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.
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| Luke hiking through the red rocks |
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| Watch out for the mules! |
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| 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.
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| Our makeshift cribbage board |
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| 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!
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| New Navajo Falls |
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| Navajo - Rock Falls |
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| Havasu Falls |
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| Havasu Falls - my favorite one! |
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| Mooney Falls |
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| Hiking to Beaver Falls |
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| Hiking to Beaver Falls |
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| Beaver Falls |
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| Beaver Falls - natural infinity pool |
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| Looking for the Colorado River (still 4 miles away) |
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| Leaving Grand Canyon NP, entering Havasupai Tribal Lands |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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| Birthday boy working his warrior two |
What a whirlwind of a trip! Can’t wait for the next one.
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