By Martha Klueh
I had Laura and Lori by my side every day in the hospital and Kendra by my side 7 months later when I was learning how to run again. (I first had to learn to walk). Countless Band of Runner members visited me in the hospital and at home and encouraged me along. Six marathons after the accident I figured that I was ready for another challenge. So hiking the Grand Canyon down the North Rim across the canyon and back up the South Rim? 23.9 miles. Hell yes I can do this.
Planning and more planning is the key to making this venture successful. Lodges book up a year in advance so this is a critical point. Also what city to fly into is important for timing your trip. We decided to fly into Phoenix, Arizona. This is about 4 hours from the South Rim. We landed about 1:30 pm and drove to Williams, Arizona. This is the last town on Route 66 that got bypassed by interstate 40. It is a small historical town with lots of quaint little shops and a gun fight in the street in the evening!
We stayed at The Red Garter Inn. It was formally a brothel in its heyday. Definitely a diamond in the rough. We had 3 of the 4 rooms in the Inn. I feel sorry for the German couple in the 4th room. We were a bit loud at times! The Red Garter is said to be inhabited by ghosts. So we paid a "friendly" visit to one of our rooms all dressed up in a white curtain and humming "Oooooo". Kendra was the friendly ghost. I have never laughed so hard in my life! That night in our room (we stayed in the Madams room) our bed did vibrate during the night. I accused Kendra of shaking the bed but I reached over to touch her and she was laying very still. Haunted bed and breakfast....yes! It was listed in the USA Today as one of the top ten places to sleep with a g-g-ghost! The main floor of the Inn housed a bakery where we ate homemade cookies at night and fresh baked pastries in the morning. Delicious!!!
The next morning we went out for a run. We had to cross a dam to get to the trails in the Forest. I am sure there was a sign somewhere that said not to walk across the dam. It was scary and we screamed all the way across! The Forest was beautiful with pines reaching up to the sky! Before leaving Williams we ate at an outdoor family style BBQ with live music then headed off to the South Rim.
The first night we stayed at Kachina Lodge. After checking in Laura and I walked out the back door to view the Grand Canyon. We had tears in our eyes and goose bumps! This was the most amazing sight that I have ever seen. Words cannot explain the beauty and vastness. Months and months of planning and we are finally looking at the massive canyon that we had yet to conquer. We started the evening with a Sunset Tour of the South Rim and ended with dinner at the famous El Tovar Hotel.The next morning was preparation to travel to the North Rim. It is important to note that whatever you take with you to the North Rim will be carried in your back pack or thrown away. It is a 5 hour trans canyon shuttle ride to the North Rim...too far to go back and get something if you forgot it. There is nothing at the North Rim but a lodge and cabins. So pack wisely. My biggest recommendation is Brooks Cascadia Trail shoes with Smart Wool PhD running socks. I had absolutely no feet problems and no blisters. You can walk through the creek and be dry in 5 minutes. They were my new best friend. The only people that had feet problems were those that wore hiking shoes!
Our trip in the Trans Canyon shuttle went surprisingly fast. Our driver was a plethora of knowledge as we traversed for miles across the Navajo Indian Reservation. It is 215 miles around the canyon. The height of the canyon at the South Rim is about 5000ft(one vertical mile). The height of the canyon on the North Rim is about 8000ft with approximately 10 miles across from the North to South Rims. Yes breathing is more difficult so keep this in mind as an adjustment to your cardio output.
We arrived at the North Rim an hour before sunset. Our cabin was positioned within 15 yards of the rim. No sleep walking tonight! I was very anxious about the next morning. There was no turning back. We were gonna do this R2R thing! We arranged for the trans canyon shuttle guide to take us to the North Kaibab trail head at 4:30am. It was about 2 miles down a winding dark road.
We set off the first 141/2 miles with our head lamps on only to meet a family of hikers that had been on the trail for 24 hours from the South Rim. They were delirious, dehydrated and out of food and water. I can't state preparedness enough. We continued on and soon the sun began to come up through the canyon. Incredibly beautiful to be inside such a grandiosity of Mother Nature. Everywhere you look there is another sight to behold. It was surreal. About half way down we took a side trail to Ribbon Falls.
I highly recommend hiking ALL the way up to the falls. It is worth it. You have to scale around a thin ledge of trail along the wall of the canyon and climb over huge boulders and cross a couple streams to get up there but it is truly a wonder. Take your shoes off and walk in the cool water under the moss at the bottom of the falls. Lay in the shade on a rock. Just do it!
Instead of going back to the trail the way we came we followed our shuttle guides instructions to follow the creek for about 100 yards and cross the creek to get back to the trail. He neglected to tell us about the rushing water going down the creek. We also had a little difficulty finding where to cross. I just as soon go down the canyon on foot than rush down it in the rapids and be dumped into the Colorado River. The trail came to a dead end and we obviously were not crossing at this point so we went back a short distance and found the trail marker that we had missed seeing.
Trail markers are small rocks that are stacked up into a small pyramid. Laura pulled the tree limbs back and low and behold there was small boulders lined up across the creek so we could walk behind the rocks to the other side. We were submerged to our knees. Leave your shoes on because the rocks are slippery and the water is going over them at a good rate. Also you don't know what is in the water. It could be a friendly rattle snake.
The next 7 miles down the canyon were very hot. This is the desert part of the hike. Several of us ran out of water because the pipelines on the North Rim were broken so we could not refill our packs. The trail takes you along the creek with lots if cactus everywhere. I accidentally got too friendly with one cactus and took a knee full. It didn't hurt...just had to pick them all out. A little acupuncture does a body good. We arrived in Phantom Ranch and our pre ordered lunches were waiting for us.
One of our group had struggled most of the way down the North Rim and she did not want to continue on;however, the rule of the canyon is if you walk yourself down to the bottom then you walk yourself out. We spent a lot if time hydrating her and fueling her and submerged her in the creek. She was able to get moving again but very slowly.
We took the Bright Angel Trail up the South Rim. The next mile and a half took us across a suspension bridge. It wasn't nearly as daunting as it appears from the distance. We reached the first rest stop and it was obvious that our group of 8 was going to become a group of 6. So six of us continued on. There were several places on the South Rim to refill our water packs so hydration was not an issue going up.
Unfortunately, we spent so much time with the girl that was struggling that the last 2 hours were in the dark. We came upon several deer on the trail before dusk and a group behind us watched a herd of sheep go down the mountain. We never saw any rattle snakes but kept our eyes on the deadly squirrels. They have sharp teeth and claws and have been known to bite off the fingers of a hiker that may try to feed them.
All I can say about the last two hours is that it was straight up with a lot of switch backs and a lot of bugs come out at night!!! I also tried not to look down because the trail was very narrow and it dropped off into a dark abyss. Laura was truly a mountain goat leading us to the top and Micki was the ever protector not letting anyone get too close to the edge. Kendra held up the end because I was scared of the dark and was afraid a bear with come up from behind and get me!
The Grand Canyon is definitely a must to put on your bucket list. I am ready to go back and do Rim to Rim to Rim. An experience of a life time.
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