Grand Canyon Marathon

Grand Canyon Run 10/21/08

Rick Wolfe and Dan Culhane have been planning a run at the Grand Canyon for a long time. (Two Years). Originally it was planned to be the Rim to Rim to Rim. 45-46 Mile run from the South Rim to the North and back in one day. It is doable and very grueling. Times range from 14-17 hrs for runners. Due to injuries and getting back up the miles an abbreviated run was planned. We were going to run the Bright Angel Trail from the rim to Phantom Ranch and back 19 Mi.

Dan has a plane and we flew to the Canyon Monday October 20^th arriving at 12:30 P.M.

We checked into our rooms at the Yavapai Lodge and picked up the shuttle right away to the rim. The view was spectacular. We walked the rim trail 2 mi. to the trailhead and checked it out. I hung out to people watch and relax. Dan went back to his room to check e-mails and make a few calls. We met at the El Tovar Bar for beer and appetizers …we made a meal out of the appetizers. Went to bed fairly early and left the rooms at 6:30 AM and caught the shuttle to the Bright Angel Trail head.

We went to the Bright Angel Coffee shop first for scones and coffee. The bartender was quite put off when all I had was a twenty dollar bill.

We started down the trail with Camelbacks, long sleeve t-shirts, hats, a dozen or so fuel bars, some FRS chews and a great attitude. There were many signs warning us not to go to the river and back, that it was very dangerous. A guy at the airport told us the price for a rescue was $5K. (There was a rescue while I was at the rim the day before). We realized that the trail was quite steep and torturous. The mule trains, logs, dust and rocks made it near impossible to run, yet we did when ever possible. We shed our gloves, long sleeves soon after we started descending. We were known on the trails as the “Runners”. Many people were trying to figure us out.

We hustled down the trail stopping at awesome vistas to take photos.

Switchback after switchback down, down, down, with stream crossings and rocks. Cascading water babbling along with birds with sweet songs filling our ears. After 2 and a half hours we hit the river. What a site, powerful and so colorful. There were two small groups of people at the river taking in the power of the river. We paused and took the river trail to the first bridge to the N. Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch. The views up and down the river were breathtaking. The trail split at the Bright Angel campground and we waited as a Mule train passed us throwing up more dust.

Phantom Ranch has cabins, dorms and a mess hall with a small store. The T-shirts that you could only buy at that store were only $27.75? They were pretty. We asked about the other trails and chose to take the S. Kaibab (Steep) trail to the Tonto Trail (fairly flat), then back to the Bright angel trail, meeting up at the Indian Garden campground. This would give us another 5 Miles. Phantom was warm and was a great setting to spend a few hours, but we were on a mission and headed up the S Kaibab. We talked with a guy who also walked down that morning as he was writing in his journal. We filled up with water (72 Oz) had a snack and headed back across the other bridge. This was our first experience on the steep up hill, we kept up a blistering 20 minute/mi. pace passing a mule train and stopping to take in the vistas from some awesome vantage points. Some of them were along cliffs and really gave us the willies.

We came to the trail junction to the Tonto trail and had another ten minute breather. I really liked the Tonto Trail. It gave us the opportunity to run and stretch out our legs. The Tonto Trail is on a plateau that is about 2/3 s the way down from the ridge. The views on the Tonto Trail were not of steep canyons but of open fields that hit walls to our left and canyons to the right. The moon was on the horizon in the bright sun also as we ran. We ran to a place called Pipe Creek where there was a vein of cottonwood. We stopped for a break at the stream crossing under the cottonwoods. Our shoes were covered with a reddish dust and there was a green reflection from the canyon walls that made our arms look green. By the time we joined the Indian Gardens junction we were getting tired. There was another trail that went to Plateau point and I told Dan, we could make the day a full marathon if we ran that to the end and back – adding another three miles to the day. Dan agreed.

As we left the tree shaded Indian Gardens, the sun was overhead and the reflection of the white dust on that trail made it hard to see rocks on the trail. I had my hat, but I could have used sunglasses at that point. The views at Plateau point were again, spectacular. We watched as some kayakers were playing in some eddies a thousand ft. down.

By the time we got back to Indian Gardens I had run out of water. The water hole was quite busy. We filled up and headed up. We did not get passed by anyone in the last 5 miles. I was actually surprised we made as good a time as we did. Back on the rim in 8.5 hours.

We had to run to catch the shuttle bus, to get back to our rooms for a shower. Dinner was not until 8 at the El Tovar. The food was very good!

Next morning we were out running at 6:30 again to watch the sunrise from Yaki Point. Lots of people there wrapped up in blankets, very cold.

Breakfast and back to the plane. We had an issue with the plane and had to wait for a mechanic to patch the problem for us to get home. A cold five hours on the tarmac. We had a tailwind coming back and were home in two hours thirty.

Tired and satisfied.

Wolfeman