Rim to Rim to Rim-Grand Canyon National Park

The Thought…

One day early this summer I said to my husband, why don’t we hike the Grand Canyon, again. Let’s go rim to rim and back. We’ve hiked just about every trail in the Grand Canyon, let’s try something different. I had thought about it and felt like we were in really good shape, so I thought I’d see what he thought. Believe it or not, he was thinking the exact same thing himself in recent days. So, it was decided that we would do it.

View of Grand Canyon from South Kaibab Trail

The Plan…

First thing to do was decide which way we wanted to go. Did we want to hike down the South Rim to the North or go the other direction? It didn’t take us long to agree that we’d be best off hiking down the South Kaibab Trail and up the North Kaibab Trail. Then we would hike down the North Kaibab Trail and up the Bright Angel Trail. While the Bright Angel Trail would extend our distance, it would have water and not be as steep as the South Kaibab Trail.

The next step was to plan our time and where we would stay. We decided it would be best to spend a couple of nights at the North Rim to re-coop. Initially we were able to secure a Western Cabin for October 7th, luckily. We still needed to get the second night secured but the North Rim was sold out on the 8th. That’s when we played the wait and see game. Maybe there would be cancellations; we’d just have to keep on checking. As luck would have it, we were able to secure the second night, October 8th. Good deal for us.

The Training…

So now, just go on with life and enjoy the summer. That’s just what we did. We keep ourselves in pretty darn good shape all year round. We just needed to kick it up a notch or so. You see another goal of ours is to complete the Arizona Trail. It runs from Mexico to Utah and is 817 miles in length. You can ride horses, ride bikes, run or hike this trail (some areas of the trail are limited to the method of travel). It takes you through some of the most scenic areas of Arizona, what a great way to see the state. It is 95% complete and one area is closed that I know of at the North Rim due to past fires.

So when you think about how good of shape we were in to do this hike, consider what we accomplished this summer while spending time in Flagstaff, AZ:

• Hiked-121 miles • Ran-235 miles  • Mountain Biked-723 miles  • Overall Elevation gain-57,500 ft. (including hike to Humphrey’s Peak 12,633 ft. elevation)

The Hike…

• Wednesday, October 7th…We started at 6:14am at the South Kaibab Trail. There was a 10% chance of rain and well it was raining and 30 degrees and the trail had a sleet kind of snow on it at the top portion. Low 70’s at Phantom Ranch, very nice. We saw the sun towards the end of the day which was nice, kept the hike cool. We finished at the North Kaibab Trail at 5:28pm that same day. Total miles: 20.5

Phantom Ranch-Grand Canyon National Park

• Thursday, October 8th…Day off at the North Rim. What a beautiful day it was, 50 degrees, clear and sunny. What a treat! The North Rim will close on October 16th.

Grand Canyon-North Rim Lodge

• Friday, October 9th…We were on the North Kaibab Trail at 5:15am in the dark with head lamps. It was pretty cool, maybe 30 degrees, but clear as a bell. There were several other hikers on the shuttle with us. 82 degrees at Phantom Ranch, not too bad. We finished on the Bright Angel Trail at 4:48pm that same day. Total miles: 23.6

Final Thoughts…

I was so excited about this hike. I knew I was in great shape and I was really looking forward to spending the time on the trails and at the lodges again. What a magical place with so much awesome history. There is no place like the Grand Canyon. We have hiked almost all of the trails on the South and North Rims and we were married at Powell Memorial. We’ve taken a 16 day dory expedition down the Colorado River. The people that come to Grand Canyon are transformed; they’re more relaxed and laid back. It’s a place where you can leave things behind and live in the now.

Once again the Grand Canyon didn’t let me down. It has given me additional inner strength and inspiration as it always has and undoubtedly always will.