Grand Canyon

The 4-month duration ensures a safe, gradual progression in fitness, strength, and endurance, while allowing time to adapt to the physical demands of the Rim to River hike. It also provides ample opportunity for team-building, skill-building, recovery, and fostering mental toughness, ensuring you're fully prepared to tackle the challenge by October 2027.

Training will typically require about 3 to 5 hours per week (less in the early stages and more as we get closer to the hike), depending on the phase of the program. This includes a mix of strength training, endurance workouts, and active recovery sessions to gradually build your fitness and endurance. The most important session each week will be your long hike, scheduled for weekends.

Rim to River takes 10 to 14 hours to complete in a single day, depending on fitness level, pace, and breaks. We start at night so the climb out is finished before the heat of the afternoon.

Meals, car transport, and accommodations are all included in the cost of the trip. There are four costs not included:

• Flights: Travel to and from Phoenix. We recommend flying into PHX.
• Hotel stays in Phoenix: You'll book your own room for the Monday we arrive, and for Friday night if you decide to stay over before flying home.
• Equipment: A good pair of hiking shoes, poles, a headlamp, and a backpack with a water bladder.
• Meals: We cover meals from the drive north on Tuesday through the celebration dinner on Thursday. You'll cover meals before and after that.

Common, and worth naming up front. Both trails are wide, maintained, and non-technical, with no scrambling and no exposure you have to climb through. The South Kaibab does follow a ridge with open drop-offs on either side, and we descend it in the dark, which most guys find easier rather than harder. We've guided men who were nervous about heights and they finished it safely. You'll have support the entire way and you set your own pace.

Since we're travelling as a group, you have four nights of lodging. Night one is a hotel near the Phoenix airport when you land, then three nights at a ten-bedroom house in the pines outside Flagstaff, about ninety minutes from the South Rim. Your spot includes a shared room, and I pair guys up ahead of the trip so you know who you're with before you land. If you'd rather have your own room, tell me early and I'll arrange a single room upgrade for you. The house has a hot tub, a fire pit, and enough space to spread gear out the night before the hike.

Life happens, and we're here to support you. Our bi-weekly coaching calls and community support system will help you stay motivated and adapt your training plan as needed. The program is also designed to account for lapses in training. We have 4 months to get this right.

One thing I want to be straight with you about. If you get to trip day without having built to the standard, you won't hike the canyon with the group. That is a safety call, for you and for the men walking beside you. Once you are below the rim there is no shortcut out, and the way back up is the hardest part of the day. Everything in the four months is built so that conversation never has to happen. You get the plan, the coaching calls, the group, and a training runway that bends around your life. Tell me early when you are struggling and we adjust it together. The only version of this that goes wrong is the one where you go quiet.

We understand that unexpected events happen. Contact us as soon as possible and we'll work with you on a case-by-case basis regarding refunds or other options. That said, this is a team effort. We ask that you genuinely commit to all aspects of this program before registering.

You'll hike in small groups for safety and camaraderie, surrounded by like-minded adventurers who've been part of the program with you. That said, this hike offers a connection to nature and self-reflection, so if you want some solitude on the trail, that can be arranged.

Early October is one of the best windows of the year in the canyon. On the South Rim, days run around 65 to 70°F (18 to 21°C) and nights drop close to freezing, so you start the hike cold and in layers. It warms fast as you drop, and down near the river it can push past 90°F (32°C) in the afternoon. The heat is the reason we go through the night and climb out before the sun is high.