Arizona – Havasupai and Grand Canyon – Tiff & Jared's adventures

One hike, two days, 30 miles in the desert. Four people, and five foot blisters. What could be better?

This was the most rewarding as well as physically- and mentally-challenging hike of my life. Jared and I can both agree that it was the coolest thing we’ve ever done in our lives. What are we talking about? Hiking the famed trail to Havasupai of course. It’s a ten mile hike that traverses through canyons and ancient riverbeds to get to the most beautiful gem we’ve ever seen. Havasu Falls, as well as the others (Mooney, Navajo and Beaver) are such a contrast to the red canyons walls through which they flow. Due to the minerals in the water, the water turns an extreme turquoise color – it simply doesn’t look real. The whole two days we were there, we were in awe the whole time. Let me walk you through our journey and give you tips, because after reading this, you’ll undoubtedly want to go.

Day 1: We drove 60 miles down Indian Road 18 to get to the hilltop. This is where you descend the trailhead and hike the excruciatingly (yet rewarding) 10 miles. Tip #1: DON’T HIKE IN THE SUNLIGHT. Hike out around 3 or 4 am to avoid the majority of heat. We were super lucky and met an AWESOME couple from Pennsylvania, Megan and Dwayne, and we decided to hike down together. We got to the hilltop around 7PM and it was so sketchy and weird. There were dozens of cars, yet we were the only ones in existence there. There was horse poop everywhere because the tribe uses them to transport equipment down. M & D pulled in around 7:45, and we all went to bed around 9PM because we knew we had to get up early. That night was probably the worst night of sleep both Jared and I had ever gotten. It was so windy that we couldn’t sleep through the night. We first took the fly off the tent, then eventually took the whole tent down and just slept on it. We probably both got 2-3 hours of sleep then our alarm went off. Here we go!! We all slapped our 30-40 pound bags on our back and were off with our headlamps leading the way. HOLY CRAP that was the hardest part of this trip – lugging around that weight 10 miles each way.

Tip #2: Only pack the essentials. Seriously, leave the towels and canned food behind. Bring a bed sheet that can double count as a towel and sleeping blanket. Either pack a backpacking tent or don’t bring one at all. I slept in a hammock the night that we got there and it was beautiful (probably because I was functioning on 3 hours of sleep after a 10 mile hike). Also, use pool floats as sleeping pads!! They’re less heavy and it’s super fun to float around in the water. The recommended time to get down to the Falls was 4-7 hours. From the hilltop, you hike 8 miles to the Supai Native American reservation, which is where you check in.

This place is expensive, but super worth it. For two nights, it cost us $162 and that included environmental fees, entrance fees and the nightly camping fees per person. After you check in, you have to hike 2 more miles down to the Falls. Our group was FLYING! We made it down in 5 hours; definitely thought it would be longer. We picked a great spot for two tents and the turquoise water was right in our backyard. We didn’t nap because WE WERE IN FREAKIN’ HAVASUPAI and had to do everything possible in the next two days. It was only 9:30 AM or so when we got there, so we had all day. First thing’s first – go to the namesake Havasu Falls. When I saw it, I literally caught my breath. We spent the next few hours swimming around in the [somewhat chilly] water and jumping off rocks into pools of water.

We had a nice table where we laid our stuff in the shade. This brings me to Tip #3: HIDE YOUR FOOD. There are marmots (imagine obese squirrels) that will tear through your food and EAT EVERYTHING. Instance #1: we left most of our food back at the tent, and Dwayne said when he went back to get something, a marmot weaseled its way into our tent. Thank god it only got crappy coconut strips and free fruit snacks we found on the side of the trail. (Some poor soul unloaded 5 pounds of snacks because he probably couldn’t carry all the weight). Instance #2: the four of us came back to our campsite and a whole lot of them ripped up our trash bag and we had to spend 15 minutes cleaning up. Last instance I promise: we ran into a boy scout and he said the dang marmot fiend chewed a hole into his camping backpack! OK no more marmots.

After hours in paradise: We were all exhausted by 7 o’clock. Jared slept in the one sleeping bag we brought and I slept in my hammock. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but man I slept well.

Day 2: We all woke up around 6:30 feeling like we were in our mid-80s and unable to walk. My hips were the most sore and I could barely lift up my legs. I also got 3 nice surprises in the form of foot blisters – ouch. Tip #4: make sure your shoes are worn in. Other “injuries” included aching backs, sore hamstrings and throbbing shoulders. Cure? Three ibuprofen and we were ready to go. This day’s itinerary included hiking 7 miles roundtrip to Beaver Falls. In order to do this, it required us hiking down half a mile from the campground to Mooney Falls. What comes next is perhaps one of the sketchiest and scariest things we’ve ever done.

