Rim to Rim: Hiking across the Grand Canyon in one day

Beyond exhausted. Rim-to-Rim was magnificent in every way. Fourteen and a half hours of hiking through the Grand Canyon along what has to be one of the most jaw-dropping landscapes on Earth. I won’t lie though. Those last 5 miles were anything but peaches and cream. I was beyond miserable at the end. At the moment I’m exhausted, bitchy and hungry. But I’m also utterly grateful and humbled to have had such an opportunity. To continue living the road less traveled. This is 50.

What is Rim to Rim? Why do it? And why now?

Hiking from the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is one of the hardest one-day hikes in the United States. Probably only beat by hiking from the South Rim to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s just about 24 miles (39k) from end to end, with over 10,000ft (3,048m) of elevation gain and loss. And while the National Park Service actually warns against attempting the one-day traverse on its website, thousands of people do it every year.

For myself, the challenge of doing Rim to Rim is one I had been contemplating for a while. I wanted to do something special for my 50th, but I also wanted to spend it with three of my closest friends. While all of us were endurance athletes at one point, those days are over. I knew two of them would never buy into the idea. So I made another plan entirely

In the end, when just over six weeks prior to my birthday it became apparent that life was going to get in the middle of the girls weekend I had planned, I called it off. When my ride or die asked me what I wanted to do, I asked her if she would hike Rim to Rim. She said yes. Now we just had to make it happen.

Planning for Rim to Rim: the devil is in the details

If only getting my BFF to agree to this insane endeavor were the hard part.

The logistics of a Rim to Rim weekend are many. But the hardest piece of putting together the Rim to Rim puzzle is getting hotel reservations. Particularly on the North Rim where there is basically one option. With the alternative implying around a 40 minute drive away from your start or end point.

We were incredibly lucky. While reservations for the North Lodge essentially book up a year in advance, there are always cancellations. The problem is I was being super specific with the date I needed. I stalked the website about ten times a day. There was simply nothing available for the night of October 7.

As fate would have it, two of our friends were doing Rim to Rim a month before my birthday. This is how you know things are meant to be. Despite showing no availability online, when they got to the North Lodge they were able to book us a cabin!

Car rentals, parking, shuttle buses and more….

Once we knew this was happening, Heidi and I secured two additional hotel nights on the South Rim. One for the day of our arrival from Phoenix. One for our post-hike accommodation. There are of course slightly cheaper options in the town outside of the Gran Canyon National Park. I’m not sure that’s worth it though because of the additional drive involved. We chose the easier way and stayed inside the park

Now, while you can obviously choose to hike from North to South or South to North, I would argue that North to South makes more sense simply because of the logistics. Some say it’s also easier with more descending and less climbing than the other way around.

In any case, if you’re starting from the South Rim you first must make your way from either Phoenix or Las Vegas. So step number one is renting a car for the three and a half hour drive. If you stay inside the Grand Canyon you can also leave your car parked there for a couple of days while you’re gone. No one will be the wiser. Step number two is to book a shuttle that will take you from the South Rim to the North Rim. These shuttles take around four hours and go twice a day. We chose the early shuttle.

With all that taken care of, now it was time to worry about the important stuff. Like how to fuel, and making sure we were fit enough to walk across the Grand Canyon in one day!

Getting it done: Hiking 24 miles across the Grand Canyon

Ah. Nothing like a 4:30am alarm clock to bring in your 50th birthday. The only thing that topped it was the two bottles of butter pecan Ensure I brought along for breakfast. Super fancy and indulgent. I sure do know how to spoil myself on big days don’t I?

Why so early? The short answer is to avoid the heat.

No matter which way you look at it, hiking across the Grand Canyon is going to be hot. You can mitigate this of course. The biggest way to do this is to hike either at the beginning or at the end of the season. The summer is completely off limits unless you have a death wish. Temperatures at the bottom can very easily reach 110F. It’s also not uncommon for the water lines to break. This translates into limited access to drinking water. This info and other critical alerts are updated here on a day to day basis.

As it turns out, the first two weeks of October are the Rim to Rim sweet spot. They are also the last possible time to do it since the North Lodge closes for the season right around the middle of the month. From a weather perspective, this was amazing for my October 8 hike. All the water lines that had been down for weeks were also back open. From a crowd perspective, it was, to put it lightly, a nightmare.

A traffic jam in the middle of the Grand Canyon

Over the last several years I’ve done long distance, multi-day treks all over the world. From Everest Base Camp to the Tour du Mont Blanc, to the Inca Trail, to walking across Spain, not once, but twice. For me the attraction is not only in the challenge, but embarking on the road less traveled. Being able to enjoy nature in its rawest form, away from the hustle and bustle of every day life.

Imagine my surprise, when minutes after disembarking from our 5am shuttle from the lodge to the North Rim, we were encountered by large crowd. The first hour descending the North Kaibab Trail was the marathon equivalent of squeezing yourself into a race corral slowly making its way to the start line.

Had we started earlier, this might have been minimized somewhat. At the time it was a choice between starting in the dark or ending in the dark. For the record I did both. I just did not want to miss those epic Grand Canyon views by walking the whole way down in the dark.

For would-be hikers not set on a specific date the way I was, I would still say go in October. Just maybe pick a random Tuesday. My birthday fell on a Saturday.

