Grand Canyon & Havasu Falls
We rolled into Grand Canyon NP around 9 o clock at night. Not much to see at that time. This was Friday night and no campsites were open. I read you could disperse camp in the Kaibab Forest which we had seen signs for left and right so we found a likely spot and pulled over.
We walked out just a bit off the road and felt a sudden vastness in front of us. I didn't want to get too excited but it certainly felt grand and canyon"y" right in front of us, but in the complete dark we weren't certain. We emptied the car and, exhausted, slept in the back for the night.
Around 4 o'clock in the morning light started filtering in and we decided to get up and make some hot coco to watch the sunrise. Turns out we we're parked right on the rim and the void in front of us was indeed grand:
We went back to sleep to wait for a more reasonable hour to enjoy the park. Once we were well rested we found that we, unfortunately, could not camp where we were and had to rush back and pack up before we got a ticket. Can't disperse camp in National Parks- the more you know.
The rest of the day was a bit of a crap shoot between finding an, albeit awesome, space right outside of the forest and touring some of the easier hikes and landmarks.
The next day we hiked Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens. Normally, Bright Angel is a pretty popular overnight hike that we decided to skip on since we would be tackling Havasu Falls in a few days and didn't want to feel fatigued. We hiked to Indian Springs, about 9 miles round trip, and seriously underestimated the canyon. By the end of the hike and we were exhausted and dizzy from not having enough salty snacks on us, a mistake we won't make again. We survived and it was definitely worth the journey, but climbing out of the canyon was no joke.
The next day, under awesome advice from Alison, we went to Sedona and fell absolutely in love
We did the Devils Bridge Trail (badly) and what should have been a short 2 mile hike was closer to 5. It was a blast and Alex of course kept going near the edge, making people gasp and cringe next to us. At this point I just ignore it and decide what I'll do with my life insurance money.
We spent a few days with my grandma in Phoenix and made our way to the Havasu Falls trailhead on Wednesday night.
On the way we stopped in Sedona again to eat and take in the adorable downtown area. We enjoyed a rare meal out of rattlesnake sausage, bison skewers and fried cactus (when it Rome?) and continued on to Havasu. We drove the very long, very windy drive to the trailhead around 10 o'clock at night and had one of the most terrifying 2 hour drives of our lives. There were literally animals every few feet waiting to jump in front of the car.
I can't identify the first thing that jumped in front of the car. Maybe a porcupine, or a large wild cat, or a desert raccoon? It was scary, disheveled and looked like it had been spit from hell. I usually run over anything stupid enough to get in front of a car that won't kill me, but I didn't want this thing's spirit following us the rest of our lives. We swerved around it and are still speculating on what it might have been. We encountered deer, cows, bunnies, and coyotes the rest of the trip, and arrived wide eyed and exhausted around 11. We camped in the parking lot to start our hike at 4 am before the sun rose and our 10 mile hike into the canyon began.
The descent down is only a mile and a half and pretty easy on this side of things. The rest is a walk across, mostly through flat riverbed until you arrive at Supai village around mile 8 to check into the site. In case you ever want to do this trek - most people book at least 2 nights and the second the permits open for the season you need to be primed and ready to contest with people all over the world that hope to get lucky enough to get their dates. We had a wide 2 week window on when we wanted to do this and still we're only able to get one night. We were the only hikers we met that had to do the grueling trek in and out in the space of 24 hours and still had to plan for the hiking you do once you get into the canyon.
At the end of the ten miles you arrive at the actual Havasu Falls and the campground down below. We setup camp and hiked the next 3 miles out to Mooney and Beaver Falls, the most terrifying hike I've been a part of to date. The hike to Mooney falls included a steady drop down the side of the wet mountain, holding on for dear life to the chains installed on the side of the mountain and the ladder barely staying balanced against the edge of the cliff. The many signs warning us of the danger of falling and repeated casualties should have deterred us more than it did, but the helicopter pad was reasonably close...
