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Buttes and side canyons of the Grand Canyon seen from a forested rim
Jorge Salazar / Unsplash

Grand to Grand Ultra stage map and camps

Six stages in seven days, from the north rim of the Grand Canyon to the top of the Grand Staircase, with a week of food on your back.

September 19 to 25, 2027 Kanab, Utah

The Grand to Grand Ultra runs about 171 miles (275 km) north across the high desert of northern Arizona and southern Utah. It starts on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and finishes on the Pink Cliffs, the top step of the Grand Staircase. You carry your own food and gear for the week. The organizer brings the water and the tents, and there's a checkpoint about every 10 km.

The 2027 race, September 19 to 25, is the 14th. Founders Colin and Tess Geddes say it's their last as race directors, and the site bills it as the Founders' Farewell Edition.

The camps on this map are placed from the organizer's own course map, so treat each pin as good to a mile or so. Checkpoint locations and cutoffs are only in the Race Course Book you get at check-in, which is why each stage here runs from camp to camp.

Don't plan on using the map during the race. The rules keep phones in airplane mode, for photos, video and music only, and ban GPS receivers, trackers and recording the course. Cell coverage out there is poor anyway. Download it to plan your trip, or leave it with the people waiting for you in Kanab so they can see where you're sleeping each night.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with Grand to Grand Ultra. Check the official site before you enter or race.

Grand to Grand course map

Every course's checkpoints on the Goat Maps topo map. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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Grand to Grand courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
Stage 130.8 mi (50 km)Sun, Sep 19, 8:00 AM13 h
Stage 226.9 mi (43 km)Mon, Sep 20, 8:00 AM13 h
Stage 3, the Long Stage53.5 mi (86 km)Tue, Sep 21, 8:00 AM34 h
Stage 426 mi (42 km)Thu, Sep 23, 8:00 AM12 h
Stage 526.3 mi (42 km)Fri, Sep 24, 8:00 AM12 h
Stage 67.9 mi (13 km)

Stage 1

Grand to Grand Stage 1

From the Grand Canyon rim north to the edge of the Kaibab National Forest.

Distance
30.8 mi (50 km)
Start
Sun, Sep 19, 8:00 AM
Time limit
13 h

The course line isn't drawn yet, so the map only pins where the checkpoints are.

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

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You sleep at Camp 1 the night before, a short way from the start line, a remote spot on the north rim at 5,344 ft (1,629 m). The organizer's map has the stage heading north toward the Vermilion Cliffs and Camp 2, on the edge of the Kaibab National Forest. Its 2023 profile drops for the first dozen miles, then climbs most of the rest of the way to camp.

Your pack is at its heaviest today, with at least 14,000 calories in it. You have 13 hours.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Camp 1 (start)
30.8Camp 2

Stage 2

Grand to Grand Stage 2

The biggest climb of the first half, then a long descent to the lowest camp.

Distance
26.9 mi (43 km)
Start
Mon, Sep 20, 8:00 AM
Time limit
13 h

The course line isn't drawn yet, so the map only pins where the checkpoints are.

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

On the organizer's 2023 profile, Stage 2 climbs steeply out of Camp 2 to the highest ground of the first half of the race, a little over 7,000 ft, then descends for most of the way to Camp 3, the lowest camp at about 4,900 ft. The limit is 13 hours.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Camp 2
26.9Camp 3

Stage 3

Grand to Grand Stage 3, the Long Stage

53.5 miles over two days, across the Coral Pink Sand Dunes.

Distance
53.5 mi (86 km)
Start
Tue, Sep 21, 8:00 AM
Time limit
34 h

The course line isn't drawn yet, so the map only pins where the checkpoints are.

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

The Long Stage starts at 8 AM, except for the top runners after the first two stages, who start at 9. You have 34 hours, and the stage runs into the night: your headlamp and a flashing red light must be on at dusk. Part of it crosses the Coral Pink Sand Dunes.

Checkpoints 6, 7 and 8 have hot water for a meal and a few light canopies where a limited number of runners can sleep. Between 2 and 6 PM on Tuesday, about halfway through, the public can watch at Best Friends Animal Society. At Camp 4 you get 6.75 liters of water instead of the usual 4.5.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Camp 3
53.5Camp 4
A coral pink sand dune with scattered green shrubs under a stormy sky, at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
Raychel Sanner / Unsplash

Stage 4

Grand to Grand Stage 4

Back east from Camp 4 to Camp 5, with everyone starting together again.

Distance
26 mi (42 km)
Start
Thu, Sep 23, 8:00 AM
Time limit
12 h

The course line isn't drawn yet, so the map only pins where the checkpoints are.

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

Everyone starts Stage 4 together at 8 AM on the fifth day. On the organizer's map it loops back east from Camp 4 to Camp 5, near US 89. The limit drops to 12 hours.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Camp 4
26Camp 5

Stage 5

Grand to Grand Stage 5

The last marathon-length day, climbing toward the Pink Cliffs.

Distance
26.3 mi (42 km)
Start
Fri, Sep 24, 8:00 AM
Time limit
12 h

The course line isn't drawn yet, so the map only pins where the checkpoints are.

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

The last full stage climbs for most of its second half, up to Camp 6 at around 7,000 ft, just below the finish. It's 26.3 miles with a 12 hour limit.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Camp 5
26.3Camp 6

Stage 6

Grand to Grand Stage 6

A short run to the finish on the Pink Cliffs, in waves.

Distance
7.9 mi (13 km)

The course line isn't drawn yet, so the map only pins where the checkpoints are.

