This hike was a dream come true for me. I have wanted to do this hike for the last 20 years. I remember hearing about it a little as a kid, but the desire to hike Havasupi really ignited when one of my casual boyfriends hiked it while we were dating.
After I crossed the finish line at Disneyland, I jumped on the Havasupi reservations website. I was a little late to the game so I figured I would not be able to get a spot. We were walking through Disney as I looked at what dates were available. It wasn't looking good. I started with my birthday, then July, and then August. I saw a lodge opening in August and nearly took it. It costs $2400 to stay at the lodge for three nights and four days. You can have up to four people but I wasn't sure I could convince someone else to hike with me. AND since Stephen is moving in July, I wasn't quite sure what his schedule would be in August. I took one last look for the days off Stephen had in February. GUESS WHAT! The dates were available. I was ecstatic!! I booked the campsite right away, all the while I was limping through Disneyland praying my calf would be healed.
To stay at the campsite it was $455 per person for four days and three nights. Stephen and I didn't have a lot of time to prepare since the dates I bought were two weeks from February 1st. Luckily, Craig and Blair had hiked Havasupi in 2018 and had all the gear! We spent the next two weeks doing some research and testing the gear to get ready for the hike. My calf seemed to be fine for a week and then two days before the hike, my calf hurt worse than it did at Disneyland. I was literally in tears. I walked on Friday and then couldn't walk at all on Saturday. The hike was Sunday! I prayed.
Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30 AM and loaded our gear into the car. We packed a hiking back pack, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent, chairs, pajamas, socks, undies, food, camp stove, rain jacket, down vest, and a camp pillow. My pack started out weighing 25 pounds with out water. I filled up a small water bottle and a camel back for the hike. I drove 6 hours to Grand Canyon Caverns inn while Stephen slept. He had worked all night and morning. He walked in the door at 3:30 AM and just got in the car. I stopped for gas twice, once just inside Seligman because many people had suggested we top off before driving to the trail head. We also had a cooler in the car with ice and gatorades, fairlife, and doughnuts. My little brother also suggested putting a change of clothes in the car for after the hike. All of this was VERY wise advice.
After picking up our permits, that took about 5 minutes, we drove an hour to trail head. We arrived at the top of the trail at noon on Sunday February 15! I figured not a soul would be hiking down at that time because it was so late in the day. Most people start the 10 mile hike early in the morning to beat the heat. Since this was February we were not at all concerned about the heat. We took a start of the hike photo and two men came up behind us and took the exact photo. They asked us if we just finished the hike and I said we were just starting. They were just starting, too!! They were two Canadians who had just ran the Mesa Marathon the day before!! They were incredible!! We hiked the first few miles with them just chatting away as we walked the steep switch backs to the bottom of the canyon floor.
The first mile and half is really rocky and steep. I took my time because my calf was still aching from the disney race. Once we reached the canyon floor we walked in a wash for 6 miles. It was very easy walking. We had to walk in a line because the wash was filled with bigger rocks that were harder to step over. The well worn trail through the wash was easy to follow and beautiful. We stopped for a small snack at mile 5 and then kept walking. We were so excited when we finally saw the first signs of water about 6 miles in to the hike.
And then, at nearly mile 8 I saw the iconic bridge that leads into the Supi, Arizona village! At first, the village was filled with laughter from children playing on their bikes and then we heard the barking dogs as we walked further in. The village is a little run down but still a sight to see. We stopped for fry bread at the cafe, logged onto the wifi, and then continued our hike to the campsite.
After 10 miles of hiking we rounded a corner and saw the massive Havasupi Falls that everyone raves about. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was more incredible than any photo can do justice. We jumped for joy and said, "it was worth it"!
By this time it was about 4:30 in the afternoon. It had taken us about 4 hours for the entire hike. I stopped my watch while we ate at the cafe and checked in with our family on the wifi. We saw our new friends, The Canadians, setting up their tent near the first falls. We chose to walk through the campsite to see if there was a better spot right by the water. The only people down at the campsite were US and the Canadians. That is it. That is all. We basically had this little spot of paradise to ourselves. I truly felt lucky. Stephen found a great spot but we had to cross the river twice to get to it. The first river crossing had us balancing across two very tiny tree trunks. This really got my heart racing caring my 25 pound pack. Then we crossed the river in another spot and I didn't think I was going to be able to cross because the last crossing had me nervous. However, I crossed it fine, it was actually easier than the first crossing. We cleared a space for the tent, set it up, and then cooked our dinner. We had planned to watch one of our favorite shows on my ipad while we were down there, but as soon as I clicked on Hulu the app said I need to log back in! What a joke!! So we weren't able to watch our show. Which ended up being just fine. We walked around our campsite area just to see if anyone else was around and then climbed in bed at 7 PM as the sun went down. It was the perfect day!
