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Havasu Falls: The Hard Way
Entry 6 of 15 | show all | print this entry |
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We're back in Flagstaff, we got back here last night after a LONG 2 days of hiking. We left here on Saturday morning at about 6am and drove to Hualapai Hilltop, which is as close as you can drive to Supai. From there it's an 8 mile hike to the town, then another 2 miles to the beginning of the campground which stretches for about a mile along Havasu Creek to Mooney Falls. After my toenail incident on the San Juan, I'm still not able to wear normal shoes because the place where my toenail used to be is still really sensitive, so I did the hike in...yep, you guessed it...my trusty Teva sandals. Let me just say right now, I knew this wasn't the best idea, but I really didn't have a choice. It was either hiking in my sandals or not going, and this was the place on our trip that I wanted to see more than anywhere else, so it wasn't even really a question in my mind. Right when we started I realized that it was going to be slow going for a while- the trail was really loose and rocky and I think I slid about 4-5 times within the first 10 minutes or so. Silas was worried about me and my choice of footwear, but once I got a feel for the trail it was fine.
Within the first 20 minutes of hiking I think we ran into about 3-4 pack trains of horses. Some of them were packing supplies out of the canyon and some of them were tourists who had chose to pay to ride out instead of hiking out themselves. This was the topic of much conversation between Silas and I- the people who either, A. hiked in and out but had their bags packed by the horses or mules, B. hiked in but then decided to ride out, or C. the people who came in and out by helicopter. I couldn't decide if I was disgusted with them, or jealous of them. But it definitely pissed me off- especially when we were hiking out of the campground the next day and we'd pass people on the trail between there and the town who didn't have backpacks or anything (except water bottles and cameras and an occasional purse) and they'd ask us, "How far is it to 'the waterfall?'" A couple times I asked them, "which waterfall?" since there are several, and they wouldn't even know the names of the falls. It just made me feel like maybe since they hadn't had to work as hard to get there, it wasn't going to mean as much to them as it had to us.
Anyway, the hike in was long but really not too bad. We made it to the town and checked in at the Tourist Office. This is where all visitors have to check in and pay entry and camping fees. To be able to come here you have to make a reservation- and they recommend you do it at least several months in advance. Silas had made our reservation back in July and they hadn't asked for credit card info or anything like that on the phone, they had just given him a confirmation number. Well, on Thursday he had called to confirm our reservation and they had asked him for the confirmation number. He didn't have it and they told him that he HAD to have it for our reservation. Who really keeps confirmation numbers anyway? I mean, if it's for airline tickets of something they can always look you up by name. But Silas was told that we HAD to have this number. So the next day he had me call back and I told them that we had called yesterday and that we had looked all over for our number, but we couldn't find it. The man on the phone asked me what name the reservation was under and I gave them Silas' name and the guy goes, "Oh yeah, he called yesterday and said his girlfriend had the number." (not true- I was sitting right there when Silas had called) I said, "Yeah, I'm his girlfriend and I cannot find that number anywhere" So the guys said, "Well, why don't I just give you another confirmation number" He gave me another number which was nice of him, but I was just wondering why they couldn't have given Silas a new number the day before? Anyway, when we got to the Tourist Office, confirmation number in hand, they never even asked us for it!! Oh well, it all worked out in the end. We just thought that it was funny that we had gone to all that trouble with our confirmation number and then we didn't even need it.
So after checking in we headed on to the campground, passing through the town on the way. It's a pretty small town but they had a couple stores, a cafe, a church, a post office, a school, and a lodge. Right before we got to the campground we passed Havasu Falls, which was the thing that had made me want to come here in the first place. You know how sometimes you see a picture of a place, but when you actually get there it's not quite as good as you were expecting? Havasu Falls was so much more beautiful than any picture I've seen of it- just being there and getting to see it for myself made the whole hike completely worth it for me. After we set up our tent and stuff we headed back to the waterfall for a swim and we were surprised to see that there were only 2 other people swimming there and they left just as we were getting in the water, so we had the whole place to ourselves!
That night Silas had his first experience with dehydrated dinners. He had chosen sweet and sour chicken and I had picked lasagna. Let me tell you, dehydrated camping dinners have come a LONG way since I was a kid. I can only remember there being spaghetti, chili, and maybe a couple others and now there's tons to chose from. I think Silas was pleasantly surprised with them- as we were eating he was talking about which dinner he wants to try next.
The next morning we got up and made breakfast and coffee and walked down to Mooney Falls which is just downstream from the campground. Another amazingly beautiful waterfall. It was named after a 'red- bearded' prospector who had fallen to his death there and I was teasing Silas about being the red- bearded reincarnation of Daniel Mooney.
