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| Hiking | 19.10 Miles |
2,995 AEG |
| | Hiking | 19.10 Miles | | | |
| 2,995 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | My girlfriend and I did this trip in 2012 with another couple and it was awesome. we had been wanting to go back so we started planning again. Our friends who went originally were unable to make it so we found another couple who had never been before and then My girlfriend's sister came with us as well.
Thurs - We left Mesa and headed to Seligman where we would stay the night at the Romney Motel. We got there mid afternoon which left time for checking out the gift shops and then having our dinner at the Road Kill cafe.
Fri - woke up early, left Seligman at 4:00 am and headed to the trail head. While driving on route 18 we spotted an Elk and thought that to be a good sign because we also spotted an Elk on this road the last time we went. Parked, gave the new people a chance to look in the canyon and see what they were about to jump into, and then we loaded up and headed out. Pretty uneventful hike in, left early enough that we were in the shade the entire time to the village. Checked in at the office, grabbed a bite to eat at the Cafe, then grabbed some Doritos at the store and we were back hiking again. We set up camp and rested a few minutes and then were off to Havasu Falls. We spent the rest of the afternoon here then headed back for dinner, camp stories, and bed. We lucked out that this was under a "super" moon and it made the night time very enjoyable.
Sat - woke up, bummed around for a while, then off to Mooney Falls. The other couple had decided not to climb down to mooney due to their choice of footwear at the time. My girlfriend, her sister, and I all went down. We spent sometime down there in the pools, hiked a little ways down stream, but no where near Beaver, maybe next time. Climbed back out, back to camp, lunch, rest, then off to Havasu Falls again. Once again we spent the majority of the afternoon here swimming around. Back to camp, dinner, camp stories, sleep.
Sun - set alarm for 3 hoping to be on the trail at 4:00 am once again. Woke up, packed, saw some people already headed out earlier than us, yikes! Again, bright moon was nice. Got to the village, topped off some water at the tourist office, had a "power bar" breakfast and then back on the trail. When we got to the "supai" sign, we came across a large group headed in, guess they wanted to get there early.  We timed it just about right, as we approached the switchbacks the sun was just peaking above the canyon there so there was a small portion exposed once we climbed out of the wash there, but as we got closer to the switch backs we were back in the shade since the trail is back against the canyon wall at this point. Bought some ice creams from the locals in the parking lot, drank some gaterades, and watched all the people just showing up for their hike down. I would not want to be starting that trail in the middle of the day like that.
All in all, it was a great trip, we enjoyed seeing our friends faces as they saw the falls for the first time. You can look at pictures all day long, but its not the same until you are down there taking it all in in person. I do have a few things to mention that I noticed versus our last trip in 2012. There was not as many stray dogs running around. I'm not sure what changed but it was crazy last time and this time we hardly saw any near the campsites, maybe 1 or 2, and even the village didn't have many running around. I did think however that there seemed like much more graffiti, especially in or around the village I don't remember it being like that last time. There seemed to be more Rangers, or camp staff running around, there was one who was climbing down mooney at the same time as us and said he was headed down to Beaver. I also saw a female ranger walking around and carrying out some trash bags. On that note, the camp was pretty clean. Now for the bad news, We woke up Sunday morning to find that someone had gone through our backpacks and stolen several items from us, mostly electronics (Garmins, Solar charger) and 3 pairs of Sunglasses. On talking to people on the way out, this was a camp wide problem that night. Seems like almost every group we talked to had items stolen. Left a bad feeling, but I still had a great time, I'll just have to keep a better eye on my stuff. I still plan on going again sometime, but just not right away.
Video : https://youtu.be/Sm ... Gzb8 |
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