ARIZONA MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES

by ERIC KRUEGER

 RIM 2 RIM 2 RIM

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK , AZ

 As you make your way through life certain places stick out in your mind as special, if not magical – these places make you feel good just thinking about them. The Grand Canyon is one of those places. For close to twenty years we have explored the “ Inner Canyon ” many times, perhaps 60 or so trips off the Rim and into a new adventure. For several years we have traveled to the Grand Canyon with a group of our friends in mid-May and mid-October to test ourselves and rekindle our spirit with a very long, tough hike – the Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim.

 It seems like a pretty insane idea, less than 10,000 people a year will go R2R, even less do it in one day and even less double- back and repeat the sequence. Those of us that live in the White Mountains have a distinct advantage; we already live at high altitude. The South Rim is approximately 7000’ and the North Rim is approximately 8000’, the Colorado River is approximately 2000’. It’s simple math, you drop down a mile, you hike across 10 miles and then you go up over a mile. The best piece of advice I can give you is – at the end of the day it’s all about how well you can go up !

 Preparation for a Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim usually takes about 6-8 months of hiking 25-35 miles a week. Not bad duty if you have the time, I happen to have a day job – so it’s lots of early mornings with a headlamp. However, there is really no training for the almost continuous 20-30” step ups/downs that you’ll be making. The trail is also very rugged, it is strewn with rocks and your eyes only leave the trail when you stop hiking, otherwise it’s a sure twisted ankle. (Been there, done that, got the T-shirt - ouch) Physical preparation is only half of the equation - mental preparation is huge. Hundreds of people have died below the Rims, usually from overconfidence, which leads to heat exhaustion and heat stroke. So, knowing your physical abilities are only common sense here, otherwise it’s a $2500 minimum helicopter evacuation.

 We always leave from the South Rim; most of us will start from the South Kaibab Trailhead, which sets you up for a 21.7-mile hike across. The South Kaibab is extremely steep, it drops 5000’ to the Colorado River in approximately 6 miles. The Bright Angel Trail is less steep, but 2.5 miles longer to the River. This will set you up for 23-mile hike across. Hikers that have bad knees and ankles sometimes choose Bright Angel. However, Canyon miles are Canyon miles, less steep but longer will still burn every match in your matchbook. I like to stick with the South Kaibab Trail, the views are panoramic and there’s usually a light wind.

 Once you’ve reached the Colorado River, you’ll be treated to the only flat hiking of the trek, the Mule Bridge or Black Bridge . There is also a Silver Bridge downstream to service the Bright Angel hikers. These suspension bridges are an absolute marvel of engineering spanning the mighty Colorado for a couple hundred yards. They were built for the exclusive use of hikers and mules. The Mule Bridge has a rubber mat across it so that the raging Colorado doesn’t spook the mules, the Silver Bridge has a metal bottom that you can see through – it’s kinda weird. Both bridges are approximately one mile from Phantom Ranch, the most unique hotel in the world. Phantom Ranch is an oasis at the bottom of the Grand Canyon . It has a Cantina which also acts as a store and dining room for the 90 or so nightly guests. There’s also a pay phone there – unbelievable. There used to be a pool there too, but a flash flood wiped it out – too bad.

The folks that work at Phantom Ranch (20 or so) have to be unanimously voted in by their peers. All of the food, pop, beer, candy, shirts etc. is carried down by mule pack trains. All of the garbage is packed back up by mules. It is an amazing orchestration that has gone on for over 90 years !

 Once you depart Phantom Ranch you will be following one of the most beautiful trails in the world alongside Bright Angel Creek . Bright Angel Creek is a very productive trout fishery and has yielded 18-22” Rainbow Trout over the years for us. The trail is also built over the Trans-Canyon Water Pipeline. The water for the Grand Canyon Village is actually piped down Bright Angel Creek and pumped up at Indian Gardens to the South Rim over a mile above. (I’d really like to have been in the room when that balloon was first floated!) The trail winds through a section called The Box, which has near vertical walls soaring up to the sky; this allows very little sunlight to the bottom, maybe 3-4 hours a day. Once we witnessed a helicopter lower a workman down in a cage here to work on the pipeline, the guy simply stepped out with his lunch and tools. After half dozen or so small bridge crossings, the trail begins to open up as you make your way to Ribbon Falls . Ribbon Falls is beautiful, but makes me think of only one thing, Mojave Green Rattlesnakes - we don’t spend much time there.  

