Day packing the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim

The idea

I have been to the Grand Canyon about 10 times, give or take, and at least half of those times were with people who wouldn’t even think of hiking – in short, pure sightseeing trips. Those are good, but I have always been one for the physical challenge.

Way back in 2001/2002 was probably the first time I went down, thanks to Chandra. I suppose Chandra is to blame for any interest I developed in long distance hiking and backpacking. He took a bunch of us down to the Bright Angel campground. We backpacked in one day and climbed out the next.  Somewhere around this time, he also took us on a similar backpacking trip to Havasupai. Then in 2011, Anshu led 6-7 of us on a 3 day backpacking trip from the South rim to the North rim. It was very relaxed … hiking about 6 miles a day, starting early and finishing well before the sun got hot, having the whole day to explore, chill and generally do whatever you wanted. Great fun for sure, but ever since then I have always felt I could do this whole thing on a daypack without camping, and relished the challenge of it.

I brought this up with my partner in crime, Raghu, about 2 years ago, but somehow we never got round to it. About 5 weeks ago he suddenly said “You never took me on that rim-to-rim-in-a-day hike, how about we do it now? I have the weekend of May 20/21 free”. I figured why not, and on the spur of the moment he booked tickets and so did I. We pushed the idea to our buddies, and Venkat and Adwait signed up right after, and suddenly I could feel this rush inside, looking forward to the excitement of the next 5 weeks. Kind of like signing up for a race and suddenly you have purpose in your life for a while.

If you ever go to the GC trailheads, you will see ample signs warning you of the dangers of even attempting to go down to the river from the South side and back on the same day, and that always worried me a bit, hoping I wasn’t being foolish, and wondering if 4 weeks training was enough. However, Raghu and I had done multiple 16-17 hour days in our endurance athletics, so we were probably okay. On the other hand there were these crazies like Vinod, Padma, Kiran and Anil who had run rim-to-rim-to-rim in 23 hours once. But they were all 100 mile runners … On the whole, there was only mild trepidation. Somehow I was confident we would be fine.

The training part for these things is just as much fun as the event itself. We used the opportunity to hike Upper Yosemite falls in Yosemite one weekend, Murietta falls in Livermore the next, and a fast paced Mission peak hike the third and last weekend before the real deal. Upper Yosemite turned out great fun, but we went way slower than we thought we would. The Murietta hike worked out much better covering a good 15 miles and 4000 ft. in 8 hours. Extrapolating that, I figured we would be good with 15 hours, accounting for the added elevation and heat. The Ohlone trail was incredibly beautiful what with all the rain this year, and there was actually water in the falls, which apparently was seldom the case the past many years. Yosemite, of course, is splendid all the time, but more so with all the full waterfalls this year.

The plan

Adwait had some personal issues come up and had to drop out of the hike …. and then there were 3. We pulled out the trail maps and chalked up a rough estimate of our timeline. From my vague memories from the previous hikes, I remembered the Bright Angel trail being mostly shaded and tree laden and not as much of a view of the canyon. The South Kaibab trail on the other hand was completely open, following ridge lines and offering spectacular views. Tougher going down but shorter at the same time. So it was Kaibab all the way. I pushed for a (somewhat) sane starting time of 5 am, Venkat wanted 4 am, so we settled for 4:30. Venkat was perpetually paranoid about needing a lot more time to finish the hike and given free reign, he would have likely started at 3! I budgeted a good hour a mile on the climb at the North rim and more or less 30 minute miles the rest of the way.

The route - in theory

4:30 am   : Trailhead at South Rim

5:15 am   : Cedar Ridge (1.5 m / 1140 ft)

6:00 am   : Skeleton Point (1.5 m / 900 ft)

6:45 am   : Tip Off (1.4 m / 1220 ft)

8:00 am   : Bright Angel Campground (2.6 m / 1520 ft)

8:45 am   : Rest and Breakfast, pack lunch at Phantom Ranch?

