Grand Canyon Rim to Rim, Part 1 - what it takes to get there
We visited Grand Canyon National Park as a family about a year and a half ago, spending Spring Break 2017 in Arizona including several days marveling at a true natural wonder of the world. As just one stop on the family vacation, we did some day hiking, heading down the South Kaibab trail to an overlook with a spectacular view. As much as I love our family photo, there isn't a camera in the world that can capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon.
As with many of my vacations and experiences, when I came home I wanted to know more, so I checked out books from the library. I read about the geology and the formation of this incredible part of the United States, but I also read about the hiking and backpacking in the area. The small spark of an idea that had begun on this trip, when I snuck in one more short walk down the Bright Angel trail so that I could hike a bit more of the Canyon, began to grow into a flame, then eventually into a fire in my heart: I wanted to try to hike Rim to Rim. I didn't know when I would be able to, but it was an official goal for me, an epic adventure to try.
In the year and a half following that vacation, a lot changed - my job, our home, potential vacation destinations that were within driving distance. When I learned that my 2018 national sales meeting would be in Phoenix, though, I decided - this is it. This is the open door and I will walk through it. I will find a way to take advantage of already being in Arizona, and I will hike the Grand Canyon, Rim to Rim.
As with so many of my ideas and aspirations, I gave very little thought to the details; I tend to begin with the goal, then work my way backward to figure out how to make it happen. With firm dates in hand for the meeting, I knew the first step was to secure lodging at both rims and in the Canyon. The in between night was the key piece; without a reservation to stay in the Canyon somewhere, your Rim to Rim hike is straight through, in one day. Phantom Ranch was definitely the optimal solution in the Canyon, but it books solid as soon as reservations are available thirteen months in advance, so I knew camping would have to be the solution. After a little research, I learned that campground reservations are available much closer in; you send in a request for a campsite five months prior to your trip, with an itinerary of your hiking plans, and then cross your fingers until the end of the reservation window to learn whether you've been granted the privilege to stay in the Grand Canyon overnight.
I requested a reservation and itinerary for four hikers - I knew this would be an epic adventure, one I wanted to do with my best friends. Until I had a place to stay, though, I didn't say much about it, and didn't ask for any commitments. Amazingly, at least to me, as soon as the campground sites were assigned, I received an email notification that I did, in fact, have a spot! Hiking itinerary of North Rim to South Rim, hiking down the North Kaibab trail and camping at the Bright Angel campground for one night, then hiking up the Bright Angel trail to finish at the South Rim. I couldn't believe it - I was so excited. This was really going to happen!
As I shared the good news with my friends, though, it didn't look like there would be four of us. Melissa was immediately in; she'd done Rim to River before, and was excited to get to do the full Rim to Rim. Rachael was out due to being generally opposed to camping, and Giselle didn't opt in, either. Shauna really wanted to come, but with Andy on sabbatical and out of the country, she wouldn't have anyone to stay with her daughter while she was gone. No worries, though - I wouldn't be alone, and Melissa and I would make great traveling companions!
Despite being months away, having a permit in hand forced me to begin to think about the details. At this point, I became pretty overwhelmed; the logistics of a Rim to Rim hike are pretty complicated, and despite my enthusiasm, I didn't actually own any backpacking gear. Nothing. No backpack, no tent, no proper sleeping bag! I had hiking shoes, but those were as much for looks as for function. Again, I turned to my standard source of knowledge: books from the library. I read about hikes in the Grand Canyon in detail, about backpacking in general, and scoured the internet for information. I began to accumulate gear, as to me, this was the simplest place to start.
At the same time, I knew I had to figure out the rest of the logistics. Where would we stay the night before we stepped off on our adventure? How would we get to the North Rim, as we were flying into Phoenix? Where would we stay the night after we flew in? Once we finished our hike, where would we stay before we headed back to Phoenix? I tried to take it one step at a time, and started with the Grand Canyon properties. With a stroke of luck, I found a hotel room on the South Rim very close to the Bright Angel trailhead - one task down! The North Rim Lodge, though, was booked solid, as was the campground. That left an off-property hotel, but with a shuttle service available for the 18 mile drive, it seemed like the best option - and I grabbed a room there, too. Two out of three hotel rooms down! Just having confirmation numbers for those tasks on the to do list went a long way to reducing my anxiety. I also learned that the only feasible way to get from the South Rim to the North Rim was via the Trans Canyon shuttle; their shuttle times, then, would drive our timeline as much as anything. In order to step off on Saturday morning for the Saturday night campsite, we had to be at the North Rim on Friday; in order to be at the North Rim on Friday we had to take the 1:30pm shuttle, which meant we had to leave Phoenix by around 7:30 Friday morning. In order to leave Phoenix that early on Friday morning, that meant we would have to fly into Phoenix on Thursday. Just like that, we were firm on our dates. Fly in on Thursday, lots of driving on Friday, hiking Saturday and Sunday, then back to Phoenix and fly home/head to my meeting on Monday.
