My Grand Canyon Rim to River to Rim Hike

 I don't know exactly when I decided I had to do this hike, but I think it started with a visit to the Grand Canyon with my kids when we hiked down one of the trails. We went maybe a half mile into the canyon and sat out on a huge rock alone to enjoy the view, the peace and the silence of the canyon for a while before going back up.  Years later, during COVID, I watched a lot of YouTube videos of people doing Rim To Rim hikes and that is when the thought of doing it entered my mind. I like setting big goals that give you something to work towards. A couple of years went by and then in the Spring of 2024, I decided the time was right to do it so I resolved to do the hike in the fall.

As far as training for the hike, I was already in decent shape with playing tennis three times a week, the twice weekly circuit training and yoga classes. I also started hiking occasional five, seven and ten mile hikes, as well as going up and down outdoor flights of stairs for 30 minutes to an hour once a week and the Stairmaster at the gym. I also did a lot of research regarding the gear (water, electrolytes, foods, clothes) to pack. Physically I was ready and I had all the information I needed to pull it off.

Before I knew it, the time to leave for the Grand Canyon came.  I flew to Vegas, drove to the bed and breakfast called 'The Happy Happy Joy Joy Bed 'n Breakfast that was 30 min from the canyon's south entrance and checked in. It was a beautiful ranch house hosted by a very nice retired couple. The next day I drove to the canyon and spent the day before the hike learning the bus routes and bus stops I needed to take to get to the trailhead. I made a decision I later regretted, which was to park at the visitor center which is close to the starting trailhead, instead of parking near the Bright Angel trailhead where the hike ends so the car would be easily available after the hike. I did that because I wanted to start the hike as early as possible and by parking at the visitor center I could catch the 6am bus and be at the South Kaibab trailhead by 6:10am. And surely I would finish the hike early enough to catch the last bus to the visitor center by 9pm, right? If I missed that bus I would have to walk another 2.5 miles to the visitor center.  Lastly, I walked along the canyon rim and truth be told, when you look out at the vastness of the canyon and how far the trails go off into the far away distance which seems forever, you wonder just a bit if maybe you've bitten off more than you can chew. There's always that tiny doubt, but I told myself that was a normal feeling.

When I got back to the bed 'n breakfast that day, I started feeling a bit of a sore throat.  I forgot about it and started packing all my stuff for the hike. By 8:30pm I had my back pack ready and just lay in bed trying to relax and fall asleep.  I needed to be up by 4:45am so I could be at the canyon by 5:30 to allow plenty of time to catch the 6am bus to the trailhead. As I lay in bed my throat got worse, it hurt to swallow. It took me 3 hours to finally fall asleep at 11:30pm. Two hours later at 1:30am I awoke and couldn't fall back to sleep again. My throat was about the same but I felt OK. I knew hiking sick was a mistake but I had come so far. I decided I would hike down 3 miles to the 3rd waypoint on the hike called 'Skeleton Point' and if I felt bad I promised myself I would turn back. 4am came around and I got a call from my son Rodolfo to wish me luck, and at 4:45am I hit the road to the Grand Canyon.

I got to the canyon at 5:20am, parked and walked to the bus station where there was already a line of hikers waiting for the 6am bus. It came at 6am sharp and we all got in to go to the South Kaibab trailhead. We arrived at the trailhead and I went to the bathroom one last time to start on an empty tank. I walked to the trailhead and did my video about the date, time and temperature to document the start. I had imagined making that video many times and expected it would be such an epic moment, but in reality, it wasn't. At that point I knew I had a long hard task ahead of me and I was all business about getting it done. I had promised myself that I would not get caught up in doing the hike as fast as I could and just try to relax and enjoy the moments, but still the fact that I had 17.5 miles to walk, a lot of it in the sun at temps above 100F, and I would be descending and climbing up three empire state buildings did weigh heavily on the mind.  The sore throat was there, my voice was deeper than normal, and I did not have a spring in my step the way I normally do in the mornings. But I felt well enough.

The first thing I noticed right away was how difficult it was to walk down the trail. I had hiking poles and they helped, but the problem was finding your footing. The trail has wooden steps with deep pits full of rocks so its hard to find a solid place to plant your foot and gravity is pulling you down so you don't have much time to pick your spot to plant your foot. It didn't help that I wore my 20 year old trusty Merrell walking shoes with worn out soles that I had trained in. My foot slid often and I came close to falling several times. There were trail runners that would pass me and how they were able to run without falling I don't know. The views were spectacular and at every turn I would stop to take videos. Soon I realized I had to stop doing this otherwise I would never finish. I passed Ooh Ahh point and after one hour arrived at Cedar Ridge which was my first true checkpoint at the 1.5 mile mark. I was 15 minutes behind schedule but no biggie. I drank electrolytes, had a snack and kept going.

