Meghan's Blog

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November 29, 2006

And The Canyon Was Grand

The following is a report of our Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim run. This report is excruciatingly long, but I feel I have been somewhat brief. It was just a long, long trip. Also, please pardon the grammatical mistakes, spelling errors, and free-for-all use of tenses in this rough report. If you decide to read it all, grab a snack or a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy.

Pre-run:

We (myself and a friend) descended from the South Rim via the Bright Angel Trail (roughly 10 miles long with just under 5000 vertical feet elevation change) and ascended to the North Rim via the North Kaibab Trail (roughly 14 miles long with just under 6000 vertical feet elevation change). Then we repeated the process for the return trip.

The night before running, we camped in the Mather Campground at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a cold but perfectly clear night, so we slept without a tent, watching the stars as we fell asleep. I slept decently, though I wasn’t ever cozy or very warm. We woke up at 4:45 am, with the goal of being on trail by 5:30 am. I was wide awake the minute the alarm went off, but it was very hard to climb out into the cold, still nighttime air. We guessed it was about 20 degrees F.

My breakfast was a bagel and most of a Starbucks Frappucino (One should never embark on such an ordeal without a caffeine fix beforehand.) I filled my Camelbak with about 50 ounces of Gatorade and about 3000 calories worth of food (6 Gu packets, 3 Clif bars, 2 Balance bars, more powdered Gatorade, a small bag of salted cashews, and a bag of trail mix). Drinking water was available on the trail at various points, and we would never have to carry more than 2 liters of water at once.

Our plan was to just run as much as we could run, and hike that which we were unable to run. We originally had incremental time goals, but we threw them out the door immediately. These time goals were based on studying maps and best guesses of how fast we’d travel certain segments of the trail. Some areas of the trail were quite technical and slow to travel, and others were smooth and easy to travel. In the end, we ran by feel rather than time, and I’m very happy with this decision.

Mile 0 to Mile 4.5:

Miles 0 to 4.5 passed very slowly. It was dark and the trail was filled with huge, ankle-breaking rocks. We traveled carefully by the light of our headlamps, switchbacking down into the darkness of the night. I couldn’t see a thing beyond the halo of my headlamp, but I could very much sense that there was an abyss, always there in front of me. Quite frankly, it made me feel very small.

At Mile 4.5, there was finally some pre-dawn light. By now, we had already passed several groups of people climbing out of the canyon; we had descended nearly 3000 feet; and, we passed by the Indian Springs Backcountry Campground. As it became light, the views were absolutely astounding: I was, indeed, inside of the Grand Canyon.

Mile 4.5 to Mile 10:

From Mile 4.5, the trail gets less steep, and descends through a canyon (one of thousands within the Grand Canyon itself) with a tiny stream that we would hop across from time to time. Somewhere around Mile 8, the trail dumps you abruptly at the Colorado River, the very bottom of the Grand Canyon. It’s impossible to fathom that you are in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, as there are so many layers of rock it seems you are only at the bottom of a much smaller canyon.

Miles 8 to 10 include a sandy portion of trail that skirts along a cliff above the Colorado River and a crossing of the Colorado River via a huge steel bridge. The river was loud as you crossed over it, and I was energized by the power of the water moving beneath me.

At about Mile 10 is the Bright Angel Backcountry Campground and Phantom Ranch. We made a brief stop here to refill our Camelbaks (I refilled to 2 liters and mixed it with Gatorade powder.), hide some now uneeded clothes in bushes to pick up on the return trip, and chat momentarily with (and pass) a group of 4 doing the same Rim to Rim to Rim trip we were (They were 3 men and 1 woman.).

At this point, I felt great. I was running in a tank top and running shorts and it was perhaps 45 degrees F. The sun was hitting the canyon walls thousands of feet above us, and the morning sky was a cloudless aquamarine. I could feel the descent in my legs, but nothing felt bad. Mostly, I just felt at peace.

Mile 10 to Mile 17:

This portion of the trail was my favorite, both on the trip out and the return trip. On the way out, it’s a gradual ascent, first through a tight canyon containing a fast-flowing stream. Every so often, you cross the creek via some sturdy little bridges. Then the terrain opens up into a wider valley and you continue to ascend. Here, the whole Grand Canyon opens around you, the South Rim behind you, the North Rim in front of you, and everything in between all around. In these moments, I had my first tangible realization of what was occurring, and I’m sure my eyes got really big. Mile 17 brings you to the Cottonwood Backcountry Campground.

Mile 17 to Mile 24:

From here, it’s about 7 miles to the North Rim with a 4500 foot ascent. That is, the trail gets instantly steeper. We were able to run the first 3 miles out of Cottonwood Campground pretty easily, then the trail just got steep and we just hiked as hard as we could. Here, we encountered a man doing a 95 mile run through the trails of the Grand Canyon. When we met up with him, he was on Mile 88 or so. He was vastly interesting to chat with for a few minutes, so we indulged.

Miles 20 to 24 were my bad miles. My body was beginning to feel fatigued and the gravity of the situation became real. My calves began to hurt here. I could hardly believe that, after climbing to the North Rim, I was going to repeat the whole process again. My mind was psyched out. I spent this time trying to divert my mind, thinking about sandy beaches, stacks of blueberry pancakes, and anything enticing enough to distract me from reality. In these miles, we also met up with 2 other Rim to Rim to Rim runners (2 guys) coming down from the North Rim as we were still climbing up.

I never thought we’d actually reach the North Rim. However, we did. We hugged each other for a moment, but reaching the halfway point of this run was otherwise low key. There, I assessed my situation and realized that my liquid and food intake had dropped off, and perhaps this was the reason for my funk. I guzzled some Gatorade and ate some food, and we were off downhill. It was about 40 degrees F or so on the North Rim.

