Our Route: Down the Bright Angel trail from the South Rim to the Colorado River, along the river a bit, then up the North Kaibab trail to the North Rim- and back again.
Rim^3: A Grand Canyon double crossing
“What was I thinking?” was the thought that was trying to form in my head. Eventually it did form and raised itself in my listless awareness, only to sit there unanswered. I was much to weary to actually think about what I had been thinking. Needless to say, the thoughts that I had been thinking which eventually lead to my current situation had been thought long ago.
Most crazy ideas have their genesis in ideas that are rational, gradually morphing from “good idea” to “that would be fun” appending “and then we could…” finally leading to “that’s insane- let’s do it!” However on this particular occasion back in 1992 Gary and I started with insane and worked our way backwards. The idea was to get from the lowest point in the continental US- Death Valley- to the to the highest- Summit of Mt. Whitney in one day, under our own power. This little gem of a concept would require a bike ride of 135 miles and 13,000 feet elevation gain, followed by an 8.5 mile hike which gains another 5,000 feet of elevation (and the return hike). While you might be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief when I tell you that this feat has not yet been attempted, I would caution you to hold your breath because I am back to my “what were you thinking” mode and am once again considering it.
Enter stage left Greg Kopp, who was not all that wild about the Death Valley to Whitney suffer fest, but suggested that we might engage in a milder form of masochism in preparation by hiking from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other and back again. In one day, of course. Given our current goal at the time, this seemed like a perfectly reasonable objective.
2005 happened to be a particularly bad year for me in the “What was I thinking?” category. I realized that I was getting old and fat and had better do something about it. Not content with the standard gym membership or occasional jog, I decided to go whole hog and in January I convinced my friend Mandy to join me in the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse ski race the following April. It was while I was in this weak state of mind that I received Greg’s e-mail about hiking Rim^3 in October, and I immediately signed on. By this time Greg and I were older and wiser, and had no illusions about Rim^3 being a walk in the park (although, technically it would be a walk in the park- Grand Canyon National Park). We e-mailed back and fourth and soon had scheduled four good training hikes in the 25 to 35 mile range with plenty of elevation gain. I figured that those hikes along with the Grand Traverse, several half marathons, a climbing and trekking trip to the Caucusus mountains in Russia, and all of the associated training should have me in decent shape by the time October rolled around. Heh.
In the end our training hikes turned out to be one of the best aspects of the whole Rim^3 scheme. Other than often having to get up at god-awful hours to begin the hikes (to avoid getting zapped by lightening in the mountains), both Greg and I often congratulated ourselves afterwards on what a fine hike we had. Once you let go of the traditional hiking constraints of big boots and heavy packs a whole new world of hikes opens up. One of my favorites was one I dubbed the “Electrocution Special” because most of the hike was well above tree line, and if we were caught out in a thunderstorm up there we would have put Ben Franklin to shame. The hike started in Wild Basin in the wee hours of the morning, climbing out of the basin to the top of Ouzel Peak for sunrise, then south along the continental divide to Ogalalla Peak, past a few narrow sections of the divide to Sawtooth mountain then down the east side of Buchanan pass and south to Brainard lake where Greg’s family and my mother were waiting with a nice evening picnic.
Long before our training was done, Greg and I realized that this hike was going to take the better part of 24 hours, and since we planned to do it in one day that meant getting up early- really early- like 2:30am early. Having done alpine starts for various mountaineering adventures, I subscribed to the “only get up early when you have to” theory, and didn’t bother to mess with my sleeping habits. Greg, however, decided that he would be better rested for the hike if he acclimated himself to getting up early, and so for at least a month beforehand he started his day at 3:00am and went to bed early. Which was fine with me- until the drive out to the Grand Canyon, that is. As we left Colorado late on the afternoon of September 24 Greg convinced me that Professor Valley outside of Moab, Utah would be a great place to camp because of the beautiful scenery, which he described at great length as the sun was setting. We arrived after dark and laid out our sleeping bags looking forward to a beautiful drive the next morning. Of course, 3:00am rolled around and Greg was wide awake. He politely waited until some time around 3:30 when I got up to use the outhouse and then convinced me that we may as well get on the road (we still had another 8 hours of driving to get to the Grand Canyon). Not only did we not see Professor valley, but to top that off all of the coffee shops in Moab were closed and I had to drive almost to Mexican Hat before getting my daily fix- Ack! While buying my coffee I mentioned to the lady that we were headed to the Grand Canyon and she started talking at length about how many days it had taken her to hike from one side to the other. I decided not to mention that we planned to hike across and back again in one day because she would think we were crazy and refuse to serve us- and I really needed that coffee.
