Rim2Rim Itinerary

Hiking Plan and Itinerary for Rim-to-Rim of the Grand Canyon 2024

John and I have worked out this preliminary itinerary for our travel, and the hiking plan is below as well. Click here to see the result/hike recap.

Travel Itinerary

Travel Plans / Itenerary

Day	Activity	Details	Comment
Sunday 9/22/24	Fly to Las Vegas DL2915	Depart CVG 7:10 am Arrive LAS 9:15 am Confirmation: G8AEP7	Only non-stop is Delta
Sunday 9/22/24	Rental Car - Mini Van	National Confirmation: 1468519975COUNT
Sunday 9/22/24	Drive to Red Rock Canyon	Driving Tour / Short Day Hikes
Sunday 9/22/24	Watch the "Post Cards from Earth"	Las Vegas Sphere
Sunday 9/22/24	Stay the night in Vegas	Hotel - Circus Circus
Monday 9/23/24	Drive to North Rim (5 hours)
Monday 9/23/24 - Wednesday 9/25/24	Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park North Rim, Arizona 86052 866-499-2574
Monday 9/23/24	Brett and John take mule ride 7:30 am to Supai Tunnel	ridemule@scinternet.net 435-679-8665 Powered by Peek Payment ID: PMT-AKG8YKM Transaction ID: TXN-5GPYGRZ Order ID: O-473EQ5B
Monday 9/23/24	North Rim Day Hikes
Monday 9/23/24	Dinner at North Rim Lodge 7:15 pm
Tuesday 9/24/24	North Rim Day Hikes
Tuesday 9/24/24	Dinner at North Rim Lodge 6 pm
Wednesday 9/25	Rim2Rim Hike!	Up by 3 am - On Trail by 5 am Elizabeth Shuttles to South Rim 15 Hours on Trail Finish by sunset (just before 7 pm)
Wednesday 9/25/24 - Saturday 9/28/24	Red Feather Lodge, Tusayan, AZ 86046	-
Thursday 9/26/24	iMax movie in Grand Canyon Park Theater	-
Thursday 9/26/24	Helicopter tour of Canyon 2 pm	-
Thursday 9/26/24	Sunset Humvee Tour 4 pm	-
Thursday 9/26/24	Stargazing - Jupiter's closest approach	-
Friday 9/27/24	Driving Tour of canyon / West Canyon Sky Bridge	-
Saturday 9/28/24	Drive Hoover Day	-
Saturday 9/28/24	Drive back Vegas	-
Saturday 9/28/24	Fly to Cincinnati	DL2794 LAS-CVG Departs 11:15 pm Arrives 6 am Confirmation: G8AEP7	-

Hiking Plan

Here is the general hiking plan. We'll do it in one long day. In late September the daylight hours are right about 12 even, from just before 6:30 am to just before 6:30 pm, on average.

Daytime highs (on the rim) are low 70° F (31° C), with temps at the river about 25° higher than that. Lows are upper thirties, so we'll be getting up early, and getting on-trail on the North Rim before sunrise, say 4 am, in near freezing conditions, going all day and finishing at the South Rim just before sunset in cool but comfortable conditions. It will be hot at the river, like mid 90°s F.

Overall Plan

We'll be starting on the North Kaibab Trail to the river, and take the Bright Angel Trail up to the South Rim. Once we're on-trail, Elizabeth will take our rental car and bags from our hotel on the North Rim and meet us on the South Rim. The trip will take her about 4 hours, but she'll be there well ahead of us. John and I will both have Garmin InTouch satellite messengers with us just in case.

Leg 1

As you can see from the above, I'm assuming a decent pace on the downward side of the canyon, about 3 MPH. We'll start down the North Kaibab Trail and should be at the Supai Tunnel (1) in about 30 minutes (4:30 am) where I plan our first short (~10 min) break.

Another hour down the trail should find us at Roaring Springs (2, about 5:45 am), with our first short snack/meal break (~15 min). It's super important to replace your electrolytes and keep your energy up, and so even though I'm pretty keto-adapted I do plan to eat some and take LMNT electrolytes along the way.

Leg 2

Leg two will see us to the Manzanita Rest Area in about another 15 minutes, by about 6:15 am, or just before sunrise. We'll take another quick break here (3).

We then continue on to Cottonwood Campground about 45 minutes later (4), for another quick water and stretch break.

We should then be on to Ribbon Falls (5) in another 45 minutes for a water break, marking the 1/2 point of our hike by about 8:00 am.

Leg 3

Another 5.2 miles, or about 40 minutes, will see us at the famous Phantom Ranch (6) at about 11 am where we'll break for our lunch mean and longer 30 minute rest. For these flatter sections, I'm assuming a conservative 2 MPH pace just so we don't burn ourselves out - I think we might do better. We should be at Phantom Ranch before 11 AM, which will take us through The Box, the hottest section in the canyon.

Our next stop will be the River Resthouse (7) just under an hour later, for another quick water break. We should be at the River Resthouse just after noon, and be heading on before 12:30 PM. This section will take us across the Colorado River on the Silver Bridge.

Leg 4

Then on to Havasupai (was Indian) Garden (8) by about 2 PM, for our last longer "meal" break of about 30 minutes, before we start the challenging uphill sections to the South Rim.

Finally we start up to the 3 Mile Resthouse (9), which I'm assuming about 1.5 MPH pace to reach, and over an hour of hiking uphill for a break, arriving about quarter till 4 pm. .

Leg 5

Next we move on to Mile and a Half Resthouse (10) for a short break approximately an hour later, by about 5 PM before starting the final climb.

From there the only stop is the Bright Angel Trailhead on the South Rim (11), where I'm calculating an hour and a half, and again hopefully finishing just before sunset at 6:20 PM.

Fly Home

Then we go home, victoriuos!

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