Intro
I could really go a long way back here, but the tl;dr is that I had some health issues that prevented me from doing any cardio/endurance activities for over three years. But it still stayed close to my heart, and instead of doing anything myself, I just collected a massive bucket list of things I’d like to do if I ever regained my health. One of those bucket item lists was the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim (R2R2R), going from the South Rim to the North Rim and back. Lo and behold, just one tiny deadly pandemic later, here I am.
Since last March, I’ve been slowly been able to increase my endurance workouts again, starting from C25K, to building up mileage, setting a 5k PR and running a 50k this April. When a friend suggested doing the R2R2R in two days in May, I was obviously in. Unfortunately, that friend had to drop out due to an injury, but because I had already booked my flights and accommodation, I decided to just do it by myself. I spent a week in Flagstaff to somewhat acclimate to the altitude, and just because.
Anyways, with that pre-amble out of the way, let’s talk logistics.
Logistics
People think Arizona, they think desert and hot weather. They’re not wrong, but often forget that up until early May, there’s usually still snow in the Grand Canyon - typically on the North Rim, which doesn’t open until mid May and closes by mid October. The North Rim is less developed and accessible than the South Rim, which is why most people start from the South Rim, especially if they plan to do the trip in one day.
Because the whole trip is around 45 miles with around 17k elevation gain (and loss), most people don’t do it in one day, although it is possible if you’re a fast hiker or obviously an ultra-runner. I thought about it, but seeing as it’s my first time I decided to “take it easy” and do it as an overnighter. If you want to take more than one day, you have a couple of options camping wise. Just a note - I’m only talking about the corridor trails here (South Kaibab, North Kaibab, and Bright Angel) - there are other options within the Grand Canyon NP, but these are the most popular ones.
Along the corridor trails, there is no dispersed camping - only three campgrounds exist (Indian Garden on the Bright Angel trail, Bright Angel at the bottom of the Canyon, and Cottonwood on the North Kaibab trail). For these, you have to get permits very early, and they are very hard to get. Once the North Rim is open, there’s another option - walk in permits at the campground there, which are super easy to get. There was only one other hiker there with me, and it’s only $6. Both the website and the backcountry center very super helpful and informative, so do your own research here.
Training
I did a lot trail running as well well as road running in the months before this, averaging around 30 miles per week, so nothing too crazy. I had only done backpacking trip this season, and that was very different context - early season Yosemite, snow, creek crossings, but was a nice shakedown. In April I did a DIY 50k with 6k of vert in around 6h20m (after a shit week of sleep), which was also a nice confidence booster that I could actually pull this off. Otherwise, I didn’t really do any Grand Canyon specific prep, which I think was okay.
Gear and food
Depending on how I felt, I wanted to run at least parts of the route, so I opted for a more fast-packing style of gear. My more or less accurate gear list is here. I picked the Salomon XA 25 because it’d be more comfortable to run in, and went stoveless because for one night it’s not really worth it. Forecast for the North Rim was sub 30 degrees at night, so fleece and puffy as well as some base layers were necessary. Although the latest reports said all the faucets along the trails were turned on, I wasn’t really sure how much water I need, so I brought along my bladder as well as some Aquamira just in case I needed to grab water from the creek. Otherwise, it’s pretty standard backpacking fare for me.
Food wise, I took a mix of ultra-running food (Tailwind, gels, blocks, stroopwaffles) and hiking food (peanuts, YES bars, GreenBelly bars), around 3500 calories per day (more on that later…).
Report
Day 1
Alright, let’s get to the fun part. I spend Friday night at Yavapai Lodge on the South Rim, got up at 4am, drove to the Backcountry Information Center, found a parking spot, and took one of the shuttles at around 5:20 am to the South Kaibab trailhead. It was quite busy, so I didn’t catch the first night. The whole week I had slept horribly, and I only got around 2 hrs of sleep, which obviously was less than ideal. Because there are no water sources on the South Kaibab trail (or so I was told…there is actually one that needs to be treated), I started with 3 litres of water, which was totally overkill as it turned out.
I started running downhill, but immediately felt sluggish and after a mile or so my left thigh seized up. I knew from my 50k that that wasn’t a good sign, so I decided to take it easy and hike more as I wasn’t quite sure what to expect on the climb up. The SK trail is quite steep, up to 900ft loss a mile, but beautiful, and you get an awesome view into the Canyon. After around 6 miles and 1:50hrs, I reached the Colorado River, which was a sight to behold.
After you cross the river on a wonky bridge, which I did not enjoy, you make your way to Phantom Ranch, where you can buy snacks and lemonade. I didn’t stop and went straight onward, making my way slowly up the North Rim. It starts very gradual through a beautiful side canyon until you hit Cottonwood campground, where I stopped for around 20 minutes, had some food and chatted with a fellow hiker who was on his 14th R2R2R. My nutrition is usually not great unless I take a break, so this was a much-needed rest to fuel and chill a little. My ego was however happy to realize that up until now, only runners had overtaken me.
Starting from Cottonwood, the climb definitely gets harder and steeper (800 ft gain per for multiple miles.) I found the worst part to be between Manzanita and Supai tunnel, where finally two day hikers overtook me (RIP my ego). After Supai, I got a bit of a second wind and found it mentally easier. I hit the trail head just after 8 hrs (I think it was 8:10), but still had 3/4 of a mile to go to the campground. I was a little nervous about the whole campground logistics, but it turned out to be as easy as advertised and I set up camp right away before I got too tired. True to the forecast and the previous day on the South Rim, it was cold and incredibly windy. The weather throughout the day was great - it never got above 90 degrees, but the relatively cold weather (50 degrees in the afternoon) combined with the wind and my relatively bad nutrition made me shiver quite a bit.
