Havasu Falls (Coconino County, Arizona)

A co-worker and his wife backpacked to Havasu Falls last spring before the floods, and after speaking with him about the trip and seeing his pictures, it seemed like something I wanted to do. For months, I watched the Havasupai Nation's website for when the lottery would open up. Havasu Falls is on tribal lands and they strictly regulate visitation. Finally around the first of the year, the lottery opened up and I was able to enter it for the dates I hoped would work out. A few weeks later, I got confirmation and was able to pay the steep camping reservation fees ($455 per person for four days/three nights). That said, I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to visit such an iconic waterfall and as long as the money helps the tribe, I have no problem paying it. My friend, Nick, had expressed interest and decided to join me for the trip.

Day 1

Flying into Las Vegas yesterday, we drove to the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn, where we had to pick up our permits and had made arrangements to stay the night before our trek started. We enjoyed a quite evening and rose around 4:00 am to drive to the trailhead and start our hike. It's about an hour drive from the Inn to the trailhead and we arrived around 6:00 am. Just as we pulled into our parking spot, I realized that I had forgotten my hiking poles at the Inn. I don't generally like using them, but as we are essentially descending down a steep cliff into the western section of the Grand Canyon, I thought they would ease the burden on my aging knees. That said though, it would take more than 2-hours to drive back and get them and return. I'll go without and just hope my knees hold up.

After using the restrooms at the top, we started the sharp descent into the canyon. I told Nick I wanted to take it very slow until it flattens out to make it easier on my knees. He was fine with that and we began the long descent. The wind is whipping up here though and while the air temperature isn't that cold, it sure feels like it's just a few degrees above freezing.

We descended just over 1,100' in only about a mile-and-a-half. That first section really is steep and it's going to be a bear climbing back out of here in a couple of days. As the trail starts to level out though, we're rewarded with magnificent views of this morning's fresh beams of sunlight just starting to light up the landscape and the mighty canyon before us.

From there, it's mostly flat and unremarkable, though the landscape in general is magnificent with red and orange cliffs in every direction. The occasional sage brush, prickly pear cactus, or small cottonwood tree greets us as we trek deeper into Havasupai lands. My knees didn't really cause me any problems coming down and we're able to hit a good pace as we traverse this middle section of the hike. We pass a few folks on their way out of canyon. This seems to be a very popular hike.

As we round a turn in the dry wash, we here horses in the distance and soon a train of cargo-carrying beasts passes us with a local driving them forward. It seems the tribe offers a luggage service, where hikers can have their gear carried in by horse and then collect it at the campground. That's not for me though, I want the full experience. That almost seems like cheating, but to each their own.

After about 8 miles, we see join another canyon through which Havasu Creek passes and then reach the village of Supai, which doesn't allow any pictures to be taken of the people or the culture. The water of the creek is so blue and crystal clear. We stop here for a short rest. As we pass through the village, I was looking for the well-known Fry-bread stand, but it wasn't yet open. The sign read's something along the lines of "Open and 9:00 am, we should be here by noon-ish". In my experience the first nations of the US keep their own time and this sign just re-enforces that belief. No fry-bread for us . . . at least right now.

With the majority of our miles out of the way, we follow the creek past a couple of more waterfalls and pass a number of other hikers. Both Nick and I keep very fast paces when we hike. Before long, we hear the rumble of the mighty Havasu Falls and are then upon it. As we pass by the top of the falls, we have to walk down another steep, but very short hill into the campground. Along the way, we stop for pictures of the waterfall. It's one of the most magnificent contrast of colors I've ever seen in the natural world. The bluish-green waters of Havasu Creek tumble 90-100 feet over the deep red cliffs. Lush green moss and algae grow where the water droplets hit and the blue sky and white puffy clouds provide a great backdrop for this wonderful scene.

Knowing that we'll return later, we decide to walk on into the campground, select our site, and get our tents erected. As we pass the ranger station, we decide to take the first campsite to the left, as it is near restrooms, the water refill (Fern Spring), and the cliff and trees offers some shelter from the storms we are expecting tomorrow. Also, it will be slightly less distance to hike when we depart on Saturday morning. Though we have four days in the canyon, we're only going to take advantage of three of them. 

We take an hour or so to get our camp set up and eat some lunch. I opted for some re-hydrated pad thai, which was really delicious. After our meal and a little relaxation, we decide to head further north through the campground to visit the next waterfall along the creek, Mooney Falls.

There really are a lot of people camping here and we are both please with our site selection, as we are somewhat isolated while many other groups are packed tightly next to each other like a suburb. The walk to Mooney Falls is only about a mile and we're there in no time. I hike so much faster when I don't have forty-ish pounds of gear on my back.

