hiking Havasu Falls, Arizona

9 Replies to “hiking Havasu Falls, Arizona”

1. This was an awesome trip. We did a 3 day backpacking trip to Havasu Falls, Mooney Falls, and the jungle just beyond. You can check out the full trip report with downloadable GPX file, photos, and video on http://www.trailsherpa.com

   This is one of the best trips I have ever done. The pics and video don’t do it justice. You need to see it for yourself.

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   1. Thanks Tim.

      I added a link to your trip report from the original post …

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2. Thanks Rick. I appreciate it. This is one of those classic trips that I wish everyone had a chance to do. Beautiful country and something you would be hard pressed to see anywhere else.

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3. Video has syrupy narration but excellent visual.

   When I was coming of age, Havasu Falls was the creme de la creme of hiking. By the time I was nearby, on a kayak trip of the GC, it has lost that lofty stature but I still keen to zip on up during a break from the river.

   Excellent waterfalls. Coming out of the Supai formation (limestone), the creek is aqua blue and forms wonderful travertine.

   It’s WAY better to come up from the bottom. While I don’t fault the natives – it’s their turf after all – the drive in is long, the village is funky, and the permit/guide system is cumbersome to put it nicely. You can avoid all that by coming up from the river.

   A number of years ago a single Japanese woman was killed in Havasu. Backpacker Mag (an excellent pub BTW), did an exhaustive story on the unsolved murder in June 2007, which elicited major reader response, all of which makes for interesting reading.

   Or, you can really skip all that, and traverse the entire slope below the Supai all the way from the Bass Trail, and enter Havasu Canyon from the side, as a friend of mine did a few years ago. Took a week, and he’s capable of running 100 miles in a day, so can’t really recommend that route! 😉

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   1. Good point Buzz. We met a few hikers that had come up from the river. They said the same thing. They liked the route up from the river better. We decided the epic trip would be to mountain bike to the trailhead, hike down to the Colorado (passing all the falls!), and then float the river down from there. That would be classic! Anyone know if something like this exists?

