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| Backpack | 39.00 Miles |
5,500 AEG |
| | Backpack | 39.00 Miles | 3 Days 2 Hrs | | |
| 5,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | My sister procured a Havasupai permit at the beginning of 2020 - and finally got a chance to use it this year (although the flood in August initially threatened to delay it yet another year). I said a long time ago that I wouldn't bother with the place unless popularity some day wanes, but I saw no reason to decline an invitation.
We got to the TH at around 7:30 am on Saturday. The check-in policies have completely changed since that last time I went down there; the goal seems to be to put the kibosh on unpermitted visits.
The hike in was unremarkable (although we noted there seemed to be more litter than before); shade much of the way, but it got kinda hot after we passed Supai. The campground was filled to the brim, but we found a good, relatively secluded and convenient campsite that everybody else somehow passed right by (I had the benefit of prior knowledge). The flood seems to have affected all but the ugly desert campsites, but I was expecting the damage to be worse. There was certainly debris scattered around, but the cleanup efforts seem to have been effective.
Sunday the plan was to head down to Beaver Falls, but I couldn't coax her to do the terrifying descent (despite the fact she had already been down there before), so I was on my own. Decided to take advantage and hike all the way down to the Colorado River, since I hadn't done that in ten years and who knows if I'll ever have another chance... The trail past Beaver Falls was easier to follow than I remembered, and I was even able to jog parts of it. Saw a giant rafting party at the confluence, topped off water, then after a 10 minute or so break, headed back up. On the way back up from Beaver, I saw many of the same people I had seen on the way down. I found the climb up the chains to be far more comfortable after waiting for the trail to clear out so I can go at the pace I want.
Monday we headed up to Fifty Foot Falls, which we had to ourselves for the better part of an hour, surprisingly. The new Navajo Falls looked unrecognizable from what I remembered from previous trips. On the way there a bunch of Supai were out clearing the rocks from the trail up from Havasu Falls. Soaked in the pool below Havasu Falls for awhile, then headed back for lunch.
Got up bright and early for the hike out, leaving at around 4:45am. Only had to deal with about a half mile of direct sunlight, so the temperatures were not bad.
It was nice seeing the place again after a really long absence, but with the crowds, it's not quite the same as it used to be. Still wasn't hard to find seclusion, though. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
You can camp anywhere and there are buildings with composting toilets throughout the campground. Since we were in a canyon, the temp was a few degrees higher than on top of the canyon so the nighttime lows were about 34 deg. My camping gear and clothing did what it was supposed to do and I was actually very comfortable during the nights. We hiked almost to the confluence with the Colorado River the 2nd day. The waterfalls are beautiful of course but the hike downstream from Mooney Falls truly feels like being transported to some secret fairyland that you may just be dreaming of. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this place but don't have an interest to go back again. The rest of my group was better able to take in the beauty and ignore that every single person we saw there had a camera in their hand and most were treating the place as simply a backdrop for their personal photo sessions. Arizona has so many incredible places and I think I'll stick with the less traveled ones.
, 9L, and I were the only ones in the group who had been to Supai before, so it was fun to watch the others experience it for the first time. It's hard to believe it was 
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