Getting to Mooney Falls requires descending 196 feet to the base of the falls. We had read that we would be faced with ladders and stairs, but nothing could have prepared us for what came. The first obstacle was a dark tunnel that took us out to a set of slippery stairs. We spent a solid few minutes deciding whether or not we wanted to turn back, when five boy scouts trucked past us and started descending. If they could do it, we could…right? To give you an idea of how sketchy this thing was, the stairs were chiseled out of the rock and there were grimy chains (held in by sketchy spikes in the rocks) to hold onto on the way down. We should be grateful though because this was relatively new infrastructure (redone in 2008). Prior to that, the only way to get down was to rely on chains originally put there in 1883. Slow and steady, we finally got to the base of the stairs.

It was worth the scary stuff because the falls were beautiful. Mooney Falls looks very similar to Havasu, yet it’s a few dozen feet taller. We ran into the same boy scout troop that we saw on the 10 mile trail down and asked the chaperones some tips. They told us about the trail to Beaver and the pretty things to stop and see along the way. The first cool place was near the falls – it was a mini waterfall with a rope swing where you could swing yourself into the pool of water. Continuing further down, there was another tall waterfall, maybe 20 feet, where we all jumped in.

The hike was mostly through the water, which was absolutely beautiful because of its turquoise color. We saw hanging cave ferns, trickling waterfalls, grottoes and swimming pools. The latter part of the Beaver hike was through what looked like a desert rainforest, as there’s no better way to explain it. How else can you describe lush green trees in the middle of a desert?

I would say the hike was more worthwhile than the view of Beaver Falls. We only saw the falls from up top, because it was noon by this time and we were too tired and hot to go to the bottom of the falls. We turned around and made it back to Mooney in no time. The rest of the day was spent cliff jumping, rope swinging and lounging in the Falls. I brought my pool float down there and it didn’t pop this time (this was the second one). We even got a beautiful picture with a rainbow in the background! About to run out of drinking water, we climbed back up the sketchy rockface around 6pm. Going up was definitely easier than going down. Knowing that we had another early morning ahead of us (1:45 AM wake up call), we went to bed early.

Day 3: Five or so hours later, we woke up in the dark, popped some ibuprofen, ready to pack our stuff and head out. The first two miles were the hardest because we had to climb parallel to the falls through sandy and rocky terrain. The fact that it was pitch black made it extra hard but thankfully we all had headlamps. Once we got to the village, we took a break and agonized about the last 8 miles. We were on the alert, because we were told by another group that they had seen a mountain lion while hiking out of the village. We did see a wide-set pair of eyes, and I’m going to tell people it was a mountain lion so that I sound more bad@$$. We made really good time because we had probably hiked 4 or so miles before we even saw the sunlight. The last 1.5 miles was the worst because it consisted of switchbacks that changed in elevation of easily 1,000 feet. The sun was starting to peak and it turned into a race against time. Surprisingly, the tears didn’t come and my hiking poles saved me from lagging behind too much. We made it to the top of the hilltop in great time – 6 and a half hours – and all teared up with joy. First thing we do? Go into Dwayne’s cooler and celebrate with some Miller Lite.

I would do this hike again, but next time I would do it a bit differently. I wouldn’t go in peak summer for one and I would try to stay down there for three nights instead of two. Tip #4: reserve this trip super early because it books up fast. We got reservations back in February after calling three days straight.

Also, if you’re in somewhat decent shape, then do the hike down. It’s super hard, but super rewarding. Don’t wimp out and take the helicopter down. Do you know what happens when you do this? The tribe horses are stuck carrying your 50 pounds worth of crap and they suffer from mistreatment. They’re malnourished, and all of the troughs I saw were always empty. There was a huge group in the parking lot when we got up, and we were all so upset because they were clearly very lazy people trying to find the easy way down. Megan and I took the time to fill up a bucket and hydrate all the horses. For this reason, I would contemplate not going back because of the cruelty shown to these beautiful animals. If you’re lazy and you’re okay with loading up a small horse with all of your unnecessary luggage, then you don’t deserve to go – plain and simple.

Ranting aside, this was the most rewarding experience I’ve ever done. Getting to the top of the hilltop, knowing you’ve hiked 30 miles in the past 48 hours – there’s nothing like it.

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Grand Canyon

It was grand alright, but after Havasu, we were so tired. Megan and Dwayne happened to be in the Grand Canyon so we grabbed a beer together the first night there and then crashed.

The second day, we went and saw desert view watchtower, Hopi House, Mather Point, and El Tovar. After being inside a canyon in Havasu, the Grand Canyon just wasn’t as impressive. After an hour or so, we found ourselves asking ‘what next?’

I think my favorite part of the day was dinner. We made our first fire of the entire trip and cooked salmon in tin foil and roasted squash. Then I finally got my Smore’s that i had been wanting forever mmmm

Overall we were impressed with the Grand Canyon but enjoyed it more from the inside at Havasu.