Entrance to Supai guarded by the
Prince and Princess
Supai Falls
125' Havasu Falls
200' Mooney Falls from above
Mooney Falls from below
Claret Cup Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus Triglochidiatus
Many of you are probably anxious for more specific information about what is going to happen on this Havasu Canyon trip. This will be a little lengthy and will take a while to write, but I will try to let you know what to expect and answer most of your questions. I will cover the following topics:
How to get there:People are joining this hike from several places around the country. There are essentially two ways to get there: drive, or fly to Las Vegas and rent a car. Each choice has its advantages and disadvantages. Flying, of course, is much faster if time is a critical factor. This is usually true of unfortunates who have to work. The further away you live from the canyon, the more attractive this choice becomes. There are two main disadvantages to this approach. One is that you will need to rent a car for a week, and during most of that time the car will be parked at the rim of the canyon. It may be possible to avoid renting the car if some people who are driving could pick up some fliers at the airport in Las Vegas. This will take some organizing in advance. The other, more serious disadvantage is that one can not carry the fuel for their backpacking stove on the airplane. It then becomes a problem how to obtain some fuel out in the middle of nowhere (Indian Reservation, actually) Perhaps, if you are flying, you can find a place to buy fuel in Las Vegas or persuade someone who is driving to bring your fuel. Driving can save quite a bit of money if you do not have to go too far. If the trip will require a couple of overnight layovers, motel costs can rapidly exceed car rental costs. When I was young and poor, we used to find state parks and camp along the way. I still tend to do this now that I am old and cheap.
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Staging before the hike:It can get somewhat hot in the bottom of the canyon in early June, but thank goodness not like I've experienced in late July and August. Therefore it is smart to get on the trail as early as possible to complete most of the hike in the cool of the morning. For this reason, we will stay the night before (Sunday) in the motel closest to where we start the hike. Then we can make an early drive to the rim of the canyon and get started. Maybe we can carpool and save having unnecessary cars at the rim where parking is limited. Most people will find that they will enjoy staying at the same motel Friday night after climbing out of the canyon, to wash off the trail dust with a nice hot shower and to get a good nights sleep. If you are time urgent and need to catch a flight right back home on Friday, perhaps you can borrow a shower from someone who is staying. The name of the closest motel is Grand Canyon Caverns Inn located on I 40, south of where we start hiking. It is a 70 mile drive from the motel to the rim of the canyon. About 50 of those miles are on a gravel road through the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Click on the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn link to see an address, phone # of the motel, and a map of its location. Lona called the motel, Ph. # 520-422-3223, assured that it is still in business, and got their current rates. They are:
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| Single | $44.60 |
| Double | $50.00 |
| 3 | $55.32 |
| 4 | $58.50 |
| 5 max. | $68.50 |
Getting to the campground:There is really only two practical ways to get to the campground once we leave the cars at the rim: walk or ride a horse. I have seen a helicopter land in the village with building supplies too bulky to carry down by mule train, but who knows how much a ride on a helicopter may cost or even if it is permitted to enter that way? If you ride a horse, you will need to rent part of another horse to carry your gear. Horses cost $78.75 each way or $157.50 round trip. When I got my 70 year old mother down in 1982 by horse, they told us that the pack horses could carry about 150 lbs. of gear. That is approximately 3 backpacks worth, 4 for those who manage to pack lighter than I can. Therefore, even those who will walk may wish to go in with others to have a pack horse carry their gear down.
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Getting down into the Grand Canyon at this location is the easiest of any place in the canyon I have been. During our second trip, a young mother and her 4 year old daughter walked in. The only relatively steep part is a fairly short section of switchback trail from the rim down to the floor of Havasu Canyon. None of this switchback has great drop-offs at the edge of the trail, so it should not cause acrophobia. The rest of the trail just follows the canyon floor as it descends deeper and deeper eventually coming out at the Colorado River. It is about 8 miles to the village of Supai. From there it is another 2 miles to the campground.
