I did it! I completed Rim 2 Rim in Grand Canyon!
Starting time: 5:30am
End time: 5:00pm
Nap time: 30 minutes after Cottonwood Camp around 1:00pm
Break/fueling time: about 90 minutes (10 to 20 minute breaks here and there)
Distance: from South Kaibab Trail Head down 7 miles and 5,000' elevation loss to get to Colorado River (river at 2400' elevation); 7 miles of mostly flat and at most 1,000' elevation gain to get through the canyon floor; and 7 miles of climbing 6,000' up to North Kaibab Trail Head (at about 8,400' elevation)
woke up at 3:30 to get ready, had a hard boiled egg and a pack of 3-n-1 instant coffee before leaving the lodging
bus arrived at 5am sharp to take the group to the South Kaibab Trail head
bus was full of hikers and the trail head was full of hikers and trail runners!
The sunrise and the view along the trail was so breathtaking; I stopped frequently to admire and to take photos
Took me 3 hours to get to Phantom Ranch, the only cabin style lodging at the bottom of Grand Canyon
Left the ranch at 9am after a 20-minute breakfast break
Got to Ribbons Fall at 11:30am; Ribbons Fall is a bit of detour, so there, extra mileage to see a beautiful little fall and took a 20-minute lunch break
Got to a filling station with drinking water faucet and toilet facility north of Cottonwood Camp at 1:00pm; had to take a nap on one of the new benches (did shut my eyes for 30 minutes) to rest and restore loss energy from intense sun/heat
From 1:30pm to 5:00pm was a long traverse in the canyon (going on a flat ground is more tiring than climbing up and descending) and followed by a struggle to climb up on many, many stairs
the North Kaibab Trail consists of lot of stairs; imagining climbing on stadium stairs, that's what it felt like; it puts a lot of demand on leg muscle to lift the feet off the ground to step up going from one switch back to the next
Towards the last 2 miles, my left and right quards were taking turns cramping
The pain was so severe that I could not even take one step but must sit down to massage the muscle before I could keep going
Afterwards I examined why I had cramps, of which I had never had before doing other grueling hikes
It's probably because I did not eat enough calories
I was so skimpy on putting calories into my body that the toll of doing the reserve hike (going down and then climbing up) was affecting how my legs would perform under insufficient fuel intake
The catch 22 is that when one is so tired, eating is not on the front and center
I had to force myself to eat during the hike even though I had no appetite
The 200 calories every hour were probably not enough to justify the output
With my height and weight, I may burn at least 300 calories/hour during the last 7 miles.
Anyhow, the verdict is that I am happy that I did it
It proved again how mind can triumph over body
But I am not as proud of it as I thought I would be
Why?
Because I came across score of trail runners who also did the Rim 2 Rim
They had the skimpest outfit and trail running shoes on and carrying only a Camelback type of hydration pack
In it there's barely enough space to carry water, gu packs, and energy bars
And they ran the whole thing, most of the time
I was a trail runner before therefore I knew how cardio fit these runners had to be to do Rim 2 Rim
Compare to them, my feat is not as impressive as I'd like it to be
BTW, ALL the rim to rim hikers and trail runners (backpackers excluded) look lean and fit
They are not necessarily skinny but one look at their legs and body you know that they are the result of working out consistently and hard, not from dieting
Lean legs and body are the most beautiful thing to feast with the eye!
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