Project Rim to Rim to Rim

Writing from December 16th 2024 (New Haven, CT)

So, in theory, I should be studying for my vector analysis and integration over manifolds final, but I'm pretty burnt, so I decided to start hashing out some of the logistics for this Grand Canyon trip my friend and I planned. Right now, the decision making seems uhhhhhhhh . . . . . suboptimal. I created this plan with Haroon, my friend from Yale, over fall break. Since I had gone to Dallas the previous winter, he decided it would be a good time for a role reversal and visit Arizona. The list of things I had suggested were pretty chill. I'd take him to eat some Chinese food, maybe hike Camelback, see my brother's dogs, and go skiing in Flagstaff. However, the plans and the "chillness" changed when he said he really wanted to see the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is definitely in my top three for best national parks. It's quite a shame that the average view time for the Grand Canyon is so low, only a few hours. I was blessed to be able to raft the Grand Canyon back in high school. You start where the canyon looks like relatively tall cliffs. At the end of the week as you plow through the Colorado River, the walls beside you shoot up, revealing their layers until the cliffs that once surrounded you become thousand feet fortresses that entrap you in this vast canyon. The terrain of the GC is remarkable. I remember my canyon guide telling me about how drastically the geography of the sandbanks will change after an intense rainstorm. Additionally, there are these mega channels that feed into the Colorado river and when it rains, there are multiple hundred feet waterfalls shooting into the canyon, all in close proximity.

So at the time of me writing here is what is going through my head. The plan is to start hiking from South Kaibab Trailhead at 4AM on January 9th 2025 after two days of skiing in Flagstaff. The distance from the south trail head to the north trail head is 21 miles. A common route that people do is South Rim to North Rim and have the shuttle take them from the north to south again. The only issue with this is that the North Rim is closed during the winter because the roads become undriveable. This means the only way out of the North Rim in the winter is back through the canyon. Additionally, at the time of planning this, Haroon had booked his flight out of Phoenix at 9PM on January 10th. Accounting for the three hour drive from the South Rim to PHX, we would have to be out of the canyon at 5PM on the next day, giving us just over 36 hours to complete the 42 miles round trip with 10,000 feet altitude drop and 10,000 feet altitude gain.

So, on paper, this doesn't sound that great, but at least the winter will help right? The winter in the Grand Canyon can be very bipolar. Once again, the North Rim will ice in the winter, and microspikes are highly recommended for the terrain on the rims. The temperature fluctuations from nighttime to daytime can be very drastic. The coldest the North Rim has ever been was -22 Fahrenheit. I texted Haroon to ensure that he knew what we were getting ourselves into. As of now, I think it is going to be so cold that we probably won't get much sleep. It might even be so miserable that we start hiking in the night to get our core body temperatures up. Haroon, on the other hand, seems very optimistic about our abilities to handle the distance, incline, and weather. Will the New Haven weather provide ample conditioning for what is up ahead? I certainly hope so.

Our first and only campsite will be at Cottonwood Campgrounds. This site is located 14 miles away from the South Rim and 7 miles away from the North Rim. The idea is to get here by noon, set up our tents, load up on water, and hike the seven miles to the North Rim and the seven miles back to Cottonwood with a light pack. Ideally, we make it back before dark, but do consider the days in the winter are much shorter. As you can see in my text messages above, I warn Haroon about the shortened period of sunlight. It appears that he does not care. Ideally, we sleep until about 6AM, get everything cleaned up within 30 minutes, and start hiking at 6:30AM before the sun is up. This would give us nine hours to cover the last 14 miles from Cottonwood back to south rim. Once again, note this is a CANYON and not a mountain. So the hardest part is actually at the end. There is no downhill for the last part, there is only a 4,000 feet incline for the last part.

Writing From January 4th 2025 (Phoenix, AZ) 10:22PM

I just got back from Asia with my family a couple of days ago. I've periodically been checking the weather for the Grand Canyon and things are not looking too good. The North Rim Temperature on the day we are going has a whooping low of 5 degrees . . . Fahrenheit. The odds are stacked against our favor, but the journey must go onward. I really hope Haroon knows how cold this is going to be. I've learned my lesson in Northern Arizona a few summers ago, and that was only 40 degrees.

10:44PM

I have just finished a text correspondence with Haroon, and we have started charting out the cold weather gear we needed. He said he camped on Kilimanjaro and the temperature there was negative in the Fahrenheit. I will default to his cold weather expertise and hope that we make it out of the canyon.

10:47PM

I have just asked Haroon what grade his sleeping bag is, and uhhhhh his response is uhhhhhhh. Let's just say his response is much less than ideal.

10:50PM

Immediately following the text messages, I have just discovered that Haroon is not even bringing a backpack suitable for backpacking but rather just a school backpack.

I'm already mentally preparing for the challenge. I know we are going to be able to complete it. It is just a matter of how brutal this is going to be. I've been training diligently these past few days. Either in the form of long aerobic runs, hiking up peaks in Phoenix with a pack, or training my legs and core at the gym. Anyways, all I can do is prepare. I guess I kind of have to prepare or else I'm not making it out of the canyon.

