50 Hikes in my 50th Year: September 2014

Hike #50

Date: September 12, 2014

Location: Grand Canyon South Rim/North Rim AZ

Hikers: Me, Tina, Matt & Morrie
Supporters: Julio, Tim, Rhonda, Randy, Sandy, Chris & Jim

Directions:

Take I17 North towards Flagstaff. Take Flagstaff, take I-40 west to William AZ. From Williams AZ. From Williams AZ take Highway 64 north to South Rim. (option to go through Flagstaff 180 to 64)

Drive to the North Rim from South - Take Highway 64 east to Cameron AZ. From Cameron, take Highway 89 north to Bitter Springs AZ. Take Highway 89 ALT west to Jacob Lake AZ. From Jacob Lake take Highway 67 south to the North Rim.

Grand Canyon South Rim Lodging:
http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/
Grand Canyon North Rim Lodging:
http://www.grandcanyonlodgenorth.com

RIM2RIM Route:
http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/day-hiking.htm

Route: South Kaibab to North Kaibab Trail - 21.4 miles in 1 Day
7/7/7 = 7 Down/7 Across/7 Up

Rim to Rim Milestones:
To Bottom:
South Kaibab - Start
Cedar Ridge 1.5 miles
Skeleton Point 3 miles
Tip Off 4 miles
Bright Angel Campground 7 miles
Phantom Ranch 7.4 miles
To CottonWood:
Phantom Ranch to Cotton Wood = 6.9 miles
To Top/North Kaibab:
Pumphouse = 5.5 miles to top
Roaring Springs = 4.7 miles to top
Supai Tunnel - 1.7 miles to top
North Rim - End

This trip had been planned for a year. The original plan was to stay at the South Rim on Thursday. Hike Friday South Rim to North Rim. Drive back to the South Rim on Saturday and return home on Sunday. We changed our plans in the summer when we realized there was no reason to drive back to the South Rim. We had no one hiking back the next day like in the old days. So we changed our reservations to 2 nights at the North Rim and head home from there on Sunday.

Hike Plan = South Kaibab to North Kaibab in One Day! This was my 4th time hiking. 5th time being a part of the Rim2Rim adventures. Over the year our hikers in the Rim2Rim adventure changed for different reasons. But on this day my 50th hike included 4 of us. After a long year of training sacrificing Saturday and Sunday mornings to get in long hot hikes we were ready to go.

We left Phoenix at 9:30 am on Thursday. All Caravanning to Flagstaff for the traditional lunch and gas stop at Wendy's. There were 4 cars driving up.

We did one pit stop at the Tee Pee trading post and hit the South Rim entrance right at 2:00. Most stayed at the motel at the South Rim or in the cabins on the Rim.

We all met at El Tovar bar and had a snack and drink. The condors were flying along the rim. Sandy and Chris had their camera's as did Julio. The temperature was a beautiful 75. We hung out. Planned the next day drive car activities and finalized the morning plan for the drop off at the South Kaibab Trailhead.

I am so Ready to do this!

I packed my Camelback the night before with My Peanut Butter and Fluff Sandwich. Pringles and lots of Cliff Bars & Electrolyte Gummies. I know I over packed but you never know.

Wake Up/Meet Time was 4:45 AM on Friday. Tim, Julio and Sandy/Chris drove us out to the trailhead.

It was perfect. High 40's, little wind and a pretty shiny full moon. The Sunrise was at 6:00 so we were in perfect shape.

The hikers. Tina, Matt & Morrie

After a quick. (well sort of quick) good bye and traditional send off photo. We were in the Canyon a little after 5:10. We had a few jitters and talk of a sleepless night but everyone was excited.

Sandy, Chris, Tim & Julio

We quickly had some Camelback adjustment issues but those were figured out in no time. The Moon is brightly lighting our way. Off we go!

Our first milestone was the restroom at Cedar Ridge. We trotted down the mountain while seeing flashes from cameras at the top. Many people go to the top in the morning to watch the sunrise. We started talking about the day and how beautiful it was to be walking in the canyon. The sun slowly started coming up.

Tina checking out the Top

Sunrise comes quick!

The View was great. We were clipping along.

Morrie for a quick picture at OOH AAH Point

Those Damn Railroad Ties

The Brothers

We stopped at Cedar Ridge for a few photo ops and off we went to the next milestone at 3 miles.

