Summer Vacations - Havasupai

Our family was able to take several vacations over the summer and we have neglected to record these events and all the fun we had. So I'll start getting caught up by documenting one of the first adventures which was the Varsity & Venture Scouts/Teachers & Priests Quorum trip to Havasupai from June 9-13.

We left Mesa on Monday evening (June 9th) and drove most of the night. We arrived at Hualapai Hilltop an hour or so before sunrise and just slept in our vehicles until it started to get light. Hualapai Hilltop is a cliff-side parking lot at the dead end of Arizona Highway 18. By way of some history, the Havasupai Indians were farming the moist valleys of the desert tributaries to the Colorado River four centuries before contact by Spanish explorers. In the 1880s, miners and ranchers invaded their homeland and forced them onto a 500-acre reservation. Finally in 1975, Congress enlarged their reservation to 38,000 acres. Today about 450 Havasupai live in Supai.




We enjoyed a quick breakfast of muffins and drinks and then began the 10 mile hike to the campground. Actually, the hike to Supai Village is about 8 miles and then an additional 2 miles to the campground. The town center consists of a modern school, cafe, small store, a two-story motel and the Havasupai Tourist Enterprise building where hikers register for the campground. Despite its remoteness, Supai resembles many small Arizona communities, except children play and dogs sleep in the "street" without fear of cars.


The trail continued past scattered frame houses with corrals and horses and continues another half mile to the first waterfall. Navajo Falls, named after a famous Havasupai chief who negotiated the first treaty with the Army, tumbles 75 feet. However, the waterfall cannot be fully seen from the main trail. We visited these falls several times during the next few days as it had one of the best "jumping-off" spots.

A half-mile farther, we could hear the roar of Havasu Falls as it echoed through the canyon. The stream plunges through a notch in the wall and descends 100 feet through mist and spray into an aquamarine pool. This was by far the most impressive part of the trip. We had just hiked for several hours through desert conditions and all of the sudden we are experiencing a tropical scene including one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. I would spend a fair amout of time over the next week soaking in the pool and relaxing while feeling the cool mist from the falls.


We dropped our packs for a few moments and took in the whole experience. We snapped a few pictures and I'm glad we did for reasons that will soon be obvious. We continued on the trail to the campground looking for others in our group who had gone ahead of us. We found them on the other side of the creek. I crossed the waist-high creek careful not to fall or let my pack become wet. Upon emerging on the other side, Josh Boatwright asked if my camera was waterproof. I quickly realized that I had left my camera in a pocket on my pants which was completely submerged when I crossed the creek. Needless to say, no more pictures for the remainder of the week. I knew that Camille would not be too happy since the camera is really hers (since she takes 100 photos to every 1 that I take). We had just got the camera back from being repaired (I broke it that time too) so I had all week to think of a good way to break the news.


We made camp while waiting for the pack horses and mules to show up which they did later in the afternoon. Daniel Palmer and James Smith had done an excellent job of preparing for this trip and came well supplied with food, treats, drinks, tarps for sleeping on, mule tape, and anything else you could possibly need. We were missing a connecting piece for our stove but we made due by borrowing from other campers. Water was easy to come by in the campground as there is a spring that comes out of the wall of the canyon from a pipe stuck in the wall. The only drawback is that all the other campers utilize the same water source which meant the line for water could sometimes be fairly long.

We spent the next several days swimming, hiking, exploring, reading, sleeping, throwing the football and frisbee, and generally just relaxing and enjoying being together as a group. Each evening we would gather as a group and we would listen and participate in a fireside. What a great experience to be learning the simple truths regarding our Heavenly Father all the while surrounded by a virtual Eden! It really made me grateful for the opportunity to come on this trip with my son.

One day several of us continued through the campgrounds to visit Mooney Falls. At 196 feet, it exceeds Niagara Falls in height. The trail to the pool leads through two slanting tunnels blasted through the travertine cliff. You had to grasp a not-so-reassuring chain and descend slippery steps cut in the narrow ledge. I later learned that the falls are named after an early explorer who fell to his death trying to reach the base. Who's idea was this anyhow? However, the falls were very impressive and we found a rope swing at the south end of the pool which made for some fun entertainment.


On Friday, we packed up and headed out and not a moment too soon. As the weekend approached, more and more campers began to file into the campground and our personal space quickly disappeared. The hike out was rumored to be extremely difficult but it wasn't too bad at all. Most of the hike is a gradual incline and only the last mile, which consists of several large switchbacks out of the canyon, proved to difficult. Everyone made it out okay (even those that chose to use the helicopter route). The outing was a great success and a good time was had by all who attended.

A related note of interest: on the 18th August 2008 the Redlands dam on Havasu Creek burst after days of very heavy rain. The potential threat to human life by the floodwaters caused the local authorities to evacuate the village and US rescue crews airlifted some 450 stranded people to safety. In addition, reports indicate that there may have been serious damage to some of the falls themselves, particularly Navajo falls. Supai and the campground are closed to visitors until spring. Here's a photo of Havasu Falls following the flood. This isn't the first time a flood has washed through this area but it can take many years before it resembles the beautiful oasis that we experienced.