R2R Rundown 5

Part 5
Supai Tunnel to the pumphouse residence.

Once we made it through the tunnel we started encountering people on their way up the north rim. Most of them were backpackers, though it was obvious some of them were doing R2R2R and were already nearing their second rim. They were all super friendly and some of them stopped to chat with us about our hike, give us words of encouragement, and congratulate us on setting out on an awesome adventure. Our group leaders were also scurrying about, making sure everyone was staying hydrated and remembering to eat continually. They were so caring throughout the whole hike, and always stopped to make sure everyone was feeling well and address any concerns we had. We were all very, very lucky to have such awesome, adventurous people leading our hike.



We wandered down through the red walls, happy as could be. The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular. We went down a series of switchbacks before reaching the Red Wall Bridge. At this point we were 3.1 miles into the hike, my knees felt great, and I hadn't a care in the world.



I thought of both you, Dear Friend, and my dad for literally, this entire hike. My dad, because as you know, he is awesome, and I wish I had done all this stuff with him years ago. And you, for all the obvious reasons. Mostly because you're the only person I know who matches my intensity on insane outings, and the only person I've ever met who would dive into these things with me without a second thought. I wish you had been here to to do it with me, but I pinky promise that you and I (and Phil!) will do this hike together some day.

From the bridge we continued on through the red rocks. I stopped to take pictures of things I know only you would appreciate. Like this tiny little spider on a thistle.



Someone on the way up stopped to giggle at me taking a picture of it, and then told me to take all the pictures I could now, because by the time I got to the end I'd be too focused on getting the heck up the Bright Angel to stop to take pictures of flowers. Oh how right they were. . .



By the time we could hear Roaring Springs, it was officially hot. It was probably only in the low 80s, and still early in the morning, but between the sun beating down on me and the energy I was expending, I was definitely feeling the heat. I was also grateful for all the hours I'd spent in bikram classes at this point. Incredibly grateful. Both because I knew exactly how much exertion I could handle in the heat, and because it made me very aware of how I was feeling at any given moment and allowed me to notice potential problems (not enough calories, not enough water, etc.) before they became an issue for me.



We had already decided against making the side trip to Roaring Springs, so we passed the junction with little fanfare. At this point we were 4.7 miles in, down to 5,220 ft. elevation, and had the distinct feeling of being inside the canyon. (As opposed to just starting to make our way down the rim). I was BEYOND elated at this point. Antoline was a fantastic hiking partner and we happily ticked off the miles we had walked and cheered ourselves onto the next check point. We came to the pumphouse residence not long after, but since the water was shut off, we didn't stay long. We were now clearly behind the 12 hour pace the card had set for us, but I expected we would be. We also were somewhere around the middle of the pack. I was still on track for my 16 hour finish.

R2R Rundown 4

Part 4
The Trailhead to Supai Tunnel.

We left Jacobs Lake sometime after 4:30 in the morning. The drive was beautiful and I ate my muffin on the way there as well as cup of pear slices I picked up. There were a million buffalo out on the meadows, and tons of little baby ones! I tried to get a good picture, but it was hard when shooting from a moving bus.



We arrived at the North Kaibab Trailhead at 5:40 am. This is us getting off the buses (there were about 90 of us total), a shot of me looking excited and exhausted, a picture of the water shut off notice, and one of the trail.



When I picked up my bag again, I noticed I had set it down on top of a fossil brachiopod! I was sooooo happy! I took this to be a good omen, a sign that the hike would be magical, and that only good things would befall me.

Antoline and I decided to hike together. She hadn't done as much prep work as I had, and was slightly concerned that she was in over her head. I promised to make sure she made it out the other side and we hiked down together, hitting the trailhead at 5:50 am.



The North Kaibab Trail starts out at 8,240 ft. elevation, and it's a 14 mile descent to Phantom Ranch. The sun was still rising, and it was in the high 30's, but I really didn't need my sweatshirt. We made our way down to the first checkpoint, Coconino Overlook. At this point we'd come 0.7 miles, and were now at an elevation of 7,450 ft. We got here around 6:10 am.



