I started considering this trip back in the spring, thinking it would be a fun indulgence and would motivate me to keep my mileage and long runs up over the summer.  I felt reasonably well prepared – I’ve averaged over 42 mpw since mid-February, had a few 50-60 mile weeks over the summer, and started ramping up the long runs from my typical 12 to a bunch of 18-24 mile runs between late June and September.  I also ran a challenging 32 mile self-supported race in late September – I DNF’ed due to a serious wrong turn, but I ended up finding my own route to the finish line, still put in over 32 miles and felt decent doing it.  (Note:  I’m not really an ultrarunner – I come here for the trail stuff, not the ultra stuff.  My longest race before my 32 mile DNF was a trail marathon last year.)  I read more R2R2R reports than is probably healthy and concluded that (a) it sounded awesome and (b) I could manage it and avoid a death march, as long as it wasn’t too hot.

I flew into Las Vegas on Saturday, drove the 4 hours to Tusayan, checked into my hotel, then drove to the South Rim to see the canyon for the first time and watch the sunset.  It is really awesome to see – the magnitude is tremendous, and with the sun setting the colors and shadows were constantly changing and beautiful.  The weather was going to cooperate – forecast was 40 overnight at the South Rim, high of 87 or so at Phantom Ranch, which I could live with.

Getting up at 4:00 was easy, as I was still on east coast time.  I packed up all of my gear – basically a handheld, a Salomon pack with a bladder, 15 sticks of Tailwind and a headlamp and flashlight – and got to the South Rim around 5:00.  My plan was to park at the Bright Angel trailhead, take the early shuttle to South Kaibab and start there.  It was hard to find the bus stop in the dark, but I knew I was on the bus route and figured I could just flag down the shuttle driver with my flashlight.  Wrong – apparently the bus drivers don’t like being “hailed”, even at 5:00 in the morning when the bus is completely empty.  To add insult to injury, the bus that blew past me pulled over at the stop a hundred yards down the road – I figured the driver would wait for me and I started jogging toward the stop, waving my flashlight.  Wrong again – she pulled away right before I got there, leaving me standing in the cold and dark waiting for the next bus, 20 minutes later.  After cursing loudly at the vanishing shuttle, I decided to chill out – I could just enjoy the cool, quiet morning and wasn’t on a tight schedule.  I wanted to run this in 12-13 hours – with 11.5 hours of daylight, I hoped to not run too much in the dark, and this target seemed reasonable based on reports I had read.

So I made it to the South Kaibab (apparently rhymes with “pie flab” and not “hi, Bob,” according to the rangers) trailhead with a few groups of hikers, used the facilities and started down.  It was 20 minutes before sunrise but the sky was already light enough that I didn’t need my headlamp.  I passed a mule train less than a mile in, which apart from the copious amounts of mule shit was not a big deal. (I’ve read reports from people thinking they had to make sure to start before 5:00 in order to beat the mules – unless you’re going for an FKT, the inconvenience is negligible and you should just relax and enjoy the scenery.)  It was great running down the SK at sunrise – beautiful colors across the canyon as the sun rose in the sky, long shadows from all of the peaks and crags.

Sunrise shadow:

Last stretch down SK to the river and the Black Bridge

I made it down to the river and Phantom Ranch in good time, met a few hikers while refilling my water and started up the North Kaibab.  The next stretch through the box canyon was entirely shaded and cool and the trail crisscrossing the creek was very smooth and easy.  Next up was Cottonwood Campground, 14 miles in, with wonderfully cold water and a few hikers to chat with.

The next 7 miles up to the North Rim, particularly the 5.5 miles above Pump House, was definitely my favorite trail in the canyon – dramatic views, sheer drop-offs and a challenging, steady climb, with far fewer water bars and tight switchbacks than the South Rim climbs have.  I was passed here by a couple of guys who were part of a group of 8 from northern California that had flown out to run R2R2R.  I hiked most of the stretch from Pump House, running on the occasional flat sections.  The sun was high enough at this point that I was getting a little cooked, but above Supai Tunnel (1.5 miles below the rim) the trail was mostly shaded through the forest.  Finally, the air got noticeably cooler, and a couple of hundred yards later I was at the trailhead, about 5:45 into my run.  I took a load off for a few minutes, took some pictures, refilled my water, threw away some trash and started back down.  (Since my main goal from this trip was to not die, I had reserved a spot on the 2:00 shuttle from the North Rim back to the South Rim in case I felt like I couldn’t make it back.  I felt good and actually didn’t even think about it when I got up there, but it was money well spent to eliminate the fear beforehand of getting stuck out there.)

Feeling fresh at the North Rim:

Running back down to Cottonwood, my legs were starting to feel all of the downhills – my quads were getting tired, and my left ITB (which hasn’t acted up in years) was starting to feel tight and sore.  At this point I also started having some GI issues – I managed to keep it to a “tailwind”, but I was feeling more unsettled with each mile.  After Cottonwood, back down the fairly flat trail to Phantom Ranch, I was not feeling great – there was a lot more sun this time through, my stomach was not happy and I was alternating running and walking.  The two runners that had passed me on the way out passed me again (they had taken a much longer lunch break at the North Rim than I had), and I picked up and ran with one of them for a few miles before taking another break and letting him go.  I met up with them again at Phantom Ranch, enjoying the famous lemonade with a few other guys from their group – I went in and got one of my own, which really hit the spot, and chatted with them for a bit.

