For those who don’t know, the falls are near Supai village, which is located deep inside a canyon with no automobile access. If I recall, they’re one of the last, if not the last, places in the United States where the Postal Service still deliver mail via pack mules. Visitors who wish to see the falls must get to the village either by foot, by mule, or by helicopter... with prices rising accordingly!
By foot...
By mule...
By heli!
Getting to the top of the canyon was a simple matter of falling asleep, and waking up. We left LA late Thursday night on a chartered bus, and arrived at the top of the canyon early the next morning. After saddling up our packs, we began our 10 mile hike down the face of the canyon, and then on to Supai village. It’s the ideal hike, actually. You walk down into the canyon loaded with food, and eventually walk back out with no food. Since it was only a 2 night trip, and since I didn’t need to store my food in a heavy bear canister like I would for a trip into the Sierras, I didn’t pay much attention to food weight, and pretty much packed whatever I felt like eating... within reason of course. :) Fresh fruit and juice boxes that are normally considered a luxury due to their water weight made the list. Even so, I didn’t go quite all out like a fellow packer who brought eggs, cheese, bacon, and made scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Backpacking tip 81
Make friends with the guy who brings fresh eggs on a backpacking trip.
When we finally got to Supai village, my first impression was, well... kinda depressing. Sad looking houses, many with pack mules grazing in the backyard. The Indians there do not look like they are very well off. It’s rather ironic that the very qualities that make their native home a natural paradise also severely limit the options that these folks have to sustain themselves. It looks like many of them run the pack mule service that brings visitors and/or their equipment in and out of the canyon. Others help run the 2 or 3 stores that cater to both natives and tourists.
One of them is a cafe that served fry bread. Many in our group tried it. Turned out to be a lightly salted flat piece of fried dough. Not bad actually. If they had covered it in powdered sugar like a funnel cake, then I woulda been all over it! The cafe also sold exactly 1 variety of very ugly t-shirt. I swear, they can really make some good money if they would only spend some time coming up some decent souveniers.
Half of our group checked into the lodge located in the village, while the other half hiked another 2 miles to the campgrounds. That’s right... even if you’re not the most outdoorsy guy or gal in the world, you can still ride a helicopter down into the village, stay in a hotel, and still get to experience some of the most amazing waterfalls in the world. But for me, camping along the creek under lush cottonwoods and falling asleep to the sound of running water was the better choice!
The creek by our campsite
After setting up our tents, we had happy hour (my contribution was a package of proscuitto and another package of pepperoni) and cooked our dinners. Then we all kinda just hung out, talking to around 9 or 10pm before people started heading back to their tents. The funny thing about backpacking... your schedule gets all messed up. I mean, normally, I go to bed at like 1am. Out in the woods, you run out of options real quick once the sun sets. There’s not much to do except to go to sleep. Plus, we had a long day tomorrow.
On Saturday, there was a 10 mile hike to go see Beaver Falls, one of the 4 waterfalls in Havasu. But the way I figure, I was gonna hike 10 miles back to the bus on Sunday anyways, so I didn’t feel the need to come all this way to waste 5 hours walking. I mean really. There were three perfectly fine waterfalls within a mile of our campsite!
A group of us went to see Moony falls first. It was the tallest and skinniest of the three falls I visited that day. The climb down to the base of the falls involved a series of tunnels, chains, ladders, and rocky cliff faces. Kinda fun, and kinda nerve wracking if you’re afraid of heights. I got there relatively early, before a lot of people arrived, and ended up just sitting there, staring at falling water for about half an hour. When others got there, we just played in the water and made silly poses for the cameras.
The climb down to Moony
Moony Falls
The Thinker @ Moony Falls
After Moony, we walked to Navajo Falls. This was my favorite one. It was not very tall, but it was spread out pretty wide, which made for a nice visual effect. There was a deep pool for swimming too. All the falls had deep pools, actually. Since we got to Navajo around noon, it was warm enough to go in the water, even in the middle of March. :) I can see how great it would be to come here in the middle of summer. It would be torture to hike in and out in that sun, but the swimming must be pretty awesome.
Navajo Falls
More Navajo
Relaxing
Finally, in the late afternoon, I went down to the biggest set of falls, Havasu Falls. By then it was getting kind chilly, so I decided I was done with water for the day. I should mention that due to the high levels of precipitating calcium carbonate that give these waters their distinctive blue color, travertine terraces form all along the edge of the base of the waterfalls, as well as along the entire length of Havasu Creek. So I walked along one of these terraces along the edge of the pool to this sunny area where the last rays of the day were hiding, and sunned myself until the sun set.
Havasu Falls
You can see the terraces here
It was a day well spent.
That night, I cooked up my dinner of ramen and a can of roasted eel. Sooo good. Turns out Asian markets are great places to shop for backpacking food. :) Went to bed early because we had to get up at 4:30am the next day to pack up and hike out.
The hike out was uneventful, except for the weather turning bad. Clouds, wind, and cold weather blew in just as we were leaving. Better than coming in one day earlier I suppose. With my pack practically empty, probably weighing only around 10 pounds total, I made good time through the first 8 miles. Then I got to the base of the cliff, looked up, and saw the heart sinking climb I would have to make to get to the top. I think it was a 2000 foot gain over 2 miles. Amazingly, the steady beat of Indian drums kept me on task throughout the climb. Turns out there were a group of Indians there that weekend, passing through Havasu on their walk from San Francisco to Washington DC to raise awareness of Native American issues.
When I got to the top, I was greeted by snow and wind. I made the mistake of only bringing my shorts, t-shirt, and wind jacket. So ya, I was freezing my ass off. One of the other backpackers lent me his fleece, which made a big difference as we all sat there, waiting for an hour for our bus to arrive. Thanks Jeremy!
Me in Jeremy’s fleece, freezing my ass off
As you can probably tell, I had a great time. If you ever get a chance, definitely try to go see these waterfalls. You’ll fall in love with them just as I have! :)
p.s. Did I mention that during the entire trip, we drank water from an honest to goodness spring? As in, water getting filtered through rocks and flowing out of the cliff face spring? As in, you don’t need to treat or boil this water spring? So tasty!
