Thursday, July 5, 2007

Havasupai!

Hi everyone! I'm here to report on our amazing weekend backpacking trip to Havasupai. This will be a long post, I'm warning you! Havasupai is a place in an offshoot of the Grand Canyon that has gorgeous waterfalls comparable to Hawaii. It was beautiful there. There is something in the water that makes it an amazing shade of blue green. It was amazing to see it in the middle of the red-rocked grand canyon.

Anyway, I'll give you all a play by play. We left last thursday afternoon and made the 10 hour drive to the trailhead. We drove through vegas and stopped at In-n-Out of course. Dane came in our car and Kelly, Roger and Danny (dane and roger's friend) went in Kelly's car. We got to the hilltop around 11pm and TRIED to sleep in our car until 2am. Lots easier said than done. We woke up around 2am and began the 10 mile hike to the campground. Here are some pics of the hike.





Our (mine and Brandon's) back packs were AWEFUL!!! We got them cheap from this guy in our ward and i guess you get what you pay for. The hip straps didn't work (they were to high and no matter how you adjusted them they didn't hold any wieght), there were no chest straps and the shoulder straps didn't lay flat so all the wieght of the back pack was cutting into our collar bones. I say cutting into b/c that's really what it felt like. It really took the fun out of the hike for sure. We got to the Supai Indian village around 5:30am. That was 8 miles into the hike. There Kelly and I realized we had some pretty bad blisters. We put on the moleskin but it didn't help a ton b/c the blisters had already formed. We continued on two more miles to the camp site. There we found a really good spot close to the river with a picnic table to camp at. We took a quick nap until it was too hot to sleep anymore and then got ready to set off to our first set of falls!


This is us with Mooney Falls in the background. These falls were the tallest and skinniest of all the falls we went to.




It was quite the climb to get down to and out of Mooney Falls. It was really scary if you looked down but not so bad if you just took it one stip at a time. There was a chain to hold on to and small caves you had to go through. It was so cool.
(The picture above is in one of the caves)


Me, Kelly and Dane


We hiked down the river a ways and found this pretty spot.



After playing at Mooney falls we headed back to the campground for a late lunch. Then we decided to bathe in the river b/c we were feeling pretty crusty from the hike. Here is Brandon, Dane and Roger (kelly's fiance) washing in the river.



We were pretty tired to we decided to take our towels and go to Havasu Falls and just lay in the shade with the cool mist blowing on us. We all ended up falling asleep.





Havasu Falls

After resting at the falls we heading back to camp and had dinner and pretty much called it a night, going to bed as early as it was cool enough to. We were way tired.

On to Saturday. Saturday we all slept until it was too hot to sleep anymore. That was around 9:30am. We thought we'd hit the other two falls today. First we headed off to Navajo falls.


Navajo Falls


Kelly and Roger


Brandon and Dane climbing the Falls


Brandon jumping off the Falls


After Navajo Falls we headed back to swim at Havasu Falls.


All of us with Navajo Falls in the back ground (Danny (friend) on top, Brandon, me dane, then kelly and roger at the bottom)

At Havasu Falls, the boys swam behind the falls to this big rock and jumped out through the falls. It looked really cool.


Brandon and I at Havasu Falls

After Havasu Falls the boys (a bunch of Dane and Roger's friends were there too) played on the rope swing in the river by our camp and kelly and I floated around on a raft trying not to fall in (very cold water!) and keep her camera out of the water. It was really fun!



Kelly and I on the raft


Brandon using the rope swing

After we played there we decided to hike the 2 miles back to the village for some native indian fry bread tacos! It was totally worth the 4 mile hike! It was very tasty. Then we got some ice cream to eat on our hike back down.

The next morning, Sunday, we were supposed to begin the 10 mile hike up. My feet were throbbing with blisters, kelly's knees were hurting her and all of our legs were so sore. We decided to bag the hike and helicopter out of the canyon. (With the exception of Roger and Danny. They hiked out and waited for us at the top).

The helicopter ride was the coolest thing ever! It was a gorgeous view of the canyon and it was like a ride in and of itself. It was awesome and totally worth the money. Not to mention you get out of a 10 mile up hill hike in the middle of the night! Here are some pics from the helicopter:







After the ride we began the 10 hour drive home. Through vegas for in-n-out of course. We got home around 10pm sunday night. It was such an amazing trip! We would recomend it to anyone!

5 comments:

Melissa said...

Gorgeous! I think I would have taken the helicopter in and out!

courtneyb said...

wow, look at you the little hiker! That is amazing!

Marisa said...

So much fun! Where were the kiddies? That's the best kind of vacation--just some alone couple time!!!

Kent said...

im so glad you went. isnt it incredible? its the most amazing place i think ive ever been. ive been twice. the last time was 2 years ago. i have some friends going again at the end of this month, im hoping i can go.

mostly Stacy said...

So your fitness has ispired me linds... at least for now:) Oh why oh why can't I enjoy exercise! I really can't believe how smokin' you look in a swim suit!