Grand Canyon: R2R2R

 Steph and I share a birthday week, so we decided to celebrate with something GRAND this year! We decided to run Rim to Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was beyond amazing, and one of the coolest things I've ever done!

Steph, Michelle, Mark, and I left Idaho Falls on a Thursday evening, and flew into Phoenix. We drove up the road a few hours and stayed in a hotel about an hour from the Grand Canyon. On Friday morning we drove to the Grand Canyon and toured the south rim all day. Michelle and Steph had never been there before, so it was fun showing them around. We went to all the viewpoints, and did some fun shopping.

We started with the Bright Angel Trailhead. This is where our R2R2R adventure would end, and we knew we would be climbing out in the dark, so we wanted to show them the switchbacks in the daytime.

If you zoom in on this picture, you can see the trail and switchbacks going almost all the way to the top. Little did we know what a struggle this would end up being for us.

Next we took the Hermit's shuttle all the way out to Hermit's Rest, stopping at all the viewpoints along the way.

Our gang:
Tricia-Mark-Steph-Michelle

It was a little intimidating being able to see all the way across to the north rim, knowing we would be going there and back the next day.

Hermit's Rest

After the Hermit Shuttle, we went to a few other viewpoints, then to the South Kaibab Trailhead. That's where we'd be starting from, and our first hour of running would be in the dark. It's a really cool trail, so we wanted to show it to them in the daylight.

Steph was pointing to the canyon we'd be climbing up the north rim from.

Looking across the canon from our starting point.

So pretty!

Taking it all in, and probably wondering what the heck he got himself into. 😂

We laughed when we took this picture, and then it ended up being a bit more relevant than we would have liked.

We ended our day with dropping off our car at the ending point, having dinner, and going to sleep at the Yavapai Lodge.

R2R2R:

We had a 5:00am start from the Yavapai Lodge. We had to run a few miles along the rim trail to get to the starting point. It was a good warm up, and we ran right past a family of elk. I mean RIGHT past them. We almost could have pet the momma and baby before we even knew they were there. We walked slowly past them, and they weren't the slightest bit bothered by us. We divided the trail into six sections. Here we go!

South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch:

I LOVED this part of the trail! Get used to me saying that, because I loved it all! It was such an exciting feeling to finally be out there doing this. There was a line of headlamps bobbing down the trail in the dark, and it was just a really cool feeling. We would pass groups of hikers doing Rim to Rim, and they would all cheer for us, and wish Steph and I a happy birthday (We had birthday sashes on). We got to Cedar Ridge right as the sun was starting to come up, and we were already taking off our long sleeves. A little ways down was Skeleton Point, and at that point the sun was shining on parts of the canyon. So cool! We ran across the Tonto Platform, and finally got our first glimpse of the Colorado River. We crossed the suspension bridge that leads to Phantom Ranch, refilled our water, and all felt great. It was a super fun first  ten miles of descent (4,750 ft).

Our starting point from the South Kaibab Trailhead!

It was so cool running down this trail as the sun was coming up!

The trail itself was really great. Too technical to make super good time on the downhill, but we were not in a big hurry. We were taking a gazillion pictures, and just taking it all in.

The sunrise at Cedar Ridge.

This is a good view of what the trail was like. It was like running down stairs that were too far apart. Super fun though!

Happy birthday to me! Best present ever!

The girls at Skeleton Point.

The sun would hit certain parts of the canyon walls, and they would just start glowing!

My favorite adventure buddy!

We made our own pictographs!

Crossing the Colorado River.

Filling our water right before we got to Phantom Ranch. A look back at the bridge.

Phantom Ranch to Cottonwood Campground:

This section of trail was gorgeous! It was about 7 miles through a narrow canyon called The Box. We followed a stream, and crossed several bridges. It was only about 1600 ft of gain through here, so very runnable. It was getting hot, but we made pretty good time to Cottonwood Campground.

