Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim day hike

Last weekend, October 26th till October 28th 2007 I was in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. We started early on Friday. Through the start of the trip was supposed to be 8:30AM I started a bit late since I had to pickup people that were car polling with me, Tim and Lumme. We all arrived at the South Rim just for the sunset - over 500 miles from my home in Playa Del Rey. Trip was mostly uneventful except maybe for a gas station in the middle of the desert which was selling gas for 4.37 a galon and had posters everywhere explaining their high prices and asking people not to make comments about them. After setting in a camp we went for a dinner/ supper at a local restaurant. All three of us shared a pizza while most of other people in our group decided to go for a plate of pasta. We also scoped out the trail head. At around 3:10AM my alarm clock sounded and I waken up. Well, its time to do this. We started from the trail head to which we driven in my car at 4:47AM. There was some delay due to other members of the party arriving late in their cars. The first 30-45min were spend in total darkness moving quickly down towards the river. We removed all heavy clothing after it started to shine and were in just t-shirts. Temperatures raised quickly as we moved down and sun started to operate. It was full morning weather once we got to the river. There I had a short encounter with a bit lost young big horn sheep. After crossing the river over nice and almost brand new bridge we taken on water and moved on towards the Phantom ranch. After the ranch we were on our way through many miles of almost flat trail that leads through the canyon along a creek. Views very very spectacular. Through this trail is almost flat we still risen around 2000ft from the river. When we arrived at the Cottonwood campground it was almost noon, water was found about 30min past the campground on private land. This was the start of the north rim ascent. It took some hard work to ascent to the top of the North Rim. Especially since I was caring (as usual) too much water. I also opted out to keep all of my warm clothing with me for security reasons - I was still not confident in my right calf. At the north rim I meat some of the people I was supposed to hike with - since we broken up into groups as small as single person. On our way back the first few miles were rather easy - going down is always easy except on your knees. At the Cottonwood camp we assembled a small team of 4 people and from that point on we stayed together all the way to the top. The last few miles of climbing the Bright Angel trail to the top of South Rim were very hard. I felt sick close to the top - my stomach was giving way. I think there is such thing as drinking too much water. However, with encouragement from Lumme I was able to reach the top in 18h and 15min. We were second at the top with Tim finishing 45min before us. Other members finished up to few hours after us, however in less then 24h. It was a long hike, but I enjoyed the view. If you have the energy to do it - I definitely recommend it.

Click thumbnails to see larger image and more detailed explanation of what is shown on a given picture.

we are moving quickly down to the river from the north side	welcome to phantom ranch	waterfall on the south side of the river
way into the fog	view from the bottom	walls around the trail are very steap up and down
view from a side road on south rim	very high and steep towers	very nice big rock
trail hugs the rock	turists on south rim	tim and lumme enjoy last rays of the setting sun
tim at night	the moon still shines despite competition from young sun	there are no shortcuts down
temple in the distnace waterfall closeup	temple in the distnace 2	temple in the distnace 3
temple in the distnace - closeup	temple in the distnace 1	sunset 1
sunset 2	sun is going to sleep on our way back to the south rim	sunrise at the bottom of south rim
south rim Sunday portret	steep walls of the south rim	smoke from the fire makes the whole area hazy
south rim Sunday portret 2	shirley having a snack at the north rim	sky is grey from all the smoke from the fire
shirley and the sheep	route from south rim to north 2	route from south rim to north
river from the bridge 2	river from the bridge	river and immediate area
river and steep canyon walls	red walls	river again
peak in the clouds	phantom ranch poster	on the way to the north rim
on the way to cottonwood camp with Kevins back	on the way to the north rim - views	on the trail with great view everywhere
on the way down from the south rim	north rim poster 2	north rim red walls
north rim is steap as well	north rim poster 1	mules at phantom ranch 2
north rim in the distance	more cool stuff	mules at phantom ranch 1
more colorado river	mighty colorado river	more colorado river 2
massive rock in shape of a building	me at the north rim	lubos at the north rim
many more hide in the fog	looking down from the middle of north rim trail	looking down into the canyon from the middle of north rim trail
long way to run down	long walk beyond phantom with small bridges over the creek	long way to go tomorrow
long walk beyond phantom ranch 7	long walk beyond phantom ranch with Kevin at the lead	long walk beyond phantom ranch 5
long walk beyond phantom ranch 6	long walk beyond phantom ranch 3	long walk beyond phantom ranch 4
long walk beyond phantom ranch 2	late night fire over at north rim	long walk beyond phantom ranch 1
large rocks on the way to cottonwood camp 4	large rocks on the way to cottonwood camp 5	large rocks on the way to cottonwood camp 2
large rocks on the way to cottonwood camp 3	kevin at north rim	large rocks on the way to cottonwood camp 1
great views in the morning sun on the way to the river	kevin and lubos	grand canyon panorama
fires at the north rim 2	first large rock on the way down in early morning sun	endless canyon awaits us all as we didn't even get to the river yet
fires at the north rim 1	different view of the rocks in different light conditions	early morning sun
creeks inside the canyon	colorado river in the canyon	colorado river
colorado river and bridges accross	colorado river from above	close encounter with big horn sheep
colorado hikers bridge	canyon walls at the river	canyon walls have caves in them
big crater in the GC	bridge accross the river	another waterfall
at a view point on south rim on the last day of the trip	another red tower	another gaiant rocky mountain
another red tower 2	andre at the north rim	another bridge over colorado river
abandomed house in the canyon	almost at the bottom	a day after a long hike
Sunday on the south rim	South rim view 7	South rim view 8
South rim view 6	South rim view 4	South rim view 5
South rim view 2	South rim view 3	Shirley is more interesting as far as the sheep is concerned
South rim view 1	Andre looking for batteries for his camera

Album created on 2007-11-03 and last updated on 2007-11-03