridge, and turned right along the Colorado River. After a climb and descent along the river, we reached the Bright Angel trail and started our climb out of the canyon. This was the start of the “Devil’s Corkscrew”, a series of switchback climbs that are not particularly steep, but are difficult because the trail is mostly exposed to the sun. This is where my daughter started having trouble because the heat got to her. We stopped frequently and took every stream crossing as an opportunity to get our clothing wet. The five miles between Phantom Ranch and 4.5 mile rest house were pretty hard for her.
We arrived at Havasupai Garden (aka 4.5 mile rest) and took another break. We both changed our socks, ate, drank, and refilled our water supplies. I had spots on the balls of my feet that felt like blisters, but there were no blisters, so I covered them with Luka tape. I think I shouldn’t have soaked my feet and shoes in the stream crossings. By this time we were finally back in the shade. I put my hat away. We could see the buildings on the south rim now. I got a weak cell phone signal and texted my wife that we had made it to the point where we had 4.5 miles remaining. It was time for the steep climb out of the canyon.
The next mile and a half was a slog. I don’t remember much of it. But at least it was in the shade and it was cooling down. We reached 3 mile rest house and stopped again to rest and eat. My daughter knew she needed to eat but didn’t think she could handle the food she brought, so I gave her the energy chews that I use when cycling and I feel a bonk coming on. She tells me they really helped. I still had water in my backpack bladder. I hadn’t needed to drink much since we entered the shade. So I only filled my electrolyte bottle. This way I didn’t have to carry as much weight. I also wanted a spare bottle that I could hand to my daughter if she ran out of water; she was drinking a lot more than me. I also told her that we needed to get our headlamps back out because it was getting dark. My cell phone signal was stronger; I texted my wife again.
The next mile and a half was another slog. We turned our lights on and plodded along in the dark, getting closer and closer to the building lights that we could see on the rim. We could see the headlamp lights of other hikers above and below us. We encountered a snake on the trail (the only wildlife we saw all day, except for geckos and thieving squirrels). We finally reached 1.5 mile rest house in full dark, where we encountered two elderly men whom we had been leapfrogging for a while. One of them was clearly exhausted. They left before us; we passed them later. At 1.5 mile rest house we sat for a while, got more water (but short-filled because we were close to the end), and moved on. I texted my wife again.
Again I don’t remember much of this section; we were moving along in the dark on this steep section of trail. We were definitely tired and ready to be done. We went through one tunnel. We plodded along. We went through another tunnel. We knew we were close to the end. We kept going. Then I noticed a building in the light of our headlamps: Kolb Studio, on the rim. We were only a few hundred yards from the trailhead. One more switchback, then a gentle climb along a stone wall, then suddenly we were done. My wife was there to meet us, some people on the path along the rim clapped for us, and all my daughter and I wanted to do was get to the hotel room and get off our feet. I had booked a room really close to the trailhead, so we had a short walk to some food, drinks, a hot shower, and comfortable beds. Neither one of us wanted to eat a meal.
In total, it was 23.5 miles and 5150 feet climbed. This was easily the farthest I’ve ever walked in one event. My previous record was 17 miles with my son on the Appalachian Trail in Maine (5700 feet climbed).
I knew the canyon walls would interfere with my GPS watch’s ability to calculate distance. My watch reported 32.8 miles, off by quite a lot. When I look at the track on a map, it is clearly erratic. As we were hiking, this made it impossible to judge distances between rest stops.
What went well:
- I had a very good fitness level. I was surprised at how easy it was, meaning, I expected it to be much harder but my training did the job. I thought the climb was not as steep as the climbs I did in training (although the mileage was a lot more in the canyon than in training). I never felt like I was exhausted. Tired, yes. Exhausted, no.
- The heat never bothered me. The hottest part of the hike, the corkscrew, was uncomfortably hot, but I never broke out in the hat-drenching, face-running, shirt-soaking sweat that I frequently have on long bike rides or even in my training hikes.
- My water plan was good. I never ran out. I sipped from the bladder all day and chugged from the squeeze bottle at the rest stops. I used several electrolyte packs and had plenty left over.
- My food plan was good. I had fig newtons at Manzanita and Phantom Ranch, two peanut butter sandwiches at Phantom Ranch, and Clif Bars at other stops on the way, with a a Pop Tart at 3 mile. I had Clif Blok chews that I never used. I had a lot of food left over. I never felt close to bonking.
- My sun protection plan worked well: I had no sunburn. I had sunglasses, long pants, a long sleeve shirt, a full-brim hat, and a buff. I applied sunscreen to my face several times. My clothing choices were optimal for the heat and sun. I wore trail runner shoes, which was a good choice.
What went poorly:
- My daughter suffered from the heat. A lot. In the end she was unable to eat for the last few miles. I gave her some Bloks, which she said helped when she needed more energy but couldn’t eat more of the food that she had.
- She forgot her sunglasses.
On the day after, I had sore achilles tendons, and that’s it. My daughter had very sore legs and her feet hurt. She expected to lose a toenail. She had a mild sunburn on her arms in spite of repeated sunscreen applications.
So that’s it. We did it. It was an awesome hike through amazing terrain. I’m so glad I got the chance to do this with my daughter.
