Leaderboard

I have been planning my summer adventure for over a year. Planning, preparing, researching, training and dreaming! in April 2012, I had accidently come across this beautiful serene place when google searching "camping by water near Las Vegas" Up came this spectacular photo of a bright turquoise blue waterfall with a huge pool under it. I thought, where is this? I must go there, what is this place called? I did some more searching and found it was called Havasu or Havasupai Falls. Then I learned in order to get there one must have a permit and backpack all of your stuff in 10 miles to the campground, or for an extra fee, you could have your stuff sent down on a mule. Well 10 miles was not something at that time I was capable of, let alone had the gear for, 10 miles one way would be tough, but then there is the 10 miles back and to carry all of my gear as well. How disappointing. This was not something I would be able to do. But I could not get that beautiful blue green turquoise water out of my head. I found myself constantly looking up information on it. I stumbled across a group that went every year twice a year June and September.. it was a group called VegasHikers on a website called MeetUp. I read and re read the information and knew even though there were still spots for sale, I could not comprehend going on their June 2012 trip. But as a bonus of this, I had found a whole bunch of people that liked to hike, and I had missed hiking since moving to Vegas, I could never find anyone to go with, now suddenly I had tons! I thought to myself, if I put my mind to it, get the gear and begin training with small steps working my way up to the longer miles, why couldn't I go on next years trip? So I started out, just myself, small hikes, three miles.. then five miles.. then I joined the group and began hiking every weekend. I saved what I could so that I could pay for the trip.. I began the research on backpacking products, the best, lightest, how to use them, I got my backpack for Christmas and began adding it to my weekend hiking trips, starting empty with just my reg food, water first aide kit etc to get the feel of it, then adding a gallon jug of water, that weighs 8 lbs, if it got to heavy I could dump out the water, it never got to heavy, I was determined. I collected gear little by little until I had everything from a sleeping pad and tent, to a lightweight stove and water filter. I slowly added these items to my pack until I was regularly hiking with 33lbs, training and conditioning for the big trip. Well that big trip just happened over this past weekend... Altogether I put in 30 miles on foot in a 4 day span, 20 with 28 & 33lbs on my back. Including a 4 mile round trip to the Native American village of Supai, AZ. for the most blissful frozen water and a bowl of cheese fries!! Well earned cheese fries! Myself and three of my hiking gals began our adventure at 3:30 in the morning on Thursday June 13th after spending a chilly night in our tents at the trailhead, so we could beat the heat and hit the trail at daybreak. With great excitement we loaded our packs, had breakfast, and coffee in the dark. As we made our way from the parking lot to the trailhead, the sun peaked over the horizon, illuminating the reddish canyon below, someplace in the distance of that canyon was a series of blue green turquoise waterfalls and pools that were unimaginable. It was hard to imagine that they really existed. We descended down the 1 mile of switchbacks to the canyon floor, stopping at the floor to look up and realize we had to go back up that steep incline at the very end of our trip. I had prepared for the end, I knew from researching that it was difficult, in my pack was the only electrical device I had brought, my Ipod, with Authority Zero ready to assist me back up that climb. We made our way down the dusty path.. as we neared the village of Supai, Az. Our dusty path turned into Coral Pink type sand. We caught our first glimpse of the Havasupai Creek, which indeed was a turquoise blue color. We stopped at the village, checked ourselves in and exhausted from lack of sleep the night before due to such excitement and 8 miles of backpacking with the last 2 miles in sand and 2 more sandy miles to go. Onward we trekked. Running on sheer determination and still an elusive fall to be seen. Another mile in, we round a corner and through the trees I see it.. a bright blue spot, thinking it was an illusion, I stopped and we listened, we could hear the thunder of the falls, the first set of falls, New Falls and Navajo Falls, I quickened my pace to as fast as my tired legs could go, you could feel the coolness of the falls in the air, and when the trees parted I squealed like a little kid seeing Disneyland for the first time. I knew my trekking partners were tired and wanted to set tents and nap, I wanted nothing but to get into the water that had entranced me over a year ago. I turned to my friends and said you can go on without me. As I headed down the hill, trying desperately to not knock myself over with that big pack on, I was unbuckling unsnapping and as quickly as possible getting that 33 lb anchor weight off of me, trekking poles flying, hiking boots tumbling, socks going here and there.. and laughing and giggling the whole way.. into the refreshing water I went.. my enthusiasm had caught my tired exhausted companions, as they made their way down to soak their tired feet in the cool waters, I went all in.. Time to move on, the next falls we pass to the campground are the main falls, the one that captured my attention and would not let go. Havasupai Falls.. I was soo excited to see that it was really as blue as the pictures I had seen. Stop for pics and move on, time to play in that later, we still need to find our camp and set up, before adventuring further, we had four days after all! Well three since the last day would be spent hiking out of the beautiful canyon. Our camp was right on the waters edge of Havasupai Creek. The next days were a surreal blur of waterfall jumping, pool floating, laughing, hiking from one set of falls to the next. You can make a day trip and go 16 miles round trip down to the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, but alas I still need to work more on that fear of heights, as the decent down to Mooney Falls is a narrow path chiseled out of the side of the rock, with chains to assist you on the 80 foot down, straight down climb, I gave it a shot, but did not make it.. next time. Up at 3:00am on Sunday to begin the trek back out... Looking up from the canyon floor back at the last 1 mile of switchbacks, back up the canyon into the parking lot.. on goes the IPod, Jason from Authority Zero blasting out "Courage" to get me started, head down, I remind myself, every single step was worth it, completely worth it..... Some pics to follow....

Having the camera on your helmet seeing the visor with the quad moving around underneath reminds me of a first person shooter type game. I felt I could steer you around if I only had a joystick. Nice video, the dunes look great.

You should just email that story and photos to backpacker magazine or similar. Good story!

thank you for all the info that is a place i want to go to .

Thank you guys! Pete it is so well worth the trip. There was a lot I didn't get to see, much more to explore, I guess I will have to make a return trip.

Man that is so cool. Great hike report, Jodi! Sweet photos too. Your preparation and enthusiasm reminds me alot of my long dual sport rides. It feels so good to HAVE to prepare and work for something knowing you are relying on smart decisions to actually survive. It's extra satisfying. I bet that feeling of finally getting to those awesome falls was almost overwhelming. Good for you. I'm glad you got to experience that place. It's been on our list for a while and we hope to one day hike it as well. I have a few buddies that go every year and their photos always amaze me.

Yes I made pizza, pizza and wine.... lol.. I did my research.. all my meals were gourmet baby!

A friend let me borrow with his 10-24mm lens. I REALLY want one now.