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| Hiking | 13.50 Miles |
2,995 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.50 Miles | | | |
| 2,995 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | We took our first trip to Havasu Falls last month and it was a blast!
Headed up on a Tuesday afternoon and spent the night in the back of our Expedition. We got there way too early (even after stopping for lunch and hanging around in Seligman for a few hours), so we ended up spending quite a bit of time reading and talking to the ranger(?) that oversees the parking area.
Hit the trail by headlamp just before 5am Wednesday morning. The weather was perfect (nice and cool) and we were able to get through the portion that would be full sun by the time the sun actually came all the way up over the canyons. The hike in was uneventful other than getting the pumpkin scared out of as just as we hit the bottom of the switchbacks. Out of NOWHERE a voice called out "Hey - do you know what time it is?" It was about 5:45 or so and still pitch black. The voice belonged to a native girl named Jessica who had somehow sprained her ankle, and was sitting up on a hill on the side of the trail surrounded by wild horses. Our hearts jumped into our throats when she called out to us! I immediately thought "This is it. This is a setup - we're going to get attacked or something" We couldn't figure out why this girl would be all the way to the bottom of the switch backs all by herself. She also sounded really drunk...
She had water and wasn't in any immediate life-threatening situation so we asked her name and told her we would let people know she was here as we hiked in and would let the people at the office in the village know as well.
So the remainder of the walk was awesome.
Hit the village and checked in at the tourism office to get our tags, and then scarfed down a breakfast burrito at the cafe. We continued on to the campsite and made it to our final destination in about 6 hours with the break at the village.
The falls were gorgeous, of course, and we were lucky enough to go mid-week so it wasn't totally packed with other hikers and tourists.
We spent our couple days lounging in the water of Havasu Falls, taking a lot of pictures, reading, and just generally relaxing. We walked down to Mooney falls, but didn't descend it due to my fear of heights.
The hike out Friday morning was a bit different than the hike in... We left at about 4:30 with 3L water bladders and stopped in the village to get some gatorades. I finished mine before we got out of the village. We should have filled up on water at the village, as we ran completely out about 80% of the way up the switchbacks to the parking area. The temp was in the mid to high 90's on the way out and the final portion (including the switchbacks) was in full sun. No escaping it except for a few minute or two stops where there was a rock to hide under and rest.
It is truly amazing how unprepared the majority of people hiking in were as we were leaving on Friday. I can't count the number of people I saw with nothing but a half empty gatorade or a small bottle of water with the vast majority of the hike to go. It was pretty amazing.
Overall it was a great trip. While most of the locals we encountered weren't exactly overtly friendly they were not threatening at all just disinterested and borderline rude. No big deal. A few of the rangers (?) were pretty friendly.
If you go just remember there is NO water between the parking area at the top of the hill and the village about 8 miles away. Bring more than you think you need, especially on the way out. |
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