Hvasupai Falls - Grand Canyon

9.23.2018 

Supai, Hvasupai Falls - Grand Canyon

Supai, is the only place in the United States where mail is still carried out by mules and it has been referred to as "the most remote community" in the contiguous United States by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is accessible only by helicopter, on foot or by mule. Supai is 8 miles from the nearest road and has no automobiles in the community. The majestic Hvasupai Falls is an additional 2 miles into the canyon.

Nikki and I both flew into Phoenix Thursday around 1PM and rented a car and made the 2 hour drive to Flagstaff for our 5PM group meeting at the hotel we were staying at - The Little America. Back in February 2018, we decided to go through the tour company Wildland Trekking. Everything was super organized at the pre-trip meeting and we met our guides, Johnathan and Danielle for the first time, where they gave us backpacks to use and we picked out snacks for the trip. We had fun getting to meet all 9 others from all over the country, at the meeting as well. 

Nikki and I went into old downtown Flagstaff and had some yummy Thai food and walked around some before heading back to the hotel and preparing all our gear for our early departure!

Day 1 - Friday - We were up at 3:30AM for a 4AM departure in our van from Flagstaff to the trail head - Hilltop, which was easy because it felt like 5:30AM central time. It was about a 3 hour drive, and we stopped once for coffee at a gas station and enjoyed breakfast set up in a parking lot.

When we arrived to the edge of the Grand Canyon around 8:30AM, cars lined the cliff side. While our guides unpacked the gear that the mules would take down, we used the bathroom one last time before we started the big decent filled with steep yet easy switchbacks for the first 1-2 miles until we got to the Grand Canyon floor. We started our decent around 9:OOAM, after our group picture.

The 10 mile hike to the Havasupai camp ground was so much easier than I had expected. After the first 2 miles from top edge, it is just 6 miles flat along the base of the Grand Canyon floor. We stopped for lunch at exactly half way in at "Bear Canyon." The guides set up a semi-iormet sandwich bar complete with fresh avocado and cucumbers.

Our group of 11 ended up being so great. We had a pediatric oncologist and his wife, out of Phoenix. We had a couple out of Dallas that were in medical software and an engineer, we had an anesnteiologist and her husband out of North Carolina, we had a hysterical couple, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, out of the Jersey Shore that kept us laughing all weekend. And then a ER nurse, Jenn, who worked at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. 9 out of 11 of us were medically involved but all so diverse in age and area of the country we were from. However, we all got along and worked so well together. Danielle and Johnathan, from early on and through out the entire trip, said we all moved much faster than most groups.

We arrived to Hvasupai Falls just before 4PM, after a pretty easy and mid paced hike with the group that took about 7 hours. The water was incredible. These iPhone pictures truly do no justice. It's a struggle to understand how the water could be so turquoise, it does look so unreal. But, it is real! While our guides found us all a camp site and set up our big camp, the 11 of us went straight down and started playing in the cool water. The water was icy cold and with the sun going down significantly late in the afternoon, it took some guts just to jump in. I am so glad we did, after the trip in, there is no way you could come all that way and not swim in that magical water. After a couple of hours of swimming and talking, we headed into the nearby camp ground and found our guides finishing up staking down our tents and beginning to cook dinner.

As to be expected, we pretty much went to bed soon after the sun went down after such a big, long and exciting day 1. To me, it was really warm in the tent, even in late September. The weather forecast had said 55-60 degrees at night in Supai, but there is NO way it got below 70-75 overnight. The early mornings outside the stuffiness of the zippered up tents was wonderful. The next morning, Saturday, we awoke early to freshly brewed coffee and a absolutely huge homemade camp breakfast including eggs, bacon, pancakes,has browns, fruit and more. The thin sleeping matt wasn't idea but totally worth it! We could hear Kim and Jim form Jersey laughing and talking. I actually loved listening and talking with them, celebrating their 25th year anniversary. Around 8:40AM, we were all packed up and headed to further into the Grand Canyon to spend the day exploring Mooney and Beaver Falls, about 3 miles away. I had don't no research on this part of the trip and had no expectations on what to expect. I knew there was a steep ladder in a wall but I had NO IDEA what the day had in store for us. It was truly a day I will never forget.

Mooney Falls is a 196 foot waterfall where you have to climb through an entensive and incredibly steep rock wall trail, like I have never experienced in life. The trail includes going through 2 full caves and hugging a narrow cliff side a couple of times to finally come to the most intense part yet. Old wooden ladders and natural rocks are your only way down a 90 degree wall to the base on Mooney Falls. What made it over the top was the last half of the wall is completely wet from the spray of the magestic waterfall close by. Nikki was in complete terror the entire way down and again up 4 hours later. One couple even turned back before we entered the caves. It was intense and definitely the part of the trip where it solidified I would never bring the kids until a very mature 16 or older at THE VERY youngest. I can’t imagine coming the entire way to Hvasupai and not going the entire way to base of Mooney Falls and on the 3 more miles to Beaver Falls, but we did hear many opt out of it, especially in flash flood monsoon season in July and August.