Potty Break

Sunrise in the Canyon

Our pace was a little slower but still heading down and excited. Tina and Matt were leading the pack and Morrie and I were behind them. We stopped for a couple photo ops and quickly had the mules coming down to bring the supplies for the Phantom Ranch area. We let them pass and hung out on a rock to stay out of the way.

At this point we were hiking slower than our normal pace.We met up with Tina and Matt at Skeleton point. We talked about timing and decided that they would keep their pace and we would meet at Phantom Ranch.

We took some pictures of the switch backs. If you look close you can see the moon on the left. We try to hike during a full moon because it lights the path in the morning. This year we were a couple weeks early due to the moon. In the end the two weeks early was a positive and negative. Hot but the day was light longer. Who Knew!

As a "Flatland Texan" Morrie realized that even though his training of 10 mile walks a day at less than 15 minute miles per hour, his knees were not ready for this type of hike.

It is difficult to explain how the Canyon hike. The Canyon can be brutal on your knees.

Morrie and I took our time. We shared stories, swallowed in the views and slowly realized that Rim 2 Rim was not going to happen for him today.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly" ~ Mae West

Our goal at this point since he was in pain was to get to Phantom Ranch Safe and Sound!

We could see the river and the bridge our goal was in sight. It was cool to see a raft going across the Colorado. I had not seen that before.

Tunnel to Bridge over Colorado River.
Bottom of the Grand Canyon

We hit the Tunnel and knew that we only had a flat walk to Phantom Ranch. Matt came back from Phantom Ranch and met us on the bridge crossing the Colorado River.

He went ahead to find out the options and have a Ranger check out Morrie.

We made it to Phantom Ranch! South Rim to River...Done!

I took a the opportunity to get a Lemonade, snickers and bathroom visit. Tina was ready to go. She had been sitting around getting tight for a couple hours.

The Ranger gave us Tough love. He basically said there were no options other than hiking out. Stay over night, rest and hike out the next day. The decision of Morrie and Matt staying at Phantom Ranch for the night and hiking out to the South Rim the next day was made.

Tina and I were ready for our journey to the North Rim. We said our Good Bye and told them we would make phone calls when we got out so people at home knew what happened.

A quick water fill up and we decided to take a picture. I wanted to show that Tina was at Phantom Ranch. An older gentleman offered to take our picture together. While waiting for him to figure out how, we got Photo Bombed by this cute guy.

We named him Greg and said if we did not make it out of Phantom Ranch we could make up a funny story and include him.

Tina and I never had a doubt in our minds that we would not complete this journey in One Day!

Not sure the exact time but it was after 11:30 AM. We were hitting the trail! We took off and all of a sudden we realized that Matt offered us his headland. We decided to run back to Matt and get his head lamp. (THANK GOD....to be revealed why later)

Tina and I took off thinking the next 7 miles to Cottonwood would be quick and we could make up time. Normally we would have already left Cottonwood at this point so I knew we needed to pick it up. 7 miles usually takes us 2 to 2.5 hours. Here we go.

Fresh as a Daisy & Kicking Ass!

That Way Baby!

Tina took off like a Rocket! We were moving fast but as we pulled away from Phantom Ranch the blazing sun hit us. It slowed us down a lot. We walked along the creek in part shade for a while. This is a very pretty part of the Canyon.

We saw this funny man coming at us as we rounded the corner. He was shocked that we were heading to the North Rim that day. He let us take his picture as he curled his handle bar mustache. He was hiking to Phantom Ranch for the night. Later Matt and Morrie told me that they saw him too.

We passed a woman who asked how far Phantom Ranch was. When we told her she told us that Cottonwood was hours away. WHAT?

We continued to pass people basically asking the same how far question. It was disappointing. As we continued we became slower and hotter. We kept a pace but there was no shade. We stopped several times behind a big boulder to get a little shade.

Passed a couple creeks and dipped our rags into the water. It was so cool. I bought this cloth rag at Marshalls a couple weeks ago and saved it for this trip. It was AMAZING. As long as it was wet, even from sweat it would give off a cool feeling. It really did!

Off we trekked. Yaking away. Talking about what had happened so far, what was ahead. Where the heck was Cottonwood and what the heck were the slate rocks were for that we stepped over on the trail every 50 steps. (Tina loved those). I told her they were for trail erosion. Good guess huh?

