Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim - November 16, 2013

For some reason a friend and I thought that it would be a good idea to head down to the Grand Canyon last weekend and attempt the ultra-classic R2R2R trail run.

Over the last month and a half I've tried to take advantage of all the excellent trails around Boise and log a bunch of runs with my dogs covering as much mileage and elevation gain as possible to get ready. My longest training run was about 25 miles with around 4700 feet of elevation gain, about half of what this trail run would be:





When we arrived in Arizona on Friday, the weather forecast was for a chilly start at the South Rim, warm temperatures down in the canyon, and then cold windy and snowy conditions on the north rim.

This was the sight that greeted us upon our first view of the Grand Canyon:


David and I started running right at 5:15AM on Saturday morning. An earlier start may have been warranted. Neither of us having run farther than 30 miles before, it ended up being a bit cocky to assume we could just show up and run the thing in under 12 hours.

After a steep descent down Bright Angel trail we were greeted to a wonderful sunrise on the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, 9 mile in.


After crossing the Colorado and stashing a Coca Cola and 5 hour energy at Phantom Ranch (mile 10 on our GPS) for the way back, we headed out on what was supposed to be a 7 mile run with gradual elevation gain to the next water at Cottonwood.


Expecting to get to cottonwood at mile 17, we were a bit surprised to not get there until both GPS units read 18 miles. After stashing a second Coca Cola at Cottowood, we ran the next 1.5 miles to the Pumphouse, our last source of water, and the start of the big climb to the North Rim. Here our GPS's said 19.5 miles, and according to the trail sign, we had 5.5 miles to go to get to the North Rim trailhead, our turnaround point.

We began to climb steeply, running where we could and power hiking where we had to.






19.5 + 5.5 = 25 miles. 2x25 = 50. We were sure of both of those calculations, but we were confused, as everything we had read put the R2R2R via Bright angel at a total mileage of somewhere between 44 and 48, depending on which source you look at. We thought perhaps the trail sign mileage was off, and that we would reach the north rim around mile 24 on the GPS. Thus after climbing quite a distance and gaining a lot of elevation, when the GPS said 23, we were excited to be nearing the top. Wrong we were though! It appeared our gadgets had deceived us! Instead of finding the top at mile 24, or even 25, all we found was more trail, that seemed to only get steeper!


Finally at what our GPS claimed was mile 26.3 we reached the North Rim Trailhead. We were delighted to not be stuck in a blizzard, and in fact the weather couldn't have been nicer for running!




At this point, we had gained about 6 and half thousand feet of elevation, and covered what our GPS claimed was 26 miles (I've been combing the web and still can't seem to find a consensus on the actual mileage). Given that fact, I was feeling pretty good, and it made me feel good to know I was still feeling good! My friend was having some trouble with his right knee, but was also otherwise feeling OK. Unfortunately, this feeling was not to last . . .


We started back down the North Kaibab trail, and it didn't take long for the steep downhill running to completely obliterate me. Quads, hamstrings, calves, knees, feet... by time we got back down to the Pumphouse, everything hurt.

Fortunately I still had a few tricks up my sleeve . . . I pulled out my first of two Nutella and banana sandwiches, and chowed down. Sitting and eating some real food (as opposed to the copious amounts of Gu I ate throughout) seemed to revive me, and we took off running the next 1.5 miles of comparatively mellow downhill to the Cottonwood. At the Cottonwood we took another break to drink our stashed Coca Cola, and then continued running downhill for 8 more miles all the way to Phantom Ranch. The beauty of the canyon helped distract me somewhat from the throbbing pain that was the entire lower half of my body...:


. . . but I did have to stop a couple times to regain my composure on this stretch:


At Phantom Ranch we took our last break. I was a bit dizzy, and having the strange sensation that I was watching all of this on a TV somewhere, and not actually there. Our GPS claimed we had covered 42 miles at that point, and we knew we still had 10 steep miles to go, with about 4500ft of elevation still to gain to get back up to the South Rim.

I thought about popping an Ibuprofin to lessen the pain, but figured I signed up for the experience, so I might as well be fully present to experience it, whatever that entailed. As we climbed up the Bright Angel Trail, our run/walk turned into a power hike, which turned into a walk. At some point I couldn't keep up with David anymore, my legs just wouldn't walk as fast as I was telling them to.

With about 3 miles to go my walk turned into a stagger, and it took everything I had to keep moving. I was as wasted as I've ever been.


It eventually got to a point where I didn't think it would end, but of course it did. We headed out of the parking lot in search of dinner, and were pleasantly surprised to find a pizza place near by. We staggered in, ate an entire large Supreme pizza, and made a toast to an amazing day:

Saturday night I made a promise to myself to never EVER run again. But like so many other "I'll never do that again" promises during some form of hangover, now that I've had a couple days to process things I can't wait to get back on the horse! One step at a time though, first I have to get rid of this limp :P

Final stats, I think, are around 48 miles (GPS said 51.1, Map said 44, other websites vary in what they list), with about 11,000 feet of elevation gain. Time was 14:42 car to car via Bright Angle Trailhead.