I did continue to check back for cancellations of more convenient lodging; Phantom Ranch was a bit of a pipe dream, but I thought it might be possible to get closer to the starting point with the North Rim Lodge. As the date approached, too, Melissa gently pushed - we really should find two more people to go with us. I agreed, but the question, of course, was - who? Who was crazy enough to try something like this with us, and that we liked enough that we would want to spend so much time together in such a short window? Also, who was fit enough to do something like this with not-that-much notice? The answer is pretty obvious, isn't it - West Point classmates. Not just West Point classmates, but West Point Women. No boys!! It hit us both almost at the exact same moment: we wanted Leslie and Shannon to come with us. Several Facebook messages later, with a couple of check on the calendar, and they were in! We were officially a group of four!
Over the course of the weeks leading up to our hike, we agreed that we would each try to check for cancellations at the North Rim Lodge, Phantom Ranch, and for meals at Phantom Ranch. A few weeks before our trip, I did manage to get a room at the Lodge, which was terrific - it was only a couple of miles from the trailhead and inside the park as opposed to a long shuttle ride that morning! I also found a steak dinner for Saturday night, which meant one less meal to carry. At one point, we got a bunk at Phantom Ranch - that was an amazing stroke of luck! It became even more important as Melissa had strained her back pretty badly during a triathlon, and sleeping on the ground might have been a nonstarter if things didn't improve. Along the way we found four breakfasts, which further lightened the loads we would carry in our rucks, but the tents and sleeping bags remained for our overnight camping.
Nothing is ever simple, though, especially when you're talking about four friends coming in from four different cities, four different states, four different airports. Add in the complexity of three of us having to coordinate with business trips, and it got a little nuts! Melissa had training in St. Louis the week before, so she had to jump through the hoops of government travel combined with personal travel. Leslie was teaching a class in Boston that didn't end until that Friday at 4pm Eastern, so we came up with a crazy plan of her flying back home to Las Vegas, where her husband would then pick her up and drive her through the night to meet us at the North Rim hotel just a few hours before we headed out to hike! Shannon and I flying directly to Phoenix looked downright boring, in comparison.
Plans were made, a spreadsheet was created, conference calls were held. We were excited and nervous and anxious and determined and all of the other emotions I suppose most people feel who attempt something big and audacious and epic. We all continued to check the lodging website, but our hopes began to flag as we got closer to our start date without any additional Phantom Ranch accommodations becoming available. There were definitely cancellations happening; we found bunks on dates on either side of our travel, and even a cabin that opened up at one point for the night after we would be there. I was beginning to get my head around camping, even looking forward to it a bit, and the Tuesday night before we left, I grabbed Caroline for help in setting up my backpacking tent in the backyard to make sure I knew what I was doing.
Incredibly, at the exact time I was setting up the tent,
Shannon found bunks and meals for ALL of us! What an incredible stroke
of luck - four bunks, four dinners, and four breakfasts were ours! Our
rucks just got WAY lighter - no tents, no sleeping bags, no Jet Boil, no
food other than fuel for along the way. Everything just got so much
easier with the planning, the packing and the carrying the load!
Finally, the day came when it was time to converge on Phoenix: Thursday, September 13th had finally arrived!! I was on the plane, on my way, and I even had leg room!!
Shannon got to Phoenix first, and met me at the bottom of the escalator with sign in hand. Twenty years since we were roommates, yet the inside jokes of our early 20s still immediately crack us up and make the intervening years disappear in the blink of an eye. We grabbed the minivan (the benefit of the twenty years passing is we're way past caring that we'd be seen in a minivan and way more interested in having a vehicle that will hold four people and their stuff comfortably!!) and went to check in at the hotel, another piece of the logistics puzzle Shannon had taken care of. Back to the airport to pick up Melissa - no travel issues to this point, truly amazing! - and we were three, waiting for the fourth, with an evening to catch up over dinner and last minute preparations for the trip.
Dinner in Old Town Scottsdale was fantastic; we had a HILARIOUSLY good time and were apparently disruptive enough that the guy at the table next to us said something. A sign of things to come, I suppose!