Look closely, and you'll see me and Mark on the bridge. 😁

So pretty!

I found a flower that was holding on through fall. We met some ladies that had done R2R2R a coupe days before us, and it snowed on them at the north rim.

Making our way through the box.

Such a fun trail!

Cottonwood Campground to North Rim:

We knew this would be the hardest part of the whole trail. We filled up our water at Cottonwood Campground, had snacks, and got ready for the long, hard, climb. It was about 7 miles to the top, with a whole ton of elevation gain. I can honestly say this was my very favorite part of the whole trail. The climb to the north rim was spectacular! The trail was blasted out along the side of the cliff, and it was a little sketchy in some parts, but sooooo cool! Everywhere you looked was amazing, but we mostly had to keep our eyes focused on the trail in front of us, because one misstep, and you would have a VERY long fall. 😳 Sometimes we'd want to stop and take pictures, but Mark would tell us he couldn't stop; he had to just keep moving and keep snug to the cliff wall next to him. 😆

A pretty waterfall right after Cottonwood Campground.

Starting up the valley we saw from the south rim the day before. It was very pretty!

We were wondering how we were going to get up those canyon walls. We kept trying to guess which way the trail would take us.

Still trying to figure it out!

Zoom in on this picture, and you can see the trail we came up. It's just basically cut into the side of that wall. That's how it was most of the way up.

Getting closer!

This is about where Steph started to struggle. She was having a hard time eating on the climb up.

We FINALLY made it to the Supai Tunnel. We thought we'd never find it! We knew we had less than 2 miles to go from this point. We were feeling pretty depleted, so we had lunch right on the other side of the tunnel instead of at the north rim. Good decision, because I felt like a whole new person after I ate. 

There were lots of mule trains between the tunnel and the north rim. I thought they were adorable, and I'm pretty sure I need to have my own mule someday.

Our view looking back the way we had just come.

The closer we got to the top, the more fall colors we saw.

We made it! We celebrated the moment, but we were a little bit worried. Steph threw up right when she got there, and we knew we had to cross the whole canyon again to get back. We took a long break at the north rim, hoping her stomach would settle and she'd be able to keep some food down. No such luck! Our saving grace was that we had a nice, solid, seven miles of downhill to hopefully let Steph's body recover.

Mark and I were feeling great at this point. The climb didn't destroy us, and we felt like we had plenty left in the tank to make it back across without any issues.

North Rim back to Cottonwood Campground:

If you love downhill running, this seven miles of trail is a dream. Once we got past the sketchy area, Mark and Michelle would bomb down the trail for about a mile, and then stop and wait for us. Steph wan't feeling great, but I could tell the downhill helped her recover a little bit. She still couldn't eat, and we knew that was going to be a problem, but she had a little more color to her face, and her eyes seemed a little more alive through this section. We just took it nice and easy, but kept moving forward; forward progress was the most important part.

Leaving the north rim and going back through the tunnel.

I love this picture that Michelle took of Mark!

We made it back to Cottonwood Campground, and Steph managed to eat a cutie, and part of a granola bar. Hallelujah! Let me clarify that she wasn't sick, like flu sick. She has this problem quite often on long, hard runs, where she gets a little behind on her nutrition or something, and then her stomach revolts. She almost decided not to come with us, because she knew there was a good possibility of this happening. It's not like there is an aid station on this, where you can drop out. Once you're in the canyon, you don't have a choice but to make it out somehow. She had worked on trying some new foods and had been having pretty good luck on our last few long training runs. But, all her doubts and fears were coming to pass, and there was nothing we could do about it, but try to get her as far along on the trail as we could before she got any worse. I was glad to have that section behind us. Only two to go! 