By now you are reading this and thinking that Greg and I must have been in pretty good shape- which we were. However our friend and third accomplice in this madness, Dave Kim, put us to shame. For Dave this wasn’t madness at all, it was truly just a walk in the park. Dave has participated in the Western States 100 for the past 14 years- a 100 mile trail run which gains over 15,000 feet and drops 22,000 feet. This little 48 mile 10,000ft jaunt was nothing for him (at least not at the snails pace that Greg and I were contemplating). Which was a good thing, because Greg and I were able to draw on his experience throughout training and the hike.
After an early dinner Greg and I did some last minute packing and settled in for an attempt at some rest prior to our 3am departure. Nervousness and the comings and goings of the people in the room above us kept Greg and I awake most of the night, and the minutes ticked by at a tortuously slow pace. I caught myself looking at the clock at 2:00am, then 2:10, 2:20, and finally 2:30 rolled around and the alarm went off and I flipped the light on to see Greg wide awake and waiting for the same. We quickly dressed, donned headlamps and packs and walked over to meet Dave at the trailhead. After a brief discussion about how we would proceed we started down into the canyon with Dave in the lead jogging at an easy pace.
So it began; just a casual early morning jog down the Bright Angel trail- heh. The trail descended rapidly and after going through a short rock tunnel the switchbacks began. One after another after another; down, down, down. Dave had recommended that we carry our headlamps at our side for better shadows on the trail while we ran, which helped quite a bit and added contrast to the many rocks and steps in the trail. Half an hour into the run, however, I noticed that I was stumbling more often and that my light was getting dimmer and dimmer. Rule number one when trail running in the dark: replace your batteries before heading out! Of course I didn’t have spare batteries (too much weight), but fortunately Dave had a spare headlamp that I used for the rest of the morning and the following evening.
The 10 mile run down to Phantom Ranch passed quickly, and by 5:30am we began our ascent up the North Kaibab trail to the north rim. So far, so good; or so I thought- I didn’t realize until much later that blisters had already begun to form and my toenails were bashed in. The combination of endorphins and Gu had me feeling good and energetic. While Dave and Greg opted to jog up the easy grade along Bright Angel creek for the first 7 miles up to the rim, I decided to hike at a more leisurely pace. Soon sunlight hit the canyon rim, now high above me, and the morning light on orange, pink and white cliffs was beautiful. After a while the trail rose steeply over a hill and I notice that at the base of the hill there was a sign for Ribbon Falls and a trail leading off to the left. After going over the hill and down the other side I noticed that the Ribbon Falls trail re-joined the main trail, and I thought that perhaps that might be a good route for the way back in order to avoid going up and over the hill. Shortly thereafter I reached Cottonwood campground and stopped for water with Dave and Greg still ahead of me. After eating a clif bar, drinking plenty of water and filling up my camelback I was off again, still feeling pretty good. Several miles after Cottonwood the trail began to climb steeply and the switchbacks began in earnest just before Roaring Springs. Near Roaring Springs I caught up with Dave and Greg, and we met our other friends Pam and Randy who were hiking from the north rim to the south. Being of sound mind, Pam and Randy were hiking one way only and we made plans to meet them for dinner on the south rim. By now the sun was high and beating down on us as the trail continued switchback after switchback up to the north rim. By the time we reached Supai Tunnel, 1.8 miles from the top, I was beginning to get tired despite having consumed at least 14 packets of Gu along the way. Our pace from Supai to the top was slow and steady, and at 10:50am we reached the north rim- 24 miles down; er- make that 10 down, 14 up; 24 miles to go.
We took a leisurely break on the north rim, relaxing for half an hour and eating the food we had brought that didn’t come in little packets. Greg mentioned that he was feeling a bit nauseated and light headed, so we waited for another half hour for him to recover. Due to the heat Greg had consumed a considerable amount of water (much more than the 5 quarts that I had so far), and Dave postulated that he might be suffering from a mild case of hyponatremia and suggested that Greg consume some salt to balance his electrolytes. Greg still wasn’t feeling better half an hour later and decided to stay on the north rim. After training for much of the year it was a difficult decision for Greg to make, but in the end we both decided it was the right decision, and we headed up to the main lodge to book a cabin for him. Hiking in the Grand Canyon is more of a commitment than hiking elsewhere because the only way out is up, on a steep trail, and even the last weekend in September it was in the 90s for much of the hike.
