I don't even know how to start to write about this crazy adventure! I visited Grand Canyon twice before - once from North rim, once from South rim, this time I saw both rims in 24 hours! It is about 14 miles from North rim to the river and they say you shouldn't even try to do it down and up in one day, it is about 9.5 miles from South rim and they discourage you from doing it in one day, well I did both in 17.5 hours! :)
We (Juergen and I) left on Wednesday afternoon and drove to Grand Canyon, with the time change in Arizona we arrived around 4 am (3 am California time), so obviously we didn't get much sleep on the way. Before we got ready to start our run/hike it was about 4.20 California time (I will write about Ca time since I didn't change the time on my watch), still dark. We started to run down, slowly, it was really cold, but clear night, there was snowstorm the day before, so we needed crampons for the beginning of the trail. I made beginner's mistake with my camel-bag which froze and I didn't have easy access to my water, but I tried to drink as much I could and eat often. I found on one website that is good to eat about 100 calories per hour and I tried to follow this advice (I ate about 2300 calories total). After about 5.5 miles we put away our headlamps and started to enjoy the beautiful views around us! At 6.50 we arrived to the Colorado river, first part behind us and it supposed to be the easiest one! But from the downhill running we started to feel our calves. Running on the canyon floor was beautiful! Moving between the rocks with views to the snowy north rim was just amazing. We run/hiked about 8 miles before it started to get steep again. Last 2-3 miles before the trailhead was covered by snow so it made movement very difficult, but we made it in 8.5 hours! 23.5 miles behind us, and 23.5 miles in front of us! It was 1 pm (2 pm local time) and we were down with water (almost no water on North rim trail). We started to run downhill, I was little bit without energy - my camel bag froze again and I didn't eat enough, but when we stopped at Roaring Springs to get more water and eat I got my energy back and I practically run next 6 miles without stopping! We got to the Colorado river at 5.20 pm - 13 hours after we left. It was already dark and we had ahead of us the last part of our adventure - about 9.5 miles uphill! To get to Indian Garden campground wasn't that bad yet, but the last 4,5 miles to the top was one of the most difficult in my life. I was out of energy, sick of all the energy bars and gels, but still going step by step to the top. Made it at 9.50 pm - 17.5 hours after we left!
PHOTOS
Ani nevim jak mam zacit psat o tomto silenem vylete! Navstivila jsem Grand canyon uz dvakrat predtim - jednou ze severni strany, jednou z jizni, tentokrat jsem videla obe dve strany behem 24 hodin! Je to asi 22.4 km ze severniho okraje k rece a rika se, ze by se clovek nemel ani pokuset sejit dolu a zpet nahoru behem jednoho dne, a je to 15.2 km z jizniho okraje a lide jsou odrazovani od vyletu k rece a zpet behem jednoho dne, dobre tak ja jsem zvladla oboji behem 17.5 hodin! :)
Juergen a ja jsme vyrazili ve stredu odpoledne a jeli do Grand Canyonu, v Arizone je uz jine casove pasmo a tak jsme prijeli ve 4 rano (3 rano Kalifornskeho casu), tak jsme samozrejme toho ani moc nenaspali. Nez jsme se nachystali k behu/ture tak bylo asi 4.20 Kalifornskeho casu (budu psat v Kalifornskem case protoze jsem si nezmenila cas na mych hodinkach), bylo stale tma. Zacali jsme pomalu bezet dolu, byla velka zima, ale jasno, prehnala se tudy ale den predtim snehova bourka a tak jsme potrebovali zakladni macky na zacatek cesty. Udelala jsem zacatecnickou chybu s mym batohem s pitnym systemem, ktery zamrzl a tak jsem nemela jednoduchy pristup k me vode, ale snazila jsem se pit a jist jak jen to slo. Na jedne webove strance jsem nasla, ze je dobre jist asi 100 kalorii v hodine a tak jsem se pokousela ridit se touto radou (celkove jsem snedla asi 2300 kalorii). Po asi 9 km jsme odlozili baterky a zacali si uzivat nadhernych vyhledu na kanon kolem nas. v 6.50 jsme dorazili ke rece Colorado, prvni cast byla zanami a to mela byt ta nejjednodussi. Ale z toho vseho behani z kopce nas zacali bolet lytka. Beh po dni kanonu byl nadherny! Propletani se mezi skalami s vyhledem na zasnezeny severni okraj bylo uzasne! Bezali/sli jsme asi 13 km nez jsme zacali prudce stoupat. Posledni 3- 5 km bylo pod snehem a tak nam to stezovalo pohyb, ale zvladli jsme to za 8.5 hodin! 37.6 km za nami a 37.6 km pred nami! Byla 1 hodina odpoledne (2 hodiny mistniho casu) a my jsme meli malo vody (na ceste na severni okraj neni skoro zadna voda). Zacali jsme opet zbyhat dolu, mela jsem malo energie, moje voda opet zamrzla a nejedla jsem jak jsem mela, ale kdyz jsme se zastavili u Roaring Springs a nabrali vodu a ja si zajedla, opet jsem ozila a vpodstate jsem nasledujicich skoro 10 km bezela bez zastaveni! K rece Colorado jsme se dostali opet v 17.20 - 13 hodin po zacatku behu. Uz bylo zase tma a my jsme meli pred sebou posledni cast naseho dobrodruzstvi - asi 15 km dokopce! K kempu v Indian Garden to jeste slo, ale poslednich 7 km na okraj bylo jednech z nejtezsich v mem zivote. Byla jsem bez enerigie, specialni gely a energeticke tycinky jsem uz nemohla ani videt, ale stale jsem sla krok za krokem az na vrchol. Dosla jsem v 21.50 - 17.5 hodin pote co jsme vyrazili!
FOTKY
