North Rim-to-South Rim of the Grand Canyon

May 23, 2011

23 Miles

1 Day

This is about a mile and a half into our Rim-to-Rim hike. We left Page at 2:45 am and reached the North Kaibab trailhead two hours later and were on the trail by 5:00 am. It was in the upper 30s when we left, but you can see that I had already ditched the jacket at this point. Here I ate one of my bagels and took two ibuprofen in preparation of the day ahead. At this point we had over 21 miles to go.

A bit daunting seeing the trail way below and knowing that is where I was going, but still awe inspiring.

What a beautiful place.

A few miles into the hike and feeling pretty good. Roaring Springs is in the background.

At the top of this cliff is the lodge at the North Rim.

I am pointing to where our final destination is. It was a bit overwhelming thinking about how far we had to go, so in order to help me not think about it I started singing primary songs at about this spot.

Ribbon Falls, just a short hike off the main trail but worth seeing.

Looking out from behind Ribbon Falls

About to enter "The Box"

Phantom Ranch

Bishop Bunting drinking lemonade at Phantom Ranch. We had lunch here and rested for awhile because from this point forward it was all uphill.

Crossing the Colorado River on the Silver Bridge

Devil's Corkscrew

I know it is kind of hard to see, but I am pointing at where we started earlier in the day.

Bishop Bunting and I on our way to the top. He was a great source of information for me as I prepared for this hike. What a tremendous man to hike the Grand Canyon with; he has so much historical knowledge about it.

One and a half miles from the top and feeling good. We took the Bright Angel Trail from Phantom Ranch. This trail had good shade and many water stops, which I very much appreciated.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. This was taken 12 hours after we started and after 23 miles of hiking- 14 miles down and 9 miles up.

Jill met us in Cameron to pick me up at the trading post where we continued our trip to Phoenix. These are the great guys that I made the trip with: Derek, Karlyn, Ron, Rob, and Steven.