I am very much looking forward to hiking in the Grand Canyon on October 10. I am doing a rim-river-rim loop, starting on the South Kaibab trail going to the Bright Angel campground on the Colorado river and then taking Bright Angel trail back up. While it can be done much faster, I am looking at taking as much time as it takes with available sunlight.
This will be the hardest test of my physical endurance since Ironman last year and my recovery process since then. The training I have been doing in the last few weeks specifically for this trip and in general the month prior, has been going well. I've have overreached a few times since but I have not made the same mistakes twice.
One of the positives is that I have decades of hiking under my tread and over the last couple of years I have transitioned from a heavy backpacker carrying 50-80 pounds per trip to a light hiker carrying a pack weighing less than 30 total pounds for three days, water and food included. This has really helped me with conserving energy. I'd love to be an ultralight hiker and could be with some changes but I enjoy having some comfort items and extra preparedness gear.
Its adding to my starting pack weight but to be on the safe side I am going to carry all my water with me, two 100 ounce reservoirs, from the start. I may or may not be able to refill on the trail, except down at the river and want to be prepared for that. One is plain water, one mixed with 700 calories of Gatorade Endurance. Starting pack weight with all my gear plus food and water will be about 17 pounds and when I finish without water and food will weigh about 3 pounds.
The gear I am taking including the pack, but minus food and fluids, only weighs about 3 pounds. This is certainly ultralight but I am trading my both my comfort and preparedness items for the fact that this is a one day hike and both these trails are heavily tracked by hikers and park rangers with emergency phones at several locations. So there is no need for additional gear, just what I need to eat, drink and deal with inclement weather.
There is only two things that really scare me. First, its a loop and once committed there is no option to bug out. If I am dehydrated or bonk on my way back up, there is no real rescue by going back down to the campground. All I can do is slow down and keep moving towards the rim. Second, is that in August when I got my most recent heat injury, it was something that came upon me quite suddenly when usually I am fully aware of my body ahead of time.
The best I can do to limit these issues is take my time on the trail and hydrate and eat regularly. Doing these should get me through just fine. I can't control the weather but the time we're going is stastically a great weather window and cooler than what I train in now.
Looking forward to a great day.
This will be the hardest test of my physical endurance since Ironman last year and my recovery process since then. The training I have been doing in the last few weeks specifically for this trip and in general the month prior, has been going well. I've have overreached a few times since but I have not made the same mistakes twice.
One of the positives is that I have decades of hiking under my tread and over the last couple of years I have transitioned from a heavy backpacker carrying 50-80 pounds per trip to a light hiker carrying a pack weighing less than 30 total pounds for three days, water and food included. This has really helped me with conserving energy. I'd love to be an ultralight hiker and could be with some changes but I enjoy having some comfort items and extra preparedness gear.
Its adding to my starting pack weight but to be on the safe side I am going to carry all my water with me, two 100 ounce reservoirs, from the start. I may or may not be able to refill on the trail, except down at the river and want to be prepared for that. One is plain water, one mixed with 700 calories of Gatorade Endurance. Starting pack weight with all my gear plus food and water will be about 17 pounds and when I finish without water and food will weigh about 3 pounds.
The gear I am taking including the pack, but minus food and fluids, only weighs about 3 pounds. This is certainly ultralight but I am trading my both my comfort and preparedness items for the fact that this is a one day hike and both these trails are heavily tracked by hikers and park rangers with emergency phones at several locations. So there is no need for additional gear, just what I need to eat, drink and deal with inclement weather.
There is only two things that really scare me. First, its a loop and once committed there is no option to bug out. If I am dehydrated or bonk on my way back up, there is no real rescue by going back down to the campground. All I can do is slow down and keep moving towards the rim. Second, is that in August when I got my most recent heat injury, it was something that came upon me quite suddenly when usually I am fully aware of my body ahead of time.
The best I can do to limit these issues is take my time on the trail and hydrate and eat regularly. Doing these should get me through just fine. I can't control the weather but the time we're going is stastically a great weather window and cooler than what I train in now.
Looking forward to a great day.
5 comments:
Sooo jealous. I would love to hike the GC.
So how far in distance & time is the route you taking?
Hope all goes well!
Sounds like a fabulous journey and I expect you won't be out there all alone so you should be fine. Enjoy!
Sound like a great time, that is one of my goals when I move back West!
Just be careful though because I want for you to still be with it, and be able to track me in Hawaii!...see how it always comes back to me?
Hope you have an awesome time hiking. Cannot wait to see how it goes.
Have fun!
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