Havasu Hike

6/27/2018

As previously mentioned, we al woke up to our 4am alarms, quickly packed the cars, and headed off to the trailhead (1.5 hours away). We headed onto the trail around 6:15 after a quick yogurt and fruit breakfast by the car. The trailhead itself is beautiful, looking down into the canyon. This isn’t part of Grand Canyon National Park, because it’s on the Havasu Reservation, but it is an offshoot of the Grand Canyon.

Sunrise drive

View from the top

Our ten mile hike started with one mile straight down into the canyon. The good thing about this, is the rest of the trail is basically flat! We strolled along the canyon floor, almost always in the shade (thank god), watching horses run by with equipment, supplies, or people’s packs. This is definitely the most unique (I’ve used that word a lot, I know) trail, being inside a giant canyon, with a bunch of different weird rocks, and horses running by. It was a fairly busy trail, but honestly not a big deal because we were focused on some fun conversations with our friends, and taring at the ridiculous land.

We checked in around 11am, and the folks that checked us in weren’t the most friendly. I don’t really blame them, since it’s a majority white folks coming to stay on what’s left of their land that we stole from them years ago…that being said, it’s also their job, and jobs can get boring.

The campsite we found is obviously amazing, on an open plot of land with flowing crystal blue water about 20 feet from our tents. We chilled for awhile, as the heat tired us out. We jumped in and out of our river spot before heading to Havasu Falls to explore. The falls is insane, as you can see below.

There were some deep parts where you could jump in, but lots of shallow spots to explore the rock pools and giant falls. This spot is the most amazing spot I’ve ever swam in. The combination of the falls, the canyon, and the little pools are insane.

We headed back to our campsite, hoping it would have cooled down, to find it still fairly hot. The sun was behind the canyon wall, but the walls and rocks are so hot from the day that the wind is a hot breeze. That being said, it was much more tolerable. After dinner we played cards and hopped in the water to cool off before heading to bed. It definitely stayed hot, but we were able to fall asleep and stay asleep.