| Havasu Canyon Backpack | August 27-30, 1989 | S. Smith & R. Jones |
The Reservation consists primarily of the deep, long canyon with the sizeable Havasu River running through it to the Colorado River. It is reached via a paved road by going about 110 miles northeast of Kingman, Arizona. Most of us arrived Saturday evening and the only sleeping areas are right around the parking lot so you sleep next to the vehicle. The movement of horses, burros, and dogs kept up most of the night which helped keep everyone from getting too much sleep. Sunday morning the 11 of us (Ron, Dean and Pat Acheson, Duke Blakesley, Paul Freiman, Jerry Murphy, Diane Rosentreter, Dennis Baker, Tom and Karen Ferguson, and myself) took off from The Hilltop - which is the spot where the road ends and the trail begins. It was an excellent and scenic 7 miles of trail dropping down through the colorful sedimentary strata to reach the tribal headquarters at Supai. At the village, we all paid our permit fees at a tourist center and enjoyed same cold drinks at a pleasant little cafeteria.
The Tribe has done a nice job in keeping the area fairly undeveloped and natural with no motor access into the canyon. Helicopters are in frequent use for carrying people and supplies to Supai but it was nice that there was not commercial development outside the village area. Below the village are the 3 famous travertine colored water falls. Navajo Falls, Havasu Falls, and Mooney Falls are really impressive. The designated camping area is 2 miles below Supai between Havasu and Mooney Falls. we got into camp in early afternoon and enjoyed a leisurely evening of visiting and reading. That night was quite an experience! Around midnight, dependable (and fortunately light sleeper Ron) calls me to report there are animals after our packs. I turned on my flashlight and 2 feet away was a raccoon busy working to open the zippers on my backpack. And were they persistent. After trying unsuccessfully to scare them and the coatimundi (or ring-tailed cats) away, we all tied our packs on ropes from trees and some used the 6' high poles placed strategically around the campsites. If you want photos of raccoons and coatimundi or ring-tailed cats, this is the place.
Eight of us elected to leave early Monday morning and day hike the remaining 8 miles of trail down to the Colorado River. What an interesting, scenic, and fun trail to hike. There were about 12 stream crossings including several along low waterfalls. As we got closer to the Colorado River, the canyon got deeper and warmer until we arrived at the muddy and turbulent Colorado River. Two large rafts from Sbek Water expeditions had landed and their visitors from back east were swimming in Havasu stream. As we enjoyed lunch while watching several other rafts float by, river guides twice offered us cold beer - what a luxury in the middle of a warm desert hike. Several of us enjoyed wading into the cold Colorado River to reach the "beer bags" hanging over the sides of the rafts. After a relaxing couple of hours, It was 4 hours of retracing the trail back up to the campsite. Tuesday was great! Lounge around camp, swim in the falls, and visit with the other folks. During our evening hors d'oeuvre happy hour, 2 French students related their experiences in touring the U.S. On Wednesday, it was everyone hiking the 9 miles at their own pace back up to The Hilltop. Again several of us took some time to lounge in the cafeteria and enjoy the information and photos displayed on the walls. I couldn't resist a couple of the Havasu Falls T-shirts and sending some post cards at the Supai post office to be cancelled with the notation the mail was carried by the only mule postal delivery system in the U.S.
The trip through Havasu Canyon and taking time to photograph and swim in the lower 2 waterfalls in a great desert trip. After taking with the whitewater raft guides, Ron and I plan on a future trip to hike down the Havasu Canyon again, have a raft meet us and float on out for 2 days to Lake Head. Should be a fun trip which I hope we can schedule within a year or so.