Writing From January 6th 2025 (Phoenix, AZ) 8:38PM

Haroon's flight is about a hour away. All of the frontal planning has been completed. We're going to ski in Snowbowl in Flagstaff for two days and finish the rest of the GC food and gear planning over there. Then, on the morning of the 9th, or I guess at 4AM, we are going to hit the trail in the dark. Ideally, we hit the bottom of the canyon at dawn or at least before sunrise. From there we should hit out campsite at 11AM. This will gives us just seven hours of daylight to do the 4,000 feet of incline and 14 miles to the top of the North Rim. If we wake up at sunrise the next morning, we have the last 14 miles to go from Cottonwood, and this ascent (optimistically) will have us back at the car at around 3-4PM accounting for rest and meals. All of the writing right now is purely conjecture. There is nontrivial chance that we do not complete the route in two days.

I'm not bringing my laptop on the trip. So the rest of the writing I do will be from after completing or not completing the route

Active Timeline leading up to the trek into the canyon and during the canyon

6:36 PM Jan 8th (Day Before hiking into the canyon)

"We're almost done with out gear checklist. Ok, stove check, fuel check . . . Oh man, we don't have a lighter" – Cory

7:39 PM

"What am I getting again" - Haroon

"Hand sanitizer" -- Cory

"Oh yeah,  🙄" – Haroon

1:06 AM Jan 9th (day 1 of the hike)

I couldn't sleep because people were loudly having sex in the room next to us.

2:50 AM wake up

3:40AM The road directly leading into the South Kaibab Trail was closed so we park 1/2 mile away and walk the rest of the distance.

4:02AM South Kaibab Trailhead Start (0 miles)

6:46 AM Phantom Ranch Water Supply (6.8 miles)

7:00AM Dawn

9:30 AM First group of people spotted

9:40 AM Cottonwood campground + tent setup (14 Miles)

11AM Departure from Cottonwood after eating and setting up camp. I force myself to eat a pop tart for energy. I almost throw up in doing so.

2:40 PM Summit (21.3 Miles) Haroon and I freeze. We shiver and eat Reese's Pieces. Haroon retrospectively says he thought he was going to die of hypothermia.

5:59PM Back at Cottonwood (~28 miles)
6:40PM Eat Ramen and turkey

2:06AM Jan 10th (day 2 of the hike)
The wind is so bad the tent essentially collapses in on me and Haroon. It's also very very cold. My hip flexors hurt so bad I can barely switch between sleeping on my back and sleeping on my side.

5:00AM Haroon's alarm goes off. It takes us about 10 minutes of moaning and groaning to get out of the tent. We are limping since our knees hurt so bad. Our core body temperature was low and the outside temperature was in the low 20s. My hands were so cold that I had to keep placing them in my pants while performing tasks like packing out our trash and rolling up the tent.

6:39AM We depart from Cottonwood

9:08AM Phantom Ranch (35 Miles) We eat breakfast and fill up on water. I estimate that two 1x liter bottle of water would be enough for the last 7 miles. We mentally prepare for the last stretch knowing that it is straight uphill.

2:24 PM Rim to Rim to Rim Complete (Total Mileage: 42.6 Miles Final Time: <34.5 hours)

Jan 11th 8:04AM Flight PHX to EWR (going back to Yale)

And so I've completed the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim. Since Fall Break in Mid-October, I had been thinking about this trip. There were definitely a few times where I thought to myself there is a nontrivial chance that I do not make it out of this canyon. Additionally, there were many times where Haroon thought he was not going to make it out of the canyon while hiking. I was worried about there being ice on the rims. I was worried about my personal conditioning. I was worried about the minimal daylight and the weight of the pack, and the cold, the stove not performing, the wind . . . . . There were so many variables at my disposal to worry about. Once I started hiking and considered the scale of the Grand Canyon, I became even more discouraged on top of the worries I already had. The first seven miles took about three hours, and in my head I thought, "If I have to do that five more times, I'm going to lose my mind." Step by step, Haroon and I chugged along. There wasn't too much going on in my head until a few miles out from the North Rim. The idea of the North Rim only being the halfway point felt very demoralizing. It should have been a moment of happiness and celebration, at least for a bit, but Haroon and I shivered and ate Reese's pieces with our heads hung. I remember sitting there dumbfounded by the amount of work left. It took a lot of willpower to convince me and Haroon to start moving again.

After reaching the North Rim and beginning to walk back to our campsite, all I could think about was getting out of the canyon. The issue wasn't the cold or the sore legs, it was the pain of having to listen to my own internal voice. The voice inside my head bothered me about everything. It discouraged me by telling me that I was only halfway there when I had already done so much. It reminded me of my past mistakes and personal flaws. It nagged me about the responsibilities I'll have when I get back to civilization. My low point really was when I realized that I was going to be back at Yale in 48 hours. I still felt burnt from last semester, and even after a super awesome family vacation to Asia, I didn't feel any motivation or drive to hit the ground running. I didn't like the idea of going through something difficult or hard again. Each step just increased my pessimism. The responsibilities of academics, extracurriculars, and maintaining relationships felt like too much: early mornings of PT, late nights of working problem sets, setting aside essays to work on Geology research just to get slammed by it a few days later, deciding whether or not I should hang out with friends or get some more sleep. Fall semester of Junior year really was a blast, but it was so damn difficult. Thinking about having to do that again was just painful. I just don't know if I can go through another semester. These thoughts coupled with my past mistakes, physical pain, and other existential questions had me on the verge of losing my sanity.

