Driving through Vegas we stopped by Hover Dam. They are building a huge suspended bridge right over the dam, which was really cool!
After driving for 10 hours we finally reached the Hilltop. When we got there the sun was starting to set and the Indians wouldn't let us hike down because of flash floods. So the first night we camped in the parking lot. We all slept like crap. People were coming and going, car alarms kept going off, and finally at 4:00AM we were up. We started our hike down around 4:30AM. The hike down was a breeze, it was all down hill, our first hour was in the dark, and it was overcast.
Getting to the Village we were all pretty hungry after hiking for 10 miles. We decided before going to the campground we would eat breakfast at the Village Cafe. After sitting down for awhile, we all noticed how sore we all instantly were and decided we should continue the rest of the hike to the campgrounds.
After hiking for another two miles to the campgrounds you come around a corner and see beautiful Havasu Falls! It was absolutely breathtaking!
Once we had found our campsite, we decided to go back up to Havasu and swim in the falls after our long hike. The water at Havasu was freezing! I was surprised that there were only a few people there and we basically had the place to ourselves. After playing in the falls most of the day, we decided to head back to camp and call it a night!
The next day we all woke up really sore and with blisters all over our feet. Well really only I had blisters, I don't know how Jonny lucked out! We decided that we were going to spend the day at Mooney Falls and maybe hike down to Beaver Falls. We had heard that Beaver falls had been washed away by a flash flood that happened last year, and wasn't worth the hike to see it. The hike to Mooney Falls was interesting. After reading about it on the Internet, I knew I was in for a treat being afraid of heights!
* Here is the best picture of the trail I could find. I didn't take one myself because I was holding on for dear life. You basically climb down a cliff and the Indians have been nice enough to put chains in the mountain for you to hold onto.
We spent the whole day at Mooney and walking down the river and enjoy the other little waterfalls that were basically hidden. We headed to bed early that night because we were hiking out the next morning.
Hiking out was the most awful thing ever. We left camp around 6:30AM, we had paid for a mule to take our bags out so we figured that the hike would be a breeze. We were so wrong! One of the other kids we were with had fallen while exploring a cave and had hurt his tailbone so this slowed us way down. Once we really got started on the trail we realized that the whole hike was going to be in the sun! We were all almost out of water and were not even to the switchbacks. Once we arrived at the switchbacks the poor kid we were with could barely walk. It was the heat of the day and there was absolutely no shade. Jonny and I decided we were not going to slow down because it was way too hot.
*Here is a picture of the switchbacks. You can kind of see the parking lot on the right top corner. It is basically up the cliff.
We had given our last water bottle to the other couple and continued on our way up the mountain. We literally thought we were going to die. It was so hot, we were out of water, there is no water at the top and we still had 1 mile to the top. Hiking that mile was the longest mile of my life. Once we were at the top Clay had caught up to us saying that their friend needed a horse because there was no way he was going to be able to finish hiking. So while we waited for the rest of our group Jonny went to find out bags.
This is when we found out that they had forgotten our bags at the bottom. As soon as I heard that, lots of bad words went through my head. How could they seriously forget our bags? We freakin paid $90.00. They told Jonny there was absolutely no way our bags were being brought up that day. At that point I was glad that Jonny is my husband because if all of our gear wasn't brand new I would have just left it there. Jonny was trying everything to get our bags up, but it wasn't working. He finally got the Indian to call down to the village to find out what was going on. The lady in the Village told us we had the wrong day, but Jonny had our receipt, so she told us that they thought the helicopter was going to bring them up, but it wasn't running, so they basically gave our mule to someone else.
I finally stopped caring and decided to just let Jonny handle it and I went and laid in the Jeep. A few minutes later Jonny comes to tell us that one of the Indians- Leland is his name, brother was going to bring our bags up, but since it is not his regular job, we would have to pay him $100.00. We all really didn't care, we just wanted out bags so we could go and get some water. So we waited for two hours for our bags to be brought up. During these two hours, we were certainly entertained- or basically shocked, by these two Indians at the hilltop. They were both drunk, on shrooms, and offered Jonny some of their Marijuana. We basically were scammed by all these lame Indians.
We were not very impressed. Yes, the falls are beautiful, but the land itself is filthy.
We spent the 4th in Vegas, but after hiking all day, driving forever (we missed and exit and ended up in California) we just showered, ate dinner, and all went to bed. Our trip was great! My advice for those wanting to go to Havasupai is to take the Helicopter!
