A Third Trip to Havasupai – Day 1

The weather was beautiful, the people lovely and the scenery spectacular. Havasupai 2017 did not disappoint.

We left the house about 4:30am. In past years, we’ve always met up with some of our other hikers at another location but this year they were all staying at my house so we didn’t stop at our usual breakfast stop but traveled further along. Eating in the cool morning air at 6:30 in the morning just didn’t sound appealing. But the morning warmed up and we found a little spot on the side of the road to eat our simple breakfast of yogurt and cereal.

Cousins making memories together.

Once we arrived at Supai Hilltop, we unloaded and started getting ready for the 8 mile hike to the village.

Was Justus trying to carry a balanced load?? Who can know? 🙂

27 hikers representing Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Canada, England and Australia.

It was a pleasure meeting Liz from Australia and having her on the hike.

We were all very excited to get going.

We passed several mule trains that were coming up or did they pass us…? Hmmm, I’m confused. Which way was it really? Oh, the riddles of life!

My favorite landscapes are rugged mountains so maybe I’m partial but I think the views are majestic as you hike down to the canyon floor.

Finding shade for a short rest because the two younger boys said they wanted to take their time and just enjoy the views.  I was thrilled to hear Justus say that he had never appreciated the beauty of Havasupai as much as he had this year. Just that alone made the trip worthwhile. I want my kids to have an appreciation for nature.

The last pony express mail train in the nation can be found in Havasupai.

This mule train was loaded up with water bottles.

Rocks and more rocks along the way.

Russell and I were the last ones to reach the cafe where the welcoming committee was waiting patiently for our arrival. I was so disappointed. My tradition of having onion rings when I arrive was derailed because they were out of them. They never did have them the whole week and as the week progressed the list of items they no longer had available grew longer.

Cheyenne made friends with one of the villagers that was following her around at the Lodge courtyard.

That night we had our dehydrated meals while…

…my nephew scrounged up some wood for the grill for the panini’s his sister had put together. They didn’t have one dehydrated meal the whole time they were there but instead ate in style while we all drooled at what they had brought.  At least it wasn’t ribeye like last year! 😀

Stay tuned for Day 2…