By the time we reached the overlook, I could already feel my knee just barely starting to nag me. I wrapped it in an ace bandage as a preventative measure, and added my band over the top of it. I also took my allergy pill, B vitamin, and an advil in an attempt to stay in front of any pain. This seemed to work pretty well and my knee felt much more stable from here on out. I also ate half a cliff bar, and we agreed to stop and make sure we both ate something every half an hour or so so that we didn't get behind on calories early in the game. We continued down the trail without issue.

There were fat little rock squirrels everywhere. They were super cute, but they carry fleas that carry the bubonic plague, so we kept our distance. (This is a fact that always makes me giggle, and I'm sad that I failed to take a picture of one of the many 'Squirrels carry the plague' signs that were scattered throughout the park.)



The North Kaibab Trail is beautiful. This is true really, of the whole dang canyon, and my pictures don't even begin to capture it. We meandered down the trail, being passed pretty regularly by many of the other members of our group. We went slower than we needed to, both because there were so many things I needed to take pictures of, and because I was acutely aware of what the ramifications of a hasty descent would be for my knees. We set a slow and steady pace and maintained it for the rest of the day.



We reached Supai Tunnel right around 6:30. 1.7 miles down and at an elevations of 6,800 ft. This would be the last working water stop for us before we reached Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon, a long 12.3 miles ahead of us. We topped off our bladders, ate some more food, used the restrooms, and were on our way.

R2R Rundown 3

Part 3
What I packed.

I put a lot of thought into my bag. I was worried both about weight, and about having enough supplies to keep myself going. In the end, this is what I took on the hike.

3L camelback bladder/backpack filled with water + MIO fit electrolytes in berry blast.
(Added just enough so I could barely taste it)

Food:
2 16oz Coconut water + orange juice bottles
2 large navel oranges
2 2.5 oz bags of ablacore tuna
1 cream cheese muffin
2 mayo packets
1 bag of roasted almonds rolled in salt and sugar
3 100 calorie packs of Pringels
1 Twix bar
1 small bag of pretzels
1 snack bag full of baby carrots
3 cliff bars
2 cliff protein builder bars (chocolate mint...soooo good)
2 kind coconut and almond granola bars
2 power gel goos (vanilla and strawberry banana)

First Aid:
Allergy pills
B complex vitamins
Advil
Tylenol (so I could alternate between the two)
2 ace bandages (one for each knee)
1 iliotibial band
athletic tape
bandaids in various sizes
tons of blister bandaids (which are my very best friend in all the world!)
mole skin
mole foam
scissors
spray benadryl
spray neosporin
1 roll of 2in gauze

Other:
Phone
Camera
2 Kool Towels (invaluable!)
2 extra pairs of socks
1 sweatshirt
1 bottle SPF 110 sunscreen
flashlight
my ipod
My ID, pace card, and $40 cash.

And my trusty hiking stick.

In the end, my bag was just the right weight for me. At no point during the hike did the weight bother me, and I never felt the need to stop and set it down or carry it on one shoulder to give the other one a break. So that was a huge win. Prior to this, I'd been hiking with a regular JanSport backpack packed full of 1 L bottles of water rather than having a camelbak, and both the bladder structure, and the improved backpack structure made a huge difference in how the pack felt on my back.

R2R Rundown 2

Part 2
Getting to Jacob's Lake.

I waited until the last minute to pack. I got off work the night before the trip and took the dog to my dad's house. I had a conversation earlier in the day that sort of derailed me for a couple of hours that night, and sat on the couch trying to process it until well after 8. It was 9pm before I started packing and well after 1 am before I got to bed.

I got up at 4am the following day, took a shower, fed the fish, and went into work. It was 6:45 am before I clocked out and was on the way out to the meeting point to get on the bus. I was still the first one there so I drove around nervously for an hour or so, and then headed back to the meeting point.

I got checked in, parked my car, met up with my roommate for the trip and got on the bus.

We stopped at Sunset Point for a bathroom break, and then had lunch at Sizzler in Flagstaff. I ate my weight in food. I ate until I thought I would die, trying to pack all the calories I could into my tiny body so I would maybe have some sort of reserve for the next day.

We stopped at Marble Canyon and got to explore Navajo Nation, check out some dinosaur footprints, and walk across the suspension bridge.

Here are some photos from the drive up.



Jacobs Lake was beautiful, but I failed to sleep at all really the night before the hike. I was just too excited, and afraid I would oversleep. We needed to be packed up, checked out, and on the bus by 4:30 am.