You’ve now been making your way slightly uphill for about 6 miles and you’re only a couple miles from Cottonwood Campground. Cottonwood has cold water and picnic benches to rest your weary feet. It also has a lot of shade from the huge Cottonwood trees. It’s a really great place to sit down and relax, but I like to go the extra mile to the Roaring Springs Ranger Station. This trailside station has cold water and a nice rock wall to let your feet dangle. The gentleman that operates the station is also the caretaker of the huge pumps that are the beginning of the Trans-Canyon Water Pipeline, Bruce Aiken. Bruce has spent over 30 years at Roaring Springs and upon last meeting will be retiring in the near future; he’s a fantastic artist and also has kin that live in Nutrioso ! He has raised his family there and is truly a Canyon legend. Roaring Springs also benchmarks what I consider to be the beginning of the North Kaibab Trail. I know it starts down at Phantom Ranch, but this is where you begin to climb up to the North Rim.

 So far things have been pretty easy, you’ve hiked downhill for 6 miles and slightly uphill for the next 10 miles or so. It’s not unusual for hikers to be at Roaring Springs in 5 hours or so, however it’s also not unusual for hikers to take 5-6 hours to cover the next 6 miles. At the beginning of the article I mentioned that it’s all about going up - this ladies and gentleman is where the rubber meets the road. Countless times I’ve been passed by folks running down the South Kaibab only to find them at Roaring Springs looking decidedly less energetic. The idea is to minimize the impact on your body as much as possible until you reach Roaring Springs, from here forward the real hiking begins.

 The trail begins winding uphill with typical Grand Canyon panoramic views. It does not have the mule traffic like the South Kaibab Trail, so the trail is in far superior condition. A little over a mile you will round the corner into Roaring Springs Canyon . This provides you with a jaw dropping view of the huge Roaring Springs Waterfall spurting halfway up the rim of the canyon. As you head deeper into the canyon the sides begin to gradually close in and you are treated with a very personal feeling of the park. It’s as if you can reach out and touch the sides. Unfortunately at this point the trail goes downhill; jeepers - you’ve just been climbing like crazy for the last hour or so and now you have to go down ! The original trail washed out, so now you have to make use of the Crossover Bridge a couple hundred feet below. Once across the Bridge you are in the Redwall.

 The Redwall is the Supai Formation and it’s the reddish- brownish sandstone band that you see throughout the Park. Just about any trail in the Park has the Redwall, and it’s usually highlighted as being the toughest and steepest, but not on the North Kaibab . Typically you have an hour or so of tough Redwall hiking before you reach the Supai Tunnel. The Supai Tunnel is a small tunnel that marks the transformation from pinions & junipers to ponderosas and oaks. There is also water available, but it is highly seasonal. From the Supai Tunnel to the edge of the North Rim you are only a couple of miles. However, this is one of the steepest sections of trail in the Park – for every 100’ it gains 15’ in elevation. Which means it averages a 15% grade, that is an average - there are 20%+ grades thrown in every few switchbacks. This section of trail gives you what we call a “full brimmer”, which means your hat is soaked with sweat all the way around. All I can tell you is that when you see the aspens, which we refer to here as “gaspens”, you’re only a couple hundred yards from the Rim ! Rimming Out at the Grand Canyon is an indescribable experience. I generally can’t stop smiling for a while, but I’ve actually witnessed folks break down and cry. Emotions truly run the gambit here.

There are some folks that turn right around at the top of the North Rim and head directly back to the South Rim. I see a handful every year that do this… my hat is off to them. On the other hand, we head back to our North Rim Lodge Western Rooms, grab a shower, a meal and a beer – not necessarily in that order. We take the entire next day to picnic on the North Rim. Typically, we go to Point Imperial at 9300’ and play bocce ball and basically squirrel around. The following morning, we are up at 4:00AM with headlamps secure to repeat the entire process in reverse. This year everyone in our group made it from South to North and North to South without injury. For the record, our time from South to North was 9:40 (including pictures and notes for this article). We went from North to South in 8:15 and went from the Colorado River to the South Rim via the South Kaibab Trail in 3:15, (whew, that’s cookin’). The conditions were absolutely perfect, 32 degrees at the Rims in the morning, mid-70’s along the bottom and mid-60’s on the other Rims. As we like to say, “just another walk in the Park”.