About a month ago I got to do something pretty awesome: I hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim.
Most people who do a Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike put in months (if not years) of planning and physical preparation. For one thing, the trek is about 24 miles in total, so it’s fairly physically demanding. On top of that, I went in August. This time of year, temperatures at the bottom of the Grand Canyon often exceed 100F (about 38C). So you have to be in pretty good shape.
Due to the distance and the heat, most hikers split their hike into two parts and spend the night in the canyon. There are two ways of doing this: you can camp or you can stay in cabins at Phantom Ranch. Both options have to be booked well in advance and are hard to secure. This is because camping permits are in high demand and the lodging at Phantom Ranch typically sells out as soon as it’s available (more than a year in advance).
The Backgroud: How I Ended Up On This Trip
Now that you know how most people do it, let me tell you about my experience. I received a call from an Italian friend, Giulia, who I met in Oxford when we were doing our PhDs. I thought she just wanted to catch up, but then she pulled out the surprise – she and her boyfriend, Mattia, were going to be in the US. They were planning on hiking the Grand Canyon in 3 weeks and had a cabin at Phantom Ranch. The cabin had an extra bed – did I want to join?
Well, YES. But the thing is, I didn’t believe they had actually somehow secured a cabin at Phantom Ranch. They didn’t realize how hard it is to get into, but being an Arizonan, I did. I know plenty of people who have tried for years to get lodging at Phantom Ranch but have yet to be successful. Given this, I thought Giulia and Mattia must have been duped. Some fraudster online must have sold them a fake booking. So I told Giulia that I’d love to go and to let me know if she was able to add me to the booking, thinking it wasn’t gonna happen because it was all fake.
Well, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, it was not fake. A few days later, Giulia emailed me the reservation, from Phantom Ranch itself, with my name on it. Amazing!
And then it hit me: I had to hike 25 miles in the desert heat in August and the trip was only 2 weeks away. Oh shit.
So I ran (jogged/plodded) 4 to 5 miles about 3 times in that two-week span and then I was off. I honestly didn’t know if I’d be fit enough.
The Leadup: Getting There
Typically, hikers doing the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim start at the more remote North Rim and end at the South Rim, which is where most tourists visit. This means that you have to leave your car on one side and take a shuttle to the other. You can either do this before or after the hike; I elected to do it before. After spending Friday night at a friend’s place in Flagstaff, I drove the hour and a half to the South Rim Saturday morning and caught the 1:30 pm shuttle to the North Rim.
If you’re having trouble imagining the scale of the Grand Canyon think about this: that shuttle took 4.5 hours to get around the canyon to the North Rim. 4.5 hours. It stopped twice, in a town called Cameron and at Marble Canyon, which the Colorado River flows through upstream of the Grand Canyon. During the drive, we gained 1000 feet in elevation (from about 7,000 to 8,000 feet, hence why hikers usually start at the North Rim!). The Grand Canyon Lodge, our North Rim accommodation, is in the midst of a proper forest.
Grand Canyon Lodge cabins at the North Rim.
View from the North Rim.
View from the North Rim without me in the way!
Bison near the Grand Canyon’s North Rim.
Giulia and Mattia were driving in from L.A. and weren’t arriving till 9:30 pm. This gave me about 4 hours to wander around by myself (one of my favorite things to do!). There are a few short trails emanating from the lodge that lead to stunning views of the canyon so I explored these till it started to get dark. Then I went in and had dinner in a room with beautiful panoramic Grand Canyon/sunset views, and read for a bit in the cabin. When Giulia and Mattia arrived, we got everything packed for the morning and went straight to bed – we knew we had a big day coming up and needed to be well-rested!
The Hike: Day 1
The worst thing you can do when you hike the Grand Canyon in August is start too late. It’s not actually very hot at the North Rim because of the elevation, but this can be deceiving. Down at the bottom it can easily reach and exceed 100F. You want to start early so you spend as little time as possible at the bottom in the heat of the day. Given this, we started off from the North Rim at 6:00 am in sweaters. The first few miles of the North Kaibab Trail are steeply downhill, along the edges of the canyon. While this was nice and easy, especially with the cool temperatures and shade, I tried not to think about what the reverse would be like when we hiked out of the Grand Canyon the next day.
Heading down North Kaibab Trail.
The trail evened out a bit and we still had a decent amount of shade as we continued down the slowly-sloping path. There are water and toilet stations every few miles. I didn’t expect these but they made for a less brutal experience than I had anticipated.
Still heading down North Kaibab Trail.
At this point, we were about 7 miles in. So far so good. We had been in the shade and relatively cool temperatures for the bulk of the trek thus far. We were all fit enough that the distance wasn’t an issue. And we were well hydrated and had some tasty snacks for energy. All good.