While I was losing my mind, the view of the south rim was so gorgeous. The vegetation on the upper level were coated with a thin layer of snow that just made it beautiful, and all of the layers of rock were visible. To help soothe my mind, I began having a conversation with the canyon (I talked to myself). The conversation went along the lines of:

"Grand Canyon, why am I so tired. Life is so short, but somehow I still feel unready and averse to returning to my responsibilities in civilization" - Cory

"Why are you afraid of starting school again and taking on the future?" – GC

"I don't know" – Cory

"Yeah, you do" -- GC

" . . ." -- Cory

" . . . " - GC

"It's because life feels so exhausting" -- Cory

"Okay" -- GC

"It's difficult. Okay, It's because I don't want to do something difficult. It's because I want it to be easy. I don't want the pain of hardship and struggles. I don’t want to stay up late for another problem set. I don't want to wake up early for another PT session. I don't want to work hard like I've been doing." – Cory

No response --- GC

These thoughts persisted from miles 23 until I got back to the campsite at mile 28. The task of cooking ramen, setting up my sleeping gear, and shivering in my sleeping bag from the cold kept my distracted.

The next morning. The 5AM alarm goes off, and after a slow start, we begin hiking. The knee pain was excruciating. My hips were also bruised and bleeding a bit from the weight of the pack. The entire time, I am thinking about the thoughts I was having yesterday. The self doubts, the embarrassing past, the anxious future, and then the wisdom of the Grand Canyon revealed itself to me (being delirious and talking to myself). The dialogue I had reached was that any major endeavor I pursue is going to be hard. Any goal from a macro perspective is going to seem borderline impossible. Finishing a semester of school holistically is averaging less than eight hours of sleep, making time to eat meals with your friends, spending many hours conducting research, attending classes, working problem sets, and participating in extracurriculars. Learning to fly a plane is 20+ trips to the airport and hundreds of videos and practice problems. Training for the Grand canyon was lifting 2x a week, sprinting up a 400 meter hill ten times a session, and running long distances two to three times a week. So, the grand metaphor that the Grand Canyon revealed to me (I probably/definitely constructed this in my own mind) is that every difficult pursuit I have is like hiking the Grand Canyon. Haroon and I hiked the Grand Canyon in one night to prove to ourselves that we could do it. The fact that the task is intrinsically hard is what provided its value. As I came to this conclusion, the metaphor began to make more and more sense. There was so much beauty in the Grand Canyon the farther down I walked. Every long-term goal that has been hard that I've stuck to, the more I've done it, the more dividends it has paid. Every time I looked at the rim of the Grand Canyon, I was discouraged because I attempted to view the objective from the macro scale, but by only worrying about putting one sore leg in front of the other, I whittled down a canyon into an achievable goal.

(Mile 39.5)

We had about three miles and 2,000 feet altitude left. All of the energy I had from my carbohydrates were depleted, and I was entirely running on fumes. I was shirtless due to the heat of the sun despite being nearly frozen into a popsicle just a couple hours earlier. This was the most physically exhausted I had been, but at least it wasn't the most mentally exhausted. At this point, I knew I was going to make it out of the canyon, it was just a matter of when. Haroon told me afterwards that at this time, he thought he was going to die from exhaustion.

(Mile 42.6)

Eventually, we finally make it out of that canyon. I think because I was pretty conditioned physically, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it still felt pretty great nonetheless. Once again, the most difficult part was confronting the internal dialogue. Haroon and I shook our trekking poles in joy in front of the South Kaibab Trailhead sign. We asked a stranger to take a photo for us who inquired why we had such large packs. When we told them we had hiked to the north rim and back in a single night, she seemed pretty shocked and extended her congratulations. Haroon and I limped back to our car parked 1/2 a mile away and talked about the dad lore we had built from this trip and the In N Out we were going to eat before heading back to Phoenix. 

Conclusions

And, this is a wrap on project Rim to Rim to Rim. In my mind, it feels like I just accomplished something great. I would have liked more of a break to process my conversation with the Grand Canyon before heading back to school, but time doesn't wait on me, so I guess I gotta keep on chugging. From this trip, I'm glad to have come to the realization that whatever I do, any meaningful and worthwhile path I choose is going to be hard because there is an inherent value in difficulty.

I'm also thankful that I discovered I was as uncomfortable listening to my own thoughts as I was. There are times where I believe I have a good bit of life figured out, and this experience in the canyon was very humbling. It reminded me that there is still much I need to work on. The fact that I am not entirely comfortable with just my own thoughts shows that I have a long ways to go.

(Paraphrased from my dialogue with the Grand Canyon)