Havasupai

We woke up on the rim of the Grand Canyon with frost on our sleeping bags.  Despite the cold weather, we had stayed pretty warm and enjoyed the star gazing you only get when you're that far from civilization.  We made oatmeal by the cars and let the sun dry our bags before setting off on the ten mile hike down to Havasupai.  

WARNING:  This post has a LOT of photos.

Finally we arrived in the village.  I haven't travelled extensively enough to tell you what country it looked like, but it didn't look like the US.  Stray dogs and loose mules wandered everywhere.  Shacks for houses.  Kids running bare foot in the dirt streets... It was like we'd stepped into another land.

This is the LDS chapel.  A missionary couple lives in the building.   Their assignment is just to serve and have a presence there.

 Two miles beyond the village are the campsites and Havasu falls.  All along the 10 mile hike the canyon walls look like every other canyon in southern Utah... and then you walk around a corner and see this.  It's breathtaking.
Up until this point my knees had been doing great, but the last half mile or so was when they really started to ache.  We found a campsite and headed straight to Havasu falls to play in the water.  It was a little cold so only a couple people really got in the water, but we all waded around for a bit.  When most people decided they were just too cold, they headed back to the camp.  I eventually made my way back trying to walk without bending my knees and found them cozied up in sweats and toques huddled around camping burners.  Since Arizona doesn't believe in daylight savings, it got dark around six and with no fires allowed, everyone ended up going to bed pretty early.  That night I slept incredibly well with a warm sleeping bag and iBupofen all through my body.

The next morning, Mike and I got up at first light, grabbed our tripods and hiked up a mile or so to Navajo falls.   It was SO much fun.   I was giggling after every photo I took because they were all amazing.  The area was just so photogentic.  I only left when I couldn't feel my toes anymore and the pain in my knees returned.

 So, this is a photo of Navajo Falls from my previous trip to Havasupia five years ago.  Since then a huge flash flood came through and changed the course of the river.  Now two large waterfalls take its place.  I think the waterfall below is most of what remains... I think.

Mike is doing a Sasha in this one, but he's kind of hard to see.

When we returned, we packed up our camp and headed down to Mooney Falls, the 200 ft waterfall.  The down climb for this one is set up with chains and ladders so it's a little slow doesn't really accommodate two way traffic at all.  We actually had to wait in a line to get down.

We grabbed our packs on the way back and hiked back up to Havasu for a little more swimming time...

... and then back up to Navajo where the boys did a little cliff jumping.

Then a quick jaunt over to Rock Falls where it looks like you've stepped into an episode of Lost.

... and then back up to the village where people bought a few extra snacks.

The missionaries let us stop at the church and use the bathroom and fill up water bottles for our hike out that night.   We left the church around 7pm and hiked out in the dark.  The hike was slow, but not painful like I had anticipated.  Before we hiked out, I had Chris give me a blessing because my knees were still bad.   The hike was slow, but it wasn't my knees holding everyone back.  Poor Alice limped the whole way back and it took us FOREVER.  I couldn't be to upset, though.  That could have been me, but as it was I felt fit as a fiddle... with tired feet.  We camped at the base of the switchbacks, saving the best part for the next day.  In the morning, we finished an easy mile of switch backs and drove the 10 hours back to Provo.