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| Hiking | 23.12 Miles |
5,380 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.12 Miles | 11 Hrs 35 Mns | | 2.36 mph |
| 5,380 ft AEG | 1 Hour 47 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Rim to Rim! Scratch another one off the bucket list. Logistics of this always were daunting. But a friend suggested that we split into two groups and go opposite directions and meet in the middle. My group, two of us, drove to the North Rim and spent a night there. The other group, four people, went to South Rim. We had met for dinner the day before and swapped cars. We each left a bag of stuff we would need on the other side after the hike in the other car.
This was my first time at the North rim. The scenery on the drive up is spectacular. I am definitely coming back to spend more time up there. Accommodations at the North Rim were booked up so we stayed at the Jacob Lake Inn which was nice. I had my own little cabin. Jacob Lake is an hour drive from the Rim, so we left at 3:30am for a 4:30 start. Brutal.
The too tiny parking lot at the trailhead was full. There were a lot of people who had the same idea. I've never seen so many people at 4:30 in the morning. We parked out friends' car on the road about a quarter mile away.
The North Kaibab trail is great! The first 3 or 4 miles are fairly steep, but easy to walk. Mostly nice packed dirt trail. The last several miles to Phantom Ranch are much less steep and we were able to keep up a fast pace.
We met our friends at Phantom Ranch. We almost missed them because there were so many people. We exchanged info about where to find our cars. They also were unable to park in the lot near South Kaibab and ended up parking on the road a way past the lot.
After lunch at Phantom Ranch we tried of our water and started up South Kaibab. I knew from last year that I would need to stop and rest frequently. And I did. I hate steps! Many sections of the trail were deeply rutted from horses or mules. Took a break at the rest spot a mile and a half from the top and ate some snacks. The wind kicked up with really strong gusts while we were there. I put my long sleeve shirt back on because it was chilly.
Then the final push to the top. More steep steps. Then finally the switchbacks up the wall came into view. Yay. Then we were at the top. Walking on paved road to the car after the steep trail felt so easy. Out friends had left a cooler of refreshments for us. We toasted our successful hike with beers then headed to the hotel in Tusayan for an early dinner and bed after a great day in the Canyon. |
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