To the river and back in one day!

Don't do it!

We hiked the Grand Canyon in November 2007 with friends. Our goal was an ambitious one: hike down to the river and back in a single day, quite a feat for a guy and gal 58 and 52 years old respectively.

The plan was to go down the Kaibab Trail, cross the river on the black bridge, hike along the river, cross back over using the silver bridge, then up out of the canyon via Bright Angel Trail. We conditioned for the trip by hiking Mt. Wheeler (highest peak in NM), South Peak and the La Luz trail in the Sandias among other hikes.

We were successful in our attempt! But what a grueling trip!
Approximately 11 hours and 17 miles after going over the rim at Yaki Point we reached the rim again west of the Bright Angel Lodge.

Take a look at the photo's here.

The following day, we were planning on doing another hike into the canyon, but were too tired and sore, so we just rode the shuttle buses and walked about seven miles along the rim trail.

You can see those photos here.


You can download a GPS track in .gpx file format here
.