My Experience Hiking Through the Grand Canyon to Havasu Falls

Havasu Falls, taken with my GoPro

This post falls in the "and Other Things" category...

A couple years ago while on a mindless YouTube binge I came across a video of a group of friends on a road trip out west.  Many of the places that they visited I had seen before but there was one place in particular that stood out that I was not familiar with.  I messaged the creator of the video to see where they were and he told me it was a place called Havasu Falls, located in the Grand Canyon.  I couldn't believe a place like that could exist in the middle of a desert.  Immediately, I began looking into details for a possible trip.  Luckily, my friends and I had a weekend trip to Las Vegas planned for the following year to celebrate the end of our 20's.  That was enough for me to plan a two day detour to visit the most remote town in the lower 48.

Somewhere near Kingman, AZ

My first piece of advice if you plan to visit Supai is to enjoy the ride.  No matter where you're coming from you will end up being in the car for a decent amount of time.  Departing from Las Vegas, we had about a 2.5 hour drive along Route 66 until we arrived at Grand Canyon Caverns Inn where we would stay overnight.  Then, we still had about another hour drive the next morning before we arrived at Hualapai hilltop where the hike begins.  We rented a Mustang convertible and had a little fun on the open roads.  We crossed over the Hoover Dam, saw some incredible Mars-like landscapes, and were able to get a little taste of Route 66 on our relatively short drive.  As we were about to arrive at our hotel for the night we saw some wild horses running along the highway as the sun was setting.  The drive was the perfect distance to where you could enjoy the sites and scenery without feeling anxious and ready to just be there already.

The morning of our hike, we woke up at around 5am and got the car packed.  We left right away so that we could begin our hike early in the morning before the heat set in.  The drive along Indian Road 18 is not particularly difficult.  Although there is no street view on Google Maps there is no need to worry.  The road is in good shape with a lot of straightaways.  Use caution though.  We began our drive at dawn where there was plenty of wildlife activity along the roads.  Not only were we battling the sun at times but also some sudden braking due to deer, goats, and free range cows with no fencing separating their pasture from the street.  We didn't experience any trouble getting there or back but could imagine it would have been a significant amount of time before we got any help if we had had any car troubles.

We arrived at Hualapai hilltop a little after 6am and began our hike by 630am.  The hike in is not terribly difficult in terms of endurance.  We stopped a couple of times along the way to stretch, sit for a couple minutes, and get the rocks out of our shoes.  Never at any time though did we feel like we wouldn't be able to make it.  The terrain however, is very rough.  I was legitimately concerned with taking a wrong step and breaking an ankle.  The majority of the hike is over very fine dirt that is riddled with rocks.  Some of the rocks you can see very easily, others you notice when you step and sink a little into the dirt.  Speaking later with other campers we learned that someone actually did break their ankle that day on the hike.  This would be a nightmare as you would either have to tough it out or wait for a caravan of horses to pick you up which could potentially take hours.  I recommend getting a decent pair of hiking shoes.  My friend and I both wore standard Nike's thinking we would be OK and we regretted it.  Nevertheless, we kept a strong and steady pace and made it in just under 3 hours.  I've posted the data from my fitbit for the day to give you a better idea of what you're looking at.

The closest thing to a full marathon that my Fitbit will ever see.

I broke the fitbit data down into four different sections.  The first is the long hike into Supai.  The second is our hike from the town of Supai to Havasu Falls with a short stop at Lower Navajo Falls to take a dip in the water.  The third is our hike from Havasu Falls to Mooney Falls, the climb down, the climb back up, and then our hike back to Havasu Falls.  The fourth is our journey from Havasu Falls back to Havasupai Lodge.

If I knew then what I know now there are a few things that I would have done differently.  First of all, I would go for more than one day.  We tried to squeeze this trip in real quick before getting back to Vegas with the rest of our crew.  I wish we could have stayed two nights and left the third morning.  I really wanted to make it back to Beaver Falls but we couldn't.  We started hiking back there but started getting lost and decided to turn back rather than going any further into the unknown.  If we had another day we could have taken our time rather than rushing from site to site trying to see it all in one day.  Especially after that long hike in.  When we made our final hike back to the lodge at the end of the day I was completely spent.  You will notice from my fitbit steps that I was asleep by 8pm.

The second thing I would do differently is I would actually camp out, at least for a night.  We decided to stay in the lodge since we figured we would be exhausted from a full day on our feet and the fact that we had a looming Vegas trip in store.  Camping would have meant carrying more supplies in during the hike as well which we did not want to do.  Unbeknownst to us however was the fact that this lodge didn't operate like your typical hotel.  We arrived in town around 930am and the lobby of the lodge didn't open until 1pm.  This forced us to have to carry our bags with us throughout the entire day.  Luckily, we packed very light.  

The last thing I would have done differently is drink more water.  Every blog or article you read about this hike warns you to drink plenty of fluids.  I thought I did but I was wrong.  I was good the entire day until the final hike back from Havasu Falls to the lodge.  It was hot, we had been on our feet all day, and this time we were walking up hill.  The dirt is particularly hard to walk in.  Every step you take you sink in a little bit as if you are walking on a sandy beach and it really does a number on your legs.  Drink fluids on the drive in, continue on the hike, refuel once you're in town, and grab some backups to have throughout the day.  There is a water source between Havasu Falls and Mooney Falls to refill water bottles if you need to.  Keep hydrating even if you think you don't need to.

All in all I'm very glad I got this trip under my belt.  It's a place that not many people will ever see due to the difficult journey to get there.  I'd love to do it again if I can before I get too old.   Below I've posted a few more helpful pieces of information that I wish I would have known going in as well as a video I put together from our trip.

A few more tips...

• The diner is actually pretty decent.  Once we checked in around 930am we went over and grabbed a hot meal.  It's the only resemblance of a restaurant in the tiny town.  I had an egg and cheese bagel and it was exactly what I needed to refuel after the long hike.
• Bring some water shoes.  I bought a pair on Amazon for $20 and ended up just leaving them at the lodge.  It was worth it for the day.
• If you plan on taking the helicopter ride back to your car on the hilltop be sure to ask around the night before to see when and where you need to be.  We were leaving on a Friday morning and we lined up for the helicopter around 6am.  There were already 5 people ahead of us.  Usually the helicopter doesn't start making trips until 10am but, due to an Indian celebration in the village that day, it began making rounds at 8am.  You have to stand and wait near the trash dumpsters and there were flies all over the place.  It was a pretty miserable wait but it was worth the $95 to not have to make the 3 hour hike uphill.  Not to mention a pretty incredible view once you were in the air.
• This website did not exist when we booked but it looks like everything you will need to book can be found here.