Havasupai, Grand Canyon

Havasupai Backpacking Trip, April 2010


While on a recent visit to one of our clients we got sidetracked onto the topic of hiking. I shared my Mt. Whitney stories and she shared that she enjoys an annual trip with her daughter’s church group to the Native American reservation of Hualapai. This is commonly know as Havasupai and is located in the Grand Canyon. I have heard from others about this mystical place as it is famous for its’ waterfalls and lush green Garden of Eden like appearance. Upon my return to the office the following day I looked at my schedule and realized I was already going to be in Vegas for a convention so why not tag this onto the end of the trip to make it a really fun week of adventure!


Booking my reservation proved to be a trip back in time. No online reservations here, just a list of four phone numbers that you keep calling until you get through. Fortunately I did get through and was very lucky to be able to book a four day reservation for the campground as this place fills up fast. Going in late April made it easier as most people wait until the warmer months….. more on that later. I made a reservation for 8 which is the limit per campsite as I knew I had friends that would be interested. I put out an email at noon to my hiking friends and let them know of my plans. By the time I returned to work the following morning all of the slots on my trip were filled and I already had a waiting list!

Now until this point, my recent adventures have all been day hikes. I had not backpacked in about 20 years so I was new again to this sort of thing. The hike consists of a 10 mile descent from the rim of the canyon, known as the Hualapai Hilltop, to the campground. Many people hike in and have mules carry their stuff down. Some even take a helicopter as they run this service a few times per week to transport bulky items to the village of Supai that sits down in the canyon, 8 miles into the hike. Since we all think we are tough, no mule or helicopter was going to haul our stuff. We would lug our 50 lb. backpacks and all our food ourselves. Our plan was to hike in on day one, spend the next two days exploring and swimming, and hike out on day four.

Starting our adventure.

The morning finally came for us to meet up at the Hualapai Hilltop to begin our adventure. We did very well with three different cars all traveling from different locations to meet up at the hilltop with 5 minutes of each other. There was one strange occurrence however, it was snowing! Late April in Arizona along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and it is snowing. Thankfully my hardy group of hikers embraced the elements and we all thought it was an awesome experience. We layered up and down we went.

The hike down was very scenic. The weather made it even more interesting. The beautiful scenery was occasionally interrupted by the 2 helicopters that appeared to be running the Supai Airlift, making trip after trip and even carrying cargo suspended by a cable underneath. The weather kept changing as we had snow, hail, sleet and rain that day. We checked in at the village of Supai and continued on down a few more miles to the campground. The heavy packs were beginning to get to some of us but the end was near.

As we neared the campground, we came to Havasu Falls, the first of the spectacular waterfalls. The water was a bright blue/green color and this is because of the high lime content in this spring fed river. The roar of the water and spray were quite impressive but as we were a little tired and the campground so close, we decided to press on and explore this another day. This turned out to be an excellent decision. After we explored the campground area, which is about a mile long, we settled in on a site that was plenty big enough for all our tents, adjacent to the river, and had bathrooms close enough but not too close. As soon as we had completed setting up our tents, another rain shower was upon us. We all quietly retreated to our tents, got out our sleeping bags and other gear, and once I realized this was not blowing over anytime soon, I took a nap. The camp was very quiet, especially since we had learned that about ¾ of the reservations for that day had been canceled due to the weather.

The rain cleared out and we all resurfaced from our tents. Apparently I was not the only one who opted for a nap. It was nearing dinner time so we all gathered our food and stoves. We had a few couples sharing meal plans but those of us that were without our significant other did our own food. I was using my homemade alcohol stove and cooking entirely in freezer bags. This is a fairly new concept and is the ultimate in light weight. It also means no pots to clean! All I do is boil water, pour it into my freezer bag with one of my homemade creations such as cranberry chicken couscous or chicken gravy rice, seal the bag, let it sit for 10 minutes in an insulated container, open and eat. Others grated fresh parmesan and sliced fresh garlic for their pesto spinach pasta with salmon. We had a wide variety of meals and there was plenty of sharing so meals were a fun event. One friend even brought a cake with frosting and candles as she just had her 47th birthday and my 40th was a month away. We celebrated our birthdays and enjoyed the heat given off from the candles before blowing them out and enjoying this rare backpacking treat.

The following morning most of us decided that since the weather was again going to be cold and a chance of showers that we would attempt to hike all the way down to the Colorado River and back. This would be an eleven mile hike round trip from our current location. We are all strong hikers and can average 3 MPH with light packs so we figured we would go for it.

Just below camp we came to Mooney Falls and the Mooney Cliffs. WOW!!! What a picturesque location. I could already tell our plan was in jeopardy as the views were so stunning we kept taking pictures. The descent down the face was exhilarating. It was fairly routine until we got to the sign that said, “Descend at your own risk”. At this point you are climbing into what looks like a mine shaft with steps carved into the rock. As we exited the cave, the falls are directly in front of you and plenty more pictures were taken. Through another cave and descent along some steep cliffs with chains for handholds and we were in the spray of the falls. It was wet and slippery and the final bit of the descent was on an old aluminum ladder. One in our party knew this was not for her and she stayed above to explore Havasu falls and relax.

Jason descends into the abyss.

