Location : Grandview Road (NOBO Mile Marker 656.8)
Date: July 24rd 2018
Weather: Clear skies, some clouds, starting temperature 70 degrees and at the turn around it was 82 degrees.
Total Mileage Completed : 21.9 on AZT
Hike Description: This hike started at the Russell Tank Trailhead, just off Grandview Road of the Grand Canyon south of Highway 64. Starting elevation is 7058ft and was to be a 22-mile out and back hike south past the historic Moqui Stag Station down to the northern border of Babbitt Ranch.
Comments:
Committed now to do our “Rim to Rim to Rim” hike in late August, Tom and I decided to bust out our full overnight hiking packs and load them down with training weight for the next couple day hikes. So with 35 plus pound packs we set off back to the Grand Canyon National Park and the AZT. This hike would start where we left off on Hike #47 at Russell Tank, which turned out to be a little more of a 4X4 drive than I originally thought. Thinking Grandview road would be an easy smooth dirt road, as it was up by Grandview Trailhead, was not a 100% correct, especially pulling into the Russell Tank TH road. The hike itself was pretty much more of the same from #47 with a gradual change in terrain as you slowly decrease in elevation toward Babbitt Ranch. Moving from Pine Trees to Pinion Pines to spotty shrub fields we passed the historic Moqui Stagecoach station where travels used to stop on their way to the Grand Canyon nearly a 100 years ago. Hot and sunny around mid-hike, some clouds did roll in after the turn and even a threat of rain arrived. A pretty flat hike with only a 1000 ft gain / loss granted us a good hiking pace of 3.3mph. 
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