Ashley and Stacy at Havasu Falls
Since she moved to Arizona almost 3 years ago, Ashley has heard about and wanted to make the hike down to Havasu Falls. This year was the first year that permits were offered online, and when they went on sale in February she was ready for it, managing to snag eight before they sold out for the year in about 20 minutes.
Havasu Falls is the highlight of a series of waterfalls located on and near the land of the Havasupai tribe, including Mooney and Beaver Falls as well. Havasu means “blue-green water,” and the name couldn’t be more appropriate. It’s a 10-mile hike along the west side of the Grand Canyon to get there, and permits are absolutely required for both hiking and camping, since day hiking is NOT allowed.
Pricing for 2018 is as follows and includes all necessary permits, fees, and taxes:
One Person, 2 Days / 1 Night: $140.56
One Person, 3 Days / 2 Nights: $171.12
One Person, 4 Days / 3 Nights: $201.67
From Phoenix, it’s about a 4.5 hour drive to the Hualapai Hilltop, which is the trailhead leading down to Havasu. We had decided to leave Phoenix around 10pm the night before our permits became valid, which put us getting into the parking lot right around 3am. It was a pretty easy drive until the last 60 miles down County Road / Indian Road 18, which became a night time nature drive when almost as soon as we turned onto it we were met with an elk and her calf standing in the middle of the road. For the rest of the 60 miles, we saw and avoided countless other deer, elk, cows, horses, and at least 70 jackrabbits (I was counting).
We met up with the rest of our group of 8 at the trailhead, and by the time we left it was around 3:30am. We hiked with headlamps for the first hour or so, but didn’t need them for very long at all. It took the slowest of us 3 hours and 45 minutes to go the 8 miles from the trailhead to the Supai village. Once you reach the village, your group will need to check in at the tourist office to receive wristbands and a tag for your campsite.
From there, it’s another 1.5-2 miles to the beginning of the campsite, which is also where you’ll get your first view of Havasu Falls. The campsite is about a mile long, ending right at Mooney Falls, so depending on your campsite location it may be a little bit more added to the walk. We had 8 people all with hammocks and needed a site with enough trees to accommodate, so our site ended up actually at the very end of the campground, cliff side above Mooney. There are four bathroom buildings throughout the campground, and a fresh water spring near the beginning. While everything we had read said the bathrooms were well-maintained, the one closest to our site was locked up and roped off after the first day, and the others quickly ran out of toilet paper, so we’d definitely recommend bringing a roll with you.
Our first glimpse of Havasu Falls
Once we all managed to get to the campsite, hang our hammocks, and just sit down for a few minutes, we changed into our swimsuits and wandered back to the beginning of the campground to play in Havasu Falls. Even in 100 degree heat, the water was quite brisk, but after the hike down it felt wonderful! There are deeper areas you can actually swim in, shallow spots with rocks you can sunbathe at, and a few small waterfalls that drop into a deep enough pool you can jump and dive off from them.
After cooling off at Havasu Falls for a while, several of us decided to make the 10-15 minute trek back upthe sandy hill we had just come down to go to the famed Frybread stand that the Havasupai operate. They reminded me of the elephant ears you can buy at fairs and parades, and in addition to the sweet toppings that you’d expect they also had a couple taco options. Maybe even more exciting than the food was the fact that they had a giant cooler full of cold (!) Gatorades and other drinks. It’s all perhaps a little more expensive than you’d ordinarily spend on food like that, but it was fast, tasted good, and was really appreciated after the hike, so to me the cost was worth it.
The pools and area surrounding Havasu
The river runs right through the campsite, and there are multiple spots throughout it where it’s very calm water. We ended up finding one of those little pools near our site and relaxed in the refreshing water for a while, before ultimately deciding that 7pm was a perfectly acceptable time to go to sleep for the night. It is worth pointing out that there was very little disruptive noise from the rest of the campsite, even with us going to sleep so early. It could have been because we were literally the last campsite, but for the most part it seemed to be a very quiet, respectful group of people camping down there at the same time as us.
We had initially planned on getting a very early start on our second day, as we had heard and read that the earlier you climbed down to Mooney and made the trek to Beaver, the fewer people there would be. However, it ended up being around 9, 9:30 by the time we made it to the top of the treacherous climb down to Mooney, but we still didn’t think it seemed over crowded at any point.
Mooney Falls is almost twice as tall as Havasu, and the only way to get down to the bottom is to complete a fairly intense climb down. What starts out as walking through a few small caves carved into the mineral deposits cascading off the cliff quickly turns into scooting from rock to rock while sitting and clinging to the chains and iron pegs hammered into the cliffside, and finishes with having to turn back around and walk down a series of three wooden ladders generally coated with spray from the waterfall and mud.
A group ascending the ladders and rocks near Mooney Falls
We didn’t spend a lot of time at the base of Mooney before beginning what should have been about a 2 mile hike, but turned into closer to 2.5 miles for us. We chose to walk through the river initially instead of taking the path that we should have, which worked out fine until we got to a large cascade that we didn’t want to figure out how to get down, and at that point we joined up with the path we should have taken in the first place. Two of our group, however, did opt to make their way down the drop, and continued to take the river all the way down. The path starts along the left side of the canyon wall, if Mooney is behind you, at some points requiring you to wade the river at depths of at most 3-4 feet.
The palm tree in the bottom of the Grand Canyon is a handy landmark during the hike
When the path brings you to and through a giant palm tree (yes, a palm tree in the bottom of the Grand Canyon), you have the option to cross the river to your left and pick up a path there, or to climb a series of ladders and steps on the right. We took the ladders on the way to Beaver Falls, and they were actually fairly steep as well, and during the middle of the day the rocks that you’re scrambling on get very hot. On the way back, we opted to take the other path, which did require scaling a 15-20 foot vertical wall with the help of a rope, but was altogether much preferred than doing the ladders in peak heat.
Beaver Falls
Beaver Falls is a series of several pools with short little waterfalls connecting them. There’s swimming, areas deep enough to jump into, and even an area a little further down where people braver than us were cliff jumping.
I’m not sure if climbing back up the ladders and rocks next to Mooney was better or worse than going down was, but I do know I did it much faster going up, although I did stop breathing for a portion of it while my sole focus was getting to solid ground I couldn’t fall from. The climb wasn’t enjoyable, but it was doable, even for a shorter person like I am, and it was absolutely worth it for the views of Mooney and Beaver Falls, and the hike in between.
We managed to get about half a game of cards in the second night before calling it a day and breaking off to go to sleep. Half of our group decided to leave early in the morning (2-3 am) with the goal of making it back to the hilltop trailhead between mid-morning and noon. The other half of us left the campsite at 12:45 in the afternoon, stopping in a shady spot along the river on the way back to rest and take a nap. We were in no real hurry, and one of us had injured a knee, so we could have definitely gone faster if we wanted to. That being said, we made it back to the village café at 4:30, bought full meals there (they had everything from burgers to burritos, and a lot in between, and cold drinks, which is always a plus), and after getting ice creams from the general store and waiting a bit for more shade, ended up leaving the tourist office at the far end of the village at 6:25. We actually made pretty good time for the majority of the 8 miles back to the trailhead, although we stopped several times for long periods of time to turn off our headlamps and look at the stars, and the last mile took a long time due to the knee injury amongst ourselves. It took us 6 hours and 40 minutes to make it from the tourist office to the hilltop.
