A Winter R2R2R
Happy New Year! The first weekend of January, Equipped Outdoors lead a small group of guys on the trip of a lifetime! This trip would later challenge everyone both physically and mentally more than we originally planned.
As we embarked on our 3.5day R2R2R trek of the Grand Canyon, energy was high and the weather was beautiful! It was the weather was as you’d expect in January with cloudy skies, temps on the South Rim were around 35degrees and a little cloudy.
Day 1, we hiked 7+ miles down to Bright Angel campground. This trek included a 4,700’ descent. We passed about 30-40 people coming back up but nobody was going down. Still all were excited about making it down and the sights to see!
Since we didn’t start our descent until 2:30pm, we wouldn’t arrive at our campsite until closer to 7pm. Upon arriving at Bright Angel, we set up camp and prepared for our 7mi trek the next day to Cottonwood campground. This was going to be our easy day as we had a 22mi day on day 3 where we would go from Cottonwood to the North Rim and back to Bright Angel on the same day.
Day 2, We got up, packed up our gear and on we went. Day 2 is the day you trek through the canyon corridor. It is filled with enormously high walls, constant turns and stunning views. The rock formations made up of red rock, granite and more are constantly changing adding to the landscape. You also follow Bright Angel Creek; with it comes the sounds of a roaring creek. Wow! One of my favorite days!
We also stopped by Ribbon Falls! Wow! What a sight. Approximately a mile hike back to the falls where you can hike up to and behind it.
After the falls, we had ~2mi remaining. We arrived at camp and prepared our site for the night and our gear for the early start the next morning. Cottonwood Campground is 1700’ higher elevation than Bright Angel CG so it was automatically colder. This caused us to want to go to bed sooner as well.
Day 3, this was the big day! This was the planned North Rim bid and long hike back. Due to tired legs and sore knees only 2 got up at 3am. We grabbed our gear and were on our way. Strategically, we left some items at the campsite knowing we’d have lighter packs and we’d be passing through by on the way back. This began 4 hours straight of hiking the trail in the dark by headlamp. We made it to Manzanita in an hour but were paused when we saw a sign stating the trail was closed for construction. After sitting around, warming up and eating oatmeal, we decided the sign stated it was only closed from 8am-4pm and we could proceed. By sunrise, we were just below (~200’) Redwall bridge. We ate some oatmeal and talked. From here, we began to see technical ropes begin to appear over the edges of the rim and decided not to continue. It was time to turn around to ensure safety and not have any potential rock fall accidents. Once back at cottonwood, we met up with the rest of the group, packed up our camp and headed back past Ribbon Falls and back through the Corridor. All in all, we had 19mi on day 3.
As we arrived to Phantom Ranch and Bright Angel Campground, we came across some rangers and took it as an opportunity to confirm the weather forecast that our Garmin provided us. This whole time we’d seen the weather go from 10% chance of snow to 60% and 2-3” to 90% and 10” or more. Sure enough, the ranger informed us that the weather kept changing but that a winter storm was coming and would hit around 3-4 am. We thanked them and went back to our site. After setting up camp, we agreed that we would rather get ahead of the storm than be behind it so we made plans to leave at 1am the next morning. Time for another night trek!
Day 4, alarms went off at midnight. We got up, packed up our packs, checked our headlamps and were on our way. Within a mile of leaving camp we began to see flurries. The wind started picking up and by the time made it to Tipoff Point, the snow was coming down and there was about an 1” on the ground. The winds were minimal so we hung out, made some breakfast and elected to continue.
From there, things got exciting. The winds began to pick up , snow got stronger and visibility diminished. We had to hunker down several times as visibility dropped to minimal and the winds became dangerously intense. We switched to our micro spikes and gaiters which helped immensely. By the time made it Skeleton Point, I was looking for a place to hunker down and wait it out. When nothing was around we pushed forward knowing there was a bathroom shelter a mile further where we could wait it out. Every step was taken deliberately and tactically. Every step was taken in faith. We had reached a crucial moment. We needed to stick together, trust our gear and take it slow. Finally we made it to the bathrooms. We had to trudge through 10” of snow and 18-24” drifts to get to them but we made it. We pulled out the JetBoils And made some food and coffee to warm up our core temps. While we were warming, the wind died down and we realized we had a short window to continue on during the lull. We packed up our gear and continued forward. It got better and worse in sections but by 9:30am we crested the top of the South Rim and were finished!
After waiting for our shuttle, we departed and made it out just before the closed both the canyon and the Highway both ways leading to the canyon.
I couldn’t help but know that God was with us the whole time. Everyone learned a lot. We trusted out training and came out on top! What an experience!
Great job to those who participated in this trek! I know it stretched you. You should be very proud of the accomplishment of completing this adventure!
See you on the trail,
Drew