Camping in the campground:The climate is quite mild in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and there is no threatening wildlife to worry about (except possibly for rattlesnakes and scorpions), so normally I sleep out in the open without a tent. However, I prefer to use a tent in Havasu Canyon for privacy reasons since there are a lot of people around in the campground. The tent also allows me to get my stuff out of sight while we are day hiking. By the way in case you are getting scared about rattlesnakes, unlike the other remote, outback places I have hiked in the canyon where I have always seen a few rattlesnakes, I have never seen a rattlesnake in Havasu Canyon. I suspect that the Indians have not been hospitable to them.
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The campground is quite pleasant. The sites have picnic tables. There is an excellent spring for pure drinking water (I still purify it just to make sure), and there are numerous pit toilets around. An Indian stays at a ranger cabin at the entrance to the campground to maintain some security. The campground is situated in a valley about half way between the beautiful, 125' Havasu Falls, and the very impressive, 200' Mooney Falls. It is a short walk to either falls. I will save further description of these and other landscape features to the Scenery section.
I take a backpacking stove to cook on. Mine is a MSR WhisperLite using white gas. Being lazy, I don't do any fancy cooking that requires much preparation and clean-up. I mainly eat any of the excellent Mountain House Freeze Dried Dinners. All I have to do is boil some water in one of the small pots of my cook kit and pour it in the plastic bag the food comes in. In 10 minutes the meal rehydrates and is ready to eat. The stove also serves to heat water with which to do dishes after the meal and a variety of other uses such as wash socks, wash hair, and wash yourself.
You will find that it it too warm to get into the sleeping bag until the middle of the night because of the heat radiating off the canyon walls. During the night it gets rather cool, and you will need the bag, but make it a light one.
I like to take my hiking boots off and wear sneakers or sandals around camp and on some day hikes. You should also take a swim suit, because there are a couple of very lovely pools below waterfalls to swim in.
Scenery:I consider Havasu Canyon to be one of the loveliest places in the whole Grand Canyon Complex. I have mentioned two of several waterfalls. Others include Supai Falls, Navajo Falls, and Beaver Falls. The pools for swimming are below Havasu Falls and Navajo Falls. At the entrance to the village are two towering redwall sandstone pinnacles on the side of the cliff known as the Prince and Princess. These have religious significance to the Indians. Since the water in Havasu creek is loaded with calcium carbonate, the cliff walls over which the falls tumble become coated with travertine in drape like forms. Below the falls, calcium carbonate precipitates out of the water and forms a cascade of semicircular dams that are beautiful. There are trails that go along various levels of the canyon wall from which you can peer down to see the falls and Indian Village, and also to see the fantastic rock formations on the relatively level top of the redwall sandstone. This time of year, the desert wildflowers will be fantastic. I think you will be enchanted by the haunting warble of the Canyon Wren (if I can be forgiven an item not strictly scenic).
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Entrance to Supai guarded by the
Prince and Princess
Supai Falls
125' Havasu Falls
200' Mooney Falls from above
Mooney Falls from below
Claret Cup Hedgehog Cactus, Echinocereus Triglochidiatus
Day HikesThere are probably more day hikes from the campground than you can squeeze in with the time we have. I imagine that various people will want to do a variety of different things with their time. Some may wish to take the hike down Havasu Canyon to its mouth at the Colorado River. It is 8 rugged miles each way to do this. Some flash floods have made it more difficult than it was the first time Lona and I did it. It now requires a few scrambles up the side of the canyon wall to get around obstacles. It has always required innumerable fords of the Havasu river. This hike makes for a long day.