Finally after twists and turns. Blazing heat and a few hills we saw the trees of CottonWood and the roof tops of the Ranger station. YEAH! It was 3:00.....Oh Shit! :)

I told Tina. Like it or not. We were staying for at least 30 minutes. Eating, Changing Sock, Potty and fill up water. Rest, Relax and cool off. Who knows what the temperature was for those 7 miles. But they say it is normally close to what Phoenix is and I hear that day it was over 100.

Drinking Electolytes are the key to these long hikes. Drinking them is best along with the water. Food with them is good too. We had been doing both. But they do have a gross taste when they are in warm water and with the sun hitting your pack everything it HOT. It was hard to chock down the drink. For Tina her stomach was in a knot. Physically we were great. All the training paid off. At this point it was about chopping the last 7 miles up into milestones that did not make it seem overwhelming. We would be out of the heat. In the beautiful pines and aspens. Red Rock from the canyon and knowing we only had 7 miles to go.

I did the math on the amount of miles, average mph on hill and my friend the sun. My goal was to get us to Supai Tunnel by Sundown. Approx. 7:00 p.m. Worst case the last 1.7 miles is in the woods and not on the side of a sheer cliff. There was a cliff but the trees would catch our bodies. JOKING!!

We talked about feeling bad for Matt and Morrie. Also worried about our supporters sitting at the trailhead clueless about what we had gone through and where we were. I have been a drive car and know there is nothing worse than sitting up there in a remote area waiting.

It's a Look!

We thought thru communication methods. We knew TXT messaging was not working. Although I did get a Redbox discount TXT and a "Mom can you transfer 50 bucks into my account" TXT. That was hysterical. Here I am saving the world in the biggest hole in the world and little did I know life went on. AHHH HAAAA Moment.

So....we sent an email to Julio and Rhonda via my cox mail. Knowing that would probably not help because cell and internet service is limited at the North Rim. I then opened Facebook. It said that I had no Network but my posted would be saved. YES! Julio is the KING of Facebook. BUT....he probably had no service to see this. Worth a shot I did my SOS message. "At cottonwoods still 7 miles to go, It's 3:30. Won't be out til after 7:00. Julio for once in my life I hope you are reading Facebook." It was worth a shot. Maybe he would see it and could at least enjoy the hotel vs sitting on a rock. (pretty cool to later find out that my sister in law Sue realized it was my SOS and TXTed Julio. Ricky also forwarded the message to Julio so he would see it on his phone notification)

We shut off Tina's cell phone and mine was slowly dying because the GPS had been Mapping MyHike the whole time. Later something that was a good idea!

Up we go 1/3 left to go. 7 Down/7 Across/7 Up!!

Off we went. Ready for the cool temps. Goal = Pumphouse 1.4 miles away. Poof! We were there!

Quick Potty break. No water needed. Refreshed - we did not stay long. Next Stop Roaring Springs turn off. Goal = 1 mile. (did someone say straight up hill....oh yeah I did not reveal that).

We Pee'ed

We were moving great. I felt good. We were perfect to the plan. I kept telling that to Tina. She billy goated up. Drinking the gross electrolytes but doing well. We stopped a little passed Roaring Springs and had some trail mix. The thought was nuts would calm her stomach and fuel us to go. For some reason I picked out the M&M's and ate those. You could here the spring roaring as we hiked up the canyon. The recent rains had it really flowing. A beautiful sight.

Roaring Springs

We saw a bunch of campers coming down from the North Rim at that point. People exist? Really we had not seen anyone actually hiking in hours. We said hi and then took off. At this point I knew the switch backs were coming. The SWEEPING switchbacks. Light still up. We are gonna make it. Never a doubt in my mind.

Goal = Supai Tunnel 3 miles away.

3 of the toughest miles you will have to hike all day. Normally it is hard but under the circumstances of what we had done. They were crappy. I was very happy though. We were passing everything that I wanted to do with the sun out. Narrow trails. Cliffs. Beautiful on a normal day. In the dark...deadly.

I forgot we have to go down to a bridge in order to get up. I had it backwards so as we went down I am thinking...really down? Tina was saying are you sure this is right. LOL there is only one trail! :)

There was the bridge. I then told Tina. Oh, I have it backwards. Now the wonderful sweeping switch backs start. We talked about how good we were doing. All the training we did. How we never liked to stop on our training hikes. Well that stamina was paying off. We were rocking it!

