Today I’m watching it snow. I shoveled a foot off the driveway when I got up this morning, and it’s been snowing steadily ever since. Soon I will need to get out and shovel another foot. Firewood is stacked high on the front porch and all is peaceful and cozy and warm in this household.
I’m feeling the effects of yesterday’s hike. I slept a solid 14 hours last night, which was beyond wonderful. Standing up was difficult but I made it after a few tries. The stairs were next, and those were navigated with both hands on the rail. The Grand Canyon will do that to a person.
As noted in the previous post, I planned to do a long run in Grand Canyon, so I’ll document how that went here.
The day started out fine. I pushed down three packs of oatmeal and a banana, made a big mug of coffee, and left Flagstaff around 3:30am for the canyon. I saw two other cars during the 80-mile drive. I parked at Bright Angel Lodge and walked to the bus stop nearby. A shuttle bus came along a minute later. I was the only passenger and the bus driver was talkative. After a 40-minute ride, he dropped me off at Hermit’s Rest at 5:20, a quarter mile from the Hermit trailhead.
I started hiking in pitch dark; it was a bit grueling at first because this was my first time on this trail and I wasn’t familiar with the lay of the trail. And a little unnerving to shine my headlight off to the side of the trail and see nothing but black space. I could feel a breeze coming up from the edge of the trail and could sense a lot of nothing beside and below the trail. The stars were bright, there was a sliver of a moon, and the night was very quiet. The weather felt like upper-thirties.
First light is always awesome in the canyon. A sliver of light glows at the rim and the sky starts getting light. Soon the sun hits the top of the highest buttes and west walls. By this time I had dropped a few thousand feet and had shed my jacket and extra shirt. Temps were warm, around 60-70, and stayed around 70 for the remainder of my hike. I started running on the flat parts of the trail, trying to hold myself back and not run when the trail was rocky or sloped steeply. I would surely need the strength later.
In spite of this, I made it to Tonto junction in 2.5 hours, exactly half of my estimated time of 5 hours. I didn’t feel like stopping so I kept on chugging, up and down the side canyons and rolling hills of Tonto plateau. I was right next to the river, albeit 1,500 feet above it, and the views were absolutely stunning. The Canyon continues to amaze me, and I regret not spending more time here. Now that my time here has an expiration, I am trying to take in all of this country that I can while I can still call it my backyard. Truly, it’s awesome world-class scenery, and I take it for granted too many times.
I kept running on the flats and speed walking when the trail was rocky or sloped. I felt good, even strong, which was a bit odd because I haven’t done many runs in the past six months more than eight miles long. The Tonto has a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of flat sections that go for mile after mile through sage on the tops of cliffs overlooking the river. Spectacular views the whole way along. Those 13 miles went by fast. Due to the dark start in a whole new area of the canyon, I was disoriented for the first few hours. The sun was coming up in the west and I just couldn’t shake the feeling. It seemed like I was hiking the north slope and I had to make conscious adjustments while looking at my map, testing my writing hand (I still get left and right confused) to make sure I was going the right direction. A wrong turn out there would be fatal because there’s no shade, water, or people anywhere—just miles and miles and miles of empty trails and hot sun. Only when I was nearing Indian Garden did my horizon suddenly swing 180 degrees and everything was right again.
My intentions were to go as light as possible, so that I could run easily and complete the loop in a shorter time—which would save on water and food—which would make my pack lighter and my travel faster. I carried less than a gallon of water for the first 22 miles, and had to use it sparingly. I had a few (too many) energy bars and a handful of energy gels. As it turned out, gel worked better. The bars were too much work to digest and were hard to eat while walking, impossible to eat while running.
I got lost once. Near Monument Creek the Tonto trail drops into the bottom of the side canyon and there is a campground there with a whole bunch of spur trails leading to campsites, toilets, etc. The trail itself follows the bottom of dry Monument Creek, so it was unmarked other than by boot prints. As such, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be hiking in the bottom of the canyon or along the rim. I backtracked a ways to be sure I hadn’t missed any turnoffs, then I hiked to the campsite in hopes of finding a person to ask. There was a group just packing up and they set me straight; but it was frustrating losing nearly an hour and hiking a mile+ uselessly. There were no signs anywhere, and the right trail turned out to be a slight trail through the brush on the creek bed. I had printed a map marking the large landmarks for basic navigation, but the map didn’t have the level of detail necessary for fine route-finding.
When I finally got back up on the plateau I made good time again. Running on the edge of the final drop down to the river was spectacular. I passed several rapids and saw some rafts far below. I really want to get back there again, if only it weren’t so inaccessible… I swallowed energy gel every hour or two and kept gauging the water on my back to make it to Indian Garden. My shoes were holding up good; I didn’t get any gravel in them throughout the entire hike, and didn’t get a single blister or hot spot. I took the precaution of wearing wool hiking socks, but these Saucony Peregrines are the best trail running shoes I’ve ever owned. They’re super light, fairly sturdy, have good traction, and keep the grit out. Small tasks that many shoes fail to accomplish.
