Rim-to-Rim - Why do it, and why in 1 day?

I am sure that I am like a lot of you.  I have a bucket list.  That list is made up of a whole variety of things.  As I check one thing off, I end up adding in a few others.  I wanted to jump out of a plane.  I did that at Skydive Monterey Bay.  Wanted to drive in a race car.  Did that at Skip Barber Racing School. Wow, this is sounding like an advertisement.  Not my intention.

One of the things that I most added is a one day Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hike.  Why you ask.  This seems crazy.  Well, long story short, my body doesn't allow me to do everything that I want to do.  I have had back surgery and just a year ago got a new hip.  The old one wore out.  The doctor told that I can do pretty much whatever I want to do, but he recommends not running or other activities that are pounding.  I have continued mountain biking but have recently gotten more into hiking - and I really enjoy it.  I have a good time hiking with others or on my own.  The longer the hike the better.

Castle Rock Hiking Trail

Since I live in the Silicon Valley, we have great mountains close by, and some other great hikes only a short drive away.  I end up hiking a lot around Castle Rock State Park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Almaden Quicksilver Park and St. Josephs Hill Open Space.  Needless to say, these are all beautiful and provide trails for everyone.

But what really convinced me that long hikes are the thing for me is something that I did with my two boys about 10 years ago, when we did the Skyline to the Sea trail in one day.  This is a 23-25 mile hike that is often done in two to four days.  We decided to do it in a day.  It is long, but overall, it is downhill - or at least that is what we thought.  There are a lot of uphill sections (>1700 feet in total) as you work your way from skyline at about 2600 feet down to the ocean.

Skyline to the Sea

We started the hike at about 7am along with two friends.  They went with us to Big Basin where we met other friends for lunch.  The others decided that was enough, so we continued the rest of the way just the three of us.  We had the absolutely best time.  We talked about everything.  Took very few rests and made it to the end at around 4pm where we had a friend pick us up and drive home.

Since then I have been looking at cool long hikes.  This one - the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim, rose to the top of the list for me.  Here are just a few reasons.

• The Grand Canyon, need I say more
• It is long, but not too long
• The climb out will be quite a challenge, giving us some bragging rights:)
• I managed to find a couple of people that are excited to do it as well!

Later I will get into some others that I am interested in doing, and a couple more I have completed.