Section 6: The Final Push
Finishing up our snacks and hydration at Phantom Ranch, we were geared up and were ready for the final leg of the run. We were about 13 hours in had just shy of 10 miles to go from Phantom Ranch to the Bright Angel Trailhead. We were filled up with the magic lemonade and some salty snacks and eager to make it out of the canyon for our 8pm dinner reservation. We figured we had to book it to get out in time for dinner, but we had a chance. We had also resigned to the fact that we were not going to make it out in time for sunset and we'd be putting our headlamps back on to finish in the dark.
At this point, it was 4:00 pm, and the sun was starting to head over the edges of the canyon from where we were. As we walked away from Phantom Ranch, we were in full shade, though it was still plenty light out, but we knew it would get dark quickly as we got going. We wandered through Bright Angel Campground and the River Resthouse, across the Silver Bridge and headed up toward Havasupi Gardens. It was interesting to retrace our steps from that morning while it was still light out. It’s a much more enjoyable section in the light.
The Silver Bridge was really impressive. In the dark, it was really cool, but you don't really get to see how amazing it actually is until you can see the full span in the daylight. We also found out how narrow it actually is because while walking across it, there were construction workers who had hiked in that were crossing the other direction to get down to Phantom Ranch. We asked them whether they hiked down and they said they do, though they didn't have much in the way of supplies on them, so I imagine those get helicoptered in or something. Pretty wild to have to walk 10 miles to work...
After we crossed the bridge and wound up a bit of the trail next to the river, things began to slow down. As I mentioned we were having to book it to get out by our dinner reservation but we were pretty tired. We were going as quick as we could to get up to Havasupi Gardens since that was the more tame section and would be good refill area. This section of the trail is also a bit more gradual on the up than the final climb, so we were trying to push. That's when things went downhill.
Slowing Down…
One of us, I won't say who, lost their lunch here, about 3.5 miles after leaving Phantom Ranch. They threw up everything in their stomach and from then forward couldn't seem to keep anything down. We pushed forward, figuring they would be able to start keeping something down as we went along. This didn't happen unfortunately, which meant dehydration and lack of nutrition was setting in.
This part of the trail is very beautiful as you summit the edge of the plateau and I'm really glad we got to experience it in the daytime. It's lush and green and very pretty. It feels like a little oasis among the more barren parts of the canyon we got for most of the trek. The creek flows down this section with force through a grand rock channel, with small waterfalls and collection pools. There's a mix of dirt and rock trail that follows along the trail, crossing it at sections, which provides a number of opportunities to dunk your hat or other gear. The water is beautifully cold and refreshing and I put my hat in the creek every time we crossed it. I will say, however, that at this point, crouching down to do so was a risk that I'd never stand back up due to fatigue or cramping in my legs.
You know when you are running and you're just gassed and have been going a lot time, but your legs just keep moving, almost as if you're not controlling them? That's how my body felt. It was almost on autopilot at this point and just wanted to keep going until we were done.
We were able to get up to Havasupi Gardens, right as it was getting dark, and it seemed to get dark quick. As we were walking up to the campground, we came across a rattle snake on the edge of the trail, which was crazy. It was about 4 feet long and had a head the size of a baseball. The good news was that it wasn't coiled, it was just laying fully stretched in the brush next to the trail. Regardless, I walked past on the other side of the trail keeping as much distance as I could.
When we got to the water stop I broke out my final peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which turned out to be incredible. I mentioned PB and honey being not so great earlier, but PBJ is amazing. The jelly does a really nice job of adding moisture to the bread and overcoming the stickiness of the peanut butter. It was exactly what I needed for food because at this point, I did not want any more waffles or gels. I only wanted real food. This was our final climb to come, so I also put down a bit of trail mix and loaded up a tailwind in my second flask figuring I’d just make it in liquid carbs for the remainder of the hike.
