Havasupai Indian Reservation

I originally heard about Havasu Falls & the Havasupai Indians from the Discovery Channel.  During a special one night they claimed that this area in northern Arizona was the "Jewel of the Grand Canyon."  I then began searching online and found that more information was a bit hard to come by.  The few personal accounts that I was able to read from sold me on the idea of a trip for my wife and I.  The following is a day by day journal from our trip...

Friday, August 26

I woke this morning with only about 5 hours sleep.  Our flight to Vegas would leave Memphis at 6AM (so our alarm went off at 4AM).  We were already packed & showered so we were out the door quickly and at the airport around 5AM.  By 11Am (Vegas time) we had caught a flight to Atlanta, endured a short layover, caught a flight to Las Vegas and we were on the ground ready to go.  Renting a car was a bit of a hassle (which it always seems to be) but we decided to travel in style... We got a convertible.  We had decided early on that we wanted to hike the Havasupai Indian Reservation early in the morning to avoid the mid-day heat.  The trailhead is a good 5 hour drive from Vegas so we decided to drive there this evening, get some sleep in the parking lot and then begin our hike at sunrise.  Before heading out of town we went to the Las Vegas Hilton to check out "Star Trek: The Experience."  I don't care what anyone says... I was impressed (and the weird thing is that I think my wife was too.  You must understand that she's by no means a Trekkie but she's learned to tolerate my love for it).  You can see from a sampling of my pictures that we really had a good time.  Anyway, by 4:30PM we were on our way out of town.  We crossed Hoover Dam at 5:15PM.  What a marvel.  I think we're going to tour it on our way back to Las Vegas on Monday.  Finally we made it to historic Route 66.  At this point we let the top of the car down (and got some extra water at a gas station... knowing that we were entering some desolate areas).  Night fell on old route 66 even before we made it to Indian Road 18.  I had read online that before getting on hwy 18 you would need to fill up with gas in Peach Springs (this was supposed to be the final gas station for some miles).  Well, we found no gas in Peach Springs.  There was however a little motel.  We asked a couple standing out front for directions to fuel and the replied that we needed to continue on 8 miles down route 66 to the "Caverns" gas station.  After we had gone 8 miles with nothing in sight we passed our turn-off to Road 18.  We decided to continue on and after a bit of anxiety (and another 5 miles) we found the "Caverns" gas station.  It was only 8PM and the station was closed BUT I was able to pay by credit card at the pump.  Within a few minutes we had filled up, put the top up on the convertible (it got COLD) and we headed back 5 miles to Road 18.  Road 18 was as deserted as I thought it would be though I was pleasantly surprised to find it was paved.  My GPS showed that we would travel 60 miles down this road until we came to Havasu Hilltop.  Let me tell you, this road is deserted and dark (obviously at night).  At some points it seems to be really well marked and then you find the road splits and you're just not sure which way to go.  I probably wouldn't recommend traveling it at night without a GPS.  The other problem with traveling it at night is wildlife.  We saw a rabbit (which I almost hit), a bat (which almost hit us), a long snake (which I did accidentally hit), a huge male elk (which scared the BeJesus out of us... it was towering over our car), another elk, another bat, an owl... And this was all in my headlights on hwy 18.  Anyway we finally entered the hilltop parking lot.  It was a little odd driving the last 60 miles seeing absolutely no sign of civilization and suddenly pulling into a quiet parking lot full of cars.  It seemed very quiet for 9PM but we finally realized that most of these cars belonged to Indians who lived in Supai.  My wife and I tried to sleep in the car but it was hot & cramped.  Finally I pitched our tent in the parking space beside or rental car.  That's all I needed (well that, a sleeping pill, ear plugs & a pillow) and I was fast asleep.  I must mention that Shawna had a very hard time sleeping.  She woke me up several time when she would hear a rustling next to the tent (and I never could figure out what kind of critter that was).  All I knew was that we had to get to sleep before the task that lay before us in the morning.