Each switch back we swept and stopped. Breath and continue. The tunnel could only be getting closer. Did not feel like it but suddenly I saw that Gray colored sheer rock that forms into the Tunnel that we need to go through. After three false sightings. We saw a bat fly out of the tunnel and we were there. Chicken little yelled through the tunnel while Tina the smart one tapped her poles.

Supai Tunnel - YES. It was officially night time. We could see the light fade as we PEE'd in the open. Laughing that we were just doing it. Not a soul in sight. Not a sound!

I knew it was 1.7 miles out. It would be slow going but we could do it. The one year I was trying to hike rim to rim in 8 hours I made it out from this point in 45 minutes. Today will take longer but the day is almost over.

We took out the headlamp that we had from Matt. Tina strapped in on her hat and we slowly started walking. We were back to the railroad tie section since this is where the Mules come to for the tourist rides. You could smell and see the mules had been there but it was not as bad as usual because we were so late. Thank God, we took that headlamp and ran back to get it.

Tina led the way saying Step Up, Step Down, Rock, Huge root, Big Step. As we went up the switch backs in the woods. I would say stay to the left or right depending upon the cliff side. We slowly walked and stopped as needed. We had to adjust and switch lead persons a couple times because the light was new to us. Tina was killin it. Keeping an amazing pace. We then decided we should use the cell phone light to help us because the person in the back could not see real well. I put the cell light in the front of my pants and had it point forward for me. We went along like that for about a mile.

Then....as expected. POOF! The cell phone died. We only had the head lamp but I knew we were less than a mile away. It was getting cold. We weren't eating or drinking. We were just ready to be done. At that time I did my little Prayer. "For all we have been through, let this light stay on for one more mile". It was the only moment in the whole day that I questioned this all. Not once before had a even a glimmer that we would not get this done.

I put my head up and said to Tina. DIG DEEP!

We kept going and suddenly the Metal box that every year Jim Croutch says...."When you hit the Metal Box there is one switchback straight out". OMG Tina...we are almost there.

I knew we were in ear shot of the Trailhead. I yelled COOOOOKAAAAAA DOOOOOOO. That is my silly thing that Julio and I do to get each others attention. In the dark of the night after 15 hours. I heard a faint...COOOOOOKAAAAAAA DOOOOOOOO. It was Julio!! Two little lights appeared and slowly started towards us.

TINA WE DID IT!!

Julio walked us out with his flashlights. Asking so many questions.
He said he knew I would come out.
I said I knew that he would be there. WOW!

This is what the trailhead looked like before 7 pm

This is us coming out and our headlamp!

Wild!

We were cold and did not stop long. Tina hopped in the car with Tim. I hopped in with Julio. We made it back to the lodge. Chris and Sandy met us in the parking lot and kicked into "let's get these guys settled mode".

There is so much more that happened after this that showed what true friendship is about. EVERYONE involved in this trip was amazing. We have a bond that will last forever and memories that won't go away for a very long time. Thanks to Sandy, Chris, Rhonda, Randy, Julio & Tim for getting us safe to the Lodge and ready for a relaxing weekend. Morrie and Matt hiked out the Bright Angel Trail the next day and Jim picked them up at the South Rim. Morrie was sore but made the trek out on his two feet. Matt was his guide. Who needs DONKEYs!!

Tina started this journey not knowing what she would get herself into. It was not what we planned but she showed what she can do (and then some) if she wants. I am truly blessed to have her as a friend. (But, get me a bigger Bear next time)

It would take me hours to write about everything that happened after. People were just amazing and had their own stories of what happened along the way. (Maybe I should write a book). HA HA.

On this day we hike over 21.8 miles in a little less than 15 hours. My GPS died so no route detail.

This was my final hike in my 50th year and it was the most incredible Adventure!

I will recap my 50 new hikes on my last blog soon.

Include some hiking tips I have learned along the way.

#50 DONE!

BIG CHECK IT OFF!

Set a Goal
Write it Down
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Make it Happen!

50 Hikes in my 50th Year

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The Year Recap - 50 Hikes in My 50th Year!!

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Hike #50 South Rim to North Rim Grand Canyon AZ