12:30 pm : Cottonwood Campground (7.2 m / 1600 ft)

1:00 pm   : Rest and lunch

2:00 pm   : Manzanita/Pumphouse Ranger Station (1.4 m / 520 ft)

2:45 pm   : Roaring Springs (0.7 m / 620 ft)

5:45 pm   : Supai Tunnel (3.0 m / 1580 ft)

8:00 pm   : Trailhead at North Rim (1.7 m / 1441 ft)

The rest of the plan was easier. We had already booked flights flying in to Vegas on Friday night and flying back on Monday morning, and booked a room for Friday and Sunday nights at LinQ. We planned to rent a car in Vegas, drive out to the North rim on Saturday morning, grab breakfast and pack lunch and dinner for Saturday and breakfast and dinner for Sunday along the way, catch the 2 pm trans-canyon shuttle at the north rim and reach South Rim by 7 pm. We had a room booked at Tusayan for Saturday night, the plan being to taxi it there from south rim and back the next morning, but in the last week we managed to find a very reasonably priced room in Yavapai lodge within the park - barely a mile from the rim and 2.5 miles from South Kaibab trailhead. All we would need was a short taxi ride to the start - and we could even walk it if needed. We planned to carry lunch and snacks etc. for the hike from the bay area. And with that our planning was done.

Pre-hike

We got through our hiking checklist, collected all the gear we needed, and bought all the food we planned, and by 7 pm we were all set to head out. The weather in the canyon promised to be hot. Venkat had spent the entire week agonizing over the high temperature forecasts, until he eventually gave in with a “It is what it is” line, oft recited on our trip, mostly in amusement. The flight was uneventful except to put me on standby briefly giving me a slight scare, but in the end we all got to Vegas by 11:05 pm. The line at Fox car rentals was a mile long, the employees not very pleasant and the service quite bad, but we got a car and to the our hotel room by 1 am. Rearranged things a bit so as not to waste time at the North rim, and slept by 2 am, I think. We got up nice and early, grabbed breakfast at the Nook inside the LinQ, and were out by 7:30 am, only half an hour behind schedule. Losing our way around St. George didn’t help, and google maps was saying we would only make it by 1:15 pm. Fortunately, google maps was wrong and we got there by 12:45 pm with plenty of time to spare, checked out the visitor center, had lunch, and boarded the shuttle. A couple of guys joined us who had hiked from South rim starting midnight and made it to North rim by 9 am. Incredibly fast! They did look super fit and athletic. But it gave hope that we would do well too. The only other people on the shuttle were a couple who were also going to do the hike the next day, and one more guy who had just completed the hike. One might think he would settle down right away - and he had a whole seat to himself - and snore away, but no! He talked a blue streak. Thankfully he picked the last seat and his closest victims were the other couple though we could all hear his commentary, the content of which amused Venkat greatly.

We got to Yavapai lodge by 6:30 pm, and after checking in, we had time to go to Mather point and watch a glorious sunset on the South Rim. I never tire of sunsets at GC. We spotted our first local wildlife - lots of large elk grazing around the area! It was pity we didn’t see any male elk with their majestic antlers. This night we got back to our room before 8, ate dinner and were in bed by 9, after setting up our bags and everything so all we had to do was shower and leave in the morning. I got a good night’s sleep and was up duly by 3:45 am. True to plan, we were ready by 4:10, the cab guy rushing us out even before our scheduled 4:15 departure. And so, we were at the trail head sharp at 4:30 am, all bundled up in layers of shirts, headbands, monkey caps, jacket and gloves.

Down to the river

The upper reaches of South Kaibab

North Rim had been super cold even in the middle of the day, as had the South Rim the previous evening but the morning was surprisingly warm. Within minutes of starting to descend, I dropped all of the head gear as well as jacket, and in the next couple of hours, I was down to just 1 shirt, switched to shorts and dropped the gloves as well. We needed headlamps only for about 30 minutes, light had already started creeping in. We were treated to a magnificent sunrise just as we reached Cedar Ridge. It was 5:30 am, 1.5 miles and ~1140 ft. A tad slow, but the views were spectacular and we stopped often, taking it all in.

