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Works_4_Tacos t1_j2bfget wrote

Reply to comment by Elegant-Road in The North Rim of the Grand Canyon [3456x3016] (OC) by KarlWrites

It truly is.

My ex-fiancee and I got engaged down there while camping at phantom ranch.

Both when hiking in and out (+9 miles each way, plus an unfathomable amount of vertical terrain) we were LAPPED by these ultra marathoners rim to rim to rimming the damn thing.

Literally starting on one side of the canyon, running all the way down and back up the other side to then just turn back around and go down and up again to where they start. Multiple times in a day.

Absolutely unbelievable feats of human endurance.

My wife and I swear next time we hike the canyon we're rafting in. F that noise.

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ST_Lawson t1_j2c09xt wrote

> Both when hiking in and out (+9 miles each way, plus an unfathomable amount of vertical terrain) we were LAPPED by these ultra marathoners rim to rim to rimming the damn thing.

Did about 18 miles in the canyon a bit over a year ago (South Kaibab down to the tip-off, across Tonto trail then back up Bright Angel). There was a group of guys on our shuttle bus that morning doing R2R2R, but fast hiking it. I don’t understand that thought process though because nearly all the return trip would be after dark so you’d miss all the scenery.

If I was ever going to do that, I’d make arrangements to stay overnight at the north rim. Go south to north one day, stay overnight in the lodge, north back to south the next day.

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UltraRunningKid t1_j2c0wdq wrote

If they were fast hiking it, it's not unrealistic to finish in 12-14 hours and not have to do a ton of it at night.

Source: did 2 x R2R2R in 22 hours in October

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ST_Lawson t1_j2c38es wrote

Sure, it’s do-able if you’ve planned it that way and are in shape for it. The guy we were talking with was planning on starting the hike back at around sunset that night though. Idk what his definition of fast-hiking was though. They were faster than my group (we had one person around 70 and one around 78), but slower than another group who were jogging down.

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