I had decided to take Bright Angel up to the South Rim, based on not wanting to carry a ton of water (no water stops between Phantom Ranch and the South Rim on South Kaibab) and not wanting to be without shade in the hot afternoon sun, which I figured that was worth the extra 2.5 miles.  (And god bless the people that put a fully functioning bathroom at Bright Angel campground – I felt like an absolute new person.  I also started diluting my Tailwind a lot more, which seemed to help.)  The Bright Angel trail felt much cozier than the other rim trails – I felt less like I was in the big canyon and more like I was in a narrow side canyon.  It was also kind of lonely – for most of the day I was passing hikers and runners regularly (mostly hikers), but after leaving Bright Angel campground I only saw 4 people over the next 9.5 miles/3+ hours (one a R2R2R runner who had started at 2:00 a.m. and whose remaining goal was to get back to the rim before the hotel bar closed at 10:00).  I ran the lower stretches of this trail but reverted to hiking before Indian Garden campground (which is about 5 miles from the rim) and ran very little the rest of the way.

Sun setting from BA trail:

The sun set around 6:00 when I was somewhere between the 3-mile and 1.5-mile resthouses – I thought the sunset below the rim would be a cool view, but the shape of the canyon at that point really limited my views.  The stars, on the other hand, were fantastic – night fell quickly as I kept slogging toward the rim, headlamp on, but at some point probably 10 minutes from the top I sat down at the corner of a switchback, turned off my headlamp and stared up at a beautiful, starlit sky.  It was very peaceful and a great way to end the run.  I finished shortly thereafter – the trailhead sort of sneaks up on you, and before you process the fact that the trail has gotten wider and that there are a lot more signs, you’re at the top.  The trip back (via a different route than the trip out) took me about 7:15 for a 13 hour round trip.  I didn’t linger long at the top – I looked out over the canyon, tired and shivering, and then got in my car and headed for the Wendy’s drive-thru to get some real food to eat while recovering in the hotel bathtub.

This was a very cool experience – I’m glad I got to do it.  I wish I’d felt a little better/stronger on the return leg (and in hindsight, I wish I had returned on the SK – I just like that trail better), but even on the hiking parts I never felt like dying or quitting.  I’m still walking funny three days later, but I’ll work it out with lots of Advil and a few more SRDs.

Last note:  coming from the northeast, where all of my trail running is done in the woods, I must say that running in canyons is a beautiful change of scenery.  I’m sure many people think that there are better spots to enjoy canyon running than the Grand Canyon (the same way that mountain climbers think that there are much better mountains to climb than Everest) – let me know where they are and I’ll put them on the list for future running vacations!

Thanks for reading!

DigDug2/Brian

Great job on the R2R2R.

This is good.  Thanks for sharing.

I have questions though (feel free to answer what you want and ignore what you want):

1.) About how much did this trip cost you? (airline, rental car, motel, other)?

2.) How long were you planning it?

3.) Did you need to book you motel far in advance?

4.) How far was your motel from where you started?

5.) How many R2R2R reports is too many (that you read)?

6.) How did you convince DW that spending money on a weekend trip to run in a canyon by yourself was ok? (most important question)

Sounds like a great time.  And glad you shared with all of us.

Boyjame,

I used miles/points for the airfare and car rental, so my out-of-pocket costs were $400 for 2 nights in Tusayan plus meals, gas, souvenirs, etc. I started planning actual logistics in August, at which point it was too late to book a place to stay at one of the hotels/lodges in the park, so I stayed in Tusayan, which is a 10-15 minute drive from the South Rim visitor center, hotels, trailheads, etc.  (I understand that if you call the lodging place at the park constantly before your trip, you can often find a vacancy due to cancellations, but I didn't think Tusayan was that inconvenient and didn't think it was worth the effort to stay in the park.)

DW was very accommodating - I don't take a lot of time away from the family for my own stuff, other than some longer runs over the last couple of months, and she's supportive of something she sees gives me a lot of satisfaction.  ("I want to fly to Vegas so that I can spend a day running across the Grand Canyon and back" goes over better than "I want to fly to Vegas to gamble and party with my buddies," except for maybe the safety concerns - it took a few conversations to convince her that my number one goal really was not dying.)  When I got home there were balloons waiting for me - "the colors of the Grand Canyon sunset" - and congratulations posters from my kids.

Excellent job!

As far as other canyons worth visiting, I'd put Zion National park at the top of the list.

It's not as massively epic as Grand Canyon is, but it's much better looking. (More wildlife, more greenery, more trees, more variety)
(and closer to the Las Vegas airport)

Excellent write up. Having lived in AZ for 37 years it took me 35 before I ever went below the rim.  I'm determined to go yearly now to try and make up for lost time.

I moved out of the state before I ever went below the rim. Prior to that I spent a grand total of 10 minutes there in 30 years.

Glad everything went fairly smooth.  How cool...

Great report, sounds like everything went right for you.  Congrats on a successful crossing and not dying in the canyon.  I've heard the fall colors on the north rim are superb this time of year.  I did it this Spring, going down BA and back up BA.  I'd like to do exactly what you did next fall, taking SK down.  And will probably do it solo as well.  Great job!

Thanks.. those are some great pictures. Love seeing the zig zagging trail especially. Great perspective!