Ooh Aah point

Two mule trains passed us on the way. I would have tagged them as horses had I not known. Beautiful creatures. So tall. The sun was out now as we found our way to Skeleton Point - another 1.5 miles and ~900 ft. It was 6:20 am, still a bit slow. But we could always cut down our stops for breakfast and lunch if needed. I was intrigued by some of the vegetation in this segment, particular this plant which seemed like one long vertical tube, some green, some already dried out and brown, very few flowering yellow. The entire vertical was often over 7-8 feet and the whole thing was just flowers. Some leaves at the base completed the plant. Cacti were just starting to show up here and there. Surprisingly few so far. There were other (supposedly desert) plants too, but none too remarkable.

Mule train

As we continued on to Tip Off, we started seeing tons of people pass us - the people who started at a much saner time of 6 am or so. Of course they completely missed seeing the canyon in the dawn hours just before sunrise, and sunrise itself. HA. But the place was becoming a veritable zoo! I hadn’t seen this many people in the canyon ever before. Quite a number were going Rim to Rim as well. It didn’t feel quite as exotic anymore. Seemed quite the standard thing to do.

Cedar ridge

There was a bunch in white shirts reading “34th and last Spitzer Rim to Rim hike”. Apparently the last time this guy called Spitzer (I am sure I’m getting his name wrong) was leading them on this hike. And they were themselves 70 people that day!! Some looked a bit like novices but even they mostly all got by us. And then of course, there were the runners. Most of them likely doing Rim to Rim to Rim. Pssh.

Sunrise on the canyon

We also met our first mule train going up. Since they were taking a break, we had to tiptoe behind their asses, hoping they wouldn’t pick that exact moment to perform a morning ritual, or worse yet, stretch their hind legs. We got to Tip Off by 7:10 am 1.4 miles and ~1220 ft later. A net of 3260 ft and 4.4 miles from the start in 2:40. Next stop was Phantom Ranch, but we took a small detour to a small beach on the way, to touch the Colorado.

You just can’t go all the way to the canyon and not touch the Colorado, can you? Apparently, Venkat can :) Anyway, it was a very short detour and we happily sat down at Phantom Ranch at around 8:45 am for breakfast, and our first water refill.

Skeleton point

7.2 miles done, and about 4780 ft. We were now 2400 ft above sea level. There was a large crowd there, seemingly mostly day hikers, but I presumed many would turn back towards South Rim. That would be a relief to be honest; we were getting tired of seeing so many people. Still, Raghu reminded me, there would be that 70 person team to contend with.

The colorado

The vegetation had changed quite dramatically too. We had just passed the Bright Angel campground and it was completely shaded with tall trees, as was Phantom Ranch and further on as far as we could see. This, as per Venkat, is what is called “the box”. There was a strong creek running through the campground and joining the river, and the trail continued upstream along the creek.

Grand central of GC

Across the canyon floor

Onward to Cottonwood

After tucking in nicely into the sandwiches we had packed for breakfast, plus some extra snacks, we filled our camelbaks  - no water till Cottonwood - and set out around 9:15 am. So far so good. Only a half hour behind schedule. The canyon floor was beautiful (well, what part of the canyon is not?). There were abundant cacti now, most of them flowering resplendently. 3 distinct colors - yellow, pink and red. The canyon was only about 50 ft wide, and followed the winding path of the creek, towering vertically about 50-100 ft above us. Early enough in the day that the wall shadows kept us in the shade almost all the way. This was supposed to be the hottest part of the hike, but it was too early. It felt like 70s. I could barely keep up with Raghu and Venkat, they seemed to be doing a scorching pace. Either that, or I was really losing it.

The "box"

It was a climb of about 1600 feet over the 7 miles, and I had boldly said we would hardly notice it. I was definitely noticing it now. I had thought I would struggle most downhill and would easily keep up on the flat and uphill. I pushed to stay with them - it turns out we were doing 18 minute miles for the first 3-4 miles! Well, we had at least made up most of the lost time now. But we probably lost in energy what we made up in time, a losing bargain at best, and once we finally left the “box”, we came upon more open terrain, and the sun shone down hard. This was easily the hottest part of the hike. The creek was still with us, though drifting farther away, and the vegetation became more shrubs and more abundance of them. We crossed the detour to ribbon falls - which was closed at the moment - but we could see the falls in the distance.