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      1. We did it the absolute best way!!!!
         In 1975, my wife, Helge, and I signed up with the Back-Country Office of Grand Canyon, after filling out the necessary paper-work and assuring that we would have the necessary equipment, also assuring that we would notify them immediately upon our return out of the canyon.
         Then we drove our front-wheel-drive Renault off the North-Rim Rd, due west about 20 miles through dense forest on lumber roads (actually two furrows) to a little clearing called Indian Hollow Campground. There we pitched our tent in a dense forest and slept in 38 degree temperature (even though it was the end of July). At day break, we put the tent in our car and put on our backpacks containing each 2 gallons of water, a ground cloth, two sleeping bags, 6-day’s-worth of dehydrated foods, 2 sets of light weight dinner ware, a little collapsible cook stove, waterproof matches, small first aid kit, two pocket knives, two good flash lights with extra batteries, 50-foot repel rope (for emergencies), a reflectile mirror (to signal emergencies), etc. All of these items were required by the Back Country Office.
         We headed due south through the trees on a barely visible trail about 200 yards and suddenly there it was — the Grand Canyon below us. Not another soul around.
         We descended on steep switchbacks marked only by cairns. On the flat plateau below we headed generally east, zig-zagging around the outreaches of side canyons. Not a sound anywhere except the sound of lizards in the sand scurrying out of our way.
         Suddenly in the complete silence as we were hiking, we saw two fresh shoe-prints in the sand and soon encountered a young couple who were panicking. They had come down a very dangerous route, were afraid to go back up that route and wondered how we had come down. We decided to trust them as a solution as to how we would eventually get back to our car. We told them how we had come down, exchanged names and addresses and gave them our car keys. They promised to drive our car out to the North Rim Rd to the hotel where their car was parked.
         We continued eastward on the plateau until the vague trail and cairns suddenly stopped at the top of the Red Wall with one of the most splendid views in Grand Canyon — one of the only spots where one can see the entire Outer Gorge, including the North and the South Rims, as well as the Inner Gorge and the Colorado River, all while sitting on the edge of the Red Wall, taking it all in, with one’s feet dangling 100’s of feet over the valley below.
         We then descended steeply down switch-backs, actually climbing down rocks like steps, often backwards holding on with our hands (but not dangerous and not requiring ropes or any technical gear), marked by cairns, all the way down to what is called Surprise Valley.
         Next we hiked 2-1/2 miles due east on the flat Surprise Valley — the hottest place we have ever encountered under the hot sun. We soaked kerchiefs with water and placed them over our heads.
         Suddenly we heard a loud roar and around the next bend — there it was — Thunder Falls. It poured out of a hole at the base of the Red Wall, fell about 50 or 60 feet and then continued to fall rapidly as the shortest creek in the world, Thunder Creek, down to the Tapeats. It was surrounded by lush green foliage and plants, ferns and moss. Within reach of the vapor the most beautiful abstract paintings created by lichens of all colors. The water was cold but refreshing.
         We descended down to the Tapeats, crossed the Tapeats on a big log, and then descended down along the eastern side of the Tapeats until the canyon narrowed. Then we forded across to the western side and made our way southward toward the Colorado on a narrow ledge as the Tapeats descended ever deeper below us to the left.
         After what seemed an eternity, the ledge suddenly ended. We now descended almost straight down, from one rock to the next following cairns until suddenly we were on a beautiful sandy beach where the Tapeats entered the Colorado.
         We had hiked 22 miles!!! The last two miles had been in darkness with flashlights.
         We went for a quick dip in the freezing water to wash the salt out of our hair and necks. Then we cooked our dinner under the stars and retired in our sleeping bags. Suddenly Helge said “stop that!” I said “What?” She again said “Stop that!!!. Then we realized that little cute kangaroo mice were climbing in our hair and on the straps of our backpacks, attracted by the salt. We fell asleep accompanied by these cute little critters.
         The next morning we took a quick dip in the freezing water and had a delicious breakfast. By 10 am we were standing on the edge of the Colorado River awaiting the arrival of the three American River Touring Association oar-powered rafts which we had signed up to join here. You see, they were only allowed to have 6 passengers plus the oarsman for the trip on each raft. But — that requirement is for Lava Falls. We had agreed to come aboard at the Tapeats and get off again at Havasu Creek, i.e. we would not be going as far as Lava Falls. Under those circumstances, they are allowed to take along passengers — we would be those two extra passengers for that portion of the trip.
         Well they didn’t arrive. Finally at 11:15 another group of rafts came by — we asked them where the American River Touring Association rafts were. They laughed. Apparently American River Touring was breaking in a new oarsman on one of the rafts and he was caught in an eddy, going around and around and around.
         At noon they finally arrived and we climbed a board one of the rafts.
