Rim to Rim to Rim IN A DAY Grand Canyon Trail Guide - CLASSIC Trail Runs

Rim to Rim to Rim is a classic trail run that takes hikers/runners from the South Rim to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. For this variation, we started on South Kaibab, crossed the river to North Kaibab and finished on the Bright Angel Trail. This was filmed in early November and was about 45 miles with 11,100 ft of elevation gain.
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0:00 - 6:11 South Kaibab Trail
6:12 - 15:07 North Kaibab Trail
15:08 - 21:20 Bright Angel Trail

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Read a free COMPREHENSIVE guide on this beautiful trail here: www.thevirtualsherpa.com/rim-to-rim-to-rim-grand-canyon-trail-guide/

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Cheers Mark, hope 2023 treats you right and you get to visit the Grand Canyon again soon!

[@pw2883]

Hi Sherpa! What an excellent video you produced! I’ve watched many other R2R2R Grand Canyon videos; however, your video stands out for the raw emotion you display at missing Phantom Ranch. There is no need to apologize for your choice of words. I assure you, my vocabulary would have been far more vulgar had I missed a highly anticipated stop by just several minutes. I’m glad you decided not to edit out your anger - it made this video more real and authentic. Congratulations on accomplishing a goal that only true elite athletes achieve.

[@RickMackintosh]

I was back there laughing at his reaction and crying a little at that point 😆 snacks would have been nice. I was really hoping for a taco truck at the south rim. Good times.

[@99krushil]

Always great photography and professional narration!

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Thanks - forgot the GoPro and usual setup at home so had to scramble for a backup. Glad it turned out okay

[@Golden_Hour_Greg]

Good work man. Solid video. R2R2R has been on my radar. Thanks for the breakdown.

[@thundergoalie5647]

mad props for getting through this whole day but ESPECIALLY if you got through it without hurling. epic video sherp.

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

I am not usually a puke guy but thought the dad joke was too good to ignore. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@RobertSmith-km6gi]

Many years ago when I was 25 and in arguably the best shape in my life I hiked Bright Angel to the river and back. I started out just looking for fossils and somehow found myself at the river. Faced with the return I only spent 15 minutes or so and started back up. It took 10 hours total and the beers at the top were refreshing indeed. Next day my friends wanted to go down and camp so we all went down to Havasupai Gardens to camp. Best 3 days of my life to that point. I wouldn’t even have considered doing what you guys did! Great job!

[@georgesheffield1580]

Did the same at 13 , 1961.

[@giulianopavezvasquez3610]

Belleza sublime de la naturaleza""" Creación de Dios"". Hermoso video buenas imágenes!!! El Gran cañón del Coolorado-Arizona"". Saludos de🏜🏔🇨🇱

[@LifeAtHighAltitude]

Damn dude, stepping up your game. I've done R2R, but not R2R2R... great job

[@bayournnr]

Really great video...thanks for posting! I did Rim2Rim2Rim earlier this year but definitely not at your speed. I agree on the soul-suck of the hike through the box, particularly on the return trip. Congrats on a job well done!

[@andrea.givens]

this is great and the trail guide on your website is awesome thank you

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Glad they are both helpful 👊🏽

[@lukelarsson]

Thanks for filming this. I’ve been looking into doing this route and your video is super helpful.

[@JNeil15BCP]

Worked at the Grand Canyon for a while and did rim to rim to rim a few times while there! Fantastic hike one of my favorites ever!

[@kathrynsmith8554]

Awesome views & content and thanks as always for keepin it real with the struggles and frustrations these types of challenges entail.

[@ZachGrabill]

Great video, really enjoyed this one.

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Thanks Zach, glad you liked it.

[@Miderguy_]

I'm going rim to rim from north to south in May. Appreciate the guide. Going to be hard training in the heat here in the winter. Lol.

[@SeanTheEvans]

Excited for this one!

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Pumped to share it!

[@davidboswell5501]

Great video. Excited to see what you've got up your sleeve for 2023!

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

I am not even sure yet! But excited to keep adding expanding the possibilities on what can be done in a day.

[@texicon]

This is a brutal hike… don’t underestimate the difficulty. My suggestion, rim to rim and eat/stay at the lodge then return the next day. Blew out a knee half way up North Kaibab so we ended up taking the van all the way back to the South Rim. It’s a loooong van ride and worth every penny.

[@texicon]

Also… heed the weather warnings from GC Rangers. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Canyon and it will kill you if you’re unprepared.

[@SeeChadRun]

Well done! A dream run of mine!

[@cyclingbutterbean]

Did you say "we're going to gain about 4000 feet of hellevation"? That's what is sounded like to me! LOL! Epic journey. Thanks for posting.