After we packed up camp we headed back to Havasu Falls for some more pictures and then we went to Navajo Falls on the way back to town. When we got back into town we saw a big group of tourists waiting in front of the lodge for the helicopter that was taking them (and their stuff) back up to the top. We needed to fill up our water bottles for our long hike back out so we stopped at the Tourist Office again and filled up from their spigot out front. After that we were ready to start the hike back out. It seemed to go by much faster than the day before when we were hiking in. It was hot but the only really bad part was about a mile long stretch before we hit the steep part of the canyon wall. We were planning on stopping for lunch before hitting the steep part, and I kept insisting that there was a big shady rock right before there that we could stop at. We never did end up seeing this shady spot that I thought was there, so we finally stopped at a different spot and had some lunch and rested in the shade before our final mile. While we were sitting there several young boys came up the trail and we noticed that none of them were carrying anything- no water, nothing. One of the boys came and asked us if he could have some of our water and we gave him some then he kept going up the trail. By this time we had gone through about 4 liters of water between the two of us-I couldn't imagine hiking out of there without any water.
Finally, we made it to the top. It felt SO good to be done and to know that we had just hiked 22 miles in two days!! The ride back to Flagstaff seemed so long- I could barely keep my eyes open. Silas and I started playing the 'famous person guessing game' and I actually fell asleep in the middle of trying to guess who Silas had picked. That reminds me...I guess we're still in the middle of that game. Good thing we still have lots of driving ahead of us!!
Allison
Yes, I must admit I was really worried about Allison hiking in her flip-flops when we first started our descent down into the canyon, but she insisted we go on, and I'm glad she did. Havasu Falls was beautiful. It almost looked fake it was so perfect. The water is practically glowing blue. At the bottom of it are all of these little waterfalls and terraces with deep swimming holes, and tiny little islands with trees. It looked like a movie set, or a fake waterfall in front of a Vegas casino. Mooney Falls was nearly as beautiful. I was also fascinated by the village. The village is so isolated from the rest of the world, and the people seem to live so simply, yet every day all day helicopter loads of rich tourists are dumped in the center of town. It's interesting to see the integration of the two worlds. I think it would make an excellent documentary. Though, the village and the waterfalls were really cool, I was really put off by all of the other tourists there. And like Allison was saying, right or wrong, I felt a little hostile towards the ones who were helicoptered in. I also could not believe the amount of trash along the trail. For as much as the Havasupai charge for use of the area and camping, there is no reason for there to be so much trash. If they charged everyone an additional .25, they could easily pay someone well to maintain the cleanliness of the trail. I can't believe people would litter that much in the first place! Fear not, you would never die of a dehydration along the trail, because there are so many half-full Gatorade bottles just discarded on the ground and in the bushes. As we were leaving the village Allison and I shared some dried fruit with two Havasupai kids and their puppy, Winston. Winston took an instant liking to us and followed us all the way out of the village. I would have liked to have taken him with us, but sadly we had to shoo him back to the village. While we were hiking out, we noticed a horse with a bloody underbelly. We felt really bad for the horses and mules who have to go up and down the canyon everyday. Some of them looked really healthy and happy and well-cared for, but others just seemed wasted and destitute. There is one spot on the cliffy part of the trail where a horse had died, and since they couldn't carry it out, they burned the body. It smelled really bad! Someone (probably the owner) had written its name in small rocks, "Viola." But despite the negatives it was a really cool experience. Seeing Havasu Falls makes the long, hot hike worth it. Allison is a bad ass for hiking the whole trail in flip-flops!
Silas
Latest Comments (6)
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CalActive says.. (reply)
Feb 26, 2008 18:54 EST by calactive
What a fabulous story about your advenute to the falls. I am about to embark there for the first time in a couple of months and can't wait. Thanks for sharing you story!
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you go girl (reply)
Oct 5, 2007 17:17 EST by bullwinkle8052
Allison I'm so impressed with you hiking in flip-flops. I wouldn't have given up on hiking to the falls either just because of a little thing like a missing toenail. You two have taken such great pictures. The boys ( they say HI!) and I want to go to the falls now. Just another destination on our list. Keep the pictures coming.
Bev.
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Character Building (reply)
Oct 4, 2007 13:54 EST by myamamoto
I'm so impressed that you made the hike in Tevas...and as for the the rich helicopter people-just think how much more you appreciated the falls after you actually made the hike, rather than getting shuttled around in what was likely an air-conditioned ride. Builds character, I tell you!
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Revenge of the mangled toe (reply)
Oct 1, 2007 21:22 EST by mom717
Silas - you should know by now Allison's not going to let a little thing like a mangled toe stop her from a 22 mile hike! Allison, I'm impressed!
I'm jealous - after I saw a segment on Havasu Falls on the Travel Channel, I wanted to go there. Seeing your photos only makes me want to go more! It looks like it was way nicer than I had even imagined. Keep up the great commentaries! Be sa... show all
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Litterbugs suck (reply)
Oct 1, 2007 16:26 EST by alandjen
You guys are giving some great descriptions of your trip! It's great! Good thing you had all that practice hiking up and down waterworks in your flippies, Al! I remember you got some nasty blisters on our hike in TN when you wore appropriate shoes. Never again! Stay safe, you guys! Keep up with the entries! Your dorky friends in Missoula miss you!
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rich people (reply)
Oct 1, 2007 15:31 EST by syamamoto
Maybe you guys should have given them the wrong directions to 'the waterfall'--like maybe sent them back out the trail you came in on or something. Hope you guys took lots of pictures there! It sounds so neat.
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