“The glories and beauties of form, color and
sound unite in the Grand Canyon. It has infinite variety and no part is ever
duplicated. Its colors, although many and complex at any instant, change with
the ascending and declining sun.” – John Wesley Powell
Monday, November 4th
PM—4
Miles—0:45—1,150’—Bright Angel Trail to 1.5 Mile Rest House
Figured I would get out for an easy run to evaluate my legs
after yesterday’s R2R2R. As predicted, they felt like crap…My calves were
exceptionally tight. Likely not running tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 5th
PM—3
Miles—1:49—1,000’—Grandview Trail and New Hance Trail Scouting Hikes
Woke up to even tighter calves this morning. So I decided
that today would just be a short hiking day. I went to both the Grandview and
New Hance trails to scout out the initial miles. I felt like a typical tourist
hiker today since even the slightest downhill step had me grabbing onto
anything in sight to reduce the impact on my destroyed quads, calves, and
hamstrings. My main focus was the New Hance trail since it has a pretty stealthy
trailhead and is supposed to be the most difficult trail on the South Rim. The
first few switchbacks confirmed that this trail definitely isn’t Bright Angel.
Wednesday, November 6th
AM—6
Miles—3:12—2,200’—Bright Angel Trail Hike to 3 Mile Rest House
My legs were finally starting to feel a little better this
morning. I decided not to rush into things and went for a longer hike versus a
run. I wore my typical climbing attire and took a day pack in an effort to
maintain my hiking pace instead of breaking into a run. At the 3 Mile Rest
House I spent about an hour taking in the views and enjoying a beer while
dangling my feet off a cliff. A couple
of other hikers came over to where I was sitting and looked like they had never
stepped foot on an uneven, rocky surface in their lives. I had to warn them
that my feet were dangling over a 500-1,000-feet shear dropoff and to approach
with caution.
PM—4 Miles—0:39—200’—Greenway
Trail
Since my legs felt pretty good on the hike this morning I
figured I would see how they felt on a short, easy run. I started at the
trailhead in the iMax parking lot and just ran an easy pace for two miles out
and then back.
Thursday, November 7th
AM—20
Miles—3:55—5,000’—Loop of South Kaibab, Bright Angel, and Rim Trails
With somewhat fresh feeling legs (finally) I decided to head
out for a little loop on the South Rim. My route descended South Kaibab to the
Colorado River, ascended Bright Angel back to the South Rim, and returned to my
truck via the paved Rim Trail. After a 6-minute warm up from my truck to the
trailhead I dove into the canyon for an easy descent. I stopped and talked to a
few people along the way—not really in any hurry. I didn’t feel like negating
all of the healing my legs had achieved by bombing down the 5,000’ descent. I
eventually reached the river in a little over an hour. After a quick bathroom
break, refill of water, and downing of a gel at Bright Angel Campground I
started the ascent to the South Rim. With the exception of stopping for water
at Indian Garden, I never stopped and managed to run every step of the Bright
Angel ascent. There was a pretty absurd amount of hikers on Bright Angel, but I
found they got out of the way rather fast when I grunted, growled, yelled, blew
snot rockets, etc. while running the ascent. As usual, there was also an absurd
amount of hikers who thought that I had nothing better to do while running pretty
hard up a 5,000’ climb than to stop and answer all of their stupid goddamned
questions. Anyways, after a few hours of running I finally topped out at the
Bright Angel trailhead in 3:05 (trailhead to trailhead). My truck was still 5
miles away, which meant I had to joy of ending my day with running on pavement
through the most heavily touristed area in the park. Lucky me. I can’t hide how
much I love weaving in-and-out of people who blindly walk wherever they please
in an effort to get those canyon photos. It seems they all think the canyon
might not be there tomorrow. I wrapped up the 5-mile obstacle course in about
49 minutes to get back to the Taco in 3:55. I did the same loop last year in
4:32. Not too shabby for a mostly easy effort.
