On New Year’s Eve 2022, I learned from Dave Covill, President of the Highpointers Foundation, that he and wife Beckie planned to spend two nights over Easter weekend 2023 at the Grand Canyon with a few other friends. They had made reservations at the Bright Angel Lodge – directly on the rim overlooking the Grand Canyon – a year earlier. Did we want to join?
The Grand Canyon had been on my bucket list since I’d taken a brief, unplanned trip there in 2016. When snow deterred plans to reach the highpoint of Arizona, Humphreys Peak, with Joellyn Cohen, she suggested the Grand Canyon as a Plan B. Having never seen this magnificent national treasure, I jumped at the chance. In 2016 we only hiked a mile each way – down into the canyon and back to the Blue Angel trailhead – but it whetted my appetite for a return trip.
The stars aligned for Julie Hernandez and me to join the Covills and two other friends for 48 hours at the Grand Canyon. Dave proposed to Julie that the two of them attempt the “rim to rim to rim” hike. This involved starting at 5 pm, descending from the south rim into the canyon, hiking the entire floor of the canyon to the opposite side, ascending to the northern rim, then reversing course to return via a different trail to the south rim – ending exactly in front of the Blue Angel Lodge. (To envision this itinerary, think of a skate boarder riding down one side and up the opposite side, flipping around, then returning to the starting point.) With any luck, they could finish it in in under 24 hours, hiking through the night without stopping to sleep. Julie signed on to what she began labelling the “Suffer-fest 2023.”
I had no illusions of joining this overnight lunacy, and fortunately I had two other options. Beckie – still dealing with a bum knee – would take a 20-mile hike on a fairly level trail around the rim. Hilary and Julie Smith – a couple I’d met on several previous excursions – planned an 8–9-hour hike into the Canyon: down the South Kaibab trail (4 miles), across the fairly level Tonto trail (4 miles), and back up to Blue Angel trailhead (5 miles). Ordinarily I’d have no hope of keeping up with these two, but Hilary was still recovering from knee surgery 9 months earlier, which (almost) slowed him down to my pace.
On our first day, Julie and I drove the five miles from the Red Feather Lodge where we were staying to the southern entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. At 8 am there was almost no one in line, and we quickly made our way to the Mather Overlook. From there we took a two-hour walk along the rim of the Canyon to Bright Angel lodge and back, surveying the Canyon and getting a sense of the trails we’d be taking. Julie pointed out – in the far distance at the bottom of the canyon – the trail that she and Dave would be traversing later in the day. Though first, we needed to get Julie from the Park, back to the Red Feather Lodge, to shower and collect her gear before returning to the Park for the 5 pm departure with Dave.
As we exited the Park around 1 pm, we were appalled to see the line of cars now waiting to get into the Park: at least a mile long and 2-4 lanes wide. Both Julie and I shared a moment of panic; with this traffic, could we even get her back into the Park for the 5 pm departure? Miraculously, when we returned a couple of hours later, re-entry to the Park only took 15 minutes.
Our group of 6 gathered for the first time at the Maswik Lodge food court and finalized plans. Dave stashed away two pieces of Everything pizza with grease dripping through the foil wrapping in preparation for the Long March. We finalized the plan that I would hike with Julie (Smith) and Hilary, whereas Beckie would stay on more level ground.
I declined Beckie’s offer for Happy Hour in her hotel room in favor of getting back to my own room for a beer, CNN, and a good night’s sleep. To rub it in, I sent Julie a photo of the Modelo beer can with CNN in the background, assuming she might get it as night fell on the Grand Canyon and temperatures dipped close to zero.
As I prepared for my own hike the next day, I was not pleased that the couple of hours of walking on flat land had tired me out far more than I would have expected. Was I going to be able to do the 4 miles down, 4 miles across the bottom of the Canyon, and 5 miles back up to the rim?My anxiety about this and other hikes centered on three questions: Was I biting off more than I could chew? (Think Rainier). Was I going to be a drag on the people I was hiking with? And was my debilitating back problem going to kick in when I was miles away from medical care?
The time to worry about these questions had passed. The next morning, I drove back into the Park, cruising through the entrance gate with no line at 7 AM. I met up with Julie and Hilary for a hearty breakfast at Maswik Lodge in preparation for the day that awaited us. We took two shuttles to get to the trailhead at South Kaibab Trail, from which we would start our hike. Everyone was mesmerized by a six-month old baby girl, bundled up in her all-weather rain/snowsuit and riding in the backpack of her adoring parents who were on their last day of hiking the Grand Canyon. That was starting it young…
We were on the South Kaibab trail by 8:30 am. The 4 miles down consisted of a series of switchbacks with occasional stretches of a relatively flat path. The sky was a postcard perfect blue, with just a few clouds (actually welcome to bring down the temperature). It was not a difficult descent, just long and relentless. The views were stunning at every turn: the steep-walled valleys, the multi-colored layers of rock, the raised plateaus, and the striking erosional forms that protrude against the skyline. By mid-morning, the sage bushes on the hillsides were electric-green: a combination of the sun’s rays against the budding green leaves and the silver-gray stalks.