As we settled in to get a good night's sleep, I thought about my good fortune and the blessings in my life. I am healthy and fit enough to unquestioningly believe I could hike the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. I have precious girlfriends who share my enthusiasm for crazy ideas, and say yes to adventures. I have the means to hop on a plane, stay in hotels multiple nights and buy the gear needed for such a quest. I have a husband and children who support my wanderlust and absence from home to dream the crazy dreams that I do. I live in a country with an endless list of amazing things to see and do, and the freedom to roam from one to the next.
Rim to Rim would be an epic adventure, for sure - but not so much as a stand alone event. This was the beginning of another chapter in the epic adventure of this amazing life that I'm living.
In the year and a half following that vacation, a lot changed - my job, our home, potential vacation destinations that were within driving distance. When I learned that my 2018 national sales meeting would be in Phoenix, though, I decided - this is it. This is the open door and I will walk through it. I will find a way to take advantage of already being in Arizona, and I will hike the Grand Canyon, Rim to Rim.
As with so many of my ideas and aspirations, I gave very little thought to the details; I tend to begin with the goal, then work my way backward to figure out how to make it happen. With firm dates in hand for the meeting, I knew the first step was to secure lodging at both rims and in the Canyon. The in between night was the key piece; without a reservation to stay in the Canyon somewhere, your Rim to Rim hike is straight through, in one day. Phantom Ranch was definitely the optimal solution in the Canyon, but it books solid as soon as reservations are available thirteen months in advance, so I knew camping would have to be the solution. After a little research, I learned that campground reservations are available much closer in; you send in a request for a campsite five months prior to your trip, with an itinerary of your hiking plans, and then cross your fingers until the end of the reservation window to learn whether you've been granted the privilege to stay in the Grand Canyon overnight.I requested a reservation and itinerary for four hikers - I knew this would be an epic adventure, one I wanted to do with my best friends. Until I had a place to stay, though, I didn't say much about it, and didn't ask for any commitments. Amazingly, at least to me, as soon as the campground sites were assigned, I received an email notification that I did, in fact, have a spot! Hiking itinerary of North Rim to South Rim, hiking down the North Kaibab trail and camping at the Bright Angel campground for one night, then hiking up the Bright Angel trail to finish at the South Rim. I couldn't believe it - I was so excited. This was really going to happen!
As I shared the good news with my friends, though, it didn't look like there would be four of us. Melissa was immediately in; she'd done Rim to River before, and was excited to get to do the full Rim to Rim. Rachael was out due to being generally opposed to camping, and Giselle didn't opt in, either. Shauna really wanted to come, but with Andy on sabbatical and out of the country, she wouldn't have anyone to stay with her daughter while she was gone. No worries, though - I wouldn't be alone, and Melissa and I would make great traveling companions!
Despite being months away, having a permit in hand forced me to begin to think about the details. At this point, I became pretty overwhelmed; the logistics of a Rim to Rim hike are pretty complicated, and despite my enthusiasm, I didn't actually own any backpacking gear. Nothing. No backpack, no tent, no proper sleeping bag! I had hiking shoes, but those were as much for looks as for function. Again, I turned to my standard source of knowledge: books from the library. I read about hikes in the Grand Canyon in detail, about backpacking in general, and scoured the internet for information. I began to accumulate gear, as to me, this was the simplest place to start.
At the same time, I knew I had to figure out the rest of the logistics. Where would we stay the night before we stepped off on our adventure? How would we get to the North Rim, as we were flying into Phoenix? Where would we stay the night after we flew in? Once we finished our hike, where would we stay before we headed back to Phoenix? I tried to take it one step at a time, and started with the Grand Canyon properties. With a stroke of luck, I found a hotel room on the South Rim very close to the Bright Angel trailhead - one task down! The North Rim Lodge, though, was booked solid, as was the campground. That left an off-property hotel, but with a shuttle service available for the 18 mile drive, it seemed like the best option - and I grabbed a room there, too. Two out of three hotel rooms down! Just having confirmation numbers for those tasks on the to do list went a long way to reducing my anxiety. I also learned that the only feasible way to get from the South Rim to the North Rim was via the Trans Canyon shuttle; their shuttle times, then, would drive our timeline as much as anything. In order to step off on Saturday morning for the Saturday night campsite, we had to be at the North Rim on Friday; in order to be at the North Rim on Friday we had to take the 1:30pm shuttle, which meant we had to leave Phoenix by around 7:30 Friday morning. In order to leave Phoenix that early on Friday morning, that meant we would have to fly into Phoenix on Thursday. Just like that, we were firm on our dates. Fly in on Thursday, lots of driving on Friday, hiking Saturday and Sunday, then back to Phoenix and fly home/head to my meeting on Monday.
