GRAND CANYON RIM TO RIM TO RIM ULTRA RUN

Team NAM anticipates a Grand Canyon R2R or R2R2R excursion whenever sufficient Team members show participation interest. For a single Rim to Rim crossing, two separate teams cross the Canyon from both the North and South sides. As base camp is established on the South Rim, a North team starts before dawn and drives a vehicle around the Canyon to the North Rim to begin a north to south Rim to Rim crossing. At the same time, a South team traverses the Canyon from south to north and drives the vehicle left by the North team back after the excursion. For R2R it is expected that both the North and South teams use Bright Angel Trail on the South Rim and North Kaibab Trail on the north side.  Due to North Rim's higher elevation, the South team has about 1000 feet more in elevation gain than the North team.  For a R2R2R double crossing the run/hike starts from either the Bright Angel or South Kaibab Trail from the South Rim and ascends the North Rim via the North Kaibab Trail before returning up Bright Angel.  Depending on final routing selection, total distance of this ultra event may vary from 45 to 48 miles, with cumulative elevation gain/loss of about 13,000 feet.

Some Team NAM members may participate by only descending into the Canyon and crossing the river to explore the Canyon bottom before returning back up to the South Rim.

While Grand Canyon is accessible by flights to Las Vegas or Phoenix, runners may elect to drive to Arizona with potentially greater flexibility on the timing of the excursion.