Mile 24 to Mile 31:

This was the steep descent off the North Rim and back to Cottonwood Campground. I was again a happy camper. We fell off the North Rim like tumbleweeds blowing across west Texas, in a nearly effortless descent. I felt awesome and we were laughing and having fun. Here, we crossed paths with what was left of the Rim to Rim to Rim running group that we had passed at Mile 10, just 2 of the guys. They were climbing up to the North Rim as we were coming down. The other 2 of their party had turned around.

Somewhere around Mile 29 was a water spigot at a building, and we refilled with water here. I put about 50 ounces in, and mixed it with Gatorade. (I had not refilled here on the way up as I was distracted by the 95 Mile Runner Guy. I regret that miss.)

Once we returned to Cottonwood Campground at Mile 31, I entered into new mileage territory. I hadn’t run anything longer than a 50K prior to this run. Amazingly, I still felt great.

Mile 31 to Mile 38:

Again, this was my favorite part of the trail. First, a gradual descent through the wide-open valley, then a similarly gradual descent through the tight canyon with the stream. I was fatigued at this point, but still able to run with ease because of the gentle downhill grade. Mile 38 brought us back to Phantom Ranch and the Bright Angel Backcountry Campground. We again refilled with water. I put in 50 more ounces of water, enough for the 10 mile climb to the South Rim, and mixed it with the last of my Gatorade powder. We also picked up our stowed warm clothes and headed uphill. Here at the bottom of the canyon, it was the warmest temperatures of the day, perhaps 60 degrees F.

Mile 38 to Mile 43.5:

Here is where mental strength began to be a necessary quality. I was tired; it was all uphill from here; it was late in the day. We ran as much as we could. By now it was a slow run because of fatigue and the uphill grade. However, there was something mentally boosting about running, albeit at whatever slow pace. The more we ran, the better I felt. We agreed to cover as much ground at we could before dark, and this hastened our uphill climb.

Mile 43.5 returned us to the Indian Springs Backcountry Campground. Though we only passed by it quietly, it smelled wonderfully of backpackers’ dinners and we were instantly ravenous. As we ran, we conjured up ways to steal food without being noticed, and we talked about what we would eat when we made it to the top.

Mile 43.5 to Mile 48:

By now, it was dark again. There were dots of flashlights on the trail above us, switchbacking into the nighttime sky. I focused on catching each light, one by one. We had been passing groups of hikers all day, but for some reason, this energized me and gave me something to which I could direct my mental energies. Here, we intermixed running with hiking. Admittedly, we hiked a lot more than we ran, as this was the steepest portion of the ascent.

You could see the lights of the developed area on the South Rim about 500 vertical feet and 1.5 miles before you actually arrived there. That distance was truly interminable. But somehow it ended, and we were standing on pavement, off the trail, at the South Rim. Here, we celebrated with big smiles, a little ackward dancing (Yes, you can still dance after running 48 miles.), some photos, and hugs.

Post-run:

We scurried to the car as it was below freezing and windy and we were skimpily dressed runners. Sitting in the car, we snacked on bagels and dinner leftovers from the night before. When we thought we had abated hunger enough that we wouldn’t eat our own arms, we drove to the hotel. After a long, hot shower and a liter of Gatorade, I was instantly unconscious. I was so tired I didn’t even eat dinner!

My calves were unbelievably sore the next day. The rest of me was sore and fatigued, but not handicappingly sore like my calves. My calves would instantly break into cramps in the middle of a slow hobble, causing me to cry out in pain. We spent the next day being tourists, seeing the sights of the South Rim. At one point, I was walking next to an elderly lady on the way to a public restroom. Let’s just say that she beat me there, by a lot. Despite our various physical agonies, we rode the mental high of a new accomplishment just barely under our belts all day long.

That night, I woke up feeling absolutely horrible. I felt fatigue so deep that my bones ached. I couldn’t sleep for several hours during the night because the full-body aching was so intense. However, the next morning, the second morning post-run, I felt much, much better. My calf-hobbling pace had increased somewhat, and movement was much less painful.

This endeavor was not a walk in the park. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done (The only thing that could possibly rate higher was summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro.). I’ve left out much of the suffering. I didn’t mention that, at one point, I was coughing so hard from the effort that I almost threw up. I didn’t mention that in during Mile 20 to 24, I told my friend about 6 times during a mini-temper tantrum that I was going to quit at the North Rim. I also didn't mention that the nighttime bone aching post-run was so intense that I cried.

Despite these (and other still unmentioned) things, it was also a life-altering experience. My friend and I became so much closer as we worked together through the day. We made a rather intangible idea an entirely tangible accomplishment. Most importantly, I showed myself that I am capable of much, much more than I ever thought (My blog’s header could never feel more true than right now.).

By the way, I don’t have a single foot issue. No blisters, no black toenails. I thank my Wright socks and Montrail Hardrock shoes for that.

**EDIT 12/4/06: I just realized that I neglected to mention how long this took. Our total time out was 13:10. We hit the trail on the South Rim at exactly 5:52 am on Saturday, November 24th. We arrived at the Colorado River at about 8:05 am. We topped out at the North Rim somewhere between noon and 12:30 pm. I have no recollection of what time we arrived back to the Colorado River for the second time. We completed the journey back at the South Rim just a few minutes after 7 pm.**

Posted by Meghan at November 29, 2006 7:18 PM

Comments

Posted by: Janet at November 30, 2006 5:26 AM

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