         We were on the rafts for the rest of that day, that night, the next day, that night and finally another half day until we reached Havasu Creek. It was wonderful. One person on one of the rafts played a flute and two others had banjos. On quiet portions of the ride, they would play and the sounds echoed beautifully in the canyon walls. I enjoyed sitting “shotgun” up on the pontoon tip. I would go way up in the air on a wave and way down in the trough. I was allowed to jump into the water with a life vest down the rapids and falls except for Upset Falls. The rushing water would carry me down over the waves to the bottom — I would wait in an eddy for the raft to catch up with me, where I would climb back on board. We drank the brown river water treated with chemicals. The food was delicious, prepared in a Dutch Oven. During one lunch break, they had to repair one of the pontoons. During each lunch break, we took a side trip, once up a narrow slip-rock slot canyon, another time to a neat little waterfall. Evenings we slept on sandy beaches, played volley ball and read stories by a campfire.
         It was a little sad to depart their company when we reached Havasu Creek. We hiked that evening to about Beaver Falls. The trail was in excellent condition. We prepared our dinner on the little stove and as we were about to fall asleep in our sleeping bags, a great horned owl landed on a branch about 20 feet above us before it was dark.
         The next morning we continued stream-upwards after swimming for a while at Beaver Falls which still had deep pools. The rest of the way up to Mooney Falls, was like a Garden of Paradise. Travertine dams with deep pools traversed the creek all the way. Lush foliage grew out of the dams. And, you can’t imagine what it was like to suddenly see Mooney Falls coming up for the first time from below.
         We played at Mooney falls —I repeatedly made my way along the ledge behind the falls, climbed up on a rock behind the falls and then dove under the falls, feeling the water pushing me down as I was propelled forward and upward — what fun.
         Then we climbed up the ladders, cables and through the two tunnels, up to the top and set ourselves up in the little campsite right at the top of Mooney Falls among the pines there next to the picnic table.
         The next day we hiked up through the campground to Havasu Falls and spent the day playing there. At that time there was a huge tree on the western edge of the pool leaning out over the deep pool below Havasu Falls with a huge Amazon rope that one could swing out on. I also went behind Havasu Falls (like I had behind Mooney Falls) and dove under the falls there too.
         We then hiked out to Hualapai Hilltop at night using our flashlights. We had joined some others who knew the trail since we had not come down from there and were totally unfamiliar with the trail. It was fun and we encountered some wild burros or mules that night on the trail.
         At the top, two of the guys whom we had accompanied had an open (original type) surplus military jeep and were planning to drive due east from above Hualapai Hilltop through ranchland to reach the South Rim They took us along — we bounced up and down over the rough terrain in the back and I always jumped out to open and close the cattle gates.
         At the South Rim we hitch-hiked with a Persian tourist (yes, in those days they were still “Persian”), who complained “why” the “Stupid Americans” had not built an auto bridge across from the South Rim to the North Rim, causing him now to have to drive 250 miles out of his way. Along the way, he stopped to take photos of scenery — but we had to take the pictures for him so that he could be in the center of each picture.
         Guess what!!!?? When we finally got to the North Rim, our car was waiting for us at the hotel as promised with a thank you note from the young couple. And we called the Back Country Office to let them know that we were back safely.
         Unfortunately, the raft companies are no longer allowed to pick up people along the way or drop them off along the way — that is no longer allowed. Also, you are no longer allowed to ride shotgun on the rafts and one is no longer allowed to jump overboard with life vest and float down the falls.
         Also, the beautiful travertine dams and deep pools behind the dams are no longer there and the pools are not deep enough for the various Amazon ropes.
         We have returned to Havasu 12 times since 1975 with our children and our grand children, but always from Hualapai Hilltop. For those not familiar with the canyon prior to the floods — there were beautiful travertine dams and pools below Havasu Falls, all the way through the campground (the stream had one streambed along the eastern wall). There was a beautiful large travertine pool near the south end of the campground. One could climb up on a picnic table and swing out on an Amazon rope and then let go and even flip into the pool. There was another Amazon rope hanging from a tree branch at the foot of Mooney Falls pool from which one could swing out and let go, dropping into the pool below.
         There used to be beautiful travertine pools at the foot of Havasu Falls where one could play, climb and go down under the overhang behind each of the little water falls. And right below that was an eight foot high travertine plateau where especially the kids could jump off into the deep pool below. Sad — much has changed.

4. Would anyone happen to have an update on the damage from the Aug 2008 flood? I saw some photos from this website http://coreyschimmel.com/ that made it look pretty bad. It has been two years, so hopefully it has been restored a bit, but just wondering.

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   1. Check out our photo album here: http://www.trailsherpa.com/2010/06/16/havasu-falls-backpacking-trip/

      We were there two weeks ago and it seemed pretty awesome to me, but it was my first visit.

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      1. We have photos of all our trips, going back to the 1970’s.

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