2012 October R2R
The Rookie Year
📅 Date
20 October 2012
⏱️ North Rim Start Time
6:56 AM local time
🥾 Hike Time
12 hours 10 minutes
Once upon a time…
The Grand Canyon Rim To Rim adventures started with Staci’s good friend Mike. Mike and his wife, Jerilyn, had been doing the Rim 2 Rim (R2R) hike 🥾 for many years with a group. A friend and hiker organized bus 🚌 transportation for fellow hikers 🥾🥾 to the Grand Canyon each year. In 2012 Mike and Jerilyn got pregnant and weren’t able to use their R2R tickets. Mike offered 🤝 and sold 💲 the bus 🚌 fare to Staci and thus began the sisters 👧👧🏻 Grand Canyon R2R adventures!
WARNING: There are no easy trails into or out of the Grand Canyon!
There were 6 buses total. The sisters 👧👧🏻 drew bus #5 and settled in for the ride from Phoenix, Arizona to the Kanab, Utah.
The buses stopped by Black Barts RV Park AND Steakhouse for lunch
The busses stopped to let the hikers 🥾 take a field trip to the Navajo Bridge that spans the Colorado River.
Top of North Rim, North Kaibab Trail 07:00 AM and the sisters 👧👧🏻 are a little chilly! 🧊
North Kaibab sunrise at Coconino Overlook
Mile 1 is DONE! ~23.5 more miles to go!
Beautiful sister 👧, beautiful morning!
Mile 4!
Roaring Springs waterfall
7 miles down 📉, halfway to Phantom Ranch, almost one-third of the way to the South Rim
Mile 9 and feeling fine! ❣️
Mile 10 and wondering WHEN we will get to the Grand Canyon floor and Phantom Ranch!
From the north side the Colorado River looking across the bridge that will connect to the Bright Angel Trail
Colorado River view from the south side
Shadonna leading the way
The trail the sisters 👧👧🏻 walked 🥾 seems so far below now!
Mile 16 and going up in elevation! 📈
Bright Angel sign give the sisters 👧👧🏻 confidence they are on the correct trail.
The sisters are not alone! Animals on the sides of the trails grab a meals of berries as the sun begins to retire for the night!
~12 hours after they began the hike 🥾 on the North Rim the sisters 👧👧🏻 stand atop the South Rim
2012 was a hot 🌞 year! The high on the South Rim was 77. This means Phantom Ranch was ~97. The yellow highlight is the hiking time.
Calorie intake required to sustain energy. Despite their efforts to learn, the sisters 👧👧🏻 were naive about the nutrition requirements. The food on the rookie year was a collection of advice - both good and bad - from MANY sources!
Data collected by Staci's Garmin Forerunner 910XT watch. ⌚