Rim to Rim, Baby!

And it was astounding. Absolutely astounding!

Bill and I gave each other a trip for our birthdays this year: a weekend at the Grand Canyon to hike from North Rim to South Rim.

We left on Thursday afternoon and drove to the desert above Flagstaff. Half an hour from the park we stayed in a box, which was already an adventure.

On Friday we woke up and drove to a parking lot within South Rim’s village and stashed our car. A shuttle service then took us the 4 hours around the Canyon to the North Rim.

Again, we stayed about half an hour from the trailhead at Kaibab Lodge. (It has just changed ownership and the intrepid new leaders are about to renovate and expand. Glad we got to stay here when it was still wee and wonderful.) We spent the afternoon sketching and reading and drinking lattes and playing games and doing puzzles and chatting with guests who were about to embark on the same adventure as us. It was a perfect afternoon.

At 4:30 the next morning, we trekked through the darkness to our waiting shuttle and were driven to the North Kaibab trailhead on the North Rim.

It took us about 5 minutes to actually find the trail in the dark. Whatever it was we found started to go quite downhill quite quickly, so we figured we were on the right track.

Eventually the sky lightened and we put away our lamp, and we could start to see the enormity of the task in front of us.

Both of us were pleasantly surprised by the grade, though. We thought, looking at the elevation profile, that it would feel much steeper, but we kept up a comfortable and solid 3 mile per hour pace.

It was just an absolutely gorgeous hike. Oh my gosh, the spires, the patina, the obvious layers and changes in sandstone. Our shuttle driver (quite a character) had given us a geology lesson the day before, with some math thrown in too. He has calculated, based on the age of the rock down at the Colorado River, that every step we took was going back 5000 years. Surreal! And it is much less arid in the canyon than either of us thought. Creeks and springs and seeps are abundant, and vegetation is everywhere.

And it was much less populated than we feared. There were people, of course (we passed all but one of the groups we knew who were going down). But knowing that all camping spots had been reserved and it being Labor Day weekend, we thought we would be in constant contact with other hikers. In fact, we usually couldn’t even see anyone else this first half of the day.

We pretty much stayed in blessed shade the entire 15 miles down. And since the trail parallels Bright Angel Creek, there was ample opportunity to dunk our hats and dip our feet too. When we arrived at Phantom Ranch around 11:15, the thermometer (in the sun) read 114 degrees. Ice cold lemonade has never tasted so good. So good!

We sat down at the ranch for about an hour, eating lunch and relaxing with our shoes off. But we knew the day wasn’t even close to over, so back on the trail again. We were both feeling really good, still strong, happy with our progress and timing.

Getting to the Colorado River felt momentous, like meeting the artist of your favorite painting. And we did catch a glimpse of those famous mules across the way. (Luckily for our shoes, they took the South Kaibab trail, while we opted for Bright Angel.) Walking over the bridge, looking down at that muddy surge, you can absolutely feel the power of that water.

It was time to climb — oh boy. We had 9.5 miles to gain about 4500 feet of elevation, mostly in the sun. But again, the grade was less steep than we feared, and we dropped our pace to close to 2 miles per hour. Plus, we took every opportunity to chill out and make evaporative cooling work in our favor.

Indian Garden (4.5 miles from the South Rim) marked the beginning of the end to us. It’s a destination you can see from the lodge overlook, and where a lot of tourists decide to make their big trek. We sat in the shade (thank you cottonwoods!) for a snack and watched ill-prepared folks come and go. We were grateful to still be feeling like we would easily accomplish our mission. We were tired, but not beat.

About a mile and a half up the trail, the sun had traveled far enough to the west that we were back in shade for half the switchbacks. Sometimes it pays to go slow!

The hardest section was from 2.5 to .5 miles from the top. It felt steep, there were lots of folks, and there was just a sense of “this will never end.” But we were in shade! And we knew we were close! And then a big horn sheep showed up!

Once we could see the buildings at the rim, our motivation returned big time. We weren’t above bragging to people who looked interested in us, and some people’s take-out containers were looking awfully good. We can do it!

And then, all of a sudden, we had! We made it! Furthermore, we weren’t totally wrecked, either. It felt like a miracle.

According to my phone tracker, we walked 25.9 miles (although I think something went scrambly down there in The Box) and gained 5204 feet. It took us a total of 12 hours, 27 minutes (which was pretty darned close to our dream goal). But most importantly, we felt like we accomplished something MAJOR and did it well.

A Gatorade, an ice cream float, and a salty soft pretzel later, we were back in our desert box fast asleep.

We are feeling good and proud and happy and amazed and grateful. And tired. But mostly all those other things. Thank you, Grand Canyon!

P.S. Just in case you’re ever tempted, choose someplace besides the South Rim to scoop water out of the toilet.