Embark on the adventure of a lifetime with our comprehensive Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Grand Canyon hike training & preparation guide. This video is your one-stop resource for all the training tips and planning strategies you need to conquer this epic trail. Whether you’re a seasoned hiker or a determined beginner, our expert insights will help you navigate the challenging terrain and stunning landscapes of the Grand Canyon. Get ready to transform your hiking dreams into reality!”

I am going to adapt a quote from Yogi Berra and say, “Rim to Rim is 90% mental, the other half is physical” Everyone is different, but to me the practical and psychological aspects of preparing for a rim to rim hike are probably as important or more important than the physical training aspects

The best training for hiking Grand Canyon is hiking Grand Canyon. However, if you do not have access to the Canyon, you should look for an environment that best approximates it, steep up and down conditions on a rocky, dusty trail at a high elevation. But even if you live in a city, you can at least go up and down the steps at a high-rise building.

Here is another caution, don’t overtrain. Especially in the week or two preceding the hike, you want to be sure you don’t cause wear injuries to your ankles, knees and so forth. I usually reduce my walking distances a few days before a rim to rim hike. Plus, on regular hikes, I still do a bit of jogging. On a rim to rim, I do not jog. I cannot risk wearing out a body part or tripping and falling. You need to carefully preserve your ability to do a possibly difficult hike when you go rim to rim.

Moving on to more practical tips, the first is to lose some weight.

Next, consider whether you will be going on a supported or unsupported hike. Supported means you have a friend or family member meeting you on the other side, which is great. That person can meet you down the trail a mile or two, offer you a Gatorade or a beer, and give you a ride from the trailhead to your hotel or resupply you for an immediate return to the other rim. But there is also a certain joy in the independence of doing it entirely on your own–and of not needing to entertain a friend or relative after you have completed the hike and likely want a bath and a good night’s sleep.

My strategy is to get a very early start on the hike. At first, it was 4am, but with experience, I have moved it back to 1 am. It takes me two hours to get on the trail in the morning, which means I get up at 11 pm the night before the hike. Of necessity, this means that you need to have your breakfast ready in your room. I bring a cooler with fruit and yogurt, and I also bring a coffee maker so I do not need to fiddle with single cups of coffee. You can get an inexpensive coffee maker for about $13 at Walmart, probably not much more than a few cups of Starbucks coffee if you later decide to abandon it when you leave. Speaking of food, be careful of your dinner before the hike. The last thing you want on the trail are stomach problems.

A small but important tip, protect your trail food from rodents. They can inhabit cabins as well as campsites. I had a trip ruined by rodents in a North Rim cabin, there was no way to replace my food at 1 in the morning, so I scrapped the hike. I now use a thick locking plastic container for the trail food to avoid this happening again. School of hard knocks. Also, beware of squirrels on the trail. If you leave your pack alone, they will chew through the pack to get to your food, potentially ruining both.

I prefer an early start as the trails are quiet, and if there is going to be something going wrong, it gives you some daylight hours to solve it. On one hike my hiking companion had medical issues and I thought we would have to take a helicopter out. I was glad that it was early afternoon and there were still hours left to get the matter resolved. In the end, we were able to hike out and things were not as bad as they seemed, but I learned a lesson to give myself extra time to resolve problems, and I would rather resolve those problems in the daylight when everyone is still working, as opposed to late at night.

Treated water is usually available at predictible stops along the trail, but water shut-offs have been occuring without notice, particularly as they repair the transcanyon pipeline

Next, know your weaknesses, they may well surface on the hike.

Make it fun, not work. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Protect your health. There is no shame in putting it off to try another day. But if you do make it, it is a grand and victorious feeling, to stand on the edge of the Canyon and look to the other side, and say, just a few hours ago I was standing there, and my two little feet have carried me here. It is a great feeling to set and achieve goals like hiking rim to rim, or rim to rim to rim.

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