Finally, the trees of Indian Garden appeared as I rounded a bend in the trail. I drank the last few sips of my water and ran the last mile to the campground. This can be a welcome, hilarious, disgusting, or beautiful place depending on perspective. There are many groups of hikers with huge backpacks. I mean huge, like 5,000 cubic inch or larger. The biggest on the market. Worthy of an expedition across Africa. And the majority of these people are hiking in on Day 1 (4.8 miles), camping, and then hiking out (4.8 miles) on Day 2. It might as well be hiking across Africa for them because they’ve trained for this expedition for months, which is how long it takes to get a camping permit. They remind me of Russell from Up. With a pack like that, it’s no wonder they’re exhausted. Sorry.
toypusher.com
The few people scattered in the true backcountry of Grand Canyon don’t have huge packs. They’d never make it back if they did. Instead, they’ll be carrying next to nothing with a hand bottle or two, like the man below (who ran the 77 mile length of Tonto with the contents of his pack).
crockettclan.org
Disclaimer: I realize that hiking in the canyon is dangerous, and dozens of people die each year because of overheating/food/water issues. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death if they read this blog then hike to the river without food or water and subsequently die coming back up. That would be a perfectly logical result and that outcome should be expected. Be informed and know the weather. Know what it feels like to climb 5,000 vertical feet under the Arizona sun at high elevation. Know how steep and rocky the trails are, and know how you’ll feel after hiking twenty miles in bright sun without food or water. Know that nobody will rescue you and nobody will be there to see you struggle or hear your cry for help.
Running in the canyon presents a few additional risks. Increased mileage increases the risk of bad things like snake bites or sprains. Dress and pack light for a fast run, then get a sprained ankle or a snake bite, and things could get real bad real fast when food and water are gone and the sun goes down in a high elevation part of the canyon. Bonking is a threat, especially if it occurs at the bottom of the canyon in a remote location far from convenient rim access. Using plenty of hi-tech foods like energy gel, carb drinks, and electrolyte powder should mitigate this risk, as these foods are formulated for athletes under these very conditions and contain only the best and purest ingredients.
Back to the hike.. While a pleasant and shady oasis, I was ready to leave Indian Garden after adding a little water to my pack. Maybe being alone all morning had some effect; but the throngs of people complaining about being sore (and they had only hiked 5 miles) with their huge backpacks each containing enough food and water to satisfy six Africans just wasn’t the crowd I felt like hanging out with. I filled my bottle with a carb drink mix then hit the trail at a run.
It felt good to be running again. The first mile wasn’t very steep and I made good time. I hiked up the switchbacks, and made it to within 1.5 miles of the rim before my legs died. They just switched off. I sucked down another double caffeine energy gel (which usually fixes almost anything) with water but nothing improved. People started passing me for the first time all day. I found a rock next to a tree, laid on my back and hung my feet above my head and massaged my legs for a while, trying to work any lactic acid out of my muscles. Nothing seemed to work. Maybe I should have taken a break at Indian Garden, eaten an energy bar or two, drank more water. I kept going at a very slow shuffle, and finally made the rim 8 hours and 50 minutes after I stepped off the shuttle bus at Hermit’s Rest. Luckily my car was parked right at the trailhead, so I just had to get into it and drive off.
The run/hike was a huge success. As stated so many times before, the Canyon scenery is beyond awesome, especially the inner gorge and side canyons of Tonto. I planned the trip in Excel, listing carbs, protein, fats and calories, ounces of water, and time and mileage estimates. (I’m still not sure of the mileage; there were no markers and official distances varied between 25 and 27 miles.) I figure 26 - 27 miles is a fair gu’estimate due to the distance before the trailhead and backtracking in Monument Canyon.
I updated the data upon return so I have an accurate record for my next trip. Here is the time summary:
Here is a food and water breakdown, by trail section:
Pardon the use of hardcore project management software; I like the visualization and am a bit OCD about some things. Calories aren’t the only important thing to track, but they give me a rough idea of where to start planning food-wise (represented by $ in Project). Excel works good for most things but Project takes the graphical representation up a notch.
I wore light, good-fitting hiking pants, a long-sleeve skin tight shirt, a running t-shirt, and a ultralight running jacket. The t-shirt and jacket came off after dropping into the canyon and stayed off all day. They weren’t very heavy to carry and I was glad for the extra warmth starting off. I left with a 3-liter Camelback plus a 20oz hand bottle of water, and this was just the right amount to make it to Indian Garden at ~22 miles. The clothing worked out nicely; no blisters, rubs, etc. I ate approximately half of the food I packed. I probably should have eaten more, but didn’t want to take the time. It was light, and I probably wouldn’t pack much less next time. If anything had happened to make me stop hiking, I would have been instantly ravenous. Better to have a little margin of safety.
All things considered, the day was a huge success. How can I not go with something this awesome in my back yard. I want to do this again very soon!