A summary of the run/hike along with what I carried.

4-11-2022 R2R2R 54th birthday run/hike.

 April 11th was on a Monday this year, a good day of the week to be hiking in the Grand Canyon if you want smaller crowds on the trails. Mid April is also better than the summer season, which for some reason is supposed to be very busy despite the summer heat.

The wife and I flew into Phoenix on Saturday night and got in very late. We stayed at a hotel there, then drove to the Grand Canyon village area Sunday morning. It was about a 3 ½ hour drive to the Yavapai lodge where we stayed for two nights. We got our room, went to dinner with a couple we know named Mike and Janet, and went back to our room to rest and get ready for the R2R2R the next day.

The alarm was set for 4:00 am for a 5:00 am start. Mike was picking us up as Janet was also running which was handy. After a breakfast of a Danish and some diet Dew and some preparation we caught a ride from Mike to the main road leading to the start of the South Kaibab trailhead. It was a short road run from being dropped off on the road to the trailhead, then we went down from there. It was about 33F and windy. I wore shorts and a compression tee shirt with a wind jacket. I put on gloves, but they came off after a few miles.

After dropping off the top and heading down, the wind became less of a factor. We had headlamps on, but they were only needed for a short while. We started running at about 5:09 am, which from my research is a bit later than ideal. We ended up catching the mule train that was going down, but they stopped and were gracious enough to let us pass. My wife being a bit slower downhill than I, it seemed like the mules were keeping up with us, so the pace began to quicken as we did not want to play leapfrog with them, we wanted to stay ahead and keep out of their way. We did manage to keep ahead of them, but I swear those mules are very relentless in their pacing.

Janet took off faster than us, I could gradually see her light going down the switchbacks gaining on us. I let her go, I was here to stay with my wife, not race. We got to the bottom soon enough. South Kaibab is a fairly easy trail, but the relentless water breaks get kind of old to trot over after a while. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures as the sun rose. At the bottom you cross the Colorado river bridge and make your way along the bottom until you get to Phantom ranch, which is a campsite with amenities at the bottom of the canyon. Everything there is brought in and brought out by mule teams that go up and down the trail regularly.

We wound our way along the bottom, along Bright Angel creek as South Kaibab becomes North Kaibab trail at the bottom. Around 11 miles in, the wife told me I should go ahead as it was an out and back, and I wanted to go faster. I took off somewhat faster. The trail along the creek was actually kind of loud in places as the water roared downhill past. I remember thinking how noisy it was, with the water and the wind constantly blowing. There was actually a wind advisory, with sustained winds of 30-40 mph and gusts expected up to 65 mph.

So I trotted along, the trail meandering up and down. Past Ribbon creek falls, which I did not stop at, past Cottonwood campground, where there was no water turned on yet, to Manzanita creek station where I filled my running pack and my two soft flasks with water. The water was not very good, having been treated, but Tailwind covered up the taste. As I was turning into the ranger’s yard I saw Janet going up the hill, I was surprised I was that close to her. I think it took me over 10 minutes to replenish before I turned up the trail again. I got my running poles out here for the big climb ahead.

At that point the trail started to trend slightly more upward as it made its way to the north rim. There were switchbacks, Roaring Springs, and I started to see other runners coming down from the north rim that were before me. Only runners were on the trails here, it’s hard to get here as the north rim road is closed. The trail followed the side of a canyon going up, and crossed over on a bridge to the other side. From there it was just switchbacks up to Coconino overlook, then the top shortly after. There was a young woman sitting at the top waiting for another runner to meet her at the top. I had passed that woman, she was looking pretty tired already. I talked to her for a few minutes as I ate a gel and drank water, then I turned back down. It was 48 degrees there, and I was getting cold and didn’t want to put my jacket on. There was a lot of snow there still on top, but thankfully nothing on the trail that could not be stepped over.

I actually ran down at a decent pace. I stowed my hiking poles away after using them on the way up, and one rubbed my back annoyingly, but I left it alone. I didn’t want to ruin my mojo. I stopped to fill up at Manzanita again. It had been about 22.3 miles from the start to the top of the north rim. I made it there in just under 7 hours. I finally caught my wife a few miles from Phantom ranch, and I ended staying with her the rest of the way. She had almost made it to the top, but decided to turn around early.

