05/10/03
A recent article in the 9/03 edition of National Geographic Adventure
about Hyponatremia states, "The victim is typically a gung-ho lunkhead determined
to hike the Grand Canyon in a single day." D'oh!
Myself, Guy, Eric, and Chris wanted to see a lot of the Grand Canyon but
without taking much time off work. The solution was....a Rim to Rim to Rim run!
Starting at the South Rim we went to the Colorado River via the Bright Angel
Trail, up to the North Rim and back to the river via the North Kiabab Trail, and
back up to the South Rim via the Bright Angel Trail. It's suggested by the
rangers "to not attempt to hike to the river and back in one day", but
we really weren't?! There's a few water stops along the way so we didn't have to
carry more than 60oz's at any time which was nice.
We started at 3:20am and got to the river in about 3hrs covering the 9+ miles,
probably could've been slightly faster but most was by headlamp so we would
finish in the daylight (hopefully). People were looking at us with wide eyes
like we were crazy when we mentioned to them what we were trying to do. Took
about 4.5hrs to cover the approx.14miles to the North Rim. We were eating like
champs and laughing the entire way, mostly at ourselves and various nonsense. We
got back to the river in only 3.5hrs despite the 80+ degrees and blazing sun. At
this point we were dragging pretty good, but once again the humor kept us going!
Back up the Bright Angel Trail was quite a bit slower but we made the 47 miles
and 11,000ft elevation gain in a total of 15hrs and 47mins. We figured that we
ran about half of the total distance. Besides eating dust, counting steps, and
jumping over water stops, most of our time was consumed with handing out "Wah,
my pussy hurts" awards, and conversations about Camela Toe (don't ask, its
a long story), incest among the Brady Bunch, Donkey Punches, and Monkey Butt.
The pizza and beer was fabulous that night and we all limped around and groaned
most of Sunday on the ride back to Colorado.....