Saturday, August 27

My wife woke me up at 5:45 Saturday morning.  She informed me that it was time to go.  As I looked around the parking lot (seeing it for the first time in the daylight) I was amazed at what I saw.  One side of the lot was a huge rockface but the other side was a 1600ft drop into a beautiful canyon.  It probably took us close to an hour to get everything repacked and get our clothing changed but soon we were ready to go.  The first thing I found was that we had overpacked.  The pack on my wife's back was probably 35lbs and mine was probably 50lbs.  We began down the switchback (1600ft) and I began to wonder if I was going to pull off this feat.  We ended up basically following an old dry creek bed for a few hours.  Because of the weight on our backs we'd have to take a 30 second rest every 10 or 15 minutes.  My shoulders were going  numb and my wife was beginning to complain (which is not normal for her).  Over the course of 8 miles (the distance from the trailhead to Supai) we stopped 4 times for a good 10 minutes, removing our packs & stretching.  Finally, when we thought we could take no more, we walked into Supai.  The first thing we noticed was a little shop (house) selling cold drinks.  We went right on inside!  There we met a middle-aged man named Laren and his wife.  We bought Gatorade, water, a Coke for my wife and a vanilla PowerBar for myself.  Laren asked where we were from.  When I told him we were from the Memphis area he informed me that his pastor was from Savannah, TN.  I quickly informed him my wife and I are pastors.  He went on to tell us about how he had been raised in the tribal religion which involves worship of the Earth.  Turned out that quite a few years ago, Laren's wife came to know Christ and it didn't take long for Laren to follow.  He we on to tell us about how finding the "real God" had changed his life and now he was attending an Assembly of God church in someone's home.  I asked if many of the Havasupai were believers. He said the there were very few BUT the Brownsville Assembly in Brownsville, FL had sent in a few teams to minister.  We continue to believe with Laren & his wife that the Havasupai will come to know the love of God.  From there we headed a quarter mile down the road to the camping office.  The lady inside was very nice (but she was just filling in and did have the answer to all our questions).  We paid $20 per person just to be on the reservation and the $10 per day per person for camping.  We then also reserved 2 horses (at $75 each!) which would come pick us up from the campground at 7AM on Monday morning.  We arranged for our bags to be flown by helicopter to the hilltop around the same time (we were told it would be $20 for each large bag).  We're going to see if maybe we can fit everything heavy into 1 bag, have it flown over, and then wear the other two small bags on our backs.  Within a short time we were on our way to the campground.  Two miles later we could hear and finally see the roar of Havasu Falls.  It was truly more beautiful than the pictures I had seen.  The river was a rich blue/green color because of all the minerals in it from the rock.  We made our way to the campground and pitched or tent right next to the Havasu River.  Our meals consisted of military MRE's I had bought off of eBay.  They were decent meals but I realized something... These were much to blame for our weighty packs.  I hadn't realized how heavy these meals were since they were already prepared and had water in them.  Anyway, we were worn out after the day's hike.  My whole body was aching and I had a blister on the heel of each foot (even though I was wearing high-end hiking boots & socks and I had powder on my feet).  After eating we needed water.  I slipped on my boots again (painfully) and headed to Fern Spring which was on the other side of the campground.  I was told that this water was safe to drink.  I was a bit skeptical but before long we were both drinking it (though as of tonight, I've still only drank it out of my purifier bottle).  We then walked a short distance over to Havasu Falls.  We both got in up to our waists but let me tell you... that water is darn COLD.  I was going numb.  There were some other folks there who were speaking Russian (I think).  They were jumping in and having a great time.  I on the other hand had had enough.  We ended up heading back to our tent.  We ate a little more and by 6PM we rested on our sleeping bags.  For the next two hours we were in & out of sleep.  Finally, I brushed my teeth and headed to bed.  It's now 9:34PM.  All I can hear is the distant roar if Havasu Falls and the sound of the Havasu Creek as it rushes past us just a few feet away.  I'm exhausted and going to sleep.

