Backpacking Barefoot at Grand Canyon

By this point in my shoeless career (5.5 years of barefoot hiking and trail running), I can actually enjoy carrying a pack and going out overnight without shoes. Of course, when it's summertime and blazing hot, I've got to be smart and do my hiking very early in the morning before the trail heats up (and . . . carry a pair of sandals).

In the spirit of "trying to inspire others", this 56-year-old granny wanted to report that she just got back from hiking down Grand Canyon's North Kaibab Trail to spend the night at Cottonwood Camp (with a side trip to Ribbon Falls while I was in the area). It's 7 miles to Cottonwood + another 1.2 to Ribbon Falls, which made for a trip total of 16.4 miles with my pack on . . . roughly 10 of that shoelessly. For a bit more info, plus lots of photos, see my blog post at www.theagavin.wordpress.com.

Happy Trails!
 
Beautiful.
 
Wow! What a great hike and a great report!
Makes me feel kinda wimpy. I was actually at the Grand Canyon 2 weeks ago as well, but only hiked a few miles along the rim trail (Mather Point to Grand Canyon Village). I was there with family and we only had one day, so there just wasn't time to hike below the rim. We had intended to hike part way down but we started pretty late in the day and didn't think we had enough time to hike any distance down and back before dark. Something to look forward to next time I guess! You've inspired me.
 

Support Your Club

Forum statistics

Threads
19,094
Messages
183,434
Members
8,688
Latest member
Jojo9090