We sort of fast hiked and trotted until we got to Phantom ranch right before they closed at 4:00 pm, and we ordered lemonade and a bag of chips. The wife sat down to eat and drink, and that ended up being a mistake. Despite only stopping for about 10 minutes or so, she got up stiff-legged. It took many miles before she could move at a decent pace again.

We took off and crossed another bridge over the Colorado river, because we went up the Bright Angel trail. Bright Angel is a few miles longer than going back the way we came down, but supposedly not as steep overall. It’s fair to say we mostly hiked the rest of the way, admittedly with me trying to get the wife to go as fast as she could. We stopped twice to fix her feet, first one, then the other. She had big blisters right under her big toes that needed lubing up.

We skipped getting water at Indian Garden as we figured we had enough to finish as it was.Just past that point it started to get dark enough to turn on the headlamps. There was supposed to be some weather coming in, and the sky looked ominous at times, but we had nothing but the strong winds. The next morning there would be some snow on the ground.

There are a lot of switchbacks and water breaks on the way up, the wife having a harder time with her shorter legs than I. In fact I was feeling pretty good, especially at a reduced pace. I wasn’t feeling any soreness or tiredness, other than a few little niggling things in my right hamstring and left knee. I kept seeing maybe 3 lights far down the trail below us, but they never seemed to gain ground on us. We kept talking about the distance remaining on the way up, and I think my math was better than hers. At the 1.5 mile point to the top I was confirmed as being better at math than her. I think we were doing just under 30 minute miles, so there was a rough idea of when we would be finished.

And then, just like that you pop up at the south rim, and see the trailhead and parked cars etc. I called for a ride home from Mike, and he was there shortly. It was quite cold out in the exposed wind, once we climbed out of the canyon. Mike picked us up and drove us to our hotel room, and that was that. Dinner was a sub we had bought the day before, and two beers for me.

It had been a long but epic day. The canyon is absolutely beautiful, and the scale of it is huge. The stars were not as spectacular due to it being rather cloudy during the dark hours. Climbing in the dark in the beam of a headlamp you don’t really see the drop offs next to the trail, you just see the path which is comforting.

Gear:

I carried a Salomon Advanced Skin 12 liter hydration pack with a two liter water bladder, and two 17 ounce soft flasks in the front bottle pockets. I purposely carried a bit more gear than normal, almost what would be required for UTMB just for practice. In my hydration pack I carried the following:

-Sawyer mini water filter with collapsible bottle.

-Ice Breaker merino wool long sleeve top.

-Ultimate Direction water-proof long pants.

-Outdoor Research Helium 2 jacket, Patagonia Houdini.

-three 7 scoop each Ziplocs of Naked flavor Tailwind.

-three Cliff bars.

-ten Gu gels, three non-caffeinated.

-a small bag of Band aids and pain relievers, and Tums and electrolyte capsules.

-two headlamps, a Petzl Reactik+ and a Fenix hm-65R-T which is super bright.

-a Halo headband, Craft Hybrid weather gloves, an Adidas beanie, a Headsweats cap with sun shade, and Tifosi Tryant Fototec sunglasses.

-Black Diamond carbon distance poles.

-I also carried a small bottle of sunscreen, and my room key with a $20 bill. I should have brought my ID also, but I didn't.

-my Samsung Note Ultra in a Flipbelt Zipper.

-last, but very importantly, a wad of toilet paper in a Ziploc bag.

A lot of doing this hike is studying the logistics of the canyon, specifically the places to get water. I had carried a Sawyer mini water filter, and I did try it out on my way up to the north rim, I lay down and drank from a stream crossing the trail to see how it worked. It was fine, although it may take a bit to get enough water in. If I had wanted to fill my 2 liter pack with it, I suspect it might have taken more than 10 minutes. It comes with a 32 ounce collapsible bottle that you would need to squeeze through the filter into the pack.

Clothes: I wore Altra Olympus 4 shoes that were almost worn out, Darn Tough merino wool quarter socks, and OR gaiters. Uglow shorts with liner, an UnderArmour compression tee shirt, a Patagonia Houdini wind jacket, which I only wore for a short bit at the start.

Total ascent it’s supposed to be somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000 feet of ascent and 48.3 miles.