2018 Arizona Trail Race 750 - Day 11

I rocked down to the breakfast area, slightly determined to get my fill of breakfast as soon as it was opened. I battled the tourists eating donuts for breakfast and was soon out the hotel door, but not before asking the receptionist if they had any lost property.....say, like a backpack? No was the answer so I was going to run with my original plan, as per my training hikes. I was running a minimalist setup and I must admit to being slightly nervous about this.

Image from my friend Gary's FB page.

Out the door and straight across the road to Maccas for 2x breakfast burritos. I had heard these were quite good but they did look very small compared to the "mom and pop" burritos I had been buying these last few days. Still, into the feed bag they went. I didn't need anything else as I still had stacks of food left from my huge Flagstaff shop. Maybe that is why my front hub clagged out? Was I carrying too much weight!?

As I regained the AZT leaving Tusyan I was thinking that I might need to head into the Grand Canyon visitor centre and try to obtain a permit to camp at Cottonwood Campground, in the Canyon. I had no idea how long it would take me to cross the Canyon, nor if I could do it all in one hit and as I understood it they frowned upon unauthorised camping in the Canyon. I didn't want to be the one camping without a permit because I was too knackered to hike myself out the other side.

Shortly after getting back onto the AZT I saw a runner coming toward me. He didn't seem to be in running gear and looked a little like a lost tourist. As we got close he yelled out "hey, Arizona Trail Race?!" I stopped and said "yeah". He introduced himself as Jeff Hemperley. "Ahhhh, El Freako!!" I replied. This was Jeff, the single speed winner of the 750 from last year. He was a local from Prescott here in AZ and was hanging out at the canyon, chatting to AZT racers and stuff. Cool!

We chatted for a while and when I mentioned getting a camping permit he suggested that I didn't need one. If  I was too stuffed to go on I could simply sit down and close my eyes for 30 minutes along the trail somewhere. He also pointed out that because the North Rim wasn't open yet I wasn't likely to see many people once I got past Cottonwood camp. The Rim to Rim to Rim runners would all be headed back well before dark. us AZT racers would have the North Kaibab trail all to ourselves by that time.

I bid Jeff g'day and pedalled off much more certain of what I was going to do. No off-route miles this morning for me. I would go straight to the South Kaibab trailhead, set my bike up for the hike and get going!

The trail went along a section of smooth asphalt so I took the opportunity to do a little video diary update.......




Approaching the Canyon rim I began to get quite excited. If you haven't been to the Grand Canyon, do yourself a favour and GET YOUR ARSE THERE! It is one of the most amazing places you will experience and looking at photos or video just simply does no do it justice. As you stand on the (fenceless) edge, it is soooo big that it almost looks like a huge painting hung up in front of you. I love it and keep coming back. If I am honest that was one of the big drawcards for me to do the AZTR, getting to see the Grand Canyon again.

Just a little excited to be here!!

I didn't muck around at the trailhead, immediately setting up the GoPro in time lapse mode and hooking into making my bike hikeable. I had to stop to take the odd photo of some tourists and they took one back for me (thanks random stranger). 

Not sure why I was standing all goofy like.

I shouldered my bike but having the puffer jacket in the Camelbak for padding simply wasn't going to work so I had to drop the load and relocate the jacket. 

Then it was Game On!!

I was pumped starting out. Stoke was rating an 11/10 !!

It was 0910 as I headed down into the Canyon. 35 kilometres of dirt lay between me and the point where I would be able to ride again. I was feeling strong and upbeat.

Hitting the first few switchbacks on the Sth Kaibab trail

The bike didn't even feel heavy on my back. I had my Camelbak hose handy and was heeding the warning signs.

Let that not be me.....

Every person I passed coming up from the canyon had something to say or just commented "damn!". Some knew about the AZT, some asked if there were trails down the bottom that I was going to ride.

Down, ever down.

I got some comments that I was doing it the wrong way around, that the bike was supposed to be underneath. I answered that one with "I'm from down under so this is the right way up". I actually became quite well rehearsed with my responses because the questions were always pretty much the same!

The Grand Canyon. 
For some reason my Spot didn't track well at all during the Canyon crossing despite it being mounted up high near the rear axle.

After a few hours of descending I started to notice a twinge in my calves. "Thats not good" I though, especially this early into the crossing. I was banking on about 12-15 hours for the crossing. This was based on nothing other than reports from other rookies my age.

I had to move aside for a couple of donkey trains. The second one was much better as I had just the right height rock to sit on and wait out their passing. the woman riding mid-train told me to watch the last donkey as he was a bit "ornrey". I talked calmy to the donkeys and reassured them I wasn't a monster. In return, they last donkey didn't kick me.

Mule train.

It was like being a rock star as everyone wanted to talk to you! I must admit, after the last few days of solitude I was more than happy to stop and answer questions. It became even more involved once the person heard my accent because then they wanted the whole story.

Getting closer to the Colorado River but still a long way down.

