@November 29, 2020
In early November, I ran Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon. In short, this means starting at the top of one end, descending into the canyon, then finishing at the top of the opposite end.
There are a few ways to do this route. You can go from north to south, or south to north. On the south side, you can choose either the Bright Angel Trailhead or the South Kaibab Trailhead to start or finish. On this occasion, I ran from North Kaibab to Bright Angel, which is about 23 miles.
The direction you choose has more of a logistical impact than an effect on the run itself. The North Kaibab Trailhead is very remote. Because you have to go around the canyon to reach it, it’s about a 4 hour drive from Flagstaff. The Bright Angel Trailhead, on the other hand, is only about and hour and half away.
This means you will have a very long drive either before or after your run. And of course, there’s the problem of getting back to your car on the opposite side of the canyon. To handle this, we split into two groups. The first group drove from Flagstaff to Bright Angel on the morning of the run. The second group drove to North Kaibab the night before and camped near the trailhead. We exchanged keys when our paths crossed in the middle, and drove each others cars back to Flagstaff.
I was part of the second group. Dispersed camping is allowed on the north rim, so finding a place to sleep near the trailhead was easy enough. However, November nights can be quite cold. It started to snow as we began setting up tents, dropping into the 20s at night. I should reiterate that the north rim is very remote—there is no food or water nearby. This means that if you’re camping, you should bring supplies for the night beforehand. And if you’re leaving a car for folks coming from the south rim, you should make sure it’s stocked with food and water for the group finishing there.
The route
We woke up at 6am on the north rim, packed up camp, and started the run with the sunrise. Since it’s such a popular hiking route, the trail is very runnable. There are cliff edges, but the trail is always quite wide.
Even though we were running, we weren’t necessarily in a hurry. We stopped for a bit at Phantom Ranch, at the bottom of the canyon, where there are restrooms. It’s also possible to refill water here, but it’s not guaranteed that the fountains are on. The National Park Service reports where water is accessible along the route, but availability changes throughout the season.
Gear
Since it was cold in the morning, I had two extra layers, but those were quickly stuffed in the back of the pack after descending a bit. This time of year, it was about 30 degrees at the start, then rose to 70 in the canyon, and dropped back into the 40s at the top of South Rim.
- Base layer, long sleeve
- Insulating layer, Patagonia nano-puff
- T-shirt
- Path Projects shorts
- Salomon ADV Skin pack
- 2.5L of water (1.5L in a bladder, two 500ml flasks)
- Headlamp, for the start
- Hat
- Sunglasses
- HOKA Speedgoat trail shoes
I’d love to run this again. Next time, we might try Rim to Rim to Rim, starting from the south side. The descent and flat miles to start make the beginning very enjoyable, which helps with the massive climb to come. That said, the grade never gets too steep, so even the climb itself can be paced quite nicely.