Hi Sabrina,

Your friends will be wise to not underestimate how hard an r2r is; and going r2r2r is twice as hard, of course.

Your questions require a long answer and I cover those answers and everything else they need to know in my e-guide “The Complete Guide to Hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim.” It’s a small expense for being prepared for a very big day.

Good luck to them!

Thank you for your help.

Aloha Richard,

Thanks for purchasing my e-guide “The Complete Guide to Hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim” and your compliments about my blog, I appreciate both. Good luck with your north-to-south r2r hike. I have trekked the Hikers Haute Route as well as other treks in the Alps—including another I’d highly recommend, the Tour du Mont Blanc (for which you can also pick up my e-guide)—and I would certainly say that hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim in a day is significantly harder than any day of hiking hut-to-hut in the Alps. But I assume you already expect that.

If you’d ever like my help planning a trip I’ve written about, see my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how I can do that for you.

Thanks for the comment and keep in touch.

On the third week of May this year, I will attempt this r2r starting from the north and ascending on the South Rim. My wife will drive from the North Rim to the South Rim to pick me up later that day, since this dayhike is too big for her and perhaps me, too. However, I am a fit, 66-year-old hiker that has this on his bucket list. Last year I completed the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt and it was at times very challenging and demanding of every drop in the tank.

I will send for your guide at $9.95 in preparation for this hike since you have great stories and hiking experiences that detail hikes like this and others you have done that are ones to add to my accomplishments on the trails.

Love your blog and am a fan.

Thanks, Mac. It would be very much worth training for. Good luck.