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

haha -certainly felt like that!

[@austinado16]

Great video! I haven't run an R3, but I've run quite a few R2's, from the North Rim, as well as Rim-2-Rivers. Vids on the channel. A couple suggestions for when you go back: GPS isn't very accurate in the Canyon, so it helps with the mental game, to know exact mileages between the major points on the trail. From SK trail head to Phantom is 7.5ish. Phantom to Cottonwood CG, is 7.25. Manzanita Rest is not a campground, and is about 5.25mi from the top of the NR. The Red Wall Bridge is 3 and change from the NR. Supai Tunnel and the adjacent Supai Rest, is 2.25mi from the NR. Coconino is about .75mi from the NR trail head. You can kill yourself mentally by showing up at Cottonwood and think, "I'm good, it's only 5mi to the top from here." Very defeating to be thinking, "Why am I not there yet? Why does this go on forever?" Another tip: If your training and your travel speed allows, don't carry water on the way down the SK. It's only about 6.8mi to the river, and there is a water station, near the beach, just after you come off the Black Bridge. If you're cruising along nicely, you should be able to make that distance without any water, or at the most, just take a small amount. Having a GU Roctane at about mile 3-4 will help you not feel so bad. You didn't mention electrolytes or other things on the trek, so hopefully you were using those tools-of-the-trade. I/we always carry a small 5 Hour Energy Drink bottle, and use it as a back up plan if we're feeling wrecked. I/we also supplement out electrolyte mix with a vitamin B complex pill (1 per crossing) and we put a couple of magnesium lysinate pills, broken in half, into our 21oz soft flasks, at each fill up. Makes a big difference IMO. Canyon rule: If you blow up in the Canyon, you owe the Canyon a redemption run!!

[@GenesisMovie]

Great video! I loved it. Congratulations on the impressive accomplishment!

[@arcoleman10]

Sheesh bro you're brazy

[@WeekendWarrior_X]

Great video as always, congratulations on completing the R3

[@sherrycote2716]

Thanks, extremely helpful!

[@wolfman92097]

holly crap why hasnt this video been shown to me in my feed yet?!?!?!?!?!

[@bradbuss9753]

Paradise

[@Sasha-vs6sd]

Wow… What a wealth of information & insight into this effort. I am looking to do it myself this October so this was super helpful. Would you recommend Oct or Nov based on your experience? I live in Maryland so the NE US so I’m not immune to the cold. The heat is another story. Haha

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

November is probably a safer bet - that is when this was filmed. You MIGHT run into some snow, but odds are your temps will be much better to deal with. We thought that shutting off water would be an issue but there was so much running - it was a complete non-issue.

[@arturocubos4077]

Sick shit bro

[@mrchaddavid33]

Getting ready to run my first R3 this October. Just out of curiosity how much of the last 8 miles or so did you run as opposed to walk. I’m training here in the Midwest and we obviously don’t have anything like the Canyon to train in.

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Inclined treadmill or stair master 🤘🏽 but to answer your question, a lot of power hiking at that point.

[@TruthHasSpoken]

What a run! Beg's the question how did your body feel afterwards??

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Pretty good all things considered - took a few days off and then back to the regular training schedule! Helps that the 2nd half didn't have a whole lot of running involved 😅 but still felt better than my first 50 miler.

[@Batise]

I wonder why so many pronounce it Ki-bob, When it is clearly Ki-BAB (maybe easterners?)

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Great question and welcome to the channel! I am known for butchering almost every word I say so I’m sure you are correct, just the way my brain broke down the word and spit it out

[@MM-bg7in]

45 miles…trail…11,000ft of elevation. How the heck do you train for this and then when do you know that you are ready for this or even a little bit of it?

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Was coming off the Leadville 100 and a few other ultras so I just sort of kept "in shape" but obviously needed a little bit more fitness to really enjoy this one. Check out my trail running videos to get an insight as to what a typical weekend or training block involves for me.

[@drewswomley7787]

Have you had to do any knee re-hab while training to deal with knee pain while training for running?

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Luckily no but have had some calf/Achilles issues. In my experience a lot of my knee issues tie to other parts of the body, in particular the hips. Since I have started warming them up, I have not had any issues with knee pain.

[@drewswomley7787]

@@TheVirtualSherpa cool, that’s good to hear. I sit a lot for work so you’re probably right that it’s my hips. Thanks for the response, I want to do this run someday.

[@TheVirtualSherpa]

Check out David Roche - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGPIfYuCndFrp5o - this warm-up is basically exclusively what I do and its helped infinitely.

[@drewswomley7787]

@@TheVirtualSherpa These look helpful and like they don’t take a lot of time. Should be easy to incorporate into the routine. Thanks.