Rim-to-Rim - Closing Thoughts

Here are closing thoughts on the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim (R2R) hike. I has now been a few weeks since we were there and the memories are still fresh.  But it is time to wrap up this set of posts.

One thing that really stick in my mind is that going down is easy, but going up is hard (and mandatory).  Here are some signs that really remind you of this fact.  They are awesome!

In addition to the hike being much more beautiful than I had expected, here are a few things that were also a bit of a surprise.

• You hike along creeks most of the way.  
• These creeks were in fairly small gorges.
• There are a lot of trees.
• You see a good number of people, and far more than expected were running...
• The space down by the Colorado River is not that wide.
• There are lots of places to refill water (note we went up Bright Angel Trail, the sane is NOT true if you take South Kaibab Trail).
• When hiking from North to South, you are mostly in the shade!

So there you have it.  All of the training made this a really fun experience.  Will I do it again?  Not sure.  If I had the opportunity, I would.  But I doubt that I will plan to do it again.  There are too many other places that I still want to go.  Too many other hikes that I am interested in.

That leads me to the evolution of this blog.  Soon I will be changing the name of the blog from "Rim-to-Rim In One Day" to something more generic about hiking or maybe even more broad about outdoor adventures. Getting ready for this hike has already motivated me to do Half Dome, Skyline to the Sea, Sea to Skyline, Mount Diablo and cool parts of the Pacific Crest Trail.  I have hiked with and met a lot of different people.  A special shout out to Gary and Greg who trained and completed the Rim-to-Rim with me.  This whole experience has been great!

There is just so much out there. So many great hikes that I have not taken.  So many cool places to visit along the way.  Stay tuned...