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

The last stage is 7.9 miles to the finish at 7,073 ft (2,156 m), on the Pink Cliffs. It starts in waves, slowest runners first, and you're told your start time the evening before. The limit is 2 to 4 hours depending on your wave.

There's a pizza lunch at the finish, and the bus back to Kanab leaves at 12:30 PM.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Camp 6
7.9Finish, Pink Cliffs
Orange hoodoos and cliffs capped with white rock at Bryce Canyon, part of the Pink Cliffs, with pines in front
Jim Witkowski / Unsplash

Entering

Register online with a US$1,000 deposit, which holds your place in your nationality's quota. The balance of the US$4,300 fee is due May 19, 2027, with a US$200 late fee after that, and registration closes June 30, 2027, or sooner if the quotas fill. The field is capped at 170, 45 of them from the USA. If you don't get a place, you go on the waiting list for free.

There are discounts of 15% for G2G, M2M and Utah 115 alumni and past volunteers, 10% for over 65s and military, 20% for each new runner an alum brings, and 50% for long-time Kane County residents. Only one discount applies per entry.

Withdraw more than 120 days out and you get your money back less US$500. After that there's no refund. A signed medical certificate is due between June 15 and August 20, 2027.

Getting to Kanab

The nearest international airport is Harry Reid in Las Vegas, about 200 miles away. The organizer puts the drive at 3.5 to 4 hours, and Kanab is an hour ahead of Las Vegas. There's no scheduled bus. The race's charter ($130 each way) leaves the airport at 4 PM on Wednesday, September 15 and Thursday, September 16. If you rent a car instead, you'll have to drive it back to Las Vegas, since there's nowhere to drop one off in Kanab.

Be in Kanab by Thursday the 16th. Check-in, with the medical and gear checks, is at 1 PM on Friday. The buses to Camp 1 leave the Kane County Tourism Office from 10 AM on Saturday. The organizer suggests at least three days to get used to the altitude, which averages over 6,070 ft (1,850 m). Your hotel nights on September 17 and 25, in a shared double room, are in the fee. The bus back to the airport leaves at 8:30 AM on Sunday, September 26, so book a flight after 2:30 PM.

Food, water and the pack

Footprints across the pink sand at Coral Pink Sand Dunes, near Kanab, with a ridge behind
Tyler Mower / Unsplash

Self-supported means everything you need, from the morning of Stage 1 to the morning of Stage 6, is on your back. You need at least 2,000 calories for each stage still to come (4,000 for the Long Stage), so 14,000 at the start. The pack can weigh up to 12 kg (26 lb) without water, and the organizer says most start at 8 to 11 kg (17 to 24 lb). The kit list includes a sleeping bag rated to 0°C (32°F), a light down or fiberfill jacket, two 200 lumen headlamps and a compass.

Water is rationed: 1.5 liters before each stage, 1.5 liters at every checkpoint and 4.5 liters at camp, plus hot water morning and evening. In the supported category the organizer moves a duffel of up to 12 kg between camps and you run with a day pack holding most of the kit. Self-supported finishers get a buckle, supported finishers a medal.

Mid to late September averages around 80°F (27°C) in the day and 47°F (8°C) at night, and nights in the high desert can get much colder.

Friends and family

Nobody but racers and staff is allowed on the course or at camps and checkpoints. Family can see you once, during the Long Stage, from 2 to 6 PM on Tuesday: park by the Angels Rest pet cemetery at Best Friends Animal Society, near Kanab. They can cheer but not hand you anything, or you can be disqualified. They're welcome at the finish too: ask the organizer for directions ahead of time.

Hotels in Kanab fill up close to race week, so family should book early.

Grand to Grand checkpoints and GPS coordinates

For crews and spectators: each place on the map in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • Camp 1 (start)

    5,344 ft (1,629 m)

    36.53640, -111.87250

  • Camp 2

    36.80020, -112.07240

  • Camp 3

    36.99400, -112.38350

  • Camp 4

    37.08610, -112.81420

  • Camp 5

    37.19320, -112.60850

  • Camp 6

    37.37260, -112.48350

  • Finish, Pink Cliffs

    7,073 ft (2,156 m)

    37.43730, -112.46660

  • Kanab (check-in and awards)

    37.04820, -112.52850

Grand to Grand FAQ

When is the Grand to Grand Ultra 2027?

September 19 to 25, 2027, with check-in in Kanab on Friday, September 17. You need to arrive by Thursday the 16th.

Is 2027 the last Grand to Grand Ultra?

It's the last one with Colin and Tess Geddes as race directors, after 14 editions since 2012. The farewell note on the race's site doesn't say whether the race goes on without them.

What does self-supported mean at Grand to Grand?

You carry all your food, clothing and gear for the week. The organizer gives you water at checkpoints and camps, hot water at camp, and a shared tent each night. The supported category, at the same price, has your duffel moved between camps.

Can you use a phone or GPS at Grand to Grand?

Only in airplane mode, and only for photos, video and music. GPS watches are allowed, but you can't save the course on them. Satellite phones, GPS trackers and other GPS receivers are banned.

What are the cutoffs at Grand to Grand?

13 hours for Stages 1 and 2, 34 hours for the Long Stage, 12 hours for Stages 4 and 5, and 2 to 4 hours for Stage 6, depending on your wave. Checkpoints have their own cutoffs, listed in the Race Course Book.

How much does the Grand to Grand Ultra cost?

US$4,300 for 2027, for either category. It includes two hotel nights in Kanab, transport to Camp 1 and back from the finish, the welcome and awards dinners, and water for the race.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.