Havasupai

Mooney Falls

Havasupai is a pretty tough trail, but the end result is well worth it! To get to Havasupai trail head it took a 11 hour drive. We got Friday off, but didnt want to spend the day driving, so after work on Thursday we started our journey. We were going to see how far we could get and if needed stop somewhere and sleep, then continue in the morning. We ended up driving the whole way switching off drivers. We left around 7:20pm and arrive around 5am. People were already packing up and starting the trail. We met up with 4 more people there, my brother and his girlfriend coming from Farmington, NM and 2 friends from Moab, UT. We slept a little but there was too much going on outside and it was really bright. So we ended up waking my brother around 6. We talked, snacked, bathroom and started the trail at 7am.

Day 1 – The Trail

The first part of the trail is a steep set of switch backs. My knees are still recovering from the multiple surgeries, but being fresh on the hike they did pretty good on the downhill. The first 1.5 miles is all a steep downhill switchbacks. From there it was 6.5 miles hiking a steady downhill slope in lose gravel through the winding river wash. The gravel was hard on our ankles, calves and feet. We made it to the village in about 5 hours and hike the last 1.5 miles to camp in about an hour. About .25 miles before camp there is two awesome waterfalls and then right before camp there is another gorgeous waterfall, Havasu Falls, then you hike down the side for the last steep part of the trail. It’s a first come first serve camp spots. So first thing we had to do was find a good spot! Right as we were looking it started raining. We were able to get a spot and tent up in record time. Some of our stuff was a little wet but it stopped raining after about 10 min. Since its hot there it dried up fast. We ate lunch and mostly rested and hung out at camp that day. We walked back to the big water fall that’s right before camp and waded in it. Carlos jumped in and we took a few pictures but that was about it for the day. We slept well that night!

Day 2 – Havasupai

Next day we had eggs and spam for breakfast. We had a late start but it was nice to be lazy after the day before. We decided we wanted to make it to beaver falls which is about 2 miles from camp. Mooney falls is at the end of camp and it is the tallest one. The way down is a tricky hike. You go through a tunnel and down a super steep part with chains and a few ladders. There is no method to the madness which means that people coming up would block those going down. So we waited about an hour. The fall was awesome, but we wanted to make it to beaver falls and already lost an hour. So we started walking bare foot to the falls since we didn’t want to get our shoes wet and you go in and out of the river the whole way. We made it about a 1/3 of the way when we realized it would be too much of a hassle without water shoes. We ended up just playing in the river, than walked back to Mooney falls to take pictures. We ended up eating lunch around 4 and played some games.

Day 3 – Last Day

We realized when we had made the hike in that there was no way we could make the hike out and the 11 hour drive home in one day. So this ended up being our last day. We had initially planned to go home on Monday, but decided to leave the day before in the afternoon. So we had Pancakes with peanut butter and syrup, it was delicious! We made it over to Havasu Falls that’s at the first part of the campground and played in the water. I tried swimming towards the falls but the current was so strong it would just push me out and I couldn’t get close to it. Probably good since it has an under toe. For lunch we had Mash potatoes and spam. Lots of it! It was a good meal before our big hike out. We left the campground at 2:50 and it was hot. Luckily we had some cloud cover and the rock walls once we past the village. The hike out was a little hard at first since you start with a steep part. After that its a gradual incline but it wasn’t too bad. There is one more steep part but for the most part its not too bad. We kept a good pace and got to the cars about 8pm. The last part is really difficult. Its really steep switchbacks. I was going pretty slow up these. We drove to Kingsman, AZ and ate at Denny’s and found a motel. It was nice to eat a tasty meal and shower and sleep on a bed! We drove the rest of the way on Monday and made it home around 7pm. We made a small stop at Hoover dam, we have dam pictures in our gallery. For our Havasupai photos, check them out below or in our photo gallery!