This waterfall is slightly taller and more narrow than it's brother, though access is more challenging. We get close to the edge and get some pictures and then wander down a steep set of natural steps to another viewpoint. The color contrast here is similar to Havasu Falls, but the views aren't as expansive due to the tight confines of the canyon here. Though we could continue on, I explain that I'm not willing to risk injury and with a storm approaching, I'd rather turn back. Nick agrees and we head back the way we came.

Rather than return to our campsite though, we walk past it and head down to the lower viewing area of Havasu Falls, where dozens of people are wading, swimming, and just admiring this natural wonder. out outlet of the pool below the waterfall, a number of mineral-deposit walls have formed terraces (reminiscent of Mammoth Falls in Yellowstone) and several people are enjoying the cool waters on this warm afternoon. The cold mist coming of the waterfall is enough for me to recognize that I have no desire to go swimming in this cold water. A nearby sign indicates that the lush blue color of the water here is a result of high concentration of lime in the water.

While we're near the falls, we decide to head up top to see if the satellite fry-bread tent is open. We passed this on our way down, but it was closed. To our delight though, it is open now and several hikers have stopped to enjoy this novelty food. Nick mentions that he's never had fry bread, but once he tastes it, he's sold. While the use of lard makes this dish very unhealthy, it's so damn good. I choose the been and cheese version, while Nick orders the full fry-bread taco. I also enjoy a diet coke with my second meal. With many miles traveled and fully bellies, we're in need of rest. We head back to camp and relax the rest of the evening.

Day 2

Through the evening and night, I slept pretty well, though I do remember waking up a couple of times to rain falling on my tent. I was warm and dry inside though. At about 6:00 am, I crawled out of my sleeping bag, put my puffy and hiking shoes on and wandered over to the restroom to take care of morning business. 

Returning, I started boiling some water for breakfast and told Nick through his tent wall, that I was doing so. He joined me a short time later. I ate some blueberries and granola, while enjoying a cup of hot tea. Nick had decided to try the gravy and biscuit pack, which he said was pretty good, though heavy on the black pepper. 

After breakfast, we walked back up to Havasu Falls. When we arrived we were the only ones here and we were able to get some nice pictures without the crowds, though the sky is colored gray in them instead of the vivid blue we had yesterday.

Nick has some papers to sign for some home repairs and decides to walk the two-miles or so back into Supai Village in the hopes of getting enough signal to take care of his business. I return to camp and get comfortable in my camp chair. Dozing off a few times through the morning, it's just nice to relax with no specific obligations.

After a couple of hours Nick returns, and just in time. Thunder heralds the beginning of the storm and we scramble for our tents as the rains begin. I'll end up spending most of the rest of the afternoon in here to avoid getting wet from the soaking rainfall. I'm not concerned with the rain so much, as the being wet part. It's supposed to drop to around 35° degrees overnight tonight and that would be a fine recipe for hypothermia. I'll pass, thank you.

We do get a break in the weather around 4:00 pm though and I take advantage to come out and fix some dinner. Tonight, it will be chicken-pesto with pasta. Not bad, but I put too much water in and the sauce is quite thin. Ah well, it's always hard to judge these things and the directions are so often wrong, that I generally ignore them. 

With the rain starting up again, I crawl back into my tent around 6:00 pm and resolve to spend the rest of the evening in it's confines. I'm warm in here, but my back begins to ache a little and I struggle to get comfortable. The rain continues throughout most of the night and I toss and turn with back pain, never really getting any sound sleep.

Day 3

Super early start this morning, as we want to climb out of the canyon along that steep cliff before the sun raises the temperatures too high. Though it's suppose to be super cold this morning, it feels more like 45° than the predicted 35°. Nick and I break camp and begin packing. We're on the trail by 5:20 am and though I have my headlamp ready to go, the dawning sun provides enough light that's not really necessary.

We push the pace pretty hard, as we pass a few other hikers on their way out. Stopping only for a short water break and to readjust layers in Supai, we continue through gorgeous canyon scenery. Towards the end and shortly before the climb, we're passed by a number of other horse trains, but we're almost there now. 

With the very steep climb in front of us, we slow our pace substantially and just resolve ourselves to the workout that climbing 1,100 feet in just over a mile will be. It's tiring, especially with a full pack on my back, but I manage to keep putting one foot in front of the other. About half-way, I take a pack of Gu for a little energy boost. Soon, the restroom structure comes into view and before we know it, we're at the top once again. 

All the work done, we head back to the car. I check distance and time. We managed to hike almost exactly ten miles this morning, including the steep ascent in only four hours and ten minutes, which is really good. Our total distance for the hike is 21.6 miles, which includes the walk to Mooney Falls, but none of the back and forth between our campsite and Havasu Falls.

Overall, this was a great trip with some spectacular scenery. That said though, the rain yesterday kind of put a damper on the trip. We knew it was coming, but without the ability to change dates, we just suffered through it. With the hike out of the way, we'll return to the Inn to collect my hiking poles and then onto Las Vegas for some fun, food, and rest.