Ribbon falls

Venkat was beginning to noticeably tire now, taking more frequent stops and looking less excited on the whole. We met a really nice ranger, who chatted with us for a while, and suggested we take soak our shirts and caps in the soon upcoming creek. It was something to look forward to. The creek was nice and shaded so we broke for lunch there itself. Venkat, once seated didn’t look like he was about to get up anytime soon anyway. He had not eaten at the start of the hike and hadn’t really eaten much at breakfast either I thought, and he seemed clearly to be bonking at this point. We forced him to eat well even though he really didn’t feel like it even now - in my mind, a clear sign of exhaustion.

The course from then on was what might be called rolling in biking parlance, until we reached Cottonwood. I didn’t like the downhill segments, I had mentally counted it as done and my knees had thanked me. They were cursing now. Looking back, we saw we had already gained quite some altitude over the valley floor, and the box already looked quite far away. We were at 4000 ft - we had climbed about 1600 ft. It was 12:30. We stopped for a restroom break and some more water on the head. It was all drying away fast, but at least it was getting cooler because of the altitude. We met some rim to rim runners there and chatted for a while. One of them was GoPro-ing his run with a handheld. By 12:45 we set off again to tackle our last leg. We were still 30 minutes behind schedule, but I was sure, going by our training hikes, we would make up time over our lenient schedule. Raghu and I were even fancying watching sunset from Bright Angel point. It occured to us that we didn’t see any of Spitzer’s people since Phantom Ranch. Maybe they meant South rim to South rim after all. Whatever, we were thankful for the quiet and empty trails.

Up to the North Rim

Roaring springs

Venkat was still looking the worse for wear as we headed out now on the real climb. The first section till Manzanita was relatively gentle - kind of like what we had seen leading up to Cottonwood. The weather, while warm, had so far been better than anything we could have asked for. In the direction of where we thought the North Rim was, storm clouds were starting to collect, and we were glad we brought those ponchos along anyway. We were at Manzanita at 1:30, elevation 4520 ft.

A steep climb took us out of Manzanita and half a mile later we could see the beautiful cascade down the hillside that was Roaring Springs. We had pushed ourselves planning for a stop there, but the actual rest stop was a detour hike down for who knew how long. No way were we going to lose all that climbing we did and have to re-do it. By our calculation that last 0.7 miles from Manzanita was the steepest section the rest of the way, the last 2 miles coming close. My achilles and lower calves were in agreement. The highlight though might have been that we finally spotted a rattler! Right by the side of the trail, just a baby, but still … We had seen squirrels and bluejays aplenty but this was a prize sight … it slithered away into the bushes as we carefully rushed by it.

Red brick everywhere

Roaring Springs, we crossed at 2:05 pm, and 5140 ft. The next section to Supai tunnel was 3 miles away and a 1580 ft climb. So far since Cottonwood we had averaged 40 minute miles. We took a brief food stop and plugged on.

The trail now turned left and towards a seeming dead end as the opposing canyon wall and the one we were on met in the distance. The creek that had been with us till now continued up north as we headed westerly. This canyon was brick red and looked magnificent. The sun was going down and the beautiful evening glow now lit up the canyon walls. The canyon behind us was a brilliant sight. We marvelled, not for the first time, at how amazing these National Park trails were. Sometimes they appeared hewn out of sheer rock hillside, and were still maintained incredibly well. Some parts of the trail, the edge was a vertical drop to the floor below. And yet, the trail itself was almost 3 ft wide everywhere that it mattered, if not more.