We decided to forgo spending too much time at Moohney Falls and wait for it on our way back, after Beaver Falls. 

The 3 miles hike to Beaver was amazing, completely different than our 10 mile hike into the canyon the day before a it was all red sand and through vast creek side fields of wild grapes. We kept crossing the Hvasapai Creek back and forth until we got to a more instnese part that pailed in comparison to morning stretch. Beaver was crowded but amazing. Danielle made homemade salad and turkey wraps while we all played and explored. Nikki and I sat on the edge of one of the falls for a while and just took it all in.

*(I have lots of photos from Beaver on the Go-Pro that I need to add, sometime.) We left Beaver around 1:20 and retuned back to camp around 4. But we had one of our very most memorable stops at Mooney where Nikki and I just kept swimming out to the actual falls where the force of the water coming down kept taking our breath away. It was such an amazing afternoon.

As exhausted as I probably should have been at that point in the trip, I was anxious to enjoy my last 90 minutes of daylight hours in this completely magical place and took the opportuneit to hang out at Hvasapai Falls and just take it all in.

We enjoyed a filling meatball and pasta dinner complete with hot garlic bread and prepared for our 5AM departure out of camp, to beat the heat, Sunday morning. Our guides had the process down to a science, especially Danielle, she was incredible. Everything she said - what she thought we should wear, how we would feel, etc... was spot on. 

On Sunday, we awoke around 4AM and we ate a quick breakfast and enjoyed coffee. All we had to do was pack our own bags and they did the rest. Johnathan got started with the 11 of us as Danielle stayed back to finish breaking down everything and she later met us at the half way point so that we could all hike out together. The 2 miles during the first full hour to the Supai Village was in the complete dark. Just us and our headlight. We even spread out some as a group since several of us took it at our own pace. It felt so good to be in the complete darkness taking in the sound of the crunching rock path with each step.

Our group was flying and with less stops compared to coming in, I knew we would be out soon. Johnathan did have us take an extended lunch at the half way point to wait for Danielle, so with even over an hour break then, it only took me 5 1/2 hours to hike out compared to the 7 hours to hike in. The last 2 miles of the 10 miles out were incredibly tough. Obviously, we were exhausted as this was mile 28/30 in 3 days, the sun had finally come out, even at 9AM, it was intense. But we were suddenly going straight up from the canyon floor. It never got to a point where I didn't think I would make it, but I could feel my heart beat in the big of my nose. I was glad I had really stepped up my cardio vascular works outs at Orange Theory over the previous 6 weeks.

One memory, I had during the intense climb on switchbacks was being smack in the middle of 6 mules coming down from the top and 6 mules coming up from the bottom at one of the one particularly narrow points. They happened to intersect within 8 feet of where I was standing. At first, the native American cowboys were telling them to pass one another but the lead mules weren't interested in that. Mule feet were hanging off the side of the trail which was straight down at that point. Ultimately the senior cowboy had one group turn around and all travel the 3/4 mile back up to the top. But even getting 6 of them to turn around was intense and I was certain I was going to see a mule fall.

Nikki beat me up to the top by 30 minutes and we waited another 45 minutes for the rest of our group to ascend! Our Wildland Trek driver had ice cold gatorades and cold apples waiting for us at the top. We took it all in before loading the van to head back south towards Flagstaff. 60 miles in, we stopped at a local motel/gift shop and they set up lunch for us. One of the neat memories, was the 13 of us sitting around the outdoor table and we played Thorn, Rose and Bud, where we each shared a “thorn” (a woe), “rose” (a joy) and “bud”(something that you are looking forward to.) It was a random idea that wrapped our once in a lifetime trip beautifully. 

Once back at the Little America in Flagstaff around 4PM, Nikki and I got in the car and drive straight to Phoenix. We were starving and tired but decided to eat before we got to the hotel near the airport. It was quite funny as we were still in our dirty hiking clothes, hadn't showered in 3 full days but we changed in the backseat of the car and walked into this cute Italian bistro in the fancy part of Phoenix to enjoy our first no campsite meal in 3 days. We flew out the following Monday morning and were home in time to get the kids from school. 

This was a remarkable trip in so many ways, emotionally and physically and definitely one that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It came during a time of unexpected above average business and stress in life, but I am proud of myself for not canceling or postponing it. I'm so forever grateful to Blake and Megan P. for going over and beyond with the kids to allow this 7 month planned adventure to go on.