Some local women caught up to me and I chatted with them for a while as we walked. They were chuffed when I told them how awesome their backyard was. How lucky to have this as your local playground? They hike the Canyon a lot and threw me some sage advice to stop at Phantom Ranch and let the heat of the day pass before heading out the North Kaibab trail.
Thanks for the tip ladies.

Almost at the bottom ~ 4 hours in. Phantom Ranch is just around the bend where the trail disappears in the centre right.

I finally came to a cutting in the rock that led to the suspension bridge across the Colorado River.

Low tunnel ahead.....

Popping out the other side I was glad there was nobody coming the other way as I was a wide load.

Looking as shattered as I felt after almost 5 hours on the go. That downhill had trashed my calves.

Crossing the Colorado, all I wanted to do was get this effing bike off my back. My calves were twinging, my shoulders hurting and I was busting for a leak! I wasn't quite sure how much further along the path Phantom Ranch lay but I put my head down and answered questions before people even asked them. I was a bit abrupt along here but I needed some relief after the 5 hours of hiking down.....

Phantom Ranch cafeteria and hikers on the bench.

Thankfully, Phantom Ranch was just around the bend in the canyon and I was soon able to get my heavy load of my back. I walked around, almost toppling over forward for a minute as my brain reconfigured my legs to not having 25kg(55lb) on my back.
I went straight up those stairs and ordered one of their famous lemonades, with a top up option. Now, while it was cool and satisfied my thirst somewhat, US lemonade isn't the sweet, clear drink it is here in Australia. It is very lemony and not that sweet. Quite bitter in fact. Not quite what I was expecting.
I sat myself on the bench seat, between the three hikers in the photo above and sipped at the cool drink until it was gone, then crunched ice slowly. We chatted the whole time and the guy on the left was an AZT through hiker, aiming for 38 days. He had tried for a permit to camp at Cottonwood but there weren't any available for tonight. That made me feel good about not wasting time by going off route to the ranger office to seek a permit this morning. The couple on the right were doing a 6 day hike around the Tonto Trail.

Our view from the bench with my new mates. Little did I know a Chipmunk was eating his little way into my Maccas buritto pouch as we sat there!

They were all great to chat to. It was also interesting to not be near the bike and to hear people's comments as they came across it, sitting there in the sun on that bench. Most people were awestruck. I had one lady come up to me and she knew about the race because she had met somebody training for it months ago. "Do you know a Dave?" she asked. Um, yes. I'm Dave. Theres Dave Wicks and probably some more......she went on for quite a while but when she mentioned being from Fort Lauderdale I remembered the Dave I had met in the first few kilometres of the race, down at the border. She was chuffed to think that I knew him and it seemed to make her day.
What made my day was that her husband had a small section of self adhesive velcro in his pocket. This was significant because I had bought some hiking gators waaaaaay back in Tucson before the race that required a tab of velcro on the rear of the shoe to hold the gator in place. Of course, I had thrown my old shoes with the velcro out in Flagstaff so that my "Dirty Girl" gators were pretty useless.
Not any more though!! I cut two tabs from the short length of velcro and had my gators fully operational!! Thanks mate!

Didn't I cop some shit from Dave W when I bought these gators in Tucson!! It did say Men's on the label though....I checked!

The big burly guy who gave me some velcro in the Canyon swore by them though. I must say, they were awesome once attached correctly.

After chatting for about 45 minutes I got up to get my lemonade refill. I could hardly walk though! WTF?!!
My legs were so stiff that I could barely get up the steps into the cafe.
Shit! This isn't good..... I grabbed the lemonade then stood around, stretching my calves and legs for a while. One of the hikers offered me some Ibuprofin for which I thanked her but I had my own. I was just generally stubborn about taking any medications. But this time I could see I would need it. I hobbled over to my bike to find a little Chipmunk hard at work trying to knaw his was into one of my feedbags. The bag with my Maccas burittos in them! Shooing it away I brought the bike over to where we were sitting so I could keep a closer eye on it!

At about 4pm it was time to get going again. I bid the hikers good day and shouldered the bike but not before putting some water into my Camelbak. I was planning on getting water at Cottonwood so didn't fill right up. No point carrying extra weight uphill.....

I felt pretty good again as I hiked out of Phantom. It had cooled down quite a bit (it was hot in the bottom of the Canyon!) and I made steady progress.

Then I noticed that my heels were quite sore. I stopped immediately to inspect what was going on. It looked like my insoles from the old shoes were just a little small for these new, one size larger, shoes. That meant that the very tip of my heel was falling off the insole and sort of getting pinched in the gap. I applied several large bandaids that I had bought in Fry's in Flagstaff the other day and hoped that would sort the issue.

Bandaid application stop. one of the few times I took the bike off during the hike out.

The sun was setting as I slowly climbed out of the Canyon. It was a long, gentle uphill to Cottonwood which was great. I was dreading the last 4 miles or so as that is when the trail went seriously UP.

I need to be up there and then some!



Little did I know that Dave Wicks had pulled an all nighter and was dropping down into the Canyon right about now. The last time I saw his Spot he was only half way from Flagstaff to Tusyan.

