Our group was literally coming from all over the US. We had people fly in from DC, Seattle, some drove from Texas, and some came from various parts of Utah. We met in a town called Kingman, in AZ, spent the night in a hotel, then hit up the trail head early-ish in the morning. We were supposed to start hiking at 7 but we really didn't start hiking until like 9.
We had multiple groups of people pass us along the way, so of course, by the time our group actually made it to the campsite, all the good ones were taken. We found one that we kind of crammed 15 people into for the night. It was right up against the canyon wall. After camp was all set up, we suited up and hit the water. At first we just sat in the river by camp. We were so hot we didn't really care what we did. But after we cooled down we decided to hike up to Havasu Falls. It just a couple hundred yards away from our camp spot so we did. We found a cute 5 foot waterfall that we had a blast jumping off of. The larger waterfall was over 100 feet and you couldn't really get to close without getting pushed away by heavy currents. Lisa and I tried to swim as close as we could, but yeah, it was pretty hard. Once the sun started to go down and we started to get cold, we headed back to camp for some food.We thought our camp spot would be great because we were shaded, but holy monkey, all night long it was so hot. We think the rock wall surrounding us just absorbed the heat all day then spat it back at us all through the night. Lisa and I had planned on playing a card game before bed, but we were so hot we just used the playing cards like a fan to attempt to cool us a little bit.
After a LONG, HOT night, we woke up bright and early to steal someone's old camp spot. We moved everything from one location to another. This spot was perfect. It was big, open, shaded by lots of trees, we were right next to the water, and we even had a couple of picnic tables. I say it was definitely worth the move.
The plan for today, (Friday 6/14/13), was to hike down to two sets of falls. One was called Moony Falls, the other was called Beaver Falls. Beaver was supposed to have some great cliff jumping and cool caves, but it was a 2.5 mile hike from camp. We did it anyway. To hike to Beaver, you have to hike to Moony first. Now the hike to Moony is quite impressive. You have to hike down the side of a 100 foot, if not more, cliff using ladders and chains. If you think Angels landing is steep, wait till you hike down this! I actually enjoyed it. I love the feeling of rock climbing, so having to find your foot holds and hand holds while holding on to a chain for your life was quite exhilarating. Everyone made it down safely which was good.The hike to Beaver Falls can be done 2 ways, via trail, or via the river. We decided that it was hot so we were going to basically hike down the river until we found it. It took us a really long time. Mostly because 3 people were carrying expensive cameras that couldn't get wet. Maneuvering through the water and down all the baby waterfalls was a feat like none other. When the water started to get waist hight and higher more frequently, we just hit up the trail and continued from there. We got to climb up and down more ladders but eventually we got to the Falls.
I know I haven't described anything for you but I will try. Think of the amazing blue green color of Hawaii water, only its in a river and cascading down multiple sets of waterfalls. Then you have to picture that all of this lush green beautifulness is squished between the walls of a 200 foot red rock canyon in the middle of the desert. Its indescribable almost. You see pictures and think they have been photoshopped, but they haven't. Havasu Pai, looks like it shouldn't exist, but somehow it does. I think it is almost more breath taking than some of the sights I saw in Hawaii.
Anyway, once we got to the falls we had some lunch, then played in the water. We did some swimming around, we did some waterfall jumping, and we tossed a frisbee around. Lisa and I never found the caves we were looking for, but thats okay because we still had a blast.We did have a young man in our group named Brad who jumped off a waterfa
While half the group was helping Brad hike out, another half of us, (Me included), decided to give them breathing room and slowly make our way back to camp. We found a great spot to cliff jump that was around 40-50 feet up. After Brad's lovely experience we were all a little hesitant to jump, but we watched several other tourists do it. They saw us watching and badgered us and pressured us until we gave in and jumped off. Me and three other guys jumped off the cliff. It was kind of scary. I feel like I have jumped off higher, but I guess emotions were high so I was a little nervous.
We all made it safely to the bottom, but the climb out was actually a lot scarier than the jump in. We had to scale up the side of a cliff with just a rope with knots tied in it. There was about a 20 foot drop if you fell, and you would land on rocks, not water, so a mess up was basically fatal. A couple of the boys went first, they took their time and made their way up. When it was my turn, I had my friend Eric give me a boost up, then I guess my rock climbing skills kicked in and I was up in no time. The other boys said I had the most graceful, skilled looking ascent. Luckily Eric is pretty tall because he came up last and didn't have anyone to give him a leg up. But we all made it and decided to head back before anything happened to us.On the way back we kind of dilly dallied. We stopped at a few over looks and took some pictures. When we got to Moony Falls, we of course, had to play in it. We found the small caves that were supposedly near Mooney falls and explored them a little bit. Jeff, an awesome guy in the group, borrowed my goggles and explored everything. It was so funny to watch him just looking around and checking everything out. Once we finished with the caves, we tried to get as close to Moony as we could. It was hard. Moony Falls is quite a bit higher than Havasu, that we had played in yesterday. The water wasn't deep, but the mist that came off the falls was like little daggers to your skin. The closer you got, the more painful it got. Naturally, we didn't get very close, but we did get some great pictures.
We figured that Brad and the others would take a long time, and even if we were slow we would be able to catch up to them. We actually never caught up to them. They were speedy quick getting back. I don't really know how they did it, but they did. Once we were done goofing around we climbed up our ladders and chains to get back to camp. We got back to camp, shared our stories, showed our pictures, then figured out dinner.