The views to the next waypoint were spectacular. This is by far the prettiest part of the hike. You go over Windy Ridge and past O'Neill Butte. At this point there were less hikers because most tourists turn around at Cedar Ridge. I arrived at Skeleton point at the 3 mile mark at 8:14am which is 45 minutes behind my scheduled time of 7:30am. At this point I knew the hike would take longer than I had planned. Instead of finishing at 5:30pm I figured it might be more like 7:30pm, but again, that's OK. I just needed to finish by 8:30pm so I could catch the bus back to the visitor center and avoid walking another 2.5 miles. This was the spot to make the call whether to continue or abort due to sickness. I didn't really feel bad, I just knew I wasn't at 100% but I felt I had enough to do the hike so I kept going.

At this point even though it was morning, the sun was beating mercilessly and it was hot. The next waypoint is called The Tipoff and it is 4.5 miles into the hike.  Now there were even fewer hikers on the trail, only the true hard core Rim to River hikers were left. To get to the Tipoff you go down many (and I mean many) switchbacks that seem to go forever and drop precipitously in elevation alongside the canyon wall. This trail is steep and pitted with ruts and full of rocks so it is difficult to walk on. I finally arrived at the Tipoff at 9:11am, still 45 minutes behind schedule. I was tired so I decided to take a break at the Tipoff's shelter. I was sweaty and felt yucky. I forced down some nuts, dried bananas and drank electrolyte. Unbeknownst to me, a squirrel snuck up behind me and stole some nuts from the bag beside me, and I finally figured out why some people were staring at me and laughing, and I laughed along with them. 

After maybe 15 minutes I started towards the final destination, a small cafe at the bottom of the Grand Canyon past the Colorado River called Phantom Ranch. It was 2.5 miles away at the 7 mile mark. To get there you negotiate more switchbacks, but as you negotiate each one you are motivated by seeing the Colorado river and the Black Bridge getting closer and closer. Finally I reached the tunnel at the bottom of the Grand Canyon that takes you to the Black Bridge crossing the Colorado River. I had seen so many YouTube videos of this tunnel and reaching this milestone was a big deal mentally because you feel as if you're halfway thru the hike. In reality, you're at around mile 6 of a 17.5 mile hike and you have to climb up the canyon to get out. From the river, the walk to Phantom ranch is another mile but it was now brutally hot, around 100F, the sun was beating down and I had a general feeling of heat exhaustion and fatigue. I finally reached Phantom Ranch at 10:58am a full hour and a half behind schedule and I was tired and hot.  My plan was to spend an hour at Phantom Ranch resting. It is tradition to drink their famous ice cold lemonade and send postcards that are carried out by mule. I got my lemonade which was delicious and the postcards and looked for a spot to sit down and write. Unfortunately the cafe was closed and all the outside tables were taken so I ended up sitting on top of a flat rock under a tree. I was hot and uncomfortable sitting on that rock. I wrote the postcards, ate a sandwich and this gave me some energy. I decided to leave after 30 minutes to make up some lost time. Honestly Phantom Ranch was not a great place to be, there was no place to sit, it was hot and I just felt uncomfortable there. I was ready to get out of there and make up some time.

My next stop was the River Resthouse by the Colorado river 2.2 miles away.  The time was 11:32am and now the sun was directly overhead and blazing hot, and the official temperature was 103F.  To get to the River Resthouse you cross back over the Colorado via the Silver Bridge and then walk alongside the river for about 2 miles. This part of the hike was flat so I made good time and reached the Resthouse in 1 hour at 12:33pm. This lifted my spirits a bit because 2.2 miles in one hour was pretty good and I was now only 30 minutes behind schedule!  But now it was time to say goodbye to the Colorado river and climb out of the Grand Canyon which I knew was the toughest part.

My next stop was at Havasupai Gardens 3.3 miles away, which is maybe 40% of the way back up out of the canyon. I was told by the people at the store where I rented my hiking poles that this part of the hike was tough. I was feeling optimistic since I was moving faster and felt better and thought that surely I could be done with the hike in 5 or 6 hours which would get me out by 6:30pm. The first mile was not too bad, but then I got to the stretch known as the 'Devils Corkscrew'.  This stretch is a series of steep switchbacks going up a cliff. It took me maybe an hour to get past the Devil's Corkscrew and with each step I grew weaker and weaker with the hot sun beating down on me. When I got to the top I was completely out of gas and knew that completing the hike would be an ordeal. I had little energy and was over heated. The last mile into Havasupai gardens was flatter, but it was a tough slog as I had no energy and it was still very hot with no shade. Taking each step was a chore. I finally got there at 3pm, which means it took me 2.5 hours to cover the last 3.3 miles! That means I was walking at 1.4mph which is slightly faster than crawling. I knew that I had to rest, eat and drink at Havasupai gardens to hopefully recover and feel better.  When you feel sick you have no appetite, but I forced down some nuts, dried fruits and electrolytes. I doused my hat in water and put it on my head to cool off and rested for 30 minutes. I had sporadic cell signal and was able to text my family my status. At 3:30pm I started going again. I had 4.5 miles to go to finish and the toughest part of the hike lay before me.  I felt a little better but still was weak with little energy. I was pretty sure my cold had kicked in and I was running a fever. You could now see the top of the canyon and it looked like having to climb Mount Everest to get out. I just put my head down and said to myself, you trained for this just keep moving.

