--- title: "Ernest Scheuer, 94, becomes oldest man to hike Grand Canyon rim to rim, crossing 21 miles in Arizona" url: https://badiyaa.com/ernest-scheuer-94-oldest-grand-canyon-rim-to-rim/ published: 2026-11-09T04:37:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-09T04:37:00+00:00 section: Offbeat publisher: Badiyaa --- # Ernest Scheuer, 94, becomes oldest man to hike Grand Canyon rim to rim, crossing 21 miles in Arizona Guinness World Records confirmed the retired mathematician's 33-hour, 45-minute crossing from the North Rim to the South Rim with six companions, including his grandson. It was his first visit to the canyon. Ernest Scheuer was 94 years and 75 days old when he climbed out of the Grand Canyon at the South Rim, 21 miles (33 km) and more than 10,000 feet of combined elevation change after setting off from the far side. Guinness World Records has now named the retired Los Angeles mathematician the oldest man to cross the Arizona canyon rim to rim on foot. The record keeper told his story on November 5, 2026. The crossing took 33 hours and 45 minutes from start to finish. About 15 of those hours were spent walking; the rest went to rest stops and a night at the bottom. ## Seven hikers, two days, one night by the river Scheuer had company. Six people walked with him: his grandson Eric Arlington, Lanny Deremer, Jeri Segal, photographer and cinematographer Tim Powell, and Patricia “Patsy” Hughes and Richard Hughes, who led the party. They dropped off the North Rim on the [North Kaibab Trail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kaibab_Trail), slept at Bright Angel Campground on the canyon floor, then hauled themselves up the Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim. Heat was the fight, Scheuer told Guinness, and it cost them speed. Other people were running the same trails. > “I moved slowly much of the time, but I followed my motto ‘one foot in front of the other’ and completed the hike.” On the climb out the group met Jeva Uqualla, an elder of the Havasupai Tribe, who was on a spiritual journey through the canyon. Scheuer said the two talked at length, and that he did most of the listening. ## A first visit at 94 The strangest detail comes from his old college. Reed College, where Scheuer graduated in 1951, [wrote in October](https://www.reed.edu/newsroom/stories/2026/a-reed-alumnus-is-the-oldest-person-to-hike-the-grand-canyon-rim-to-rim.html) that he had never set foot in the canyon before the record attempt. “I’d seen it from the air, flying over, but I’d never been there before,” he said. Born in Bad Nauheim, Germany, in July 1930, he arrived in the United States at age six. He earned a mathematics PhD from UCLA in 1960, then divided his working life between the aerospace and defense industry in Los Angeles and teaching at California State University, Northridge. He retired in the fall of 1993 and took up hiking in earnest, and he still heads into the local mountains once or twice a week. Special training? None, he said. He was already hiking a lot, so he watched YouTube videos of canyon hikes to learn the landmarks. He keeps a joke ready for doubters. “It was not a Rosie Ruiz event,” he told the college, a nod to the runner who faked a Boston Marathon win in 1980. “I really did it.” Reed says photos, videos and personal testimonies went to Guinness before the title was confirmed. ## The numbers, worked out Guinness gives his birth date as July 28, 1930, and his age on the trail as 94 years and 75 days. Count 75 days forward from his 94th birthday and the finish falls on or about October 11, 2024, which fits the college’s account of a 2024 trek. The pace was gentle. The ground was not. Twenty-one miles in 15 walking hours comes to 1.4 mph. The North Kaibab trailhead stands at 8,241 feet and Bright Angel Campground at 2,480 feet, so day one alone meant a descent of 5,761 feet in just under 14 miles. The title he took belonged to Alfredo Aliaga Burdio of Spain, born in August 1931 and 13 months younger. Guinness puts the Spaniard’s mark at 93 years and 60 days. The two men have since been in touch, and Scheuer plans to visit him in Berlin in December. ## What copying him would take Scheuer’s advice to imitators was to plan early, because a crossing with an overnight stop needs paperwork. The National Park Service [requires a backcountry permit](https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/backcountry-permit.htm) for any camping below the rim, Bright Angel Campground included. Day hikes need none. At the rates the park posts today, that is $10 per permit plus $15 per person for each night below the rim. For a party of seven staying one night, the sum is $10 + (7 x $15) = $115, before park entrance fees. Spots go first through an early access lottery, and for an October start the application window opens May 16 and closes June 1. Scheuer finished with something left over. “I was perfectly fine when we reached the end of the hike,” he said. “I think that I was energized doing the last few uphill miles, knowing that I was going to accomplish my goal.” ## Further reading - [National Park Service: Grand Canyon backcountry permits](https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/backcountry-permit.htm) - [Reed College: A Reed alumnus is the oldest person to hike the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim](https://www.reed.edu/newsroom/stories/2026/a-reed-alumnus-is-the-oldest-person-to-hike-the-grand-canyon-rim-to-rim.html) - [Wikipedia: North Kaibab Trail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kaibab_Trail) *Image: Grand Canyon National Park, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons* *This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*