Bridge across the red canyon

The climb was steeper than we expected most of the way, largely due to the fact that we had to climb down a good bit to get to a bridge to get across to the opposing wall. Raghu and I went up ahead every now and then and waited for Venkat to catch up. I hoped it would spur him on to push himself a bit. He was really looking quite out of it at this point, but we had under 5 miles left. After much climbing and shorter and shorter hairpin bends we finally came upon the tunnel out of this seemingly closed canyon. Almost invisible until you were on the last bend leading up to it. Tucked away nicely. In fact, even while you are on the hillside, the trails are so well hidden that you just cannot make out where the trails are above you. It looks like a continuous hillside. Incredibly beautifully done. Vegetation had once again thinned to a few shrubs, kind of like on the south side coming down. Once through the tunnel, we were at the Supai tunnel rest point. 4:25 pm. 6720 ft. 18.3 miles from the start. It looked very different from the other side of the tunnel. Almost a different world. Suddenly the red brick was gone and there were lots of pine trees. The trail was mostly sandy and light brown. It reminded me of Harry Potter books and how they would get into the fireplace to get on the floo network to come out at some place completely different.

View from Supai tunnel

Now just one last leg to go. 1.7 miles and 1440 ft. We stopped a good 25 minutes, ate and drank. By now, the mosquitoes were plenty and plenty annoying too. These last 3-4 miles had been quite brutal, but Venkat seemed to be looking better now. Possibly all the forced eating was kicking in. Or maybe just knowing we were almost done buoyed his spirits. Whatever it be, we attacked the last segment with more gusto than before. It was actually easier than I remember from 6 years ago. The views, even more spectacular. It was already chilly now if you stopped for too long, and we had pulled out our headbands and some warm wear. There were a lot more pine trees along this segment and a lot of sand on the trail. Raghu had already switched to hiking barefoot and carrying flip flops in his hand. We trudged along slowly but surely, and sooner than we thought we stumbled upon a raucous crowd at Coconino overlook point. The place had a tremendous view of the canyon and through a small slit, it appeared we could see the South Rim as well.

Coconino point

It was almost 6:00 pm and we were told we were about a quarter mile from the top. This was very uplifting news, and suddenly it appeared we would be able to make sunset at Bright Angel point after all (even though that we still had a 2 mile walk from the trailhead to there). We decided not to spend much time here and made a strong push to finish quickly instead. It was more like 0.5 miles but we all finished strong and easy. 21 miles, and now at 8161 ft. We were finally at the North Rim North Kaibab trailhead. Almost 14 hours on the dot. 6:30 pm. It had felt a lot easier than I had thought it might be. Possibly all the endurance training in the last 6 years had helped a lot. We had also carried waaaaay too much food with us. About 3 times what we really needed. The hike itself didn’t disappoint. I enjoyed it as much as I had hoped. The views were spectacular and the company was excellent. The only disappointment might be the number of marmots we spotted. Precisely zero. Squirrels, yes. Marmots, no. I have a bone to pick with Chakri now.

North Kaibab trailhead

Dreams are like windows. When one dream is realized (closes), another one starts forming (opens). I found myself already wondering what it would be like to do rim-to-rim-to-rim non-stop. Maybe that will happen too. In its own good time :)

Post-hike

The rest of the story was simple. We tried briefly and unsuccessfully to hitchhike to the lodge, and ended up walking the 2 miles there anyway. Venkat was still very silent but he seemed to have regained his strength and some cheerfulness. We spotted more elk along the way - well, baby elks. Unfortunately, our efforts were in vain and by the time we got to the car, there was no point trying to go to Bright Angel point for a sunset. Instead we opted for a nice warm dinner at the lodge. We were finally ready to leave by 9:00 pm and it was frigging cold outside. Amidst driver changes and pulling over to sleep when none of us were able to keep our eyes open, we finally made it to Vegas by 2:15 am. We rearranged our bags to be ready for check-in, showered and slept by 3:15 (Well, I did, at least). Got up at 4:00 for morning ablutions, and we were out by 4:15. Everything in the rental return department went smoothly and we made our 6:25 flight with time to spare to pick up breakfast at the airport. Back in the bay area by 7:45 and at home by 8:30 am.

All in a weekend’s work, as they say :) Thanks to Raghu and Venkat for the fine company. I hope it was as fun for them as it was for me. Thanks to Venkat for all the pics. Saved me taking my camera!

And finally, this report is dedicated to Venkat. For being bold enough to sign up with us. For being brave enough to put fears aside and jump in. For having faith in our judgement that he would make it. For trusting we would make sure he got across somehow.

Here’s to more such spontaneous adventures in life!