Was lazy and slept in when the alarm went off.
It's Grand Canyon week! I've come up with an ultra crazy Grand Canyon Adventure. My biggest GC adventure yet, even bigger than my R2R2R2R2R.
What I want to do is attempt to establish an end-to-end speed record on the remote and rugged Tonto Trail, from South Bass Trail on the West to Hance Rapids on the East. That is about 86.5 miles, (likely 5 or more). (I would get a GPS measurement). The Trail actually extends further on both ends but is less of a trail, more like routes. I've already run 45 miles of this trail several times so very familiar with what this will take.
This would be pretty crazy because it would require a bunch more miles than that, for about 100 miles in the canyon and 121 miles total.
To get to the start would require a 21-mile dirt road forest run up on the rim to get to the South Bass Trailhead from Grand Canyon village. I could try to find someone to drive me to the trailhead or pay someone big money to do it, but the drive takes two hours on rough roads. Why not just run it, on a more direct route? So, I will likely run it the day before and then spend the night along South Bass, starting my run in the morning at the crack of dawn.
I would have several bail-out points along the way if I needed to cut it short and climb out of the canyon, at Tonto Trail miles: 26, 36, 51, 56, 75. and 80. This week will be ideal for water with the big storm over the weekend. There will be snow right below the rims and water in most the drainages so I can travel light.
At the end I would need to hitch hike back to Grand Canyon Village.
This could be tougher than I can do. We shall see. The problem with the trail because it traverses the drainages in the same direction, it is always sloping somewhat to the left. That can really wear on the feet and knees after long miles.
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