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Grand Canyon Adventure Travel

My brothers and I decided to try to do the "Rim to Rim to Rim" hike in 24 hours. We had seen reports elsewhere on the web of hikers doing this so we decided to try. The total distance is 47 miles. with a total of 10,000 feet down and 10,000 feet up.

We drove to the Grand Canyon on a Thurday night and camped in one of the car camprounds along the South Rim. We got up at 2 AM so that we could have a quick breakfast and be on the the trail by 3:30 AM. We took Bride Angel Trail down to the Colorado.

We used CamelBak packs to facilitate hydration and to carry warm gear. Each of us consumed a total of about 12 liters of water during the hike. Our warm gear included long underwear, fleece jackets, fleece hats, and hiking pants with zip-off legs. We also brought hats for the sun and block.

We finally reached the North Rim at 1:20 PM. So the first 23.5 miles took us just under 10 hours. At that point we were reassured that the trip was doable. We even began thinking of going for an even better time. However, the exhaustion, wear, and tear than began to sink in. The knees of several of us began to flare up. Ankles were sprained, and exhaustion set in.

With seventeen miles left we started to get concerned that we would not make our goal within the 24 hour target. However, amazingly, we finished in 22 hours and 28 minutes. Although, not everyone needed the fleece jackets, they are good to take along in case of emergency. With extreme exhaustion our bodies can have difficulty keeping warm. Temperature got down to about 40 degree F.