In any case, Heidi and I, along with around 2,000 of our closest friends got on our way around 5:20am. Since it was still dark, a head lamp was a must. The trail down is rocky and it’s narrow in parts. For the record, while the videos often make it appear super narrow, it is never so much so that you feel you’re at risk of falling.

It took several hours to make our way all the way down. Despite the crowds, it was perfect temperature-wise. And once we hit the first rest area the number of folks on the trail began to dissipate. Mind you it was crowded all day, just not traffic jam crowded.

What goes down must come up.

Once at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, there are several miles of “flat.” This is the most pleasant part of the day. It’s insanely gorgeous. Me being me there was lots and lots of picture taking. Heidi being Heidi, she just rolled her eyes at me and zipped along not wanting to break her stride or waste time. We’re such different people it’s amazing we’re such good friends really.

Keeping a good pace was important though. Our goal was to get through a narrow canyon section nicknamed “the Box” before the sun got too high in the sky. Known as the hottest part of the trail, it’s often recommended that hikers try to get through the box by 10am. Temperatures here are routinely in the triple digits. As luck would have it, I doubt it was even in the mid-80’s while we were there.

The miles went by quite steadily until we reached Phantom Ranch. Sitting around 13 miles into our day Phantom Ranch is the one lodge at the bottom of the Canyon where hikers can spend the night. After all most people aren’t silly enough to walk across the thing in one day. The vast majority of folks will apply more than a year in advance for camping permits or for the precious few beds available at Phantom Ranch. Thirteen months and one day in advance is when reservations open. They are all gone within minutes.

Phantom Ranch also has a canteen. For those in the know, their lemonade is legendary. So of course we had to try it. A half hour later, once we were fed and watered, it was time to get back on our way. At least it was for Heidi.

Afraid that taking too long of a break would essentially lock her muscles up—Heidi was anxious to get started again. I wanted to go by the river and soak my feet in the cold water for a bit. So this is where we decided we would split up and finish up the day at the right pace for each of us. There were only around ten miles left. What could possibly go wrong?

One foot in front of the other

Fortunately nothing did go wrong per se. But I’m not going to lie. It did get harder. After all, a couple of miles past Phantom Ranch is where the road starts to go up. At 7.8 miles in length (12.6), the Bright Angel Trail that leads up to the South Rim climbs over 4,460 ft (1,360 m). Not an insignificant amount over such a short distance.

All was good, even great, until around halfway up. That’s when the going got tough. Managing my nutrition was always going to be the biggest challenge of the day. You can’t have any real meals and there are only so many gels your body will take. So I alternated gels with nuts, dried fruit and some other salty snacks. And of course lots of water with electrolytes added in for good measure.

Around ten hours in, the heartburn and stomach cramping kicked in. It was annoying because though tired, my legs were fine. A miracle considering I’d had about four weeks to “train.” This exact thing happened to me shortly after starting the marathon leg of my first Ironman ten years prior. I knew what I was in for.

Taking frequent breaks to settle my stomach, my pace went down to a crawl. My GPS watch wasn’t helping either. It had been off all day. I had no real idea how much distance I had left. At one point I spent around two miles convinced a rest stop known as Indian Garden, was right around the corner. Once I got there I knew I only had 4.5 miles to go. Only 4.5 miles.

Those 4.5 miles were some of the hardest I’ve ever hiked. I was tired. I was cramping. It started pouring. And it got dark. I was also alone. Darn Heidi. Why did she have to leave me? One foot in front of the other. First to the 3-mile rest stop. And then to the 1.5 mile stop. One foot in front of the other.

Until there it was. The last bend before the top. At 8pm, nearly 14.5 hours after our early morning start, I was done. I had completed Rim to Rim. At the top was Heidi, camera in hand, ready to document the moment.

Post-Script

Hiking 24 miles across the Grand Canyon in one day was one of the toughest one-day challenges I’ve ever set for myself. Unlike my two Ironman races, where I spent months of my life focused on one goal, this is one I’m grateful to have completed on little to no training (I don’t recommend this!).

Rim to Rim was a challenge worthy of my 50th birthday. And it was so much fun to have people on the trail wishing me a happy birthday courtesy of a celebratory ribbon Heidi gave me for my backpack. 

I have to say, one thing I’ve realized as I’ve started vlogging is just what a wonderful gift this is to myself. It allows me to preserve not just the memories, but the feelings I had in the moment. Those feelings that usually fade with time. If, in the process, I can bring one or two of you along for the ride, that’s just the icing on the cake. 

Here’s to kicking off a new decade in style!

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Today’s Stats:

Distance: 23.9 miles

Elevation Gain: 4,380 feet

Elevation loss: 5,761 feet

Duration: 14.5 hours

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Food and Accommodation:

Maswik Lodge: This is where we stayed on our first night on the South Rim. It was our choice for no other reason than it was available on our desired dates and the “cheapest” of the options.

Grand Canyon Lodge. The only place to stay on the North Rim. It’s pretty basic. But this is all there is. I believe the closest alternatives are around a 40 minute drive away. It also books up nearly a year in advance. The food options at night were terrible. I don’t remember why, but we were only able to have lunch inside the main restaurant.

Thunderbird Lodge. This is where we stayed after finishing Rim to Rim. We changed the reservation from the place above because it’s “closer” to the rim. Frankly we needn’t have changed at all. It was more expensive for no good reason. Except for Tovar, all options inside the National Park are nothing more than glorified motels with substandard food and service. It just is what it is. You’re not here for the food or accommodations.