My next stop was the Three Mile Resthouse which was 1.5 miles away. At this point you are climbing out of the canyon, going up steps that are carved out of the side on the canyon wall. It is like climbing up an eternal staircase.  Every time you round the corner of a switchback, you look to see if the resthouse is there, but it isn't. I had no energy and each step took a lot of effort. Most everybody was passing me. I passed a young girl who looked in terrible shape and gave her some encouragement and kept going. About 20 minutes later she passed me.  Finally at 5:07pm I got to the resthouse.  It took me 1.5 excruciating hours to go 1.5 miles, which means I was literally crawling out of the canyon at 1mph. The resthouse has a bathroom and I had to poop, so I went to the bathroom. The idiots who created this resthouse placed the bathroom such that you had to climb out of the way about 50 yards and back to get to it. Thats 50 yards of precious climb energy wasted just to poop.  The bathroom was a stinky outhouse. It was so stinky I propped the door open to get some fresh air in. I pooped as fast as I could and got the hell out of there to continue my hike. Unfortunately I did not do a good job wiping and did the rest of the hike with sticky underwear. 

My next stop was the 1.5 Mile Resthouse and it was now dark so you couldn't see anything except the stars which shone gloriously in the dark sky. I turned on my headlamp so I could see the trail. Looking up and down the trail you could see the lights of the other hikers.  I passed the young girl again who was in bad shape, then she passed me about 30 minutes later. I never saw her again. At this point it was just put one foot in front of the other, never mind that you have no energy to move them. The eternal stair case just goes on and on forever. I kept reminding myself that physically I was very fit and this would get me through one way or the other.  At 6:37pm which seemed like an eternity I reached the the 1.5 Mile Resthouse. Again, I covered 1.5 miles in 1.5 hours. Well at least I had not slowed down.  But I was worried about one thing. I had parked my car about 2.5 miles away from the end of the hike in the parking lot near the start of the hike, and I wasn't sure if the busses stopped running at 8pm or was it 9pm?  I needed to get out by 9pm and hopefully the busses would still be running or I would have an additional 2.5 miles to walk which would kill me. At the pace I was going I would finish at 8:15pm so I  was cutting it close.

I blew by the 1.5 Mile Resthouse without stopping. My goal now was to get to the busses on time. I had 1.5 miles to go. It was pitch dark, at one point I was walking on the right side of the steps on the trail, forgetting that there is a sheer cliff drop off on that side. Being dark, you can't see it. I could have easily stepped another two feet to the right and fallen off. I immediately made sure to walk up the middle of the steps on the trail. After a while I passed the 1 mile tunnel. I was still going at the 1mph pace. It was now very cold, temperature in the high forties and I had to stop and put on my jacket.  Even though I felt terrible, I could smell the finish and just kept going. I passed the half mile tunnel. Now I was close!  I finally got to the top in pitch dark at 8:15pm and it was freezing cold, pitch dark and no one around.

No celebration when I finished, I went straight for the bus stop, I got there at 8:30pm and there was a waiting bus that closed the doors when I was about 20 feet away from it. I waived my arms and tried to flag it down but the driver left me. I texted my family that I was alive after seeing their worried messages about me. The next bus came at 8:45pm and I got in.  The bus was empty. I sat down at the front of the bus in a bench seat on the right side that faced the bench seat on the left side of the bus and just closed my eyes and let my head bounce around as the bus went over bumps. I knew I looked like the living dead. At the next stop a young couple got on and they sat on the bench seat opposite facing me.  I decided to not to put up a front to look more presentable and just kept my eyes closed. My body flopped around as the bus went over bumps and turns. At one point I put my head down between my legs because I couldn't hold it up any longer. The bus stopped and the young couple got up to get off. I opened my eyes and looked at them. I was ready for the question I was sure was coming, "Are you all right?" But they got off without asking me.  Had they asked, I would have said, "Yes, I'm fine, I'm no longer going to die inside the mother fucking Grand Canyon."