When Dave and I left the north rim at 12:10 I was feeling rested, and after hiking the first couple of miles down to Supai I joined Dave in an easy jogging pace. It didn’t take long for the endorphins to kick back in and I enjoyed the run down to roaring springs, chatting with Dave and admiring the beautiful scenery. By the time we reached Cottonwood camp my pace had slowed considerably, and after a brief rest I told Dave to continue jogging and I would follow at a hiking pace. This is where the fun began. As I headed down the trail I noticed a dramatic decrease in my energy level, and my heart rate monitor was averaging 115 beats per minute even though I felt like it should be 140 (my average working heart rate thus far). This is the condition for which endurance athletes coined the term bonk. Even though I had been consuming Gu packets at the rate of one every half hour and had consumed a decent amount of gorp and other snacks for lunch on the north rim, my body had been digging into its glycogen stores for extra energy and the run down from the north rim had finally used it all up. The tank was empty- no more glycogen. So my body slowed down and switched over to burning fat- all well and good if one wants to loose weight, but not a very efficient way of getting energy while exercising. I had a few Gu packets left, but I knew that the energy they provided wouldn’t last long and so I saved them for the long hike out.
It was at about this time that I came across several other hikers at the intersection to the trail for Ribbon Falls that I had seen on the way up. These folks didn’t look to be in much better condition than I was and after a brief discussion we decided to take the Ribbon Falls trail rather than hike up and over the hill. They were indeed hiking slowly, and I quickly outpaced them on the rough trail that crossed a bridge and gradually got fainter and fainter until I lost it completely in bushes and rocks as it curved back towards the main trail. I soon found that the reason the trail disappeared was that the bridge on the downstream side of the connector to the main trail had been washed out. I found a place that I could cross the creek, but then I thought of the other couple. Feeling bad for having lead them astray I hiked back to the waterfall trail and found them wandering amidst the brush. After another brief discussion with many an apology on my part and gratefulness for my return on their part we crashed back through the bushes, forded the stream and climbed up the bank on the other side to the main trail. Satisfied that we were all now back on the right track I bid them adieu and continued on.
Meanwhile, Dave had been anxiously waiting for me at a bridge several miles downstream and was about to come back looking for me when I finally showed up 45 minutes late. When I informed Dave of my depleted energy reserves he responded that some ultra-marathon runners don’t feel like they have had a good race unless they have bonked. I’m not sure what kind of company that puts me in. ;) By 5:00pm we had made it back to Phantom Ranch where I took a much needed break and bummed a glass of lemonade off of the ranch hands who were feeding their guests a steak dinner. Contrary to what you might think, the steak dinner didn’t look very appealing at all because I knew there was no way that my stomach could digest it. After a short rest Dave and I crossed the Colorado river almost exactly 12 hours after crossing in the other direction and started the trek back up to the south rim.
I don’t remember much of the hike back out, but I do remember that Dave stuck with me all of the way out even though he could have easily gotten back in half the time. While at Phantom Ranch Dave had been able to radio Joyce to let her know that we would be late. Our original plan to have dinner on the south rim was long gone by now; plan B just called for getting back to the top before midnight. We stopped at Indian Springs about half way up and as I was filling my camelback I looked up to see the lights of the Bright Angel Lodge hovering above like a spacecraft. Ugh. In depressed silence I put on my camelback and trudged onwards. While we were over on the north rim someone had decided to insert an extra 100 or so switchbacks in the trail, and progress slowed to a snails pace. I felt like I was going up the down escalator. After what seemed like an eternity I passed through the tunnel that I knew was very close to the top, and I thought I heard the sound of a bus pulling away from a bus stop. My spirits soared, but after a while I looked up again and a huge cliff still loomed above, blocking out the starlight. I hadn’t remembered that the trail passed through two such tunnels. Actually, at that point I really didn’t remember anything, which lead to the aforementioned “What was I thinking?” thoughts. About five days later I passed through the second tunnel, and after rounding a bend saw the lights of the south rim right in front of me. Finally, at 10:05pm I arrived back at the south rim to congratulations of Dave and Joyce.
