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- Apr 7, 2006
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Last week 7 friends and I hiked down an offshoot of the Grand Canyon into the Havasupai Indian Reservation to see the Havasu Falls. It is nearly a mile hike down switchbacks, followed by a 7 mile hike through a canyon to the Supai villiage. The canyon floods in rain, so hiking is somewhat difficult across many broken rocks and debris. It was around 100 degrees when we hiked in and we were very happy to see the villiage after 3 1/2 hours of backpacking. It's a 2 mile hike into the campground where we stayed for 5 days and dayhiked out to the waterfalls in the canyon. We visited the 100' Havasu Falls everyday which is very near the campground. It's perfect for cooling off and washing up. I could spend a whole week swimming in that refreshing blue-green water.
On Tuesday, we explored an old gold mine I read about on an old archived post somewhere online. It is located about a 1/4 mile to the side of Havasu Falls if you follow the off-shoot canyon. I expected the usual single track failed gold mine we saw a lot of in South Dakota, but this mine as amazing. It split off many times (we marked our trail with toilet paper), and went down 4 levels through holes and shafts. We got dirty, but had a ton of fun exploring.
On Wednesday we climbed down a cliff staircase to get to the 200' Mooney falls where we spent the day swimming. My brother insisted he wanted to check out the rear of the falls. I told him it was a bad idea, but he insisted he was going to do it. I offered to tie a rope to him "just in case". He swam behind the falls, to a buoy we could see caught in the current, but was quickly submerged by the falls. I heard him yell before he was sucked in so I ran with the rope, he says the waterfall sucked him in and he would have drowned had he not had the rope tied to him. I gave him the "told-you-so" after he dried off.
On Thursday we hiked 4 miles down to Beaver falls. The hike there was amazing and included a lot of somewhat technical climbing. That was a hot day at 108 degrees, and the 3.5 liters of water I had with me was just barely enough (I had tabs I could have used, but didn't want to unless I had to).
The canyon and waterfalls were amazing, all in all this was an excellent trip. The natives were all nice (unlike what most people say about Supai online) and although the village was somewhat poor, the few people we actually talked to seemed to value their uniqueness (one 50 year old man had never been above the rim and said he didn't ever want to, he said he saw the world on TV and his village was better). The hike back was grueling. We started at 4:00 am and we crested the canyon wall just as the sun was popping over the rim, I cannot imagine doing that hike back later in the day, I drank all 4 liters I carried in and the same on the way out.
As for gear: Packing in was in my usual Gregory Forester, and as always it carried my load perfectly. With a gallon of water (12 pounds extra weight), you come to respect your pack after 8 miles in that kind of weather. I did the day hikes with a CamelBak MULE with the new Beast Bladder. It worked perfectly and I could not ask for a more durable and comfortable hydration system. I carried in my Benchmade 530, Mora, and Vic Farmer. I only used the 530, but used it often to cut paracord, food packs, fabric, make toothpicks, remove cacti barbs, etc. It performed flawlessly and amazing thinness and lightweight were greatly appreciated in my light hiking shorts. My flashlights were my most heavily used gear. The 4Sevens Quark 2x123 Q5 has been my EDC for about half a year and it is still the most perfect flashlight I have owned. Tiny, super bright, ultra efficient (one set of batteries still going strong with hours of nightly use), 100% waterproof (I swam with it everyday) easy UI, durable, and extremely reliable: this light has it all in spades! The Zebralight is only used during hiking, but it is irreplaceable when I'm in the woods. Just like the Quark, I would not change a single thing about this compact little headlight, it's the ideal light for when you need both hands and have to use a light for a few hours at a time. This trip was my first real use of my Tilley hat (T4) and it performed wonderfully! It kept me cool when the sun was out and was very refreshing when I was able to dip it in the water every time we crossed the river. As the water evaporates, it carries a surprising amount of heat with it and keeps you cool for about 15 minutes under the baking sun.
And now for the pics...
