(MANY PICS BELOW> )We had a great time hiking Havasupai. this was a bucket list for me. Always jealous of the scouts being able to go. So Jay and I and my cousin Laura and her husband Dan went for a couple of days. We left Sunday afternoon and drove for a while. We were almost there when we realized something wasn't right. We ended up on the wrong side of the canyon and had to back track and drive 4 more hours. Thanks Garmin! We learned a hard lesson: a physical map is better for less traveled roads. Check it often. So that added some spice to our adventure. Needles to say we got to the top late after driving down a remote road at 35mph in fear of hitting elk, cows and horses( we saw a bunch of elk). We put down a tarp and sleeping gear and slept at the top for about an hour. Maybe. We wanted to wake up at 3 and head down so we could make it before it got hot. Well, the time changed an hour ahead so I don't know what time we really woke up and how much sleep we got.
We hiked in the dark for a few hours with our head lamps. It was a little slow going since we didn't know where to go in the dark but we did fine. We ended up making it to the village in 4 hours, signed in, then had another 2 miles or so to our camp ground. We were so tired and done at the village, it was hard to hike for two more miles. I guess 1 hour of sleep doesn't last long for energy:)
We set up camp and visited Havasu Falls and played in the water. It was chilly, but you get used to it after a bit. We were lazy the first day cause we were so tired, but we still had fun. We did run into some trouble though. Squirrels ran around the camp and we heard that we needed to tie up our packs so they wouldn't get to them. We did, but not good enough. they got into Laura's pack and made a hole in it and ruined some food. then they got into their tent and made a hole in it. They never touched mine or Jays pack. Weird. But we will say that my cousins were not happy. So Jay and Dan strung our packs up really high out in a tree and didn't have any problems the rest of the time.
Tuesday we had a lot more fun since we had more energy. We hiked down to Mooney Falls. to get there you have to go through tunnels and climb down the face of a wall with chains and ladders that people made. It was fun. We explored down the river and saw lots of little falls and caves. We didn't make it all the way down to Beaver Falls, but we went back up to Navajo Falls and swam and jumped off the top of it and through the falls.
Wed. we woke up and headed out by 4 am and made it out by 8. we made great time! It was so much easier with a lighter pack. My shoulders hurt so bad on the way it, but the way out was tons better. It was fun to look behind us and see our progress and see the canyon in the day light. We had fun and would love to do it again. I think I would like to have the heavy stuff packed in by mules next time, or maybe helicopter in and hike out unless I had a whole week to enjoy everything.
WARNING: I took a lot of pictures. I didn't put them all on here but there are quite a few. Lots of waterfalls. I love taking pictures of anything green and with water. Hope you enjoy
Hiking in at night
Laura and Dan
Jay with a full pack
Some interesting rocks
Sunrise in the canyon
This rock looked cool cause it split in 3 pieces
Jay and I on the way in
Almost to the village with our little dog friend that followed us
LDS church there. We even passed some missionaries on the way in
50 ft falls
Havasu Falls
Hiking down into the camp by Havasu Falls
Dan and Jay exploring
Some little caves by Havasu Falls and a natural spring
Mooney Falls
Above is a view of the route to get down through caves and climbing down ladders and chains
Through the mountain. they tunnels were cool
Some falls below Mooney
My hot babe
Behind a falls in a cave
This was already carved in a rock. Cool JAY
Hi!
Being silly
Cool web
View downstream of small falls and Mooney
If you look close you can see a metal stairway up to this cave. We were tempted to climb it and see but it went really high and didn't know how sturdy it was.
Waterfall Island
Man I am lucky, isn't that guy a babe!
Jay and I just before we jumped Navajo. About 25-30ft I think
Behind the Falls
Jay jumped through the falls and it spit him out
We made it! We hiked out faster than in. Yea!
We already took off our pack for this picture, but we did it. So much fun!