Sunday, August 28

I woke up around 7:30AM this morning and found my wife had already been awake for a little while.  I had a good nights sleep.  I only woke up once and boy was it dark.  All I could see were stars and the rockface on the other side of the river from our tent (our tent is mostly made of a screen-like material... it keeps the breeze coming through... unless you put the rain cover on it).  Anyway, we took the morning slow.  It didn't take me long to realize just how sore I was from yesterday's journey.  I will have to remember to do more lunges at the gym before the next trip.  After eating another couple of our MRE rations we got dressed and headed toward Mooney falls.  Now I must mention that there are no signs to lead you to this beautiful place.  With my GPS it was a sinch (though it's very hard to get a good satellite lock from down in this canyon but you can still use the map).  All we had to do was walk straight back (north) through the campground.  Once you see the little trail it should be no problem.  Oh, and I never realized how huge the campground was.  If you want a great spot by the river, walk on back about a quarter-mile past the portable toilets.  It's gorgeous!  Anyway, the walk to Mooney Falls is awesome.  You'll be strolling right down the middle of the canyon under the shade of trees and right next to the Havasu River.  It was an easy walk that we completed in probably less than 20 minutes.  I must mention that on the way we did stop by Fern Spring again and fill up our bottles with water.  Well, we finally arrived at Mooney Falls and it was incredible.  We had been walking through the canyon next to the river and suddenly the canyon floor drops 200ft.  This was an incredible sight to behold.  I actually read that Mooney Falls is higher than Niagara Falls.  Anyway, I knew the story about the man named Mooney who had fallen to his death here over 100 years ago so I figured this wasn't going to be a simple task descending the falls.  Now my wife wanted me to go first so I started down the little trail close to the edge of a 200ft cliff.  It seemed pretty easy at first but as I suspected, we were only just getting started.  Soon we came to a small opening in the rockface.  The hole had a little sign above it that read, "Descend At Own Risk; Exercise Extreme Caution."  I climbed down into the dark opening (having to take off my sunglasses so I could see).  A minute later I stepped out onto a little ledge with only about 4 ft and a chain separating me from a fall to certain death (did I ever mention my fear of heights?).  This led right into another opening in the rockface.  I climbed down though and as I came to the end of the tunnel I realized two things... 1.   The climb down now was much more steep, almost vertical... 2.  The mist from the waterfall was now hitting us which felt good BUT the rock face was now drenched and extremely slippery.  I ended up sliding a little at a time through parts of it on my rear end.  And then there was the chain that had been placed there to help folks get down.  I don't think there's anyway this would have been possible (or even remotely safe) if there had been no chain.  We finally made it to the bottom and found that the climb down had been well worth it.  I immediately regretted having forgotten my sandals in the car (back at the hilltop... some 11 or 12 miles away).  We still played around in the water but it was very difficult in bare feet because of all the sharp edged rocks.  I really didn't want to get my hiking boots wet because I was afraid they wouldn't by dry by morning.  One thing you have to watch out for here is the squirrels.  While we were in the water we saw one get in a bag that belonged to the other couple that was in the area with us. I threw a rock toward it and scared it off but when we got back to our bag we found that one had been trying to chew it's way into ours.  The zipper doesn't even work anymore.  Anyway the climb back up to the top of Mooney Falls was far easier than the way down.  At that point I walked right over to the point where the river drops and jumped onto a rock in the middle.  I was able to get a great picture from there (even though my wife seemed a bit concerned... but I knew everything was okay).  We then hiked back down the trail and through the campground and ended up finding a nice, cool little bench right next to the rockface opposite our camp.  I ran back to the tent and picked up a couple more of our MRE rations. We ended up having a fine, relaxing  lunch.  After that we decided to head back 2 miles into Supai to just look around and possibly buy a few things.   We didn't make it more than a quarter of the way before we realized that this was the hottest part of the day and that this entire 2 mile trip was uphill.  We changed our minds and headed back over to Havasu Falls.  I was really needing to get my shoes off (my blisters were killing me) and thought the cold water might do me some good.  My wife decided she would regret it if she didn't get all the way in and swim around so, that's exactly what she did.  Not to be outdone by a woman, I got in right behind her.  I think that was the coldest water I have ever swam in in my life BUT it was sure refreshing.  We ended up meeting a couple from Hungary there swimming.  It's amazing how far people come to see this place.  After this we came back to camp and had some dinner.  My wife saw a decent sized snake crawling on a rock about 10ft from our tent a little while ago.  I t was probably 4ft long and was black with yellow striped.  I snapped a couple of pictures.  I then touched it with one of our walking sticks.  That snake struck out at that stick with lightening speed.  I finally decided it was time to quit playing "Crocodile Hunter" and leave the poor snake alone.  It's now 8:30PM and it's incredibly dark.  Once again the only thing I can hear is the distant roar if Havasu Falls and the sound of the Havasu Creek as it rushes past us just a few feet away. The horses will be here for us at 7AM.  My alarm on my cell phone is set for 5:45AM.  I'm going to sleep.