Beaver falls was amazing. We waded through the many pools for hours, climbed around some more and generally tried to beat the heat
We walked out just a bit off the road and felt a sudden vastness in front of us. I didn't want to get too excited but it certainly felt grand and canyon"y" right in front of us, but in the complete dark we weren't certain. We emptied the car and, exhausted, slept in the back for the night.
Around 4 o'clock in the morning light started filtering in and we decided to get up and make some hot coco to watch the sunrise. Turns out we we're parked right on the rim and the void in front of us was indeed grand:
The rest of the day was a bit of a crap shoot between finding an, albeit awesome, space right outside of the forest and touring some of the easier hikes and landmarks.
The next day we hiked Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens. Normally, Bright Angel is a pretty popular overnight hike that we decided to skip on since we would be tackling Havasu Falls in a few days and didn't want to feel fatigued. We hiked to Indian Springs, about 9 miles round trip, and seriously underestimated the canyon. By the end of the hike and we were exhausted and dizzy from not having enough salty snacks on us, a mistake we won't make again. We survived and it was definitely worth the journey, but climbing out of the canyon was no joke.
The next day, under awesome advice from Alison, we went to Sedona and fell absolutely in love
We did the Devils Bridge Trail (badly) and what should have been a short 2 mile hike was closer to 5. It was a blast and Alex of course kept going near the edge, making people gasp and cringe next to us. At this point I just ignore it and decide what I'll do with my life insurance money.
On the way we stopped in Sedona again to eat and take in the adorable downtown area. We enjoyed a rare meal out of rattlesnake sausage, bison skewers and fried cactus (when it Rome?) and continued on to Havasu. We drove the very long, very windy drive to the trailhead around 10 o'clock at night and had one of the most terrifying 2 hour drives of our lives. There were literally animals every few feet waiting to jump in front of the car.
I can't identify the first thing that jumped in front of the car. Maybe a porcupine, or a large wild cat, or a desert raccoon? It was scary, disheveled and looked like it had been spit from hell. I usually run over anything stupid enough to get in front of a car that won't kill me, but I didn't want this thing's spirit following us the rest of our lives. We swerved around it and are still speculating on what it might have been. We encountered deer, cows, bunnies, and coyotes the rest of the trip, and arrived wide eyed and exhausted around 11. We camped in the parking lot to start our hike at 4 am before the sun rose and our 10 mile hike into the canyon began.
The descent down is only a mile and a half and pretty easy on this side of things. The rest is a walk across, mostly through flat riverbed until you arrive at Supai village around mile 8 to check into the site. In case you ever want to do this trek - most people book at least 2 nights and the second the permits open for the season you need to be primed and ready to contest with people all over the world that hope to get lucky enough to get their dates. We had a wide 2 week window on when we wanted to do this and still we're only able to get one night. We were the only hikers we met that had to do the grueling trek in and out in the space of 24 hours and still had to plan for the hiking you do once you get into the canyon.
At the end of the ten miles you arrive at the actual Havasu Falls and the campground down below. We setup camp and hiked the next 3 miles out to Mooney and Beaver Falls, the most terrifying hike I've been a part of to date. The hike to Mooney falls included a steady drop down the side of the wet mountain, holding on for dear life to the chains installed on the side of the mountain and the ladder barely staying balanced against the edge of the cliff. The many signs warning us of the danger of falling and repeated casualties should have deterred us more than it did, but the helicopter pad was reasonably close...
Beaver falls was amazing. We waded through the many pools for hours, climbed around some more and generally tried to beat the heat
We left the next morning at 4 am again and made the trek out. 3 hours and 45 minutes in and 3 hours and 40 minutes out, not too shabby for how loaded we were. The hike was not nearly as bad as most people imagined. We were shocked by the amount of people that opted to pay for the expensive helicopter ride in to Supai village; half the fun is the journey people!
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