In 2022, an Arizona woman hiked roughly 1,000 miles below the Grand Canyon’s rim alone; she completed the traverse in 77 days where no trail exists

Most visitors explore the Grand Canyon along established trails or view it from the rim. In 2022, Jen Hogan, a Tucson-born National Park Service ranger, completed a solo, continuous traverse beneath the rim from Lees Ferry to Pearce Ferry, covering about 1,000 miles in 77 days. Grand Canyon National Park announced her achievement in a March 2022 post on its official Instagram account. A 2023 profile in Arizona Highways described Hogan as the first non-Native woman known to complete the journey, while noting that earlier Indigenous journeys may have gone undocumented. This was a continuous wilderness traverse beneath the rim, not a conventional rim-to-rim hike along established trails.A route with no trailThe Grand Canyon is often measured along the Colorado River, whose length through the park is listed by the National Park Service as 278 miles. Travelling below the rim on foot is a very different undertaking. Hogan had to climb in and out of side canyons, cross exposed ledges and locate water, covering far more ground than the river distance alone suggests. No continuous trail runs the entire length of the canyon below the rim. Instead, the traverse requires route finding through ledges, drainages and steep terrain.Hogan first visited the canyon with her grandfather when she was six or seven. She remembers asking him whether it was possible to go down into the canyon, and he told her it was impossible. As an adult, she built up her experience by hiking the route in shorter sections on both sides of the canyon. With help from Rich Rudow, fellow rangers and friends, she placed 5-gallon buckets of food and supplies at planned cache sites before setting out, allowing her to restock every five to 10 days. Her previous trips helped her identify water sources and difficult sections along the way.Two attempts that ended earlyHogan’s first attempt began on January 2, 2018, when she set out from Pearce Ferry. After about two weeks, a ledge gave way beneath her as she crossed a high route, sending her roughly 30 feet down. She initially thought her injuries were minor and continued hiking for several weeks before she was forced to stop at Parashant Canyon, around river mile 199. A medical scan in Flagstaff later showed that she had fractured her pelvis in six places.Hogan attempted the traverse again several months later, but pneumonia forced her to stop and spend weeks recovering at her brother’s home. A profile in Arizona Highways described her story as a cautionary tale. The risks of canyon travel remain clear in the National Park Service’s 2025 statistics: the park recorded 232 search and rescue incidents and 848 emergency medical service incidents that year. It also recorded 8,265 backcountry permits used. These are parkwide figures for 2025, not statistics from Hogan’s 2022 expedition.Finishing in 77 daysHogan’s third attempt began in the winter of 2021 and continued into 2022. This time, she started at Lees Ferry, where the higher elevation offered cooler starting conditions and water was more readily available. Because it turned out to be a warm winter, beginning at the eastern end made sense. Seventy-seven days later, she completed the traverse. Fellow ranger Della Yurcik met her at a ranger station with a hot pizza, a welcome meal after weeks in the canyon.Rich Rudow, who completed a 57-day traverse beneath the rim in 2015, understands the difficulty of the route. In Arizona Highways, he described travel below the rim as a test of judgment and adaptability because hikers must contend with weather, difficult terrain, limited water and their own health. He credited Hogan’s persistence and willingness to change plans with helping her succeed. Rudow’s account of his background and 2015 traverse confirms his own journey through the canyon.A 2023 profile in Arizona Highways reported that Hogan had been reassigned to Lees Ferry, where she would meet hikers and rafters near the starting point of her traverse. The profile also reported that she served in the Air Force before joining the National Park Service and earned three bachelor’s degrees and two master’s degrees. Hogan said she would attempt the traverse again if given the opportunity. Her achievement was a continuous solo journey below the rim, completed in 77 days after two earlier attempts ended in injury and illness.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.