Grand Canyon R2R2R Part Deux Recap: Day 1

It’s different when you sorta know what to expect. It’d been two years since I last did the double crossing and I remembered the exhaustion and soreness that awaited me. I’m feeling it right now.

But seeing the Grand Canyon never gets old. And like a lot of things that hurt, you forget, and you consider doing them again.

So here I was…

We arrived Saturday afternoon with our running friends and had an early dinner. It would be a 3:45 wake up for a 4:30 start time so we wanted to get a good night’s sleep. Friday night I had slept horribly but it worked in my favor because I was able to sleep early Saturday night and feel refreshed at 3:45 in the morning, lol!

On the bus, ready to go!

On the bus, ready to go!

The only reason I was back was because of my husband. He had never been to the Grand Canyon ever, like me the first time I did the crossing. I was just so excited to share this experience with him and it was what motivated me the entire way.

The start line

The start line

The plan was to take Day 1 slowly and take as many pictures as we could. We were on our own, with a few friends not too far behind and not too far ahead.

The sunrise was our view as we began.

Grand Canyon sunrise

Grand Canyon sunrise

At the top, ready to descend..

At the top, ready to descend..

The descent was very, very windy. And cold. I wasn’t comfortable taking pictures up so high and it being so windy, so it wasn’t until we reached a wide landing area that we began taking pictures.

 

 

We could see some of our friends down below

We could see some of our friends down below

Going down, we kept stopping to look at the views. It was just amazing. We took our time, soaking it all in.

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We just kept saying how pictures couldn’t really show what we saw. The landscape looked like a photo backdrop, too perfect to be real.

Going down...

Going down…

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Can you see me?

Heading towards that bridge below

Heading towards that bridge below

Canyon blooms

Canyon blooms

The tunnel leading to...

The tunnel leading to…

...the bridge! :)

…the bridge! 🙂

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From the South Rim, you get to Phantom Ranch (the bottom) pretty quickly and we actually did pretty good timing considering we stopped to take a ton of pictures, getting there in a little over 4 hours.

Phantom Ranch

Phantom Ranch

At Phantom Ranch, I pulled out post cards I had pre-addressed. You can get them mailed from the bottom of the Grand Canyon and they stamp it saying that’s where it came from! Last time, I had everything ready but forgot the stamps 😦 This time, oops, I did it again, but luckily one of my buddies had extras, lol!

We didn’t hang out long. We had our obligatory lemonade, ate some beef jerky, and continued on.

After Phantom Ranch is a long open stretch without any rest stops and you’re a lot more exposed to the sun.

13288505_10106285957777121_443726599_o That stretch between Phantom Ranch and the next stop, Cottonwood, is about 7 miles but before that, you can go off course to visit Ribbon Falls–a waterfall hidden along the way. It adds about a mile to your total but is a definite must see.

Pit stop at Ribbon Falls

Pit stop at Ribbon Falls

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at Ribbon Falls. I’m actually behind the water…

Front view

Front view

I knew that the next stop meant that the climbing would start. I also remembered that the first day going up was absolutely brutal. You know how they say the marathon starts at mile 20? This was that point. The marathon would be starting. Here at Cottonwood, we were at 4,040 ft and to the top meant a 4,000+ ft climb. You read that right.

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A little break before the climb <3

A little break before the climb ❤

At the bottom, ready to climb.

We’re ready!

Surprisingly, I was doing okay. I was moving pretty swiftly considering this was the hardest part of the day. I remembered how miserable I felt the last time I was in the very same spot, how slow I moved, and how little I enjoyed it. This time, I think again because I was with my husband, I just embraced it. Everything. The pain, the aches, the struggle, and took it as part of the journey and what made what we were doing so special.

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My husband complimented my pace; he was letting me lead, but was right behind me. Pictures here were scarce, and we spoke little, but we talked about how there’s not really a way you could adequately prepare for this. When you train on the trails, you start by going up and then finish coming back down. This was the exact opposite.

We reached a spot where I had taken my last photo of the first day (the photo that’s at the top of my blog page) and we did a take two.

Looking back at what we crossed: The Grand Canyon.

Looking back at what we crossed: The Grand Canyon.

And like last time, that was the last picture of the day.

From there we had a mile left. A mile, and while that sounded promising, I knew that the last mile was the most difficult. But, I surged ahead. Using my poles and moving up and up and up, surprised at how steady I was. I felt so strong.

When we turned the last corner and could see the top, I smiled. Last time I had cried, happy tears but at the same time, tears of frustration at how awful I felt. This time, no tears, just a triumphant smile that I had finished the first day feeling absolutely amazing.

And unlike two years earlier, I had zero doubts that I would cross again the next day.

I’ll be recapping Day 2, North Rim to South Rim via Bright Angel Trail here in the next few days. Thank you all so much again for following my journey. I’m so grateful I have this outlet to share my experiences and document special moments of my life. ❤ , helly

 

 

 

Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim: What I Packed and Other Misc.

