R3: Let’s Start From the Beginning
This is a series of posts that I’m doing to share my experience in doing the Grand Canyon Rim2Rim2Rim run with 3 of my good friends on October 5th, 2024. These posts are intended to serve two purposes. First is to ensure that I document our journey so that we have a record to look back on and when we do this again, to build from. The second goal here is to be a resource for others, and hopefully offer a fun story along the way, as you may be researching how to attack this monster of an adventure yourself.
I’ll take you from start to finish and ensure to cover the essentials, like gear, nutrition, training, and what you might expect on your journey. The posts will each tackle one topic and the actual event will be broken up into the different legs of our experience by sections of the route.
But first, a little background on us…
Where We’re Coming From
We’re four friends that have known each other since almost high school. We are all now around 40, but are in good shape, relatively speaking. Vijay and Evan have each done an Ironman and I’ve run a couple marathons. Scott on the other hand had never run more than 6 miles, but he’s also a fitness madman, so he was all about the physical and mental challenge ahead.
We talk regularly as a group, including some of our other long time friends. Life goals, life resumes, individual flywheels for growth and other frameworks for expanding our personal awesomeness are a regular topic of discussion. At some point late in 2023, Vijay sent out an article about the concept of Misogi, documented by Jesse Itzler. This idea comes from a Japanese purification ritual of cleansing the body and mind through water, by doing a cold plunge or standing under a waterfall. The idea has come to take on a more modern meaning based on the idea that you can take on a challenge that pushes you to the limit of your potential and by doing so, can realize a new version of yourself, one that is stronger and more capable than you could previously imagine.
We discussed the idea for a while trying to think of potential challenges when Scott ran across one of his wife’s coworkers that had done R3 like 30 times. This guy was apparently crazy, maybe approaching David Goggins level. So Scott, being the ambitious guy he is, challenged our whole group of 12 guys to do it. We ended up with 4, but the four of us, Chris, Scott, Vijay and Evan, couldn’t have been a better team and our collective commitment to the goal was clear from early on.
Prior to this trip, I had only been to the Grand Canyon once in my life and only for about 30 minutes before sunset. When I was moving to Austin from Seattle in 2008, my dad and I drove down together in my Honda Accord, stuffed to the brim with everything I owned. We took an 11 day journey to get there, stopping along the way in San Francisco, Vegas (had to gamble, play golf and catch a show) and for 30 minutes at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The problem is that I have no actual memory of the view of the canyon from that stop, so I was incredibly excited to get back there and really experience this place.
Apparently only like 1% of people that visit the canyon each year venture down the canyon. If that’s how few even venture below the rim, I wonder how many run across it…twice? That sounds like a challenge worthy of being called Misogi.
Two Big Choices
The Route
You’ve probably found out by now, that there are multiple different routes you can take when doing R3. The most popular seems to be the South Kaibab Trailhead to the North Kaibab Trailhead and then back up the South side via the Bright Angel Trailhead. This route is somewhere around 43 miles as I understand it (though accounts differ) and is apparently a stunning route down the South Kaibab trail. The only issue is that you don’t really get to experience that part of the trail if you’re leaving early in the morning well before sunrise. It is shorter to get to Phantom Ranch (we’ll go through all the stops later) but there is no water along this stretch of trail and it’s a couple miles or so to get from the village to the trailhead.
To keep things simple we chose to start and finish at the Bright Angel Trailhead.
Pre-pic at the starting line the morning before our run.
We wanted zero logistics the morning of the run. We wanted to stay close to the trailhead, wake up, get ready and more or less walk out the door to the trailhead and get rolling. So, we chose this route and our lodging to enable this option. In hindsight this was a great way to tackle this adventure for the first time.
The Date
There is an entire year’s worth of dates that you could choose to do this run, but there are two times of year that are most ideal, for a number of reasons.
Things to consider include the following:
Day time temperature - it can get really hot down in the canyon and water is heavy
Morning / night temperature - Bummer if you have to pack a bunch of cold gear
Availability of water on the trail - they turn the water off for winter and wandering off trail to the river/creek to filter and fill is a pain
Likelihood of rain and snow - the less clothing you have to pack, the better
Sunrise / sunset times - running in the dark is nice, but you miss out on a lot
Ultimately, we chose to go in October, the 5th to be exact, which was a Saturday, which looked like an ideal time to go. Water was on at almost all stations, rim temperatures at night were in the 50’s so completely bearable, but it did turn out to be very hot midday in the bottom of the canyon, reaching 105°F, which we were not expecting.
The other time of year that’s often used is spring, right after water is turned on and temperatures start warming back up. If you go too early in the year it’s not uncommon to have freezing temperatures at the south and north rims, and snow on the ground as you ascend the north rim. This makes things pretty challenging, but might be a good option depending on your preferences.
Whatever you ultimately choose, take care to consider all the implications of your choices on the date and the route. It will take some careful thought and research and if you plan deliberately, you’ll be fine.
What To Expect From Here
So the remainder of the posts will recount all I could recall. If you have an experience you want to share, send me a message (link in site footer) and maybe I could put up a post or series of your experiences too? Why not bring the community closer together and help each other out with more coverage to leverage as we all plan our future challenges?
Enjoy the journey…it is the real reward.