Visit to the Grand Canyon - part 2

Wednesday morning we got up before the sun and drove the 60 miles to the trailhead. We didn’t really know what to expect, but were ready for the adventure. They say the perfect time to see wildlife is at dawn and dusk – that is so true. We saw so many animals as the sun was coming up. Our favorite was a beautiful huge elk about 10 feet from the road looking straight at us with an amazing set of antlers. I wish I could have snapped a pic of him, but no such luck.

From the trailhead, it is an 8 mile hike down to Supai Village and another 2 miles to the campground. We started the hike down at 6:00 am to beat the Arizona heat we had been warned about.

Luke hiking through the red rocks

Watch out for the mules!

LOVED the red rock

We got to the campground around 10:30. You have to have a reservation to stay, but sites are first come first serve. We found a perfect spot by the river and quickly set up camp.

Our makeshift cribbage board

Enjoying chicken and rice for dinner and some wine of course!

There are four waterfalls to explore down in Havasupai: Havasu Falls, Mooney Falls, Beaver Falls, and Navajo Falls. Havasu Falls and Navajo Falls are both within a mile of camp. Mooney Falls is a few miles and a very sketchy ladder climb away from camp. Beaver Falls is a 4 mile hike from camp through ivy and many river crossings. We checked out all four!

New Navajo Falls

Navajo - Rock Falls

Havasu Falls

Havasu Falls - my favorite one!

Mooney Falls

Hiking to Beaver Falls

Hiking to Beaver Falls

Beaver Falls

Beaver Falls - natural infinity pool

Looking for the Colorado River (still 4 miles away)

Leaving Grand Canyon NP, entering Havasupai Tribal Lands

Luke found a rope swing

I think part of the reason why this place is so special and impressive is that you have to drive through the most desolate, dry, hot, dessert, hike 10 miles where all you see are rocks, sand, and dirt, and then all of a sudden when you think to yourself “What have I gotten myself into? I have never felt so hot or dirty. Please give me some shade!”, you arrive at a lush oasis. The waters are far more beautiful than my pictures show, the rock is more vibrant reds and oranges, and the greens much more brilliant.  

We spent two nights down in the canyon and each day was hotter than the previous. Friday was going to be by far the hottest day of our trip so we got up early, packed our stuff up in the dark, and were hiking out by 4:15 am. It’s amazing how early the sun comes up and it’s light enough to see. We weren’t hiking in the dark for too long.

Sleepy hikers

The hike out wasn’t too bad, except for the last 1.5 miles which was steep switch backs and stairs, hence the sweaty faces in the picture above! We made it back to the car by 8:15 am.

I was pretty wiped out after the hike out, but luckily my driver, aka Luke, was full of energy and drove us all the way to Lone Pine, CA that day where we camped at the Whitney Portal area that night.

Hundreds of movies filmed here

We didn’t have much time to explore Mt. Whitney area, but are already thinking about making our next road trip to the Eastern Sierras. That is some beautiful country (and much closer to home)! Sunday was Luke’s birthday and last day of our trip. We drove home through Yosemite, stopping for a few yoga poses and quick look at Half Dome.

Birthday boy working his warrior two

What a whirlwind of a trip! Can’t wait for the next one.

Visit to the Grand Canyon

We have heard about the pristine beauty of Havasu Falls for many years and seeing the turquoise waters first hand has long been on our bucket list. I had never been to the Grand Canyon either so a road trip with the toy hauler combining a visit to the Grand Canyon and backpacking to Havasu Falls was a no brainer.

We headed out Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend with no clear destination or reservations. We ended up driving to Las Vegas on Saturday and camping right on the strip at Circus Circus. There is a KOA at Circus Circus if you ever find yourself in Vegas with an RV or trailer – we highly recommend staying there! A night in Vegas was definitely not planned so as soon as we pulled in I set out to make my road trip/camping clothes Vegas ready. Not an easy task, but we made it work! Luke has driven through Vegas many times, but had never stopped so we spent the night walking the strip, people watching, and seeing the sights.

The next morning we loaded up and it was back on the open road headed for Arizona. Most campgrounds around the Grand Canyon were full because of the holiday weekend so our plan was to camp on BLM land for the night (which there was no shortage of). We stopped to fuel up and get some groceries in a town about 60 miles outside of the Grand Canyon called Williams. It was such a cute mountain town that we decided to walk around and check it out. When we discovered the rodeo was in town, it was a pretty easy decision to stay in Williams for the night.

The next morning we drove to the Grand Canyon. I felt like a school girl, I was so giddy with excitement to finally see this amazing wonder. We stopped right outside the entrance to see the IMAX Grand Canyon movie. Luke said the movie hadn’t changed since he saw it 20 years ago J. The rest of the day was spent riding on the tour bus inside the park checking out all the different vistas and viewpoints of the Grand Canyon.

We were able to get a campsite for Monday night inside the park which we gladly took. Walking distance to the rim and elk sightings right in the campground made it a very memorable and enjoyable spot to stay.

We had camping reservations Wednesday and Thursday nights down in Havasupai Village so Tuesday morning we got our backpacking stuff all figured out and our packs packed for the big trip. It sure was nice having the toy hauler to spread our stuff out and have all that extra space.

Because we were towing a trailer, we needed to find a place to leave it while we were down in the canyon for two nights. We found a slightly run down and completely empty campground 5 miles from the turnoff for the road to the Havasupai trailhead – perfect! We unhooked the trailer and had a relaxing afternoon and delicious BBQ pork dinner in preparation for the next day’s hike. This campground gave me the creeps. I didn’t want to walk too far from our site in fear of stepping on a rattlesnake! Not that I saw any, it just looked like the perfect place for rattlesnakes to live. Have you seen the movie Tremors? Well that movie could very well have been filmed here. Fine spot to leave the trailer, but I was ready to get the heck out of there when we were done with the hike and returned on Friday.

The next morning we were up before the sun and headed to the highly anticipated Havasu Falls.