I woke up at 3 and packed my bag.

R2R Rundown

Part 1
Prep-Work.

Truth be told, I signed up for this hike without even investigating what it was. I joined a hiking group on a whim, as my hikes were getting too long and intense to be doing alone, and immediately found the sign up for a Grand Canyon Hike. I registered without so much as reading the hike description.

When I found out it was a rim to rim, I was excited, but stupidly assumed we were walking around the rim, from one side to the other. (I know, I laughed at myself too. That would be a seriously LONG walk!) When I got the waiver and the information packet, I started to panic a little. My panic increased when I realized I had signed up too late to do any of the prep hikes with the group, or attend any of the information sessions. Undeterred, I began preparing on my own.

The group leaders provided me with a TON of helpful information, and I spent the next month or so reading everything there was to read about the canyon, about hiking it, about what to bring, what lives in it, what the weather is like, what the trail is like, and so on. Still, I was nervous. Even more nervous when I joined the facebook group for the hike and realized that a lot of the people going seemed to be serious athletes/marathon people. Still I was determined.

The Mt. Wrightson hike calmed my nerves quite a bit, and made me feel more like I was up to the task of the canyon. That being said, the hike wasn't even half the length, and I'd never come close to doing anything for 24 or so consecutive miles.

I was a nervous wreck right up until the morning we left for Jacob's Lake. Then a sea of calm confidence washed over me and I knew I would be fine.

There were several things I worried about.

First and foremost was my knee. I'd come down Wrightson way too fast. I actually ran a lot of the way, and you know me, I'm not a runner. In the process I really screwed up my left knee. I had really severe iliotibial band issues for weeks afterwards. I hiked Squaw Peak anyway the following weekend, and had trouble the second I started the descent. I had to do most of it with my left knee locked to avoid insufferable pain, but I didn't utter a single complaint. I just gritted my teeth and made my way down. I took it easy over the next few weeks, tried iliotibial bands and knee braced to control it, but in the end decided that a simple ace bandage worked best, with the band over it when things got really bad. Truthfully, I really believed I wouldn't be able to do the canyon due to the shape my knee was in for weeks prior, but I wasn't about to back out.

The Monday before the trip I hiked around Tonto, and my knee was mostly fine, so I started to relax a little, but the fear was still present.

Second, I worried about the distance. I've never done anything that extreme before, both in terms of distance and overall elevation change. I did all the prep hiking I could, but none of it really quashed my worries.

Third, I was worried about how long it would take me. It took me 7 hours to do Wrightson, which was 10 miles and 8,000 ft total elevation change. Hike Arizona lists the average time for that hike at 4-6 hours. I hike slow and steady and take a lot of pictures. Hike AZ listed the R2R we were doing as an average of 12-15 hours, so I estimated it would take me about 16 hours. When they sent out the pace cards with a 12 hour pace schedule, I knew I was going to be way behind it, but figured I'd still make it out in a decent time. In the back of my mind though, I worried about my knee acting up, and though worst case scenario it might take me 20 hours.

Finally I worried about having enough food and water. All the available literature listed hydration, electrolyte/salt intake, and calorie intake as the biggest contributors to failure on this hike. I spent a lot of time trying to sort out what and how much I needed to carry. This was further compounded by the notice I received 48 hours prior to the hike that there was a break in the water line and I would need to hike 12.3 miles without being able to refill my water supply.

By the time I was packing my bags I felt I had most of these issues under control.

06.01.2013

Saturday I hiked the Grand Canyon. Rim to Rim. I left the north rim via the North Kaibab at 5:50 am and made it to the top of the south rim via the Bright Angel trail at 10 pm on the dot. It took me 16 hours and 10 minutes, which put me right on pace with what I had expected.

It was, by far, the single greatest experience of my life.

It was long, and hard, and hot. My knees hurt more than words can describe by the time I reached the devils corkscrew. I have 13 blisters on my feet despite my careful planing and on the trail foot care. Today my legs are stiff and sore.

I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

The blow by blow is coming soon. I have almost 600 pictures to sort through, but I'll try to start getting some of them up tonight.

All my love,
A weary, but blissfully happy,
LittleFoot.