Genny

After reconnecting with my college friend, Genny, at our friend’s wedding, we started scheming up a running adventure.  At first it was running around Mt. Hood, but we missed that window.  When I started planning my spring break I realized I might be able to make the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-Rim run happen.  This had been on my mind for a few years now and seemed to be lining up perfectly.  I was in good shape, I had the time off work, my wife was away for the month at a meditation retreat…I just needed a Genny!

Turns out, she wasn’t too hard to convince!

In Mid-March we met up in Boise.  Shortly after, Genny, her husband Andrew, and I were headed down south to the the Big Ditch.  After a romantic evening in Kanab, UT and a really nice trail run, we had arrived.

We waded our way through the traffic, checked in at the ranger office, set up camp, ate dinner, packed our packs, checked out the trail-head (this is one of the best things we did), and went to bed.

We woke: March 24, 2:45AM – We successfully ate breakfast and took our morning poops.

Andrew drove us to the South Kaibab parking lot and we walked the mile(ish) down to the trail-head and at 4:45AM we-were-off!  It felt so good to be running – all the planning and anticipation were behind us and all we had to do was run.

The three of us ran down to Phantom Ranch where we said good-bye to Andrew.  According to Andrew he saw ‘no less than 1500 tourists’ on his way back up the South Rim!  Also, he ran out of water…

Heading up the North Rim

Running up was going great, but Genny did have a minor bonk as we got into the steeper stuff.  Here is a picture of Genny at her ‘low point.’  As we made our way higher and higher we encountered more and more snow.  We also encountered a mini-fridge sized bolder whizz by us!  There was a lot of debris all about the trail, and with the snow, the going got slow.

The North Rim

We had been told that there was one water spigot with flowing water on the North Rim.  After an hour of running around we finally found the water.  Pro Tip:  get very clear directions from the back-country ranger on how to find the water!

Out-And-BACK

Well, they don’t call it rim-to-rim-to-rim for nothing!

Some highlights from the return trip:

-Nice running, nice people, scorpion sightings, finishing in dark, and seeing Andrew waiting at the top for us!

The End

So grateful this adventure happened! Thanks, Genny and Andrew!