I talked to a couple of people, including a runner who was crewing her friend who was attempting a casual quintuple R2R2R (no biggie) and a fellow hiker who came in a few hours after me. Ironically the crew person was impressed by my setup, while I was more impressed by what she and her friend was doing. I bought some more snacks at the store there and chowed it down, and failed to realize I could have gotten pizza at the freaking lodge a few hundred ft away. This is why you do you research, people.
At night, it got down to 30 degrees but I was actually comfortable - if you saw my previous (short) report on my Yosemite trip, you know that that wasn’t the case in similar weather there. Tarp dealt with the wind great, didn’t bother me at all although I set it up really low.
Stats (according to my GPS watch and Caltopo): 21.85 miles with 10k ft gain, 9.8k ft loss.
Day 2
I wanted to start early again, but overslept my alarm at 4am and “only” got up at 5am. I felt relatively refreshed though and my legs were in good shape. In fact, in good enough shape that I ran quite a bit of the downhill - although I don’t know if you can count 14 mi/min as running, I was struggling quite a bit with the steeper section, especially as I took a tumble quite early that shook my confidence a bit. I started in my base leggings and fleece, which was a mistake as I heated up quite quickly and had to stop at the Supai bathroom to quickly get changed. It was probably my first “outdoorsy” where I used bathrooms the whole time.
After around 4 hrs and 15 miles, I made it to Phantom Ranch where I took a break before starting the hike up the South Rim. I got a bagel from the kiosk (medium) and a lemonade (freaking fantastic), ate some more snacks and continued my merry way. In retrospect, this is where I really messed up - I wasn’t fueling enough in this first half of the day, which came back to bite me later. Hydration was super okay, the faucets were very frequent and I never carried more than a liter.
Hiking up the South Rim, I opted for the Bright Angel trail, both because I wanted to experience another trail and because it actually has water options and is less exposed than South Kaibab. It said it is less exposed, but it was still freaking hot - still “only” high 80s, but I was not dealing super well with it. The first part is not too bad, around 400ft gain per mile and follows the Colorado river, which I thought was incredibly pretty. Up until Indian Garden, I held up pretty well, but again, wasn’t eating enough.
After Indian Garden, the trail becomes steeper - more around 700 ft per mile, and my bad nutrition really came back to haunt me. I started to feel a little light-headed and woozy, as well as generally fatigued. Just really shows you how important not only nutrition but frequent eating is as well, something that I’ve struggled during my long runs as well. Once I hit the 3 mile rest-house, I realized I wasn’t going to hit my sub 8 hr goal without potentially endangering myself, so I decided to take it easy instead and chat with some runners who were doing South Kaibab and Bright Angel that day. It’s not often I do 25 minute miles, but it was definitely the right decision and was also quite a bit of fun to chat with them, as they both shared my passion for FKTs, ultras, and backpacking. As an excuse, we also got stuck behind mule tours a couple of times!
After around 8:15hrs, I reached the Bright Angel trailhead, said good-bye to my companions, and hiked another half mile to my car. I went to the general store, bought some ice cream, Gatorade, and snacks, celebrated a little and then went on my way to my hotel in Williams, about an hour away.
Stats: 24.85 mi, with 9.8k gain and 11k ft loss (I started recording a little earlier, right from my campsite)
Gear review
Let’s be honest, we’re all here for the gear, so some thoughts.
The Good
Salomon XA 25: Super comfortable even when running. The main pack obviously bounces a little, but the straps don’t, so it didn’t really bother me. Lots of storage pockets in the front, just enough volume to fit all my gear. The fastening system is a little annoying, but you get used to it. With the 3 liters at the beginning, it was a little annoying, but that’s expected. The straps are the bottom were just long enough to squeeze the Thinlight in. The flasks are also super convenient to drink without needing your hands.
LiteAF fanny pack: I guess I’m officially a convert now. The great thing about this particular fanny pack is that you can attach it directly to the hip-belt rings of the XA 25 (or whatever pack you have), and thus replaces the hip-belt. Was super handy for phone and snacks (NOT THAT I ATE THEM)
GG Twinn: I love this thing. It’s light but big enough to not be super cramped, and imo ideal for this kind of trip while still providing some protection from the elements. With a smaller tarp, I think I would have suffered on the exposed campsite with the wind (I think it was gusts up to 40mph).
FarPointe Fleece Beanie: Got this recently for this season, and it’s incredibly light for its weight (9g). Was great for the night.
The Bad
Honestly, not much was really bad, but I definitely didn’t need TP, Aquamira, or the bladder. But they also hardly ruined the trip. Against my better judgement, I packed a windbreaker and regretted it.
Final thoughts
Overall, pretty happy with how this turned out. With my bad week of sleep, I don’t think I really could have expected more - Friday night I seriously considered not doing it at all because I didn’t get any sleep. The Grand Canyon is definitely a sight to see, but overall I’m a sucker for the High Sierras and count myself lucky it’s relatively close to where I live. If/When I go back to the Grand Canyon, it’ll probably be to attempt the R2R2R in one day once I have more ultras under my belt. I was a little sore on the Monday after, but not too badly - definitely not as much as after my 50k. My gear choices were all pretty solid, and I don’t think I would do much differently. The biggest issue was definitely nutrition, which I know is an issue on basically all my trips, whether it’s backpacking or running. I’m working on it. Another thing to work on is downhill running. I suck at it.