This is the first view of the villiage:
A cool fossil rock we found in the canyon:
Headed down the switchbacks:
This pic was taken after we hiked down the switchbacks and started across the dessert:
Top of the canyon, that's my brother and cousin:
In the cave, headed down to the third level. That's a 10 yard 80 degree decent:
Me, poking out of the hole that leads to the second level:
Entrance to the cave:
On Tuesday, we explored an old gold mine I read about on an old archived post somewhere online. It is located about a 1/4 mile to the side of Havasu Falls if you follow the off-shoot canyon. I expected the usual single track failed gold mine we saw a lot of in South Dakota, but this mine as amazing. It split off many times (we marked our trail with toilet paper), and went down 4 levels through holes and shafts. We got dirty, but had a ton of fun exploring.
On Wednesday we climbed down a cliff staircase to get to the 200' Mooney falls where we spent the day swimming. My brother insisted he wanted to check out the rear of the falls. I told him it was a bad idea, but he insisted he was going to do it. I offered to tie a rope to him "just in case". He swam behind the falls, to a buoy we could see caught in the current, but was quickly submerged by the falls. I heard him yell before he was sucked in so I ran with the rope, he says the waterfall sucked him in and he would have drowned had he not had the rope tied to him. I gave him the "told-you-so" after he dried off.
On Thursday we hiked 4 miles down to Beaver falls. The hike there was amazing and included a lot of somewhat technical climbing. That was a hot day at 108 degrees, and the 3.5 liters of water I had with me was just barely enough (I had tabs I could have used, but didn't want to unless I had to).
The canyon and waterfalls were amazing, all in all this was an excellent trip. The natives were all nice (unlike what most people say about Supai online) and although the village was somewhat poor, the few people we actually talked to seemed to value their uniqueness (one 50 year old man had never been above the rim and said he didn't ever want to, he said he saw the world on TV and his village was better). The hike back was grueling. We started at 4:00 am and we crested the canyon wall just as the sun was popping over the rim, I cannot imagine doing that hike back later in the day, I drank all 4 liters I carried in and the same on the way out.
As for gear: Packing in was in my usual Gregory Forester, and as always it carried my load perfectly. With a gallon of water (12 pounds extra weight), you come to respect your pack after 8 miles in that kind of weather. I did the day hikes with a CamelBak MULE with the new Beast Bladder. It worked perfectly and I could not ask for a more durable and comfortable hydration system. I carried in my Benchmade 530, Mora, and Vic Farmer. I only used the 530, but used it often to cut paracord, food packs, fabric, make toothpicks, remove cacti barbs, etc. It performed flawlessly and amazing thinness and lightweight were greatly appreciated in my light hiking shorts. My flashlights were my most heavily used gear. The 4Sevens Quark 2x123 Q5 has been my EDC for about half a year and it is still the most perfect flashlight I have owned. Tiny, super bright, ultra efficient (one set of batteries still going strong with hours of nightly use), 100% waterproof (I swam with it everyday) easy UI, durable, and extremely reliable: this light has it all in spades! The Zebralight is only used during hiking, but it is irreplaceable when I'm in the woods. Just like the Quark, I would not change a single thing about this compact little headlight, it's the ideal light for when you need both hands and have to use a light for a few hours at a time. This trip was my first real use of my Tilley hat (T4) and it performed wonderfully! It kept me cool when the sun was out and was very refreshing when I was able to dip it in the water every time we crossed the river. As the water evaporates, it carries a surprising amount of heat with it and keeps you cool for about 15 minutes under the baking sun.
And now for the pics...
This is the first view of the villiage:
A cool fossil rock we found in the canyon:
Headed down the switchbacks:
This pic was taken after we hiked down the switchbacks and started across the dessert:
Top of the canyon, that's my brother and cousin:
In the cave, headed down to the third level. That's a 10 yard 80 degree decent:
Me, poking out of the hole that leads to the second level:
Entrance to the cave:
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