November 5, 2005
After two weeks since my last double crossing, the big ditch was calling me again. I decided to try a solo crossing to see how fast I could do it. I drove to the North Rim Friday evening, arriving at about 9:30 p.m. After making preparations and failed attempts to sleep, a little after midnight I decided to just go ahead and start.
The temperatures were warmer than two weeks ago, so I decided to travel very light, carry no warm clothes. I also only brought one water bottle, but figured that I could fill some empty Ensure bottles for the trip back. My goal was to cross over from the North Rim to the South Rim in under 6 hours and to return in under 7 hours, for a total under 13 hours. My previous best double crossing was about 14.5 hours.
Down I went. This time, there would be no sight-seeing or picture taking. In fact for the entire trip I would only sit down for about one minute. I felt super during this long, steep decent. I concentrated hard to keep my speed up, use gravity well, avoid unnecessary braking, and keep a straight line down the trail.
I reached Supai Tunnel in 18 minutes, a great start. I reached the Roaring Springs trail junction at 52 minutes, just two minutes off my goal. I pushed harder. At 1:15 I reached Cottonwood Campground (6.9 miles). I was right on schedule. The temperature was still relatively cool, and my stomach was still pretty full, so I wasn’t pushing the liquids. This was a mistake, because on this next section I started to get a little dehydrated and started to slow down. At 2:45 I reached Phantom Ranch (mile 14).
The trip up to the South Rim went well. Near Indian Garden Campground I ran into a couple groups coming down, moving pretty fast, still in the dark. I suspected that they were also attempting a double crossing (Sure enough they were, but only one person would succeed). I kept up a pretty good pace heading up the steep Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim. I started to fade with a mile to go, but pushed the best I could to beat the 6-hour mark. I ran into many day hikers, starting their hikes down into the canyon. Dawn was arriving. I had made the entire first crossing in the dark. I reached the top at 5:55, touched the trailhead sign and immediately started running down again. The day hikers soon saw me running past them and recognized that they had seen me before. One guy joked, “what’s the matter? Did you leave your wallet at the bottom?” I told him that I was doing a double crossing. That left him flabbergasted.
I hoped to make the trip from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch in 2:45. Pain started to set in and I slowed somewhat. There were a couple other people running down the trail and I tried to stay ahead of them. I soon left them well behind. I reached Phantom Ranch in 2:43. I was seven minutes ahead of my goal pace. At the canteen (store) I caught up with a friendly group that I had run into when I was ascending the South Rim. They were a group from the Salt Lake City area attempting a double crossing and were delighted to find out that I also running a double. They were surprised to hear that I was already on my way back. I was surprised to hear that they had started so late and were going so slow. I ran with them in The Box for a while and learned that two of them had never run further than a marathon. I thought, “Wow, they will be in trouble.” I knew there was no way they would make it all the way, and probably would still be in the canyon well past night-fall. A girl with the group had run ultras before. She finally decided to leave her friends behind and ran ahead pretty strong through The Box. I did my best to keep her in sight, but was having trouble keeping up. I had to keep reminding myself that I was 24 miles ahead of her so I should have trouble keeping up. When I passed a group of backpackers, they commented what a machine the girl from Salt Lake was.
I arrived at Aikens house (A ranger’s house before Roaring Springs) just as the girl from Salt Lake was leaving. I could tell from her expression that she hoped to stay ahead. I quickly refilled and soon followed. I wanted to keep her in sight, but I was starting to fade poorly. Near Supai Tunnel, a runner with an Angeles Crest 100 (California) shirt was coming down. I asked him if he was doing a double. He said he was and was on his return trip. I recognized him from someplace, probably the 50-mile race I ran on Catalina Island.
I no longer cared what my time was. I had run out of gas and just looked forward to finishing. The long climb up to the North Rim seems like it will never end. With about a mile to go, the girl from Salt Lake came running down toward me. I said, “Way to go.” But she told me that she didn’t make it to the top. She had run out of time and had to head back. Wow, she was so close. (Four months later she recognized me at a race on Antelope Island. She told me that she and her friends didn’t make it out until around midnight, a long adventure of about 18 hours.) I realized that of about ten people who attempted a double-crossing today, only two would do it, me and the guy with the AC100 shirt.
Finally I made it back to the North Rim. My time was 13:45. It beat my best double-crossing time by an hour, but it still was disappointing. But it was early afternoon and I was done. I thought about those other people who still had long trips back to the South Rim. At the parking lot some day hikers started to talk me. They could tell that I was really tired. When I told them what I had just accomplished, they really got excited and peppered me with questions. It was fun to tell them about my experience. I washed up and started the long drive home.