Once down at the bottom of the Mooney Cliffs the falls were incredible. The roar and spray was intense and our camera lenses were quickly dripping with spray. Since it was a little cold, we headed downstream to get away from the spray and make our way toward the Colorado river. We headed down river on a trail that then crossed the river. We put on our water shoes and while most crossed, two of us headed right down the middle of the river. It felt so good to be walking in this lush, green forest with the blue/green water flowing all around us. Little cascades of water were every few hundred feet as we traveled downstream. We were not making very good time in the river but the pictures we were taking were well worth it. We finally met back up with our group that was taking the trail after they had paused to wait for us. It was slow going as following the poor excuse of a trail was difficult. We were keeping our eye out for Beaver Falls as our next landmark, not sure of what it looked like and wondering if we might have passed it.

Beaver Falls area.

Taking it easy at Beaver Falls

We finally arrived at Beaver Falls. More of a series of impressive cascades than a fall, it was still very pleasurable. As the sun had poked out and it was just after noon, the thoughts of another 6 or seven miles at this snails pace seemed unlikely. A few us decided Beaver Falls had everything we needed, a great view, an awesome swimming hole, a rock for some jumping in the water, and some sun. Three of us stayed put while the rest headed downriver to attempt the Colorado River.

The water was cool, but the breeze and air temp made it cooler. We lost the sun just about the time we got in the water. We still had a great time and about an hour later the rest of our crew returned and reported that the trail got a little to difficult and sketchy to follow and that they were not comfortable on a 40 ft. high narrow ledge attempting to make it downriver and opted to return. We all swam a little and decided it was time to head back to camp. A little rain shower, a trip up the Mooney Cliff’s and were back at camp for afternoon snack around 4:00 which kind of rolled into dinner. As the forecast for the following day was for sun we decided we would swim the next day.

Nature's shower, a short below Mooney Falls.

Hard to beat this for backpacking!

Me standing at the base of Mooney Falls.

Saturday morning and the sun was out! It felt good after the last couple days of clouds and wet weather. We had so much fun the day before we headed back down the Mooney Cliffs only this time it looked like a day at Disneyland. People were everywhere! Our private Garden of Eden had been overrun with people. The trip down the cliffs took much longer as the hoards of people with the same idea were ahead of us. Fortunately, most of them were drawn to the falls like an insect to a bug zapper. We headed downstream about half a mile and found a creek that flowed into the main river. We followed it and found the most impressive small waterfall we had ever seen. It looked like natures shower! This section of the river offered us our private waterfall, a sandy beach, a cave to set our packs in, a small swimming hole and cascade, and most importantly…..SUN! We spent hours here just taking it all in, swimming, sunning, eating, etc. After about 3 or 4 hours of this paradise, we decided to explore the area up the creek that was providing this wonderful waterfall. We had a great time and wound up in a canyon that dead ended, full of ferns and frogs and peace. It was time again to return but not without venturing into the spray of Mooney Falls.

Exploring the side canyon.

As it was getting later, the masses of people had thinned at the falls. We headed straight out into the pool at the base of Mooney Falls. The roar of the falls was deafening and the water spray was like being in a hurricane. We would not make any more forward progress into the falls head-on so we turned and tried to back into them. We were able to gain another foot or so. We were laughing and yelling with excitement so hard. I cannot explain what made us all have this feeling of laughter but it touched all of us. The wind must have changed the direction of falls a little as all of a sudden we were all swept off our feet and shot out to the side of the falls. What an incredible feeling! The power of nature can be overbearing and this was a great example. We swam in the pool a little farther from the falls and decided to call it a day.

That night we all had a plan. Eat everything you brought so you did not have to pack it out in the morning. We still had to carry out our trash but the less food we had the better. We all made a trip to the local spring to top off our water supply as in the morning we wanted an early start as it again would be sunny and the hike out only gets hotter the longer you wait.

By 7:15 AM all but two were ready to leave. Since they had their own car and were traveling by car to the main Grand Canyon for another day of fun we left them behind. One friend started at about 6:00AM as she was having troubles with her pack and wanted a head start. She was thinking of paying the $20 to have the helicopter haul her pack out but since the choppers did not start operation until 10 AM with no guaranty as to when her pack would make it out, she just headed on up. It was much hotter, and the packs did not seem to loose any weight. Not sure how all that food did not seem to lighten the pack at all! We asked some hikers coming down if they had seen our friend who started early, apparently it is hard to miss a lady in a plaid kilt and a cowboy hat. They confirmed she was ahead of us so we kept up the pace. The last 1 ½ miles are where you are in full sun and have the bulk of the elevation gain of the hike. This was difficult but doable. About halfway up I saw our friend who got the early start. We actually caught up to her about 100 yards from the finish.

We got back to our cars around 11:30 , put on some fresh clothes and drove an hour or so to the nearest town, Peach Springs AZ, for a sit down lunch. We are all healthy eaters but you would not have known it by looking at what we ordered. Chicken fried steak, fry bread taco, nachos, burger and fries, basically enough calories and cholesterol for a week! I asked what are we going to do to top this? One friend chimed in and said he would put together a trip to the Narrows in Zion National Park for next summer. I have some other plans coming sooner, keep looking at this blog for future adventures.

Pictures from Havasupai are here!