Havasupai....again

I have been really spoiled this year as far as backpacking trips are concerned. I was able to go to one of my favorite places twice. I went with two completely different groups, in different seasons, but loved every minute of it both times. I have never been to Havasupai any month except July so going in October was new to me. I can report that it was just as awesome in October as it was in July, some things I think I even like better.

This was the tail end of our hiking adventures. Lou and Cody had never been and I was so excited to show them on of my favorite places. Amber was able to meet us at the trailhead since she had a few days off of work. Here we are at the start of our hike.

The nice thing about hiking in October is that you don't have to start hiking before sunrise. We started hiking around 11am and were just fin.

Another great thing about this whole trip was having Cody along. he takes a ton of pictures. I don't have very many of them yet but he took more than quadruple what I took. Can't wait to see them all. He also got some fun shots of my that I normally would not have.

Me and Amber as we head into the canyon. I love this one.

 Ant then me and Amber again as we are walking through the Indian Village. This is 8 miles into the hike, only two more to go.

 Here is a shot of the village. There are so many reasons I would not want to live an 8 mile hike from civilization, but the view they wake up to every morning is breathtaking.

For the first time ever I saw missionaries in the village. That would be a crazy place to serve. There was an elderly couple and two elders that I saw. I had previously seen the little church building in the village but I had never run into the missionaries. Kind of fun.

We got in to camp just in time to set up our tents and eat dinner before dark. We didn't really do anything else the first night.

On Friday we woke up with some big plans. We needed to see Mooney Falls, Beaver Falls, and I really wanted to hike to the Colorado river. Mooney Falls is 1 mile from camp, Beaver falls is 3 miles one way, and the Colorado river is 8 miles one way. I had recently seen photos on the internet of what it looks like where Havasu creek and the Colorado meet I knew I had to try and see it for myself. Luckily Cody and Amber were game. This was my 4th trip to Havasupai and I had never ventured that far down stream. It is a long day especially when you know you have to hike out 10 miles on the following day.

We started at Mooney Falls.

  I loved watching Cody and Lou soak it all in. Amber had been before so she had seen Mooney falls. We took a few pictures and then continued on to Beaver Falls. I was the only one who had previously been to Beaver Falls.

There are some river crossings and some crazy ladders but the hike itself is not too bad. The nice thing about October is that the temperatures are perfect for hiking, in July I was always more interested in swimming because it was so hot.

 We made it to Beaver Falls. Instead of hiking down to swim we just continued on the trail to the Colorado.

I was grateful to the Ranger that gave us some helpful tips about how to stay on the trail. There are 8 river crossings and he gave us advice on how to know when to hike back up the steep walls when coming back. he very helpful.

 The scenery was amazing and the weather was perfect for hiking.

We finally made it to the area before the Colorado River that looked amazing to me in pictures. It was even cooler in real life!

 I was pretty excited. I took too many pictures but what do you do.

 The canyon is truly amazing here.

 And then you can see the Colorado!

 It was crazy how separate the two rivers seemed.

 We even got to see some rafts in the river.

 We got to watch a raft head down the river. really cool. I have heard it is really difficult to get permits to raft through the grand canyon. Apparently there is a high demand.

 Another shot as we were leaving.

I love this shot of Cody taking a picture.

 We ate lunch and enjoyed the view before heading back to Beaver Falls to swim. We knew we were close to Beaver Falls when we hit the sign about Leaving Indian land and entering Grand Canyon National Park.

Finally made it to Beaver Falls. Amber and I were ready to swim!

The water was refreshing as always. I didn't have a desire to stay in long though. We made it back to camp tired and hungry. After 16 miles of hiking we were ready for an early bed time.

Saturday we woke up ready to hike out.

 One last shot of Havasu Falls.

I was determined to explore the waterfalls that our new since the 2008 flood. The river was re-routed and there are some new falls called Little Navaho. Cody and I checked them out on our way to the hilltop.

 They were beautiful.

 There are the back falls and then some smaller falls closer to the trail.

 It was a gorgeous day on the way out. A little warmer than I had anticipated.

The switchback were really hot, but we made it. Like always I was very happy to put my really heavy pack down. It had been an amazing week but my body was exhausted.

But not too exhausted for a power pose at the end!

I was shocked at how tan I was after hiking all week.  Lou is 67 years old and hiked all week with us. I hope I can do that when I am 67.

 So happy to be done.

 A panorama from the hilltop.

 Such a beautiful place. Cody loved this shot of me because of the reflection in my glasses.

And this is the unhealthy way I ended my hike. A cold Dr. Pepper.....it was delightful!

 It was truly an amazing week of hiking. It has been two weeks and my body still feels tired. I may post some more pictures when I get some from Cody. It was a great experience. 62 miles in 6 days!