Monday, August 29

I don't think either of us slept very well last night.  For one thing even with a sleeping bag, the ground is HARD.  It also didn't cool off as much as I’d did the night before.  At one point, as I was looking at the stars (trying to go to sleep), I noticed a shadow, or silhouette, moving across the roof of the tent.  I turned on my flashlight to see a mouse climbing up.  It froze in the light and I grabbed my wife to look.  As soon as I moved the light for a second it darted away.  Our alarm went off at 5:45AM and we were up by 6AM.  We slowly ate two more MRE meals and found ourselves rushed to get packed.  We tried to pack everything heavy into my main pack so that could be carried to the hilltop by helicopter.  We were then going to ride horseback with the other large pack and the spare small pack on our backs (thus saving money).  We then walked our things to the south side of the campground (where the horses were to meet us).  I originally thought we would be late but I should have known better... I've been on Indian reservations before.  I knew that Indians have their own sense of time.  They told us we'd leave around 7AM and in reality it was more like 7:45AM.  The man who met us was named "Sun Eagle" and he was pleasant enough.  He would answer questions but sometimes he left you wondering whether he was just "pulling your leg."  Another young man (17 yrs old) joined up with us on the ride also.  He seemed pretty quiet and mainly talked to "Sun Eagle" in their native language.  Oh, by the way, "Sun Eagle" ended up offering us a pack horse to put all our supplies on and only charged us $30.  I tried to arrange this through the camping office but they wanted $75.  For this reason we did not end up having our bags flown out by helicopter.  Anyway, we rode on out of town and down the canyon trail.  Soon we were trotting along at a fairly decent speed.  Now I've never ridden horses much in my life and I found this trotting pretty uncomfortable.  Before long my rear end was screaming.  I found ways to make it a little more comfortable but it never felt good.  It was pretty weird riding through the canyon because the horses already knew the way.  They were used to riding this a few times a week.  The pack horses (we had one for ourselves but there was another one... a mule actually, named "Eddie Murphy" from "Shrek", that were transporting someone else's bags to the top) they didn't even have anyone holding them.  They stayed right with us the whole time.  Over a period of time the horses sped faster & faster.  There was a few points where we were at a full-out run.  This was pretty spooky to me (especially in the beginning).  With my horse running through this canyon at such a fast speed, I was just trying to stay on.  He would dodge a boulder on the right, jump through a little stream, dodge a cactus on the left... I was having to make sure my legs didn't hit any of these things.  All the time you're pretty much standing in the stirrups, holding the reigns and crouching down close to the neck.  It was exhilarating!  "Sun Eagle" and "the kid" would take up the rear (sometimes disappearing completely for a few minutes) while my wife and I would ride on ahead with the pack horses.  At one point we saw a small herd of 6 or 7 wild horses.  "Sun Eagle" and "the kid" got real excited and decided it was time for a new horse.  We were told to keep on riding and suddenly they took off at full speed.  The surprised wild horses tried to run but "the kid" swept around from another side and soon the two guys were right on top of them.  All of the sudden "Sun Eagle" pulls a lasso from his belt and grabs the biggest horse on the first try.  We continued to ride on ahead and "Sun Eagle" and "the kid" were out of sight for a good 10 minutes.  All of the sudden we could hear them coming in the distance.  You could also hear the sounds of an unhappy horse.  To my surprise "the kid" came riding up on the horse they had just caught!  I asked, "don't you have to break a wild horse?"  He responded with a big smile, "it is being broken right now."  Turns out, he and "Sun Eagle" had taken the saddle off of his old horse and put it on this new one.  They then slapped the old horse on the butt and it ran home (probably 6 or 7 miles).  This new horse was behaving fairly well considering it had someone on it's back for the first time.  It was making a lot of noise and being a bit stubborn but "the kid" was handling it with ease.  It ended up taking us about two hours to ride a distance that took us about 5 hours to hike.  Finally at the hilltop, we said farewell to our guides, loaded the car and pulled out of the Haulaupai Hilltop parking lot.  It was neat driving BIA-18 during the daylight this time.  It was quite pretty (and I felt comfortable driving faster too).  60 miles later we were back at good ol' historic Route 66.  Within another hour we were in Kingsman, AZ where we stopped at a "Jack in the Box" for a little grub.  From there we proceeded to Hoover Dam and took the Discovery Tour (which was really interesting).  We ended up staying the night at "The Rio" in Las Vegas and flying home the next morning. 

All-in-all this was a great trip.  Next time I think I would probably still hike in but I think I would pay to have our bags flown in ahead of us.  I would like to see a lot more of the area but I don't need to be so wiped out & sore from the hike in.  I would probably bring a hammock & air mattress next time also.  This is a great place to relax. 

I will most definitely head back toward Supai one day.

** To see high-quality pictures of our trip click here to go to Rob Thomas Photography. **

DIRECTIONS

The trailhead begins at Hualapai Hilltop.  Hualapai Hilltop can be reached at the end of Indian Road 18 which is 68 miles north of Route 66.  The Parking Area is known as Hualapai (Walapai) Hilltop. This is where the trailhead is. There are no services of any kind. i.e. gas, food or lodging. There is no water available for hikers. Please don't forget to bring water for the hike and fill up your tank with gas.
 

WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HAVASUPAI AND THEIR BEAUTIFUL LAND??  HERE'S SOME GREAT RESOURCES...

http://www.havasupaitribe.com/ - Official web site of the Havasupai

HavasuFalls.net - One of the best, most informative web sites I read before I made my trip