The bathroom situation is actually really nice. It is clean and did not smell at all. It was well stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. There is also a place to get clean drinking water from the side of the cliff. We didn't use the cliff side spring water as we brought a water filter and just filtered it from the river right by our tent. The water is so clear and blue!! It was so beautiful to behold.
Monday morning we woke up around 7 and cooked a delicious breakfast and packed up our day pack to head out for the day. We had planned to hike to Mooney Falls and then on to Beaver Falls. I chatted with the Canadians outside the bathroom and they mentioned they couldn't find the way down to the bottom of Mooney falls. I told them I had watched a bunch of videos and to look for a small cave in the side of the cliff. They must have found their way down because we did not see them again until the evening.
Stephen had not done any real research on Havasupi so he had NO IDEA what he was about to get in to when hiking down Mooney Falls. We walked over and marveled at the beauty of Mooney Falls and then I said, "All right, now for the fun part!" Stephen started walking down the trail, went through the first tunnel, and then he went through the second tunnel. I knew after the second tunnel we were about to rock climb our way down to the bottom of the falls. He started climbing down and was suddenly surprised at how sketchy the rock climbing was becoming. There are about four steps that are a little far and very scary. I had watched videos and knew that as long as I had three point contact on the cliff, I would be ok. I took a few deep breaths and made it to the bottom of the falls. Again, IT WAS WORTH IT!
We literally cheered when we reached the bottom. It was our intent to hike to Beaver Falls so we didn't hang around too long at the bottom of Mooney Falls. Let me remind you, we were the ONLY people down there this time of the year. It was so incredible to have the place to ourselves. I had heard that it was 6 miles to Beaver Falls. This is inaccurate. It is 6 miles ROUND TRIP. You cross the river three times to get to Beaver Falls and you have to go through a few sketchy parts of the trail, but mostly it is a flat fun walk. I sort of expected a 12 mile hike and when we reached Beaver Falls in less than 3 miles, I was ecstatic. We hiked down to the water and spent about an hour swimming and enjoying the area all to ourselves.
The entire trail is marked by pink ribbons tied to the trees so it is nearly impossible to get lost. There is also not many other places to go since you are surrounded by cliff sides on both sides of the hike. We saw big horn sheep along the way and stopped for lunch on the way back to our campsite. You could hike 3 more miles to the confluence but we figured we had seen the beauty of the canyon in the 3 miles to Beaver Falls. We got back to Mooney Falls and took a few photos before we scaled the cliff side to get out of the canyon. It was thrilling going back up and I had to remind myself not to look down.
We hiked up to Havasupi Falls to walk around the bottom of it and snap some photos. Again, we were the ONLY people there so we had the place to ourselves. I was able to get a signal from my phone for a moment and texted the boys to see how they were doing. They did not respond, no surprise. We went back to our tent and cooked dinner, chatted, and then went to sleep at 7 PM again. This night was not nearly as peaceful as the night before. The wind had picked up and started blowing dust into our tent. It started raining at about 8 PM and didn't stop until midnight. We stated nice and dry in our tent but were covered in dust when we woke up the next morning. We packed up camp and headed out at 8:30 in the morning. It was sad to be leaving so soon, but we really feel like we had experienced the waterfalls in the time we were there. It took us 4 hours to hike back out of the canyon. The first two miles are uphill back to the village. We stopped to text our family at the cafe to let them know we were hiking out and then pushed onward. We made really fast time until we reached the bottom of the switchbacks. It took us 50 minutes to go a mile and a half. It was tough at times to lift our legs up over the railroad ties. There were also four horse trains descending while we were going up the trail. We reached the top at 12:30 on the nose and cheered when we finished. There were a few men working on the trail and they cheered with us as the finished the hike. I was so grateful to have a change of clothes in the car. I wore the same outfit the entire time in the canyon. I only changed my underwear and slept in a wool top and pants. I didn't want to pack any extra weight. My pants were VERY smelly! We were also so glad that we had the Gatorade waiting for us in the car. We devoured the doughnuts and changed our clothes. I was also glad we didn't need to stop for gas until we got to Holbrook, Arizona.
We stopped for taco bell in Holbrook and then drove the last three hours home. As soon as we got home, I jumped in the shower. I was probably the smelliest I have EVER been. Even though we swam in the water the day before, I think I needed some soap to help with the smell. I asked Stephen to weigh my pack because I thought it was more than 25 pounds. My pack was 30 pounds!!!
This was truly a dream come true. I am so lucky I have a partner in my life that is willing to go on adventures with me. He is so amazing. I love him. I trust him with my whole entire life. He is my everything. We enjoyed our weekend together that ended up being literally just the two of us. It was magical. This is a memory I will hold near to my heart for the rest of my days. I am so blessed beyond measure.