And then, at about 10:00, we hit “the box”. The box is an area of the trail that runs along a creek in the canyon. Sounds nice, right?
Wrong. The elevation in the box is between 2,500 and 3,000 feet, so it’s hot. At this time of day, the sun is overhead, and it’s a desert landscape with no trees, so there’s no shade. We had already walked 7 miles and now we had another 7 miles in 100F and direct sunlight. Even though it was flat, this was the most difficult part of the entire rim-to-rim hike. The only saving grace are tiny bits of shade under the canyon walls as the trail winds with the river. We stopped in pretty much every shade patch for a rest and a few sips of water. But hey – at least we weren’t also going uphill in that heat!
Deep inside the box.
Some lovely caterpillars.
Phantom Ranch is situated at one end of the box. We reached it at 1:30pm and headed straight for the shade under the cottonwood trees. It was brilliant. We dropped our bags in our cabin and pulled out some of the food we had carried down for lunch. We drank a lot of water. And, because we really couldn’t help ourselves, we also had a quick nap.
Giulia and Mattia outside our Phantom Ranch cabin.
Deer by the Phantom Ranch cabins.
As the sun set, we wandered over to the Colorado River, which is about a mile from Phantom Ranch. It was nice to sit there for a while and just watch it rush by. By this point, my legs were getting a bit stiff. I treated myself to a bit of natural healing by sticking my feet and calves in the chilly water.
The Colorado River.
Giulia had signed us up for dinner at Phantom Ranch (you have to make reservations because they bring everything down by mule!) so at 6:30 we sat down for a family style meal with other hikers. It was excellent. Tasty, filling, and with a giant slice of chocolate cake at the end. Definitely luxurious compared to what the campers a half mile away were eating.
Dinner at Phantom Ranch.
The mules that carried our dinner and bedding down from the South Rim.
We sat by the creek for a bit after dinner but headed to bed as soon as the sun set. Yes, that’s pretty early, but we were all knackered and we had a 5:00 breakfast planned for the next morning.
The Hike: Day 2
We set off immediately after our 5 am breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and fruit. Though we had a lot of uphill hiking to do over the course of the next 10 miles, there were a few factors that made it slightly easier. First, our early start meant that we’d get lots of shade from the canyon walls. Also, with that much elevation change, it gets noticeably cooler as you hike out of the Grand Canyon. So even as the sun popped over the rim, we weren’t nearly as hot as we had been the previous day.
There are actually two options for hiking from Phantom Ranch to the South Rim: the South Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail. The former doesn’t have any water stops. It also doesn’t go to the tourist area of the South Rim, which is not optimal. Bright Angel Trail it was.
The trail is flat for the half mile or so till you reach the Colorado River. It’s still relatively flat for a few miles after you cross the bridge. Even with the majority of elevation gain in the second half of the hike, the slope is pretty moderate the whole way.
Crossing the Colorado River on the way up the Bright Angel Trail.
View of the Colorado River from further up the trail
Taking in the view.
We made plenty of stops for rest and water, and again there were several water/toilet stations along the trail. Since this is the main trail from the tourist area of the popular South Rim, the closer we got to the rim, the more people we saw. Apparently, lots of people like to walk part of the way down, take some pictures, then hike back up. Many of these people had dressed quite inappropriately for hiking; swimsuits, flip flops, and babies were common. I guess that’s why we also passed quite a few park rangers.
Anyhow, the trail was quite enjoyable for the first 2/3 of the way, but then the closer we got to the trailhead at the South Rim, the more intrusive the casual hikers and their noisiness felt. But we were rewarded for our patience and our uphill efforts with some pretty incredible views of the canyon and a great sense of accomplishment once we finally made it to the top after 5 hours and 50 minutes of hiking.
We made it!
I’ve been to the South Rim before, so the view wasn’t new for me. But it definitely takes on another dimension when you can see the path you’ve taken up and out of the canyon and have a better appreciation for the distances.
At the South Rim, we treated ourselves to some celebratory ice cream as we took in the views. After all that uphill hiking, it was probably the least guilty I’ve ever felt about eating a massive cup of cookies ‘n cream 🙂
Cheeky ground squirrel at the South Rim.
After the ice cream and a quick stop in the gift shop, we said our goodbyes and I made my way back to Flagstaff before driving back to Tucson the next morning.
The Aftermath
Actually, I thought I would feel far worse afterward. Sure, I was so stiff by the time I got to Flagstaff that I could barely walk from the car to my friend’s front door, and I was probably a bit dehydrated. But I expected to not be able to move for a few days afterwards and thankfully that didn’t happen. Guess I’m in better shape than I realized!
If you’re considering hiking the Grand Canyon but not sure whether it’s worth the effort: DO IT! It’s definitely worth the effort. But also make sure you do it safely by exercising appropriately beforehand and taking plenty of water with you on the hike. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
Share this Post