The "Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim" (R2R2R) is a world-class route, staring on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, running 5,000′ down to the Colorado River, across a bridge, then 6,000” up to the North Rim. Then back again. Records have been known for decades for doing this on the South and North Kaibab Trails, crossing the river on the bridge near Phantom Ranch. These are recorded here.
The South and North Bass Trails also allow passage from the South Rim to the North Rim. While the elevation/distance profile is very similar, these trails are small and scrappy compared to the "Corridor" Kaibab Trails. Plus, there's no bridge so you have to swim across the river. Buzz Burrell named this the "R2R2R-alt".
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I'm going to attempt this FKT tomorrow morning. I'll be going solo/unsupported (the 2nd known solo traverse and first known night swim for the R2R2R). Should be wild. Will use Garmin & Suunto GPS watches per usual but also take a SPOT tracker (link below). I'll do a write up after wards about the "light and fast" gear set up I've got. I'm jacked to go for this.
SPOT link: https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0NnT03EZDXJlkxjCQXcsBYW3mzaFIolhE
Josh's excellent report from his failed FKT bid: https://www.joshsanders.net/blog/alt
I'm going to head into the canyon again before this next winter storm hits. I created a new SPOT link (although I think the previous link will still show my new updated tracking?). Fingers crossed the upper rim sections of trail are runnable and not too slippery after the snowfall on Wed/Thu... but hey, there are no bad days in the canyon.
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0i8W07u5WLU…
So stoked to hear how this went man!
Updating for Josh:
He completed the R2R2R-alt in 14h00m56s, with the S Rim to N Rim segment in 5h51m27s. Detailed report here: https://www.joshsanders.net/blog/altredemption