Friday, November 8th
PM—13 Miles—5:03—4,950’—New Hance Trail
I got a bit of a late start
this morning (10AM) due to waiting on the temperature to warm up a bit. I entered
this day with hopes of getting to the river and back without seeing another
person. Those hopes were crushed a mere few tenths of a mile down from the rim
when I saw an older couple who looked anything but comfortable on the technical
terrain. To say that I ran much of the descent would be an overstatement. Yes,
my feet were moving somewhat quickly, but my average pace for the descent was
20 minutes/mile. I did quite a bit of hiking on the descent and pretty much
hiked the entire ascent—I didn’t really want to snap an ankle on the steep,
technical trail by trying to run it with tired legs. This trail was definitely
the most technical terrain I’ve experienced in the Canyon. Calling New Hance a
“trail” might actually be a little misleading. Near the Colorado River I ran
into a group of four who had setup camp on the beach, but were out for a day
hike up the wash. Two of the four were tripping on acid, which I’m sure made
for a rather interesting day. The group made for great conversation so I spent
a while chatting with them before heading on to the river. They told me where
their campsite was and said I could take the water they already had treated,
which was great because it was starting to get pretty damn hot out. I snagged a
handful of M&M’s too. After playing around the river for a bit I started my
long ascent—dripping sweat the entire way. I stopped to chat with the gang
again and got their plans in hopes of meeting them on the trails again in the
coming days. Like I said, I basically just hiked the entire ascent. It wasn’t
even a power hike either. I just took it nice and easy, chatting with the other
people I saw along the way. This was probably the best route I’ve done in the
Canyon so far.
Saturday, November 9th
AM—9 Miles—2:55—4,950’—Grandview
Trail to Hance Creek Campground
Pretty easy run down the Grandview Trail due to a
combination of steep, technical terrain and loads of hikers on the trail. Also,
I didn’t have too much faith in the traction provided by my 1010’s on the
dirt-covered cobblestone trails on upper Grandview. The descent to Miner (AKA
Page) Springs was steep and nasty—just the way I like it. At the springs I ran
into two guys from Sedona who saw me getting ready to take water without
treating it. So, they gave me some of their Steripen-treated water. I ended up
missing the hard left turn onto the Tonto Trail heading west, which would have
taken me on a loop around Horseshoe Mesa (my intended route). Instead, I went a
mile or so east on Tonto towards Hance Rapids. Just as I was planning to turn
around and make my way back to the trailhead I ran into a park employee who
informed me I missed the trail junction I wanted to take. On the way back to
Miner Springs I noticed the Tonto West junction and made a mental note of its
location. I stopped at the springs for another water refill (this time without
treating it) and charged into the steep, technical climb up to the mesa top. The
lower sections of Grandview provided a fun, challenging ascent. As I neared the
rim I started power hiking on most of the cobblestone sections since my shoes
kept slipping on the dirty rocks. This trail provided engaging terrain that
required sharp mental focus to keep from shattering an ankle or clipping a toe
and taking a huge nosedive. I love trails that require spot-on foot and hand
work. I was hoping to catch the New Hance Gang, but didn’t see them out on the
trails. Maybe tomorrow?
Sunday, November 10th
AM—7 Miles—2:35—2,800’—Grandview
Trail to Horseshoe Mesa
Another pretty mellow descent, but a little faster than
yesterday. I got an early start with the intent of running the full lollipop
loop around Horseshoe Mesa. During the descent I felt a few twinges in my right
calf that eventually manifested into full-on pain. About 1.5 miles down I ran
into Patrick (one of the four I met on New Hance a few days prior) and chatted
for a bit. Within a few minutes the rest of the New Hance Gang caught up and
joined the conversation. We made plans to meet for lunch, but I wasn’t
confident I would finish my run and make it there on time. Closer to the mesa I
passed a ranger that I talked with a bit yesterday. He was a bit surprised to
see me down there a second day in a row. When I got to the mesa I decided to
call off the lollipop loop due to my calf pain. Instead, I searched around for
a way to the tip-top of the mesa—I found one. After 30-45 minutes of scrambling
around I began the painfully slow ascent on my gimp leg. En route I passed the
ranger again (he seemed pretty impressed at my pace), the two guys who gave me
treated water, an editor for Backpacker Magazine, and a guy named Mark (or
Mike? I always get those two names confused) Fenton. Mark (Mike?) and I chatted
for a while. We crossed paths a few days ago on New Hance so he seemed a bit
intrigued when he saw me again on Grandview. The conversation was a much needed
break since my calf was really starting to hurt like hell as I neared the rim.
