20 BLUE WATER CROSSINGS

I just wanted to post up a few pics of our latest adventure to Havasupai Canyon.

Last week, my friend Jesse Quiroz brought 18 energetic adventurers to Arizona to hike down into the Grand Canyon.

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Havasupai Canyon is an amazing hike that  begins at Hualapai Hilltop, making a 10 mile descent through Hualapai and Havasu Canyon, past the native Supai Village and to our basecamp. From there we cast off to explore the turquoise waterfalls such as Havasu Falls, Mooney Falls and Beaver Falls. A few brave souls hiked all the way to the Colorado River.

The total milage to the Colorado river is stated to be 17 miles – but from my calculations it had to be at least 19 one way.

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Here are just a few pics to attempt to describe and show our three days in the canyon.

The trail down Havasupai is about a 2000′ drop. The first mile is reasonably steep, while the rest of the trail follows a very slight down grade. The hike is not overly difficult, and is a good one for first-time backpackers, but you do have to deal with a great deal of sun and heat. It will take about 4-6 hours to hike the ten miles each way, but don’t try to go all the way down and all the way back in one day, you won’t have too much fun.

There is a village about eight miles into the hike, but besides stopping to register your group, there is not much else to do there. It’s another two miles to the campgrounds.

Navajo Falls

Supai Creek runs through the entire length of the campgrounds – It is beautiful and has a ton of trees to help shade campers from the sun.

After setting up our camp Wednesday night we started the next full day exploring and hiking to the Colorado river. We left @ 7:30 AM for the “7 mile” hike. – I concluded it was more like a 9 mile hike from our campsite.

Here are a few pics of our journey down to the Colorado River.

Havasupai Falls pictured above is just above the campground.

Mooney falls is just below the campground.

Mooney Falls  is the tallest of all the falls at Supai  - It is beautiful.

The hike down the side of the cliff can be dangerous and caution is the word for the “chain climb” down to the floor.

The first few steps are through a tunnel that lead you to a series of chains that help you navigate your decent down to the base of the falls – The chains are wet and the climb is steep.

The climb down is worth the view – Wow!, what an amazing sight and feel to be at the bottom of Mooney falls with all that power of water spraying on your face.

(Mooney Falls behind me.)

After Mooney Falls, you make your way down stream to the next set of water falls called Beaver Falls.

This is where you need to be prepared for a attempting to keep your feet dry after you cross the water.

You might not think about it, but wet feet and shoes after putting in a few miles will result in blisters…. that will result in pain… that will result in a very uncomfortable hike.

Our process was to change shoes after every water crossing. – ALL 10 of them to the Colorado River and 10 of them on the way back.

Seven of us attempted to make it all the way to the Colorado river on this trip.

It is not a simple venture givin the water crossings and trying to make it back to the chains at Mooney before dark.

Beaver Falls are a series of water falls the cascade down the canyon – take some time to swim in this blueish “Gatorade” looking river.

Once you get past Beaver Falls, there is a rope climb that takes you up and over to a sign that tells you you are leaving Supai Nation and entering the Grand Canyon National Park.

After the sign, we headed to the Colorado river at a good pace.

We made it to the river at 2:06 pm. – here is a pic of the end of the Supai River as it flows into the Colorado.

Looking back up the canyon from the Colorado River.

Heading back to the campground was another set of water crossings – make sure you plan your hike and give yourself plenty of daylight – It would not be too much fun climbing the chains at dark.

We made it back to camp at 7:00 pm – 11 1/2 hours on the trail meant the next day we were a bit sore.

What an awesome trip. I really enjoyed the company of my daughter Natascha as well as some amazing friends from Journey Church.

Looking forward to going back to Hava Supai next Summer with Summit Leadership and Mark Batterson.

The Havsuw’ Baaja (Blue Water People), or more commonly the Havasupai.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havasupai_people

When you see the Havasupai Indians, say "gah'muuh" - it is a a greeting meaning how are you?

Take a hike.

Steve