While we were at this stop, we came across a few other groups that were struggling as well. There was a family doing rim-to-rim. Mom, dad, two daughters in their 20's and one husband. The younger daughter was having a really tough time and trying to prepare for the final climb. There was also a guy who was looking for his brother who he'd somehow "lost" (or left), and another guy who had hiked down to rescue his wife who had done rim to river and was not able to get back out due to some kind of diabetic insulin issue. And finally there was a guy who was waiting for some of his crew that he had outpaced who was talking to his friends up on the rim through a walkie talkie, which in hindsight, would be a really smart thing to have since cell service was almost nonexistent through the bulk of the trail.
We rested here for 10 minutes, trying to get our man to eat and drink. Unfortunately, this resulted in more throwing up instead. We focused on little sips of water, tiny bites of apple and anything small we could get in there just to keep him going. We were almost there, only 4.5 miles to go, but we knew we had a real concern if he couldn’t keep food and liquids down, which started our concern.
We set out after 10 minutes in the dark, headlamps on, and planned to just take it as slow as we needed to in order to keep moving and get some very small amounts of liquid and food in our guy as we went. We were crawling at about 1 mph. We left Havasupi Gardens at about 6:30pm and it took us until almost 8pm to get to our next stop which was the 3 mile Rest House. Somehow our man made it there through sheer force of will, but this is where things got bad.
When we got to the rest house, we started getting really concerned because he kept throwing up and really couldn’t keep anything down. He looked terrible, not like himself, and was physically slowing down. This rest house has an emergency phone, and at this point we weren’t sure what to do, so after trying to get him to eat and drink for about a half hour or so, we called the emergency line, which went to a dispatch medic. They gave us the code to a lock box that was behind the resthouse which was had first aid supplies, electrolyte packets, salty snacks and a couple emergency sleeping bags and sweatshirts.
The assessment at the time was that our guy had heatstroke and so they gave us some instructions on how to manage him. First, since he was overheated, we had to reset his body temperature. This meant stripping him down, soaking a bunch of clothes and covering him in the cold clothing to cool him down. Once he was feeling really cold, we put him in a sleeping bag and had to get him to suck on tiny pieces of salty chips (we had Pringles) until they dissolved in his mouth, and to keep trying to take very very small sips of water. They said try this for an hour or two and then see if he has enough energy to hike out at that point. The waiting game began.
While we were tending to our guy, the family we encountered back at the Havasupi Gardens water stop showed up and the younger daughter (20’s) was also having issues keeping food and liquid down. She wasn’t quite at the level of our guy, but we helped her out with some of the salty snacks that were in the lock box and gave her the same advice that we had gotten from the emergency line medic. They hung around the rest house going through the same thing for a couple hours before they tried to make the final 3 mile climb.
For those two hours, all our focus was on our guy and trying to make sure that he was getting everything in that he could. We also called our wives and let everyone know what was going on. Mine is a Nurse Practitioner, so she had some helpful suggestions and had some theories about what might be going on.
At this point it’s nearly 10pm and pitch black outside. I laid on one of the rock ledge walls of the rest house and tried to rest my body while looking at the stars. It was very uncomfortable, but nice to lay out horizontally.
The stars were out like I’ve never seen before. There is absolutely no light pollution there, so I could see deep into space, including a the Milky Way laid across the middle of the sky in a beautiful ribbon of dim, misty light. One constellation that I couldn’t stop looking at was Orion’s Belt. I can see this constellation very often from my home in Austin, but out in the Grand Canyon without any city lights, it was so much more impressive. I realize that there aren’t that many stars that make up Orion’s Belt, but that night, it appeared that the bow was four times longer and had a hundred stars that crafted its broad curve. It was absolutely stunning. And as I was just staring at the sky, there seemed to be shooting star every minute. What a night. This was a moment to reflect and appreciate just what we are a part of.
Back to reality. After a couple hours it didn’t seem like our guy was doing much better so we called the medic back who connected us with Search and Rescue. We were concerned that even if we were to wait until morning, we weren’t sure he would be able to get out of the canyon on his own so we asked about options. The Search and Rescue team on the phone told us that this happens all the time and that there were already too many people out in the canyon that night having similar issues and that they didn’t have enough rangers to come get us all. They reassured us that he just needed more rest and to continue the micro-consumption plan. They said “you guys need to stay together and spend the night at the rest house.” They told us that even if we tried to move right then, there was already another group sleeping at the 1.5 mile rest house (we assumed it was the family that left a couple hours before). So we prepared to wait out the night right there.
