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- Jul 24, 2007
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This post is in response to Bio's post about living life to its fullest.
I did a Grand Canyon trip a couple of years ago that was a blast. From the south rim to the north rim and back.... in a day...
I have actually done this twice but I had some pictures and vid clips of this one. It was a total bitch. 48 miles in a day. Much of it running.
Thought I might talk about it here for the fun.
It is a very dangerous trip. There is no medical care beyond first aid that does not involve a rescue team or helicopter. You can virtually be stranded for long periods of time if something bad happens.
Here is the list of precautions: Grand Canyon National Park Hiking Safety Guide
You will see from pictures that we traveled very light. The nightime temps were in the 20's or lower but our need to move fast prevented heavy clothing.
We started around 4:30 am. Within half a mile from the start we ran into very fast moving water on the trail. It was still dark but this water crossed the switchback trail many times and followed the path for quite a distance. Our shoes and socks were immediately soaked with water and silt. All we could figure was that there was a broken pipe somewhere because it was not a streambed.
Fortunately, we had brought a change of socks since we knew there would be locations that would get our feet wet. Unfortunately, our shoes and socks were very dirty now. We knew that we would need to let the socks dry for a later changing.
After that, the remainder of the decent was uneventful. We ran most of the 5000 ft dropoff down to the Colorado River below. It seemed pretty easy at this point.
Now for the fun. The climb up the north rim was about 6000 feet. The path followed a canyon along a river for a number of miles. It meanders through a canyon for a ways rolling up and down on the face. There were some wet spots that required balance while hopping on rocks to cross the river.
We did not carry a lot of volume of water because there are stops along the way. This proved to be a problem for us. We were casually hiking up the rim when we realized that the water was shut off at one of the stops. We were still probably about 4000 feet from the top at this time and assumed that we could get water at the top. I offered some of my water to the others since I felt that I was always capable of going without water than most people.
As we neared the top, we ran into a group that was sitting in a large rock outcropping. They were amazed that we came from the other side and planned on going back that day.
Well, after a nasty climb up we finally made the top. No water was available. The north rim was still shut down for the season and the lodge was not open. Someone that we ran into told us that the water would be turned back on in a few days and that it is turned off during part of the season. We had assumed that the water would be on while the trail was open for hiking. Wrong!!!
To be continued...
Here are a couple of photos of us on the way up the north side and at the top.
I did a Grand Canyon trip a couple of years ago that was a blast. From the south rim to the north rim and back.... in a day...
I have actually done this twice but I had some pictures and vid clips of this one. It was a total bitch. 48 miles in a day. Much of it running.
Thought I might talk about it here for the fun.
It is a very dangerous trip. There is no medical care beyond first aid that does not involve a rescue team or helicopter. You can virtually be stranded for long periods of time if something bad happens.
Here is the list of precautions: Grand Canyon National Park Hiking Safety Guide
You will see from pictures that we traveled very light. The nightime temps were in the 20's or lower but our need to move fast prevented heavy clothing.
We started around 4:30 am. Within half a mile from the start we ran into very fast moving water on the trail. It was still dark but this water crossed the switchback trail many times and followed the path for quite a distance. Our shoes and socks were immediately soaked with water and silt. All we could figure was that there was a broken pipe somewhere because it was not a streambed.
Fortunately, we had brought a change of socks since we knew there would be locations that would get our feet wet. Unfortunately, our shoes and socks were very dirty now. We knew that we would need to let the socks dry for a later changing.
After that, the remainder of the decent was uneventful. We ran most of the 5000 ft dropoff down to the Colorado River below. It seemed pretty easy at this point.
Now for the fun. The climb up the north rim was about 6000 feet. The path followed a canyon along a river for a number of miles. It meanders through a canyon for a ways rolling up and down on the face. There were some wet spots that required balance while hopping on rocks to cross the river.
We did not carry a lot of volume of water because there are stops along the way. This proved to be a problem for us. We were casually hiking up the rim when we realized that the water was shut off at one of the stops. We were still probably about 4000 feet from the top at this time and assumed that we could get water at the top. I offered some of my water to the others since I felt that I was always capable of going without water than most people.
As we neared the top, we ran into a group that was sitting in a large rock outcropping. They were amazed that we came from the other side and planned on going back that day.
Well, after a nasty climb up we finally made the top. No water was available. The north rim was still shut down for the season and the lodge was not open. Someone that we ran into told us that the water would be turned back on in a few days and that it is turned off during part of the season. We had assumed that the water would be on while the trail was open for hiking. Wrong!!!
To be continued...
Here are a couple of photos of us on the way up the north side and at the top.
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