Cottonwood Campground to Phantom Ranch:

We had a flat or gradual down for the next seven miles. We wanted to get to Phantom Ranch before it got dark, but we were about an hour short of that. I'm glad we were! Going through the box in the pitch dark with nothing but our headlamps to light the way ended up being super cool! It was one of my favorite parts. I was still stressed for Steph, but the excitement of the creepy dark, and the bats dive bombing our heads because of our headlamps, perked us all up and made for a fun section. Steph was still hanging in there pretty good, and now we were down to just one section left!

We made it to Phantom Ranch 4 minutes before it closed! Whahoooo! Best lemonade EVER!

Phantom Ranch to Bright Angel Trailhead:

We went through Phantom Ranch, and then took a right toward the Bright Angel Trail. We were going up a different way than we came down. It started off pretty good, but turned bad pretty fast. There was a hard section called Devil's Corkscrew that you have to climb to get up onto the platform, before you start the big climb back to the south rim. Devil's Corkscrew was where Steph lost all her lemonade, and anything else that was in her stomach (which was hardly anything). She was feeling really dizzy, and wasn't very steady on her feet. We took short rests often, but we needed to get her to Indian Gardens. That would be  less than 5 miles from the top, and I remembered that they had benches there, from when we hiked down with the kids years ago. I thought maybe it would help her to lay down for 15-20 minutes and give her body a break. She felt like she didn't have another step in her to even make it to that point, so she asked Mark for a blessing. Super cool experience to witness a blessing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in the middle of the night, and know that we were relying on faith and God to get us to the top. The following week Steph shared something with us about the blessing, that reaffirmed to us that we are not alone in our journey on this earth. It was a tender mercy to her, that let her know that God knew ALL  of her struggles and worries, and he was mindful of her. Very cool! We eventually made it to Indian Gardens. Steph rested on a bench for a while, and then we started the last five mile climb out of the canyon.

 I wish I could say that it got better, but it actually got significantly worse. Mark and Michelle were leading the way, and they would stop every so often for us to catch up. I was the buffer between them and Steph. I was trying to go a pace to keep everyone in my sights. I turned around at one point and saw Steph swaying. Remember that we were on the edge of a cliff. I walked back to Steph and was braced for an argument that I wasn't going to back down from. I told Steph that I was going to go behind her (she likes to be at the back if she knows she is the slowest one). She didn't even argue. She knew she was in pretty bad shape. I walked right behind her, totally invading her personal bubble, and told her to keep as close to the inside edge as she could. We set a goal to walk a half mile, and then we would have her sit down and close her eyes for three minutes. She had to dig deep to make it a half mile, but she did it, and then shut her eyes and had a three minute nap. When it was time to start the next half mile section, she got up, and instantly started dry heaving. When that was done, we'd carry on. We did this the entire way out of the canyon. She would dry heave every time it was time to start again, but then she would find a way to get through the next half mile. Eventually, we were on our last half mile! At 3:00 in the morning, fifty miles, and 22 hours later, we made it to the south rim! We did it! 

We drove the couple miles back to the lodge and tried to get a couple hours of sleep before we had to get up and head home.

Toward the top, we passed this sign of a puking man. How could we not take a picture! 😂

We all felt pretty good the next day. Steph could slowly start to eat again, and the rest of us felt like eating everything in sight. 😂 Based on the last section you read about, you might think we didn't have a good time, but trust me, the whole experience was amazing! Only one of the six sections was really rough, but in a strange way, that just added to the adventure. It was cool to see Michelle, Mark, and Steph do the most mileage they have ever done, and with a crazy 11,000 feet of elevation gain. It was very rewarding to see how far you can push the human body; Steph literally crossed the Grand Canyon (after already crossing it once), with nothing in her stomach. She had to dig deeper than she ever has, but she already wants to do it again to redeem herself. Mark wants to do it again for speed, to see how fast we can run it. I want to do it again for all the reasons. Seriously the coolest experience!

We bought matching hoodies, and wore them home! We also bought matching running shirts that say, 'Down is optional, up is mandatory.' Ha, we found out just how true that is!

Good bye until next time! And we're pretty sure there will be a next time.