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| Hiking | 15.60 Miles |
5,000 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.60 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 2.97 mph |
| 5,000 ft AEG | 45 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I knew Bob had planned to do Cheops this morning so I planned on hiking "2 hours or 4 miles down" with them...4 miles came first and I still had PLENTY of time so I went for the 2 hours and ended up at Phantom Ranch... 
Joey B, Denny, Bob and my dear Uncle Chumley and I pretty much ran down SK the entire way, I love those crazy kids!
Bob cached some water somewhere along the trail, we witnessed the creation of a cairn (there was a 7 second debate as half of us only saw two rocks which would make it a duck...)
Anywho...it was pretty fast paced, as we approached Kaibab Suspension Bridge we noticed the Mule train on the other side and Bob or Joe set off at a run with myself, Denny and Chumley close behind, we ran blindly for a moment through the tunnel and beat the mules across the bridge, I was laughing so hard the whole time I almost peed!  Seeing those 4 guys run like rabbits down the trail and into the tunnel, oh my gosh...I'm still 9Ling!
We skirted the mule train, passed an old english guy with trekking poles, I glanced back, the Mule train was crossing the bridge.
I had planned to turn around no later than 8:30 which is right about when we reached the restrooms on the other side of the River, they told me how close Phantom Ranch was so Chumley and I walked there, I cartwheeled with PR behind me and said goodbye.
I ran all the way back to Black Bridge stopping only once to look back at my fellow hikers...
I was alone again, with 7 miles straight uphill to go, and a huge grin on my face that still hasn't faded. I'd never hiked 7 miles up hill before...holy beans...didn't I pass a sign saying "Don't attempt rim to river and back in one day, People die!" ...   
Within 10 minutes I'd reached the point on SK where ( as you are heading down) you catch the first glimpse of the River, here I passed the old english guy, we chatted for a minute, I remembered him as he'd rented his trekking poles from me the day before then I was off, another 20 minutes later I raced up behind the Mule Train, they had paused at some vista and were preparing to move on, I skirted them and ran up the trail best I could to put some distance between myself and the Mules, they never caught up.
I made it to the "halfway" sign by exactly 10:05am, I collapsed on a rock under the sign when I saw the time on my camera... 3.8 miles uphill in 90 minutes? I'm sure a ton of you could do it faster but holy beans I'm proud of that trek!!
I decided since I had over 2 hours to make it I'd slow down from here on out, once I reached the saddle by O'neill butte I dawdled some more, saw 3 condors, then raced up to Cedar Ridge...I made it to Cedar Ridge at exactly 11am...and almost died again 
I bounced off to the east down a spur trail to seek this fabled "Ford Pinto", no luck, maybe next time. I pretty much crawled that last mile and a half, literally I made it to the trail head at 12:01pm...then I had another half mile to walk down the lookout trail to my Subaru...I was feeling sick, I may have cried a tiny bit between my outbursts of "HOLY feces I JUST DID THAT!!!"...then I saw my suby, bent over and threw up. It was awesome.
I got home at 12:30 and took the hottest shower possible....and was refreshed and awake in time to be at work at 1:30pm
Rim to river and back before work. I might not do that again....no, that's a lie, we all know I will if the opportunity presents itself and the right people are involved. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