The climb was about to get BRUTAL! (Gary Tischer screenshot)

Looking tired now but oh so far to go.....

Just after dark I came to Cottonwood camp where I planned on eating and topping up my water. Going over to the spigot I could see that it was dry all around it. Turning it on there was nothing. Shit! I was really planning on getting water here. There had been some pipeline breakages over winter but I was sure I checked the National Parks website and it said the water was on here? I walked up the trail a little to another spigot and it was off as well. Bugger. I had passed over a stream, Wall Creek, a little while back and I contemplated going back to filter some water.
No, there would be water up at the Manzanita rest area, also known as the Ranger Station Pump House...I hoped. In the mean time I drained the water that was in my lumbar Camelbak bladder into my main bladder. This took away the water cushioning effect on my lower back though.

Onward and upward was the motto now. I took regular breaks where I would lean over so my torso was parallel to the ground and I could take the weight of the bike off my shoulders, which by now where getting pretty sore.
It took what felt like forever to get to the Manzanita rest area and I was hugely surprised and relieved to find that the water was flowing here. I topped up my main Camelbak and drank greedily as I had been in ration mode the last few hours. I took the opportunity to get the bike off my back as there was a bench seat I could rest it against.

Bike and me resting at Manzanita rest area.

From Google maps. (My bike was resting on the seat at right front in the pic above) The hikers are near the spigot.

I was hiking with just my small camping head torch so could see very little at all. Now, my phone camera isn't very good at night photos but this gives you a feeling for what it was like, being as fatigued as you can possibly imagine, on a dark, cold, windy night and winding your way up a narrow path with rock face on one side and nothingness on the other.

There was the sound of roaring water coming from below me for quite some time. I knew from Manzanita that it was only a 4.8km and 482m climb to the Supai Tunnel. This took a long, long time to come though as I got slower and needed more bent over rest breaks. I was glad I didn't have hiking poles as I was using both hands to lift the bike by the head tube and fork to relieve the load on my shoulders. I had to be careful also not to bump the rear tyre on the rocky overhang as the empty blackness to my right hinted at an almighty fall to my death if I did go over. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Not looking up - as per my ride into Picketpost all those days ago. Supai Tunnel would appear when I had taken enough steps and no amount of looking at a map or gps would make it happen any sooner!

Eventually it appeared and I was through the little tunnel. Emerging on the other side I couldn't kale out where the trail went in the darkness. I walked up into what looked like a donkey corral before turning back and going onto the other trail. I had a 50% chance of choosing the correct one and of course chose incorrectly! At least it was only 50 metres or so wasted, but that was a lot by this time. The final 2.5 kilometres(and 439m vertical) really did take forever. I was taking so many mini breaks now. It was a case of walk 30-40 metres(yards), bend over for a 30 second respite on the shoulders, then repeat. I must say, my calves were fine for the climb out. My legs were still strong despite all of the hiking and climbing. All that gym work with Jim had really paid off there. Now, about my shoulders...... ;(

I was still keeping my head down, just looking at the trail for two metres in front of me, not daring to look up and risk disappointment. I could hear the wind in the trees now though and knew that I MUST, simply MUST be getting close to the top of the North Rim. I was fantasising about getting to the top, going straight to the restrooms and dumping this bike off my shoulders so that I could sleep.

I had looked on Google Earth prior to leaving home and looked down the Nth Kaibab trail a few hundred metres to know what it would look like. Now I found myself trying to reconcile what I was seeing with what I remembered from my computer screen all those months ago. It wasn't gelling.

All of a sudden I was there! I was at the North Kaibab trailhead, looking at the combined sign/spigot. It was 2am!!
It had taken me 16h 50m to cross the Grand Canyon with a mountainbike on my back!! Not the fastest by far but also not the slowest known time(SKT)!

I took the bike off my back as now I had another problem. I could not for the life of me remember where the toilet block was! Was it to the left or the right? With my dim little camp light and even dimmer vision I headed off to the right as there seemed to be a car park that way. Sure enough, at the top (more uphill!?!) of the carpark was the outhouse Hilton I was planning on sleeping in.

I quickly went back to fetch my bike. I had it inside the cleaner looking left hand stall quick-smart and laid my Tyvek groundsheet down, then my sleeping bag/bivy. Setting my alarm for 0430 (ha, two hours!) I also ate a Maccas buritto and had a sip of water. Again, I was down to about 300ml (10oz) and hoped the North Kaibab trailhead spigot was flowing (even though it was meant to be off) as it was 70 kilometres(44mi) to Jacob Lake, the next resupply.
I was going to regret not having a sleep mat of some sort as I could already feel the cold concrete floor sucking the heat out of my back. I rolled onto my side so that the only contact points were my shoulder, hip and thigh. Despite the cold suck on these points, I passed out in the foetal position for what remained of the night.
That was one tough day....13h 40m moving and 20 hours on my feet. I was sooo thankful of the shelter....






Cheers.