The plan was to hike out tomorrow, (Saturday), afternoon so we would have more time to play in the falls. The biggest concern was getting Brad out. Laura, also managed to trip in the river and sprain her ankle, so she was a concern too. Laura planned on taking a horse out, but Brad thought he might be able to hike out. Some of our group planned to send their packs up on a mule so they wouldn't have to carry them out, so they kind of discussed what they were going to do in the morning as well. Once everything was settled, and dinner was cleaned up, we got together and played scum.
Now, Laura, with the sprained ankle had planned to have a horse carry her out, so she went up to get her ride out, and we decided that Brad, whose ankle was completely swollen more than double, and black and blue, was not going to hike out. We set out to try and figure some arrangements out for him. We were able to secure Laura with a helicopter ride out so Brad could take her horse. Laura left to catch her flight, and Brad waited at the bottom to get his ride. But the thing is, his horse never came. The Natives decided that there wasn't a horse. Then they decided there was, but he needed to pay for it up front, so Brad limped back to camp to get his money, he got back and the locals told him the horse left and he shouldn't have left to get his money. Brad was quite frustrated by this point. We were all back at camp waiting to leave so we weren't aware of everything that was going on with Brad. Lyndsey and Lisa disappeared at some point and we were ready to leave. We checked the out houses, no sign, so we gathered up their belongings and prayed that they would be at the waiting point with Brad.
We met up with Brad who said that Lyndsey left to try and catch up with all of the horses to see if she could convince them to come back and get Brad. Lisa realized that Lyndsey left without any water, so she sprinted up the trail to catch her sister so she wouldn't get dehydrated. All the while Brad was waiting, irritated at the bottom. He told us that he was sick of the crap going on and he just wanted to get started heading up to the village so maybe they could work something out. We all left to get Brad to the village.
About a mile up the trail the leaders of the pack stopped at the Lower Navajo waterfalls. The plan was to play in the water until around 3 then hike out after that. So several boys kept going with Brad while the rest of us waited at the waterfalls for everyone. About ten minutes later everyone met up at the falls. I guess once Lyndsey got to the village, the Natives directed her to the police department, who actually understood our situation and got us some help. Lisa found Lyndsey and together they headed down to find us. The police were driving a gator type vehicle which they were able to pick up Brad in about the same time Lisa and Lyndsey met up with them. They took him up to the village where he was able to catch a chopper to the top.
Now that it was about 10 AM, we had all the drama sorted out, and we were all ready to play in the falls. Lower Navajo has a maybe 20ish foot waterfall that you can jump off of. After all the stinky stuff that had happened previously, I wasn't too thrilled about jumping off, but some how all the boys convinced me to jump. It was actually super fun. Lisa and I just had two more times. We had no injuries thankfully. Everyone took turns jumping off the waterfall, and diving into the water from a small ledge behind the falls. When we had our fill for a little and were hungry, we took a lunch break.
After lunch we went up to the upper part of Navajo. It was amazing. There was a waterfall thatwas about 30is feet tall, but it was wider than it was tall. It came down from the trees and made everything look lush and green. In the midst of the waterfalls was a naturally made "hot tub." It seriously looked like a hot tub in the middle of the pools. It was pretty sweet, but alas, it was not hot. Troy, a super adventurous mountain man, found the equivalent of a lazy river as well. It took you between a small underwater canyon and out into another set of pools. We put on Lisa's goggles and watched under water and it was even cooler. It looked like a coral reef, but no plants or fish, just the coral looking part. It was really cool. We messed around and played for another few hours before getting out and preparing to hike.
We left the falls at around three in the afternoon. I was dreading the hike out because the hike in had been SOO hot. This was going to be up hill and I honestly thought it was going to be unbearably hot. But it wasn't! We had a lot of shady parts getting to the village, and once we left the village the sun was behind the canyon walls. We walked in shade almost the whole entire time we were hiking out. We were also fortunate enough to have a coolish breeze blow through the canyon quite frequently. We expected to take about 6 to 7 hours to get out because it had taken us around 5 to get in. But some how we hiked out in about 3.5 hours. Don't ask me how we did it, but we did.
If any of you have been to Havasu Pai, you know that to get out of the canyon you have to take some really nasty switch backs up. There is a lot of elevation climb in a very very short amount of time. I was dreading that part. I was tired and sore and I didn't know how it would work out, but I cruised up them. I don't know how, but I just didn't stop. Brett hiked up the switch backs with me and we kept each other going. Mountain man Troy, and Greg hiked out way before anyone else, left their packs at the top and came down for more. Apart from those two beating me to the top, and Troy beating me again the second time he went up, Brett and I were the next ones to reach the top. Well Eric did beat us, but still, we were pretty close to the front of our group when we finished.
We made it. All of us eventually made it to the top. We took our celebratory pictures, then gathered up our belongings to head back to Kingman. We found all the packs that the mules had brought up, got them to their owners, then started the hike to the cars, (some of our cars were close to a mile away from the trailhead). After we loaded up and headed out, we left for Denny's. MMM real food after 3 days! We had our dinner at around 11 at night, but it was totally worth it.I can't believe how amazing it was in Havasu Pai. My only regret is that Paul couldn't be there with me. I plan to take him there some day to see it. If you have never been there, I truly suggest getting yourself in shape for an 11 mile hike and spending a few days there. It should be considered one of the wonders of the world. It is incredible! Can't wait to go back. Until then, I better get ready for girls camp. Its coming up next on the list of summer adventures.
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