Done. Three of us left about 0540 from the south rim via the Kaibab trail and head north. We took just under 12 hours due to massive picture taking and because one member was suffering from jet lag. The uncle of one of my hiking buddies had flown in from New York and got in the truck to the Grand Canyon only two hours after landing at LAX. We slept on the ground at the campground nearby and due to my buddies cell phone messing up the time, we got up an hour early.
Luckily I made friends with some Navy folks on the climb up the north rim and they told us to look for their friend at the top to get a ride to the lodge saving us a road walk.
The jet lagged uncle threw in the towel and made reservations on the rim to rim shuttle. We resupplied, made our 8:30 dinner reservations and got to bed by 10.
At 0500 we were up and getting ready to meet the 0530 shuttle to the TH. It was chilly for the 1st couple miles, but not too bad. The two of us made good time down to Phantom Ranch and picked up our bag lunches which we ate there. Then we started the push back up the shorter, steeper south kaibab trail. We had more shade than I expected, but there were plenty of hot exposed areas. Just under 11 hours later we were on the shuttle back to the truck meeting up with my buddies uncle.
Splitting it up over two days made it much more enjoyable. It wasn't easy, but it isn't in my top 20 hardest hikes. We plan to return next year with my son and do it as a 24 hour, no hotel trip.
The running shoes were perfect and seemed to be favored by most day hikers on the trail.
Good times..................................DUG
