Pictures!
The forecast improved so Thanksgiving afternoon I decided to go ahead and travel to the Grand Canyon to do my run. But, as I approached the North Rim entrance at 7:30 p.m. I went through dangerously cold pockets of air. It got down to -18. That is minus 18 F!! It really freaked me out. I envisioned finishing my 90-mile run in below zero temperatures moving very slowly up the North Rim. What if the car wouldn't start because of the bitter cold? No one would be around ot help because the services at the rim are closed. I decided to turn around at the North Rim entrance. I wasn't willing to take on that danger.
Instead, I decided to make the long drive around the canyon to the South Rim and then do a shorter but amazing run during the next day when it would be warmer. I arrived around 11 p.m. The motels were all crowded and I knew would be expensive, so I decided to just sleep in my car at the Bright Angel Trailhead. It was 12 degrees. I had a warm sleeping bag and blankets. I woke up every 90 minutes to turn on the car and heat.
At 5:30 a.m. I was away, running down Bright Angel Trail. There was snow and ice for the first mile or so, so I had to be pretty careful. I arrived at Indian Garden in 1:05 and it was warmer but still below freezing. They had left the water fountain flowing a little to prevent the pipes from freezing. It was now bright enough to pack away me light.
Instead of taking the usual route down to the river, I turned west (downriver) and ran along the West Tonto Trail which rolls along the Tonto Platform about 1,000 feet above the river. I've been on this section of the trail twice before and I love it. It is a primative trail that only gets foot traffic (no mules). It is tough to run it fast because of many rocks along the way. I struggled to run at a pace faster than 12:00. I didn't want to try blasting down the technical trail because if I had a bad face-plant, I was far away from any help. There are also many nice long smooth sections where I could increase the speed.
The sun started to shine on the rims above and exploded my eyes with colors. I love watching the sun rise down inside the canyon. It was so peaceful and quiet. I ran into my first humans at Monument Creek (mile 15.4). As I descended toward the creek, I could see about 20-30 backpackers down below breaking their camp for the day. I passed others making their way westward to Hermit Creek. There were all surprised to see a solo runner, but I didn't stop to explain.
At Hermit Creek (mile 19.2) I decided to do an out and back to the Colorado River to view the Hermit Rapids. That trail down to the river followed Hermit Creek and it was slow going because it would keep crossing the creek and going through bushes. The Hermit Rapids on the Colorado River was amazing and well worth the effort, but it put me a little behind schedule.
I continued on westward toward Boucher Creek. I ran past more backpackers. The views were incredible and I will post pictures later. I kept getting delayed because I wanted to stop for pictures and also to view everything that I was going past.
At Boucher Canyon, I missed the junction for the trail up to the rim. I think I was looking at my GPS and ran right by it. So I did an extra mile until I figured things out. Finally I was on the primative Boucher Trail that would take me to Hermits Rest on the South Rim. This trail was created by a Hermit who lived down at Boucher Creek.
This was the 5th trail that I have used to ascend to the South Rim. It was slow, tough, going, but I was having a blast. I loved that trail because it was tough and varied from hand-foot scrambling to runnable sections. At one point it climbed through the Supai formation making its way through boulders the size of houses.
I kept an eye on my watch. I really wanted to reach to top before sunset so there would be no risk at missing the shuttle that would take me eight miles back to my car. I really didn't want to run those miles in the dark on the bitter cold rim. The last mile, as with all climbs up to the rim, was like a steep death march. I ran out of water and was getting very cold. I reached the top at 5:30 p.m. just as it got dark. No one was around Hermits Rest. I could feel hypothermia setting in as I was still wet from sweat. I went to the shuttle stop, but it was quiet, cold, and dark. I went to the gift shop, saw someone in the warm store, and I knocked on the door. The guy didn't let me in but explained that the shuttle would be along in about ten minutes.
I did my best to stay warm and eventually just had to start running down the road. I flagged down the shuttle when it finally came and the driver was so very nice to me. It was warm inside and he helped me get water that I desperately needed. He was very concerned, never before seeing someone trying to recover from a long run. On the drive back I started to shiver like crazy. I took out my emergency blanket and that helped. The driver dropped me off only 100 yards from my car and once I got inside, cranked up the heat, and drank a ton, I felt much better.
I drove for the next six hours and then slept until dawn in my car in a location that was 31 degrees. I finally arrived home at 8:30 a.m. It was a wonderful adventure. | 