We had a long drive from San Diego and planned to sleep at the trailhead and start hiking early the next morning. This Hualapai and Havasupai reservation area in northern Arizona is so remote and gas stations are few and far between, we didn't have enough gas to make it to the trailhead and back and nothing was open at 2am. We slept at the closest gas station, filled up in the morning and started hiking at 10:30am.
Here we go. Over 90 degrees already and 11 miles of hiking in front of us. There is about 1100 ft elevation drop at first and it levels off thereafter.
These mule and horse trains were working hard all day. Lots of people hike down and wait for their camping gear to arrive later in this manner. We dodged a lot of poop on the trail.
The trail gets a little thinner down in the canyon. There is gorgeous scenery all around, but after nearly 8 hours of hiking in the afternoon heat with temperatures in the 110's and the relentless sun beating down, I could care less. We arrived at Supai town to get our camping passes and there was still another 2 miles to camp.
But alas, the rewards begin. Here is the first view of Navajo Falls. I want to jump off the edge into the water.
Here is Havasu Falls. The peculiar blue-green color is a result of high levels of lime in the water. It looks unreal. You couldn't make a waterpark this cool. After we rested for a bit and Ryan set up camp (I was fading), we played here for an hour or so and ate Pringles and peanut butter and jelly.
The next morning we are feeling better and more rested. We got an earlier start exploring the canyon. See that tiny hole above me, that is what you crawl through to get to Mooney Falls.
After the tunnel, there is a serious of chains and ladders down a steep trail to the bottom.
Here are the ladders. It reminds me of the Precipice Trail at Acadia National Park in Maine.
Mooney Falls, another beauty. The water has so much force from the fall, it is tough to get close to this one.
Below Mooney Falls, there are endless little waterfalls along this stream. The high lime content in the water also creates these travertine "steps".
Its a 3 mile hike past Mooney to Beaver Falls. I love this picture, we walked through this sea of green vines.
We are back along the stream, crossing over a ladder.
Here is Beaver Falls. There is another series of ladders to get down to it.
I couldn't not add this picture. Ryan just cracks me up sometimes.
We spent over an hour here just playing in the falls, cooling off from the 100+ temperatures and had it mostly to ourselves. I think I may had died an gone to waterfall heaven.
What an awesome place. On our way back to camp, Ryan lost his sunglasses in one of the falls and this started our thoughts about how to get out of the canyon. He didn't have a spare pair and looking into the midday sun without sunglasses would surely result in a migraine. We were booked through this evening to camp, but since we felt so good after our day hike, we decided to hike out in the evening and avoid the overbaked cookie feeling of hiking midday. We started our 11 mile trek back up at 5:45 and arrived at the hilltop at 11pm. We used headlamps for the last few hours and followed the trail of horse poop back. We got our trailer turned around and after about 2 hours of driving, found a truck stop to lay our heads for a few hours.
Total driving miles: 590
Total hiking miles: 28 (plus another 1.4 if you count how far away from the trailhead we had to park our rig)
One word to describe Havasu Falls: paradise
Things you see at night but not during the day: crickets, mice, bats, cows on the road, rabbits on the road
Things you are happy to see at night but not so much during the day: horse poop (it means you are still on the trail)
Items lost: sunglasses
Items found: a cellphone
Items forgotten: toothpaste, toothbrush, tripod attachment (turns out when I pack for a backcountry trip after 4 hours of sleep, I tend to forget key items)
Lessons learned: hike early or hike late this time of year
I love: liner socks, my toes are much happier!
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