Well, I’m back and I’m alive!

It was absolutely incredible and I’m sitting on my couch super sore as I write this, lol! Before I get to the amazingness that was crossing the Grand Canyon twice, I just want to relay the “boring” stuff first–what I packed, what I ate, what some of the places I visited are called, etc. Maybe it will be useful for someone planning a trip soon.

Hydration Pack

Okay, as far as what I used to stuff everything in, I used my Ultimate Hydration Wink hydration vest.

Canyon ready!

Canyon ready!

This pack is uh-mazing. I wrote about it here. It has a 70 oz reservoir which I refilled several times while I crossed.

I love this pack because it’s got a lot of room for storage and it has storage pockets in front for easy access to stuff you’ll use regularly (cell phone, gels, etc.)

What Was Inside

-Emergency card and ID
-Cash (for lemonade when we reached Phantom Ranch)
-My glasses (in case something happened to my contacts)
-Chapstick
-Hand sanitizer
-Tissue
-Sunglasses
-Jacket (rolled up when not in use and on outside of pack–see pic above)
-Phone (for pictures-there is no service down there, lol)
-Hiking poles (on outside of pack-you’d be fine w/o poles but they sure do help)

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You can see my poles on my pack here in this pic

Food

-a small orange
-two tortillas
-4 cookies
-Starburst
-a pickle (packaged)
-pretzels
-large bag of Beef Jerky
-Salt tabs
-2 gels (never used them)
-20oz Gatorade (this was on the outside of the pack where I rolled up my jacket)

I ate all of my food the first day I crossed, but had a lot left over the second as the second day goes a lot faster.

I mentioned that I refilled my reservoir several times. There are water stops along the Canyon that allows for that. It’s recommend you bring your own filter but I didn’t both times I crossed and was fine.

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You can see from the map on the left and the key on the right that there are water stops along the way.

What “R2R2R” means

Rim to rim to rim is what R2R2R stands for. It means you go from one rim of the Canyon to the other and back again. You can see there are two routes you can take coming from the South Rim–Bright Angel Trail or South Kaibab Trail.

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The first day, we went from South Kaibab Trail to North Kaibab Trail with a pit stop at Ribbon Falls and it took us roughly 11 hours. The second day, we went from North Kaibab up through Bright Angel Trail and it took us around 9 hours.

The first day is “hardest” because going up to the North Rim is brutal. The second day is difficult because going up Bright Angel Trail leaves you exposed to the sun for hours. The whole thing is an awesome sufferfest.

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We did NOT double cross on the same day, lol!

Where We Slept

There is a nice lodge/motel at the South Rim near the entrance to Bright Angel Trail. We stayed there Saturday night before we started the first day Sunday morning. The rooms were like a regular motel and very comfortable. They had a “cafeteria” type-esque place to eat with different types of food–Mexican, Pasta, Grilled.

At the North Rim, we stayed at a little cabin at the Grand Canyon Lodge. They have a restaurant where you can eat and also a smaller “deli”. We ate at the deli.

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The above picture is a lounge area where you can see the views of the Canyon. There’s also an outside deck:

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I would totally recommend visiting this place if you just want to “see” the Canyon and not actually go inside it, lol. You do have to make reservations if you want to eat in the restaurant though; the deli you can just walk in. You also don’t need to be staying at the lodge if you want to eat.

Okay, that’s enough of the “boring” stuff. I’ll whip up the awesome details/pictures of the actual crossing here in the next couple of days.

If you want a sneak peek of pics, follow my Insta 😀

Thanks for following my journey!! ❤ , helly

 

 

A-Hiking We Will Go!!!! Off to the Grand Canyon!!!!

I’ve been a little MIA from the blog-o-sphere as I’ve been life busy and life has a way of letting you know who’s boss–lest you ever think otherwise…lol!!

But this weekend, I’m off for another adventure. I did the Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim a couple of years ago with my running group and even though it was absolutely amazing, I said I’d never do it again unless my husband decided to do it.

And this year he decided.

It’s fitting that the both times we’ve EVER visited the canyon it’s to cross it both times, lol! And we’re both native Arizonans!

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The photo above depicts the routes we’ll take. The first day will be South to North Rim and then the second day will be North Rim to Bright Angel. Total amounts to around 45 miles.

We don’t plan on running but taking our time as this will be our last visit to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and we really want to enjoy it. Though a part of me would really like to do this all in ONE day someday (I know, I’m crazy), I’m really just excited to share this adventure with my husband, and if it’s really the last time I do this, I want it to be with him.

So until Friday, it’s all about packing and making sure we have everything we need. I’ll post the amazing details when I return!!

–Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon??

–What “Wonder of the World” is on your list”?? The Pyramids would be really cool. And the Great Wall of China. There’s so many!! 😀