Our Havasupai Hike – Day 2

After getting a good nights rest, we were ready to see the beautiful falls that Havasupai is famous for. (And if you didn’t get to read about Day 1 of our hike down into this part of the Grand Canyon, you can here.)

This is a picture heavy post – almost 40 pictures but I took over 600 photos so trimming it down is hard.

We started off the morning with breakfast in the courtyard, again eating whatever each individual decided to pack along with them.

My brother-in-law who knows no stranger invited one of the Natives to come have breakfast with us. Jasper was his name and he shared with us a few stories from the Supai history that had happened right there in the area.

Then we were off for our day’s outing. But we still had to watch for those mules. They have the right-of-way, you know.

I forgot to mention on my first post, but when we were hiking in there was a mule train coming out so Russell went to the side of the trail – even a little bit off the trail… but not the side hugging the mountain. A mule bumped him and knocked him down the side a little ways. Thankfully, it wasn’t a steep drop-off but after that Russell always made sure he hugged the mountain. 🙂 Those mules have absolutely no concern if humans are in their way. And I’m not exaggerating either!

The first falls you come to are not the ones that Havasupai are so well known for, but are none-the-less incredibly gorgeous. We viewed these from the distance determining to come back to them at the end of the day. But for now we wanted to see the famous falls, Havasu & Mooney.

My sweet Serenity and her cousins.

The roar of the falls was heard before we actually could see them – building our anticipation. I was not disappointed. When I first laid eyes upon the falls, tears came to my eyes at the sheer beauty of it all. I had heard about it, I had seen pictures but the reality of it was more grand than I had imagined.

100′ waterfall

…misting into the air…

…and you just can’t capture it…

The water is blue from the high concentration of lime in the water. As the lime is deposited along the creek it builds terraces.

I loved that I was able to share this experience with my sister and her family. That was so special to me.

I didn’t know when to stop taking pictures. You see a new angle, a new sight and hope that you are capturing it how it really is but it’s hard. You really can’t do it justice.

I thought this picture was kind of funny because it looks like I’ve been cut out and pasted onto the picture. But I was actually just standing in the water like you see.

We eventually decided to move along to Mooney Falls.

To get to Mooney, it starts off like all the others – a little dirt path – but then you reach the entrance of 2 different tunnels that has been built out of the rock.

That’s the easy part. After going through the 2 tunnels, you then have to descend the side of the cliff using foot holds that have been built into the rock and holding onto chains. I think it’s about 90′ that you have to go down.

If you didn’t want to climb down the side of the mountain, you can still see Mooney from the top but I think it’s worth hiking down and I’m not one that likes heights AT ALL!

Mooney Falls is taller (they are about 200′) than Niagara but not as wide.

The water stays at about 72° year-round.

My Audrey.

Memorable family times.

We went up the creek a little further and caught more lovely sights. Some of the kids had hiked on to Beaver Falls but we didn’t make it that far. Maybe next time.

Climbing out of Mooney Falls was something I didn’t even think about until I was starting up. And I.got.scared. But there’s no other way out but up so I kept going. At the bottom, the chains, as well as the ladders, are all wet from the mist that fly’s off the waterfall.

We landed back at Navajo Falls, the first falls we had seen when we started out day. We were in awe at how beautiful it was since we had only seen it from a distance on our way going in.

The girls decided to get in the water.

Doesn’t this look like it could be the Nile River with Miriam wading into the water?

My hubby.

Seth

We finally called it a day and headed back to the Lodge for some supper and time with our friends.

Day 3 was hiking out of the Canyon.

…coming up