I did continue to check back for cancellations of more convenient lodging; Phantom Ranch was a bit of a pipe dream, but I thought it might be possible to get closer to the starting point with the North Rim Lodge. As the date approached, too, Melissa gently pushed - we really should find two more people to go with us. I agreed, but the question, of course, was - who? Who was crazy enough to try something like this with us, and that we liked enough that we would want to spend so much time together in such a short window? Also, who was fit enough to do something like this with not-that-much notice? The answer is pretty obvious, isn't it - West Point classmates. Not just West Point classmates, but West Point Women. No boys!! It hit us both almost at the exact same moment: we wanted Leslie and Shannon to come with us. Several Facebook messages later, with a couple of check on the calendar, and they were in! We were officially a group of four!
Over the course of the weeks leading up to our hike, we agreed that we would each try to check for cancellations at the North Rim Lodge, Phantom Ranch, and for meals at Phantom Ranch. A few weeks before our trip, I did manage to get a room at the Lodge, which was terrific - it was only a couple of miles from the trailhead and inside the park as opposed to a long shuttle ride that morning! I also found a steak dinner for Saturday night, which meant one less meal to carry. At one point, we got a bunk at Phantom Ranch - that was an amazing stroke of luck! It became even more important as Melissa had strained her back pretty badly during a triathlon, and sleeping on the ground might have been a nonstarter if things didn't improve. Along the way we found four breakfasts, which further lightened the loads we would carry in our rucks, but the tents and sleeping bags remained for our overnight camping.
Nothing is ever simple, though, especially when you're talking about four friends coming in from four different cities, four different states, four different airports. Add in the complexity of three of us having to coordinate with business trips, and it got a little nuts! Melissa had training in St. Louis the week before, so she had to jump through the hoops of government travel combined with personal travel. Leslie was teaching a class in Boston that didn't end until that Friday at 4pm Eastern, so we came up with a crazy plan of her flying back home to Las Vegas, where her husband would then pick her up and drive her through the night to meet us at the North Rim hotel just a few hours before we headed out to hike! Shannon and I flying directly to Phoenix looked downright boring, in comparison.
Plans were made, a spreadsheet was created, conference calls were held. We were excited and nervous and anxious and determined and all of the other emotions I suppose most people feel who attempt something big and audacious and epic. We all continued to check the lodging website, but our hopes began to flag as we got closer to our start date without any additional Phantom Ranch accommodations becoming available. There were definitely cancellations happening; we found bunks on dates on either side of our travel, and even a cabin that opened up at one point for the night after we would be there. I was beginning to get my head around camping, even looking forward to it a bit, and the Tuesday night before we left, I grabbed Caroline for help in setting up my backpacking tent in the backyard to make sure I knew what I was doing.
Finally, the day came when it was time to converge on Phoenix: Thursday, September 13th had finally arrived!! I was on the plane, on my way, and I even had leg room!!Shannon got to Phoenix first, and met me at the bottom of the escalator with sign in hand. Twenty years since we were roommates, yet the inside jokes of our early 20s still immediately crack us up and make the intervening years disappear in the blink of an eye. We grabbed the minivan (the benefit of the twenty years passing is we're way past caring that we'd be seen in a minivan and way more interested in having a vehicle that will hold four people and their stuff comfortably!!) and went to check in at the hotel, another piece of the logistics puzzle Shannon had taken care of. Back to the airport to pick up Melissa - no travel issues to this point, truly amazing! - and we were three, waiting for the fourth, with an evening to catch up over dinner and last minute preparations for the trip.
Dinner in Old Town Scottsdale was fantastic; we had a HILARIOUSLY good time and were apparently disruptive enough that the guy at the table next to us said something. A sign of things to come, I suppose!As we settled in to get a good night's sleep, I thought about my good fortune and the blessings in my life. I am healthy and fit enough to unquestioningly believe I could hike the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. I have precious girlfriends who share my enthusiasm for crazy ideas, and say yes to adventures. I have the means to hop on a plane, stay in hotels multiple nights and buy the gear needed for such a quest. I have a husband and children who support my wanderlust and absence from home to dream the crazy dreams that I do. I live in a country with an endless list of amazing things to see and do, and the freedom to roam from one to the next.
Rim to Rim would be an epic adventure, for sure - but not so much as a stand alone event. This was the beginning of another chapter in the epic adventure of this amazing life that I'm living.
Love reading this! So much joy and such an incredible adventure- thank you for sharing!
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