(rick++) said:Other factors are altitude and rocky trails.
The rim is 7,000 to 8,000 feet which can be a significant change for
people from Chicago.
I've down the round trip river hike a dozen times in the past couple
decades. One of the easiest and fastest occurred after I had been
living at altitude in Colorado, even though I was 20 years older than
some of the earlier hikes.
The three trails converging on Phantom Ranch are the least rocky
of the trail system, tough it is possible to trip on loose stones
and get knocked out if you arent careful.
Here's more information from our (National Park Service) Morning
Report (affectionately known as the "gloom and doom" report.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++
On Thursday, July 8th, Chicago resident Margaret L. Bradley, 24, and a
companion began a day run from the South Rim on the Grandview Trail
with the objective of crossing the Tonto Plateau and returning to the
rim via the South Kaibab Trail – a 27-mile circuit. The runners had
five quarts of water between them, but ran out sometime during
mid-afternoon. At that point, Bradley and her companion decided to
separate. She then attempted to make it down to Phantom Ranch to reach
water and assistance; he spent the night in the canyon, suffering from
dehydration and exhaustion, then managed to reach the South Kaibab
Trail, where he sought the assistance of a USGS employee who was
hiking out of the canyon. She used her satellite phone to contact park
personnel and get directions to a water cache at Tipoff. No
information was provided about their itinerary, nor that Bradley was
missing. He believed that she’d gone on to Phantom Ranch, so asked a
trail crew employee to leave a message at the ranch telling her that
he’d abandoned his hike, but would shuttle her car back to the South
Kaibab Trailhead for her return trip to Flagstaff. Bradley was
reported missing to Flagstaff PD when she failed to meet her family
there on Friday. Flagstaff PD then notified the park, where search
efforts were immediately begun. Search dog handlers Marsha and Denny
Bratcher from Page, Arizona, were flown to Grand Canyon by Glen Canyon
NRA pilot Jim Traub. Ranger Chuck Sypher and court officer Jennifer
Sypher interviewed Bradley’s companion in Flagstaff and were able to
immediately relay information on where to focus search efforts. The
park’s helicopter was launched, with pilot Mike Brinkworth, helicopter
manager Mark Murray, paramedic Tom Clausing and helitacker Mark Peck
on board. They located Bradley’s body in Cremation Creek between the
Tonto Trail and the Colorado River, a thousand feet below the trail.
Bradley had negotiated three pour-offs (dry waterfalls) while heading
toward the river and apparently became stranded above a fourth
pour-off which could not be negotiated. The Coconino Country medical
examiner has determined her death to have been accidental, caused by
dehydration due to environmental heat exposure. The temperature at
Phantom Ranch on July 8th reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Bradley was
in excellent physical condition, had been recently featured as an
athlete of the month in a Chicago athlete magazine article, and had
run the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:05. She had come to Northern
Arizona for high altitude training. Running in the canyon is most
popular in the fall months. Marc Yeston was incident commander.
Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"