As we chatted along the trail, Julie S and I discovered that our professional interests overlapped. She was writing a book on the environment and how to bring greater balance to the planet. One of the factors in her thesis was controlling population. Women in developing countries needed to be using birth control to avoid having babies they didn’t want. (It is true that if all the women in the world with an unmet actually used contraception, it would have a dramatic effect on decreasing fertility rates.) She was surprised to learn that my full-time job for the past four decades had been exactly that, promoting contraception to women in developing countries. By late morning, we completed the first part of our hike: the four miles down. Although I was relieved to have finished one-third of the hike, my legs felt like rubber and I was lightheaded. But there was no calling it quits at that point, miles from the nearest trailhead. I consumed half a liter of electrolyte-laced water from my Nalgene bottle, had a protein bar, and enjoyed the shade of the rest hut at this junction in the trail. A pack of mules – a classic element in the Grand Canyon – posed for me as we headed out on the Tonto Trail.
On the 4 miles across the canyon, Hilary and I were hiking partners. Ordinarily, he would have been far ahead, but he was still testing out his recently replaced knee. He’d done rim-to-rim-to-rim at least once before and pointed out key elements of the Canyon. Had it not been for Hilary, I would have missed the quick glimpse of Phantom Ranch, the one hotel on the true floor of the Canyon, some 1200 feet in elevation below us. It was magical to be near the bottom of the Canyon.
By 1 PM, all three of us had reached Indian Gardens (recently renamed Havasupai Gardens), where we found shade, toilets, and fresh water. By this point, I had gotten a second wind and was fairly confident that I’d be able to do the 5 miles uphill to Bright Angel trailhead. But time was of the essence. Dave had made a reservation for us all for 5:45 PM at El Tovar Restaurant, a classic within the Park. I begged Julie Smith – the fastest of our threesome – to hike ahead of me with the rental car key, thinking that Julie H would want to retrieve her clean clothes from the car. At the marker showing three miles to go, Julie S agreed to take off, allowing me to finish the hike at my own pace. She and Hilary reconnected, reaching the destination some 30 minutes before I did.
The final stretch was both the worst and the best of the day. Worst because the last 1.5 miles of the trail consisted of mud, slush, and patches of ice. They mixed together to give the appearance of a runny sewer. I felt lucky to have my poles and waterproof hiking boots, sparing me the worst of this ordeal. As I arrived closer to the rim, many causal hikers were descending for a short afternoon stroll in totally inappropriate footwear. I noticed the spanking white mesh tennis shoes of one lady hiker, wondering what they would look like by the time she returned home. As families with children in flat-bottom sneakers clung to each other to maintain their balance, I imagined the number who would end up with their Easter casual wear covered in muck.
The best: I was quite sure I’d make it.
By 4:45 pm – 8 hours, 15 minutes after our departure – I reached my destination at the Bright Angel trailhead. From there, I made my way to the Covill’s hotel room, where Beckie had instructed me to meet up with them. I knocked on the door – twice. Finally, I heard Dave groan as he rolled over to let me in. He and Julie had returned some 4 hours beforehand, showered, and fallen into a deep sleep. Beckie had also returned from her solo hike. As Dave forced himself to rally for the dinner reservation, he moaned in pain from the cramps in his legs.
Over dinner, we heard the full story of the Sufferfest. Before starting, Dave and Julie H knew they wouldn’t be able to reach the top of the rim on the other side because the trail above Supai Tunnel had been washed out by snowfalls. Undeterred, they set out anyway. For several hours, they were able to hike by the light of a full moon but eventually resorted to their headlamps. By 3:00 am, they decided to reverse course and head back. They made it to Phantom Ranch by 8:00 am, where they indulged in a cup of hot coffee. At 10:00 am Dave produced the pizza from his backpack; the salt and grease did wonders for their flagging spirits. Fifteen hours after starting, they dragged back to the Bright Angel Lodge.
Julie – who rarely tires out – said she had hit the wall by the final mile up the muddy, slushy slope. For a good 36 hours afterwards, she was still feeling the aftereffects. I had never seen Julie walk slowly, a sure sign that her leg muscles were throbbing in pain. She developed a unique way of tackling stairs: turning toward them and backing down, one step at a time. Apparently, that made the descent tolerable.
After a leisurely start the next morning, Julie and I returned to Phoenix via Sedona. Joellyn Cohen had raved about it as a “destination” on our previous trip to the Grand Canyon. Julie recognized the topography of the region from the westerns she’d watched as a kid. The scenery was indeed right out of a Hollywood set, and the housing prices undoubtedly matched. At lunch, Julie consumed (“inhaled” by her account) a half-pound hamburger, the ritual end to a successful hike. We knew our respective jobs awaited us back in New Orleans, but it had been a glorious few days, not soon to be forgotten.
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