The Grand Canyon - Rim to Rim to Rim (R3) Part IV
To see Part I please click here.
To see Part II please click here.
To see Part III please click here.
We slogged uphill with no respite. The sun shone unabated on us, with the canyon walls acting as a reflector oven, further intensifying the heat.
We stopped for lunch around 2:00 on a section of trail carved out of the overhanging canyon wall. After ten minutes a twenty-pound overweight guy huffed to a stop next to us, dropped his enormous pack to the dusty trail, and sat down on top of it.
After the customary, “Whoa! Man it’s hot out here,” he asked us where we were headed. It wasn’t the first time we’d been asked, and even with a few times to practice, it was still kind of hard to explain. We’d tell people we were headed toward the South Rim and inevitably they’d tell us we were going the wrong direction. Then we’d explain that it was via the North Rim. Then they’d ask where we’d started that morning. For obvious reasons people would want us to explain. We’d tell them we were going rim-to-rim-to-rim, and we were trying to do it in 24 hours.
This would raise some eyebrows. All over both the North and South Rims were signs declaring the dangers of even attempting to hike to the Colorado River and back out in one day. The National Parks Service website loudly proclaims (with no added emphasis), “The park strongly recommends that you not attempt to hike from rim to river and back in a day. This is a strenuous two-day journey for most. In summer extreme temperatures can be life-threatening. Rangers respond to an average of 400 medical emergencies each year. Search and rescue operations are often difficult and expensive due to the remoteness of all Inner Canyon trails.”
Essentially, we were attempting to quadruple what they were suggesting should only be attempted by extremely fit individuals. The signs went on to mention all of the horrible things that would happen to you if you were foolish enough to pursue such a course—ending, of course, with death.
So there we were, 20 miles from where we started, not even half-way yet, explaining to a complete stranger our idiotic plan to crisscross the “grandest of canyons” in a day.
Believe it or not, the guy thought that our idea was fantastic. Over lunch he described his hiking “career.” He'd backpacked and hiked in 45 countries, but had never visited the Canyon before. He’d grossly overpacked because he didn’t realize that the coolness of the rims wouldn’t affect the inner depths. His backpack was stuffed with fleece jackets, a 20 degree down sleeping bag, and gloves, as he struggled up the 15 mile climb in 100-plus degree heat.
He was a single guy, working as a trim and ballast calculator for United Airlines and flew free to every airport they serviced. He’d traversed Ireland for one vacation going village to village and pub to pub, crossed a Hawaiian island, trekked the Himalayas up to 17,000 feet, sweated through two weeks of being carried off by mosquitoes in the Amazon, but the Grand Canyon was doing him in.
We finished our lunch and left him sorting through his pack trying to find things he could leave behind to lighten his load. Refreshed and refueled we pretty quickly covered the last couple of miles to the rim, reaching it around 3:30 or 4:00. The North Rim is 1,800 feet higher than the South Rim and features a completely different flora. The South Rim is almost high desert, but produces large pine trees, while the North Rim is covered primarily in aspen.
We took a few pictures by the trailhead sign, giving “proof” to our accomplishment. We felt really good about ourselves…until we came back down to earth remembering that we were only half-way.
Chase and I parked ourselves on a nice sunny spread of grass to eat some more food and change our socks again. Silly as it sounds after hiking in 100 plus degrees for the past 8 hours, we donned our jackets to stay warm. We set the alarms on our watches and laid down for a quick nap. When they beeped 30 minutes later, we decided that since we were ahead of schedule we could afford 30 more minutes and were quickly out cold.
Let me tell you—that nap was priceless. One of the hardest steps we took in our 50 miles was getting moving again. We walked back over to the trailhead, topped off our water containers again, stretched, and prepared to head back down into the canyon.
Part V is now available here.
eazakes@juno.com
To see Part II please click here.
To see Part III please click here.
We slogged uphill with no respite. The sun shone unabated on us, with the canyon walls acting as a reflector oven, further intensifying the heat.
We stopped for lunch around 2:00 on a section of trail carved out of the overhanging canyon wall. After ten minutes a twenty-pound overweight guy huffed to a stop next to us, dropped his enormous pack to the dusty trail, and sat down on top of it.
After the customary, “Whoa! Man it’s hot out here,” he asked us where we were headed. It wasn’t the first time we’d been asked, and even with a few times to practice, it was still kind of hard to explain. We’d tell people we were headed toward the South Rim and inevitably they’d tell us we were going the wrong direction. Then we’d explain that it was via the North Rim. Then they’d ask where we’d started that morning. For obvious reasons people would want us to explain. We’d tell them we were going rim-to-rim-to-rim, and we were trying to do it in 24 hours.
This would raise some eyebrows. All over both the North and South Rims were signs declaring the dangers of even attempting to hike to the Colorado River and back out in one day. The National Parks Service website loudly proclaims (with no added emphasis), “The park strongly recommends that you not attempt to hike from rim to river and back in a day. This is a strenuous two-day journey for most. In summer extreme temperatures can be life-threatening. Rangers respond to an average of 400 medical emergencies each year. Search and rescue operations are often difficult and expensive due to the remoteness of all Inner Canyon trails.”
Essentially, we were attempting to quadruple what they were suggesting should only be attempted by extremely fit individuals. The signs went on to mention all of the horrible things that would happen to you if you were foolish enough to pursue such a course—ending, of course, with death.
So there we were, 20 miles from where we started, not even half-way yet, explaining to a complete stranger our idiotic plan to crisscross the “grandest of canyons” in a day.
Believe it or not, the guy thought that our idea was fantastic. Over lunch he described his hiking “career.” He'd backpacked and hiked in 45 countries, but had never visited the Canyon before. He’d grossly overpacked because he didn’t realize that the coolness of the rims wouldn’t affect the inner depths. His backpack was stuffed with fleece jackets, a 20 degree down sleeping bag, and gloves, as he struggled up the 15 mile climb in 100-plus degree heat.
He was a single guy, working as a trim and ballast calculator for United Airlines and flew free to every airport they serviced. He’d traversed Ireland for one vacation going village to village and pub to pub, crossed a Hawaiian island, trekked the Himalayas up to 17,000 feet, sweated through two weeks of being carried off by mosquitoes in the Amazon, but the Grand Canyon was doing him in.
We finished our lunch and left him sorting through his pack trying to find things he could leave behind to lighten his load. Refreshed and refueled we pretty quickly covered the last couple of miles to the rim, reaching it around 3:30 or 4:00. The North Rim is 1,800 feet higher than the South Rim and features a completely different flora. The South Rim is almost high desert, but produces large pine trees, while the North Rim is covered primarily in aspen.
We took a few pictures by the trailhead sign, giving “proof” to our accomplishment. We felt really good about ourselves…until we came back down to earth remembering that we were only half-way.
Chase and I parked ourselves on a nice sunny spread of grass to eat some more food and change our socks again. Silly as it sounds after hiking in 100 plus degrees for the past 8 hours, we donned our jackets to stay warm. We set the alarms on our watches and laid down for a quick nap. When they beeped 30 minutes later, we decided that since we were ahead of schedule we could afford 30 more minutes and were quickly out cold.
Let me tell you—that nap was priceless. One of the hardest steps we took in our 50 miles was getting moving again. We walked back over to the trailhead, topped off our water containers again, stretched, and prepared to head back down into the canyon.
Part V is now available here.
eazakes@juno.com
posted by Eddy Zakes at 6:26 PM
3 comments