When I reached the trailhead I didn’t waste any time getting changed and making
my way to the Bright Angel Lodge where I was pleased to spot the New Hance
Gang. So we got cozy at the table and I joined them for lunch.
Miles—66
Time— 20 hours 56
minutes
Elevation Gain— 21,200
feet
Well, it took a little longer to fully recover from last Sunday’s
R2R2R than I had hoped. Oh well, I’m sure the easy front end of this week was
much appreciated by my body.
My plan for this week was to explore some of the
lesser-known trails of the Canyon’s south rim. New Hance and Grandview trails
provided just what I was looking for; steep, technical terrain that requires
substantially more thought than the cruiser corridor trails. These trails were
rocky, boulder strewn, and overgrown with trees, cacti, and other plants that
scrape, stab, poke, and prod. It’s always a blast when running doesn’t just
involve the legs; when you have to start using your arms to leap over boulders
and rip through vegetation obstructions.
I saw significantly more people on the trails than I was anticipating.
However, the people I saw on these trails were pretty awesome. Most of the
hikers on the corridor trails have no concept of trail etiquette and generally
won’t even respond when I try to say something as simple as “hello.” The hikers
on New Hance and Grandview were all super friendly and great to talk to. I seem
to have great luck when it comes to meeting awesome people in the Canyon. Three
years ago I met my “Canyon Savior” Charissa as I neared the north rim. Last
year I met Susie, a fellow vagabond ultrarunner. This year I met the awesome
New Hance Gang. Who knows who I’ll meet next year? Who knows who I’ll meet in
the rest of my time here this year? I’m excited to find out.
I’m always amazed with the Grand Canyon. For the past three
years I’ve made trips out here; each year learning a little more of the secrets
hiding in the canyon’s depths. One could easily spend his entire life exploring
the Canyon and never grow tired of it. There are still hundreds of miles of
trails I’ve yet to explore. The more people I talk to about the Canyon the more
I learn of things like the Old Hance Trail and other routes that technically
don’t exist, but are still out there waiting to be traveled. I suppose all I have
to do now is sit down with a topo map and put my imagination to work.
Big days in the Canyon will likely be in my future…
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| Sunrise at South Kaibab trailhead |
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| Descending South Kaibab trail |
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| Looking down at the remaining descent of South Kaibab to the Colorado River |
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| Black Bridge across the Colorado River |
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| Getting ready to cross the Colorado River |
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| Looking back towards the Black Bridge from Bright Angel Campground |
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| Sweet view of both bridges crossing the Colorado River as I head up Bright Angel Trail |
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| Meandering along the river bed before Bright Angel trail begins its ascent to the south rim |
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| Over 250 people are rescued from the depths of Grand Canyon each year...Most of them look like some random douche modeling the newest line of North Face winter wear on the centerfold of a magazine... |
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| Hance Rapids in the Colorado River |
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| Colorado River near Hance Rapids |
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| View from where New Hance trail meets the Colorado River |
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| Some of the most runnable trail on New Hance. It didn't last long. |
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| Rock formation on Grandview |
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| Sweet little overhanging rock on Grandview. |
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| A nice rock bulge over part of Grandview. There's a little bit of a drop to the right hand side. |
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| Looking part of the Grandview Trail. There's a trail in there somewhere... |
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| Some sign warning about radiation in the Canyon... |
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| Looking back at the ascent up Horseshoe Mesa |
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| The trail to Miner Springs |
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| Miner Springs--a much-needed water source in the middle of the desert |
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| Mining equipment and an abandoned mine shaft on the Grandview Trail |
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| Cool mining ruins on the Grandview Trail |
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| These hurt to kick or land on... |
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| Sweet, runnable singletrack in the bottom of the Canyon |
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| Spot on... |