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I know a place that allows scaling the side of the canyon wall up to the top of the redwall sandstone. This is a fairly strenuous, but not technical climb, mostly up a rock fall. It is worth it for the views, however. This trip requires about a half day. There is a trail that runs along a much lower level of the canyon wall at the bottom of the talus slope below the redwall sandstone. This trail is accessed from the same point, and runs along Havasu Canyon for farther than I have been interested in traveling. There are some terrific views of the waterfalls from this level. A side canyon called Carbonate Canyon enters Havasu Canyon just below Havasu Falls. It is interesting to explore. Besides these day hikes, most will want to spend time taking the short hike to the pool below Havasu Falls or a little further up to the pool below Navajo Falls and just soak in the beauty, lounge around, and perhaps take a dip. Others may wish to hike up to the Indian village and spend some time there. I think the Indian food in the restaurant is terrific. We will not lack for things to keep us entertained.
Getting Out:Once again, there are two ways to get out, walk or ride a horse. If you ride, you will need part of another horse to carry your gear. If you walk you may also elect to rent part of a horse to carry your stuff. Riding out will be gentler on your fanny than riding in, because you really take a pounding going downhill. Lona and I rode in once to accompany my 70 year old mother. We hated it so much we refused to ride out. Besides, I wanted to be free to wander off and take pictures, and not be confined to a horse. The hike out would probably be listed among strenuous hikes in a hiking guide, but as Grand Canyon hikes go, this one is pretty easy. The only relatively steep section is the rather short switch back trail to the top at the end. It is not as tough as going up Half Dome from Happy Isles.
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If you are going to ride or have your gear taken out by horse, be aware that the horses leave at 7 AM. You need to get up very early to break up camp and pack. In any case, leaving early is an excellent idea in order to hike in the cool of the morning instead of the heat of the day. You will find you need about a gallon of water before you are out, but if you wait until it is hot, 6 quarts is more like it.
When you finally make it to the top, you will find that you are tired, hot and sweaty. Boy! a hot shower and a soft bed would feel great. That is why having a room waiting for you at Grand Canyon Caverns Inn is so nice. If you are lucky, you will not have a dead battery in your rented car like I did the last time I came out of Havasu Canyon.
Needed Equipment:Since the people on this trip have a variety of experience backpacking in the desert from extensive to none, this list will be as complete as I can make it for the edification of the least experienced among us. I am reproducing below an edited (specific to Havasu) backpacking list I keep to remind me of what I need to take.
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| Essentials:
compass maps Needed cards emergency phone #'s flashlight Swiss army knife canteens =/> 4 qt for desert sunglasses Clothing:
Personal:
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Camp Equipment:
backpack day pack garbage bag to cover pack (rain) tent ground sheet light sleeping bag foam pad or air mattress and pillow insulite sit-upons clothes line hair pins for line stuff (bear/critter) bags rope to hang bags spare parts and tools stove parts flashlight bulbs spare batteries pack parts tent parts jewelers screwdrivers vinyl tape duct tape sewing kit bowl spoon tang bottle cups (incl. meas.) camp soap scotch pad paper towels tea towel dish cloth cook kit camp stove extra stove fuel water bag survival kit:
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first aid kit:
Neosporin Lomotil Desenex "Band Aids" alcohol swabs insect repellent itch relief moleskin molefoam toe pads nail clippers fold-up scissors sterile gauze triangular bandage knee & ankle braces adhesive tape analgesic aspirin acetaminophen ibuprofen broad spectrum antibiotics sun block (face & lip) salt pills oral thermometer waterproof matches twist ties rubber bands safety pins toothpicks ace bandages Hygiene:
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| Food Ideas:
coffee & tea bags hot chocolate marshmallows hot cider Tang sugar dry milk granola granola bars instant oatmeal cheese/pnut-butter crackers nuts jerky |
salami
trail mix boiled eggs potato sticks cheese crackers Planters bars (don't melt) cookies raisins M & M's hard candy Mountain House dinners salt and pepper |
optional:
honey deserts veggies freeze dried breakfast fruit rolls freeze dried fruit cup-o-noodles |
