Grand Canyon - rim to rim trek

Looking to do the Rim to Rim trek in the Grand Canyon - aiming for mid October, when it's not too hot.

First company we tried was Wild Land Trekking - their trips look great, but unfortunately they don't have any space on their Rim to Rim trip, and just a single space on their 7 day Kanab Creek Adventure had just a single space

www.wildlandtrekking.com


Discovery Treks only have single spaces left

www.discoverytreks.com


Pygmy Guides - have chased as they didn't answer initial query.  They replied to say that permits for Rim to Rim are sold out.

www.pygmyguides.com/grand-canyon-overnight-backpacks/


Four Seasons Guides - have chased as they didn't answer initial query.  The replied to say that their only October Rim to Rim trip with availability is at the very start of the month.

fsguides.com/rim-to-rim/


All Star Grand Canyon Tours - unfortunately don't have any availability on their Rim to Rim hikes in 2018

www.allstargrandcanyontours.com/grand-canyon-group-backpacking-trips.shtml


Grand Canyon Field Institute - unclear from their website if they do Rim to Rim trips.  They replied to my email saying that their last Rim to Rim trip is at the start of October.

www.grandcanyon.org/classes-tours/contact-the-field-institute/


Rubicon Outdoors - unfortunately don't have Rim to Rim hikes

rubiconoutdoors.com/destinations/


Backroads - unfortunately don't have Rim to Rim hikes

www.backroads.com

Just Rough In It - they will rent equipment for self guided trips (they have had their Grand Canyon NP commercial license suspended for three years, so won't be able to run trips for some time).

www.justroughinit.com



Postscript:

We ended up doing a "Packraft Rim to Rim" - where you can a little inflatable with you down from the North Rim (together with a lifejacket and paddles) ... blow it up at the bottom, and paddle across.  Then deflate it and hike out to the South Rim.

It was an amazing trip - and for a National Park that gets around six million visitors a year, it allowed us to hike in a remote location, where we only actually bumped into one person in the whole five days of hiking.

The packraft was very small (and a bit flimsy), and having to dig a hole each morning in which to defecate, wouldn't be to everybody's tastes - but this trip really does give you so much more solitude than any of the "corridor" trips that most people do.

Hill walks near London

I'm looking for some hills near London to use for some hiking training ...

I had thought about a trip to Bournemouth to take in Beachy Head and a bit of the South Downs - but then discovered that the cheapest day return fare is 30 quid - so should probably make a full day out of it, rather than just go there, walk, and return !

googling for hiking near london brought up some interesting looking options ...


the view from Leith Hill looks good
https://www.iffleyroad.com/blogs/journal/5-great-trail-runs-near-london


Box Hill is best known as a cycling hill ... but walking is also possible !
Lots of different routes / distances are possible
https://www.mapmyrun.com/gb/dorking-eng/


London Hiker has an interesting looking list - focusing on heights
http://londonhiker.com/walking-trip-ideas/biggest-hill


The ones that get mentioned everywhere are Greenwich Park, Hampstead Heath, Primrose Hill and Richmond Park

Preikestolen

as part of my trip to Svalbard ... i flew into StaVanGer ... and hiked up Pulpit Rock

last time i did it, we had a hire car - which ended up proving rather expensive, as the tolls for the road tunnels are rather high (and the car hire company added a service charge) !

this time we didn't want to hire a car, so we looked at public transport.

the ferry goes from the centre of Stavanger to a place called Tau - it's a very frequent service with ferries every 45 mins during weekdays

from Tau there is a public bus (number 100) to Jørpeland ... but there's no obvious public bus from Jørpeland to the base of the Pulpit Rock hike - although there is a special service four times a day during the summer

that left us with two different private companies:

Tide - will sell you a combined ticket for the ferry and their bus.  in advance it is 320 NOK per person, or 350 NOK if you buy it at the ferry terminal, on board the ferry or on the bus

Pulpit Rock company / Boreal - sell tickets for their bus for 190 NOK in advance or 200 NOK in person (more during high season), and then you buy your ferry ticket directly for 56 NOK each way - so a total of 312 NOK

whilst the ferries go every 45 mins - the two companies seem to alternate which one they connect with.  since the difference in price is so small, we just went with the company which matched our preferred departure time - which was Tide.

the tourist information office in Stavanger helpfully sold us the tickets - so we got the "advance" price.

in the evening the gap between departures from the Mountain Hut parking lot start to spread out - and we missed Tide's penultimate departure by about 5 mins (we saw the bus pull out).  whilst the tickets aren't officially interchangeable, we thought it was worth trying our luck on the Pulpit Rock company bus that departed next.  possibly because we had purchased our tickets in the tourist office, they didn't have any company branding (or maybe our driver wasn't too bothered), but we managed to get away with it - which was much better than hanging around 40 minutes for the final Tide bus !

if i do it again, i will definitely buy tickets in the tourist office, in the hope that it gives the chance of some flexibility.

for completeness - the Puplit Rock company also run a weekend morning departure which picks up from hotels and drives around the bay (avoiding the ferry) - but it doesn't give any flexibility, and i can't tell you the price, as it seems to have stopped running for the year !
unless you're staying out of town (and the "tour" bus collects from your hotel), i would suggest taking the ferry for the extra flexibility - especially as hiking times vary enormously from person to person, and you may want to time your departure based on the weather forecast.

Hiking in Norway ...

Looking at a hiking trip in Norway in the Summer ...

For inspiration and ideas, Exodus has a trip, as do Explore and also a company I've never heard of called Sherpa Walking Holidays ...