Trip Report
Well, I had done some serious rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon, Las
Vegas; and some pretty cool mountaineering on Humphreys Peak.
Now, it was time for some extreme trail running, in one of the most
unique and challenging places; the Grand Canyon. I had done a bit
of preliminary research. My research basically told me that a
southern approach would probably be ok in December, but the North side
would most likely be snowed in. I also determined that December
was not the greatest time of year for a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim
attempt. A R2R2R is a trip from one side of the Grand Canyon,
down to the bottom, back up the other side, then a return trip, all the
way to the point of origin. This is an extreme trip in good
months, and December isn't one of those months. Several things
made December bad:
- Short daylight hours - I was
expecting that a 47 mile R2R2R
attempt would take me 14-15 hours. I would only have 9 or 10
hours of daylight at this time of year.
- The conditions on the North side were
unknown; probably heavy
snow towards the top.
- The North side access was closed in
Winter, so I would not
have much company, or nobody crossing my path, if something were to go
wrong.
- I was concerned about the conditions
on the trail, and I
didn't want to start out in the dark, with a headlamp. Especially
on a trail that I didn't know at all.
- 47 miles is just a heck of a long
way...
My
initial thought was to make the R2R2R attempt anyway. But, I
got lazy the night before and decided that I didn't really want to get
up at 5 am. So, I slept in. That pretty much cemented my
attempt at a shorter version, this time. I car camped in a hotel
parking lot just outside the park. I awoke around 7:30, and got
started on the trail around 8 am. My start point for this trip
would be the Bright Angel Trail Head. The South Kaibob TH
required a shuttle to the TH, and I just didn't want to deal with
that. I knew that I'd be chilled at the end, and I wanted to be
at my car, not waiting for a shuttle. The Bright Angel TH did
require a slightly longer trip though. As I got started, I made
it out just before the 8 o'clock mule train - luckily. I was
lucky to not have to hike/run behind the mules at all that day.
I started out running pretty solid. The trail at the top mile or
two was ice and snow covered, but not very thick. It was packed
down well, and plenty slippery, but I was able to manage ok. I
didn't slip, and I stayed on the inside edge just in case. I was
very glad that I chose to wear my Innov8 trail shoes today. The
extra traction was necessary. My splits are listed in the chart
below, so I won't go through every one in the report. I ran by
the 1.5 mile rest house, the 3.0 mile rest house, and made it to the
Indian Gardens in great time (around an hour). I didn't see too
many people during the major part of the descent, but I saw a couple of
groups around the Indian Gardens area. As I was running through
that area, one guy asked me, "Did you run from the top this
morning?" I said, "Yeah! I left an hour ago." He
reaction let me know that I was making pretty good time.
The trail is really nice. It is about 6-8 feet wide most of the
way down. It ventures through a variety of ecosystems as you get
lower and lower. The vegitation changes are the most apparent
evidence that you are going through different ecosystems. Once I
got past the Indian Gardens, it leveled out a lot, with only a mild
down hill, all the way to the river. At the river, the trail
heads East along the river, until you get to the bridge, which goes
over to the Phantom Ranch area. I made the Phantom Ranch in about
2 hours almost exactly. This was the lowest point of elevation in
my trip. I needed to make a decision, "Should I head back now, or
venture up the other side a bit." Quickly I decided to go ahead
up the other side. After reading some of the mileage signs, I got
my sights set on getting to Ribbon Falls. That would most likely
be my turn around point. Ribbon Falls was about 6 miles up the
North side. The trip to the falls was relatively mild. The
grade was mild, and it was consistent the whole way. The trail
followed the Bright Angel Creek the whole way. The evidence of
how this canyon had been cut out of the rock was obvious, even in this
section, where Bright Angel Creek was flowing. The width of the
canyon basically consisted of the creek, the trail, and rock faces on
both sides, most of the way up. As the trail got closer to Ribbon
Falls, it opened up a little more, but the awesomeness was still
high. I got to the falls in around 1 and a half hours. At
this point, I had started doing a bit more walking, so I was happy with
that pace. The falls were small, but beautiful. I
adventured around the falls a bit. I even went up and behind the
falls, climbing up one side, passing behind the falls, and back down on
the other side. After I finished my investigating, I started back
towards the Phantom Ranch.
On the way back to the Phantom Ranch, I realized how much of the trip
to the falls had been up hill. It was gradual, but on the return
trip, I could feel the downhill. That was nice. I got back
to the Ranch in about 10 minutes faster than my trip to the
Falls. That would be the last time that I would say "faster"
about anything this day.
I refilled water at the Phantom Ranch, and started my long ascent back
towards the trailhead. My ascent miles were definitely much
slower. I stuggled to even keep 30 minute miles on the
ascent. As I got towards to top it started to get dark.
And, it started to get chilly. It didn't help much that I was
moving slowly, not able to get warmed up. I finally reached the
top in 9 hours total round trip. I rushed to the car, and turned
on the heat to get warmed up.
I really enjoyed my first trip into the canyon. I look forward to
one day hitting the full R2R2R...
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