We decided to go for shifts. One person would tend to our man, and the other two would try to sleep. The only problem was there was no where to sleep. I went back to the ledge to lay down and try but it was getting cold out there. It was probably in the high 50’s at that point, which normally wouldn’t be too bad, but we had burned 8,000 calories to that point and my body was not stored up to weather the cold. In the lock box there were a couple sweatshirts and one other sleeping back with a paper thin foam pad. Me and one other guy laid out the pad on the dirt next to the rest house, unzipped the sleeping bag and try to huddle next to each other and sleep. It was like trying to squeeze two guys in one of those really small two person camping tents. It worked to stay somewhat warm, but trying to sleep on that rocky dirt ground was miserable. I think I was out for maybe 30 minutes.
By 4:30am, we were kind of restless and all four of us were up. We checked on our man and at that point, he seemed a bit more lucid and more energetic. We discussed trying to get out of there and he agreed. Let’s gear up and go!
At around 5:15am, we left the 3 mile rest house and started the final climb. We were crawling, but we knew we would be and it was all about supporting our guy. We had an 8:30am breakfast reservation, so we figured we might actually make it out in time to be there. Our guy was a trooper keeping a decent pace and combined with regular breaks, continuing to try to eat very small amounts (like a single Cheez-It) and drinking small sips of water, we made it.
Maybe it was the break at the rest house, but I was feeling really good. I was running ahead and back. Getting water for the group as needed. Helping other hikers along the way and just generally being in a really good mood. I was ready to run out of there. Of course the key to all this was to stick together and grind it out as a group. We did that.
The sun came up at about 6am and the views were stunning. We took a moment to look back at the canyon and take some pictures. We also stopped to look back at where we stayed the night, at the 3 mile rest house, and I realized just how incredible the location was. That rest house is perched up on a jutting cliff corner with major drop offs right at the edge of the rest house structure.
We reached the trailhead at about 7:20am and were all smiles. Despite the challenges along the way and the extra time taken, we were elated to have finished the journey. We took some pictures and decided to head to the lodge, shower up and get over to breakfast! Our guy seemed to be feeling a little better. He hadn’t thrown up since the middle of the night and he seemed more energetic and bright. Here we are at the trailhead feeling high from our accomplishment.
All told, we traveled about 52 miles door to door, according to my watch. My watch actually said 54 miles, but I could see a couple spots on the map where the GPS went haywire. Overall though, the map seemed pretty accurate to the trail. Our total time if you’re counting, was about 27 hours, but our move time was about 17 hours. If we had not spent the night at the rest house, we were on track to hit about 18 or 19 hours total time, including stops. It wasn’t meant to be this time, though we still achieved our primary goal: spend some unforgettable time together with each other and finish the trek that caps off 6 months of rigorous training.
There is more to the story, but I won’t go into it here, but what I will leave you with is that this is an experience like no other. There are plenty of accounts from other people doing this trek and after having done it myself, I appreciate each and every one of them even more. I feel like through this journey we’ve joined a community of people with the Grand Canyon in our blood. As we were driving back to Phoenix someone asked “would you do it again?” At that point, I said “ no way,” but it only took a couple days for the text messages to start creeping in: “so…when are we going back?” This is the pull that an adventure like this creates.
Perhaps the best part of the journey was the six months of training we all did together, though located in different places. The daily text messages of progress and encouragement. The video calls to plan and listen to the experiences and expertise of others. It's all part of a larger journey that stretches well beyond the day of the run itself. On one of our check in calls prior to the trip, I said "progress is addicting," and it turns out that this couldn't be more true. The effort spent building to such a major event is the reward, especially done with people you care for and admire.
We had struggles along the way, injuries, interruptions and more. And on the day of our run, we ran into a major hurdle that we didn’t expect, and couldn’t have planned for, but our progress was clear, though we left something unfinished.
We will be back…