Grand Canyon and Havasupai!
Though this trip was during Thanks giving (November end) of 2009, the idea for a travel blog was just conceiving then, hence this post comes long after the actual event!
We had been contemplating a trip to the grand canyon for a very long time but didn’t want to do only the canyon. We had somehow found out about “Havasupai” some 160miles from the south rim of the canyon and were keen on visiting this place as well. Havasupai was no less than heaven on earth from what I had read about in fairytales and bedtime stories.
Started early at 5:00am and I was driving the big(compared to my size) car- felt so great after that 160mile drive! I could do it. Though Abhi couldn’t relax throughout that drive!;-)Then he took over and we were amidst vast stretches of desert land on either side from where once Colorado river rushed. The land forms and structures were very different and there was no sign of vegetation and population for a long time. There were just vehicles on either side of the highway. Finally, after driving for almost 7 hours we reached the entrance to the mighty canyons. After the regular paperwork, we headed straight for our hotel which was inside the canyon. The service was good and we quickly got fresh, had food, took cat nap and headed for the sunset point. It was getting really cold and windy but we were bundled up. I was humbled by the very first glance of the mighty structure. One can only marvel at such a mighty structure formed by rock, wind, water and time. Everyone there seemed to be quiet and watching. Soon the sunset was over and it got dark. It felt simply fabulous staring at the canyon below the star laden sky. Finally we headed back, boarded the bus and came back to our beautiful hotel amidst the woods.
We had inquired about the approximate sunrise time for the next day. We woke up really early to get our spot for the sunrise at Mather point. We were on time and were spellbound at how the rocks changed their hue with every new incoming ray from the sun. We spent almost two hours there and still couldn’t capture the entire panorama, partly because Abhi forgot to put the SD card in the camera ! It has to be seen to be believed. We headed back to have breakfast and then moved onto our next destination. Along the stretch of the canyon there are 3 major spots apart from the hike down into the canyon. We then went to Yavapai point, from there we decided to stroll amidst the woods along the edge to reach the Yaki point from where we hiked down into the canyon for few miles. I was not keen on hiking for long as next day was a big hiking day and I didn’t want to exhaust my energy. We went down for 3.2 miles through curvy trails which had quite good elevation at times. Next we moved to the other end of the south rim to view the canyon with stops at Hopi point, Hermit’s rest and Mohave point. We stayed at Mohave point till the sunset. Needless to say, it was worth the wait. Afterwards, we had dinner and crashed for the day.
Next day we were really excited as we were moving towards our next destination –Havasupai Village. The village can be reached only by foot, mule or helicopter from the “Hualapai Hilltop”. Thanks to Google Map, we took an unpaved way, decided to be adventurous and, for the next 3 hours continued on a trail fit only for 4×4 and rivaling the best sets of Indiana Jones movies! The initial hours were spent capturing the scenic beauty on the way but soon we felt something wasn’t right. We could only see few cows and horses on the ranches. There was simply no sign of humans. There was no GPS signal needless to mention the phone signals. We were literally stranded. After wandering for some more time, we saw some gamers heading from another direction. We started waving, and from them we came to know that the route was correct but without a proper hunting map, we would not be able to get to the other side. We followed them to the main road and this time took the highway for “Havasupai Hilltop”, taking a hit of about 160 miles. Reached the hilltop at around 2:50 P.M and started out into the canyon at around 3:00P.M. We came to know that we were descending very late into the canyon as it would get dark soon and without any flashlights it would be really difficult to move, and that only “very good” hikers can reach the village in around 2-2.5 hrs. We set a target for us to reach there around 5:30-6:00 PM. We kept walking continuously without stopping even once, just taking sips of water and munching on the nutrient bars periodically. We didn’t even realize the depths we had descended into. The trail to the village was rocky with few shrubs here and there, and at any time we found ourselves surrounded by mountains on all four sides. It was a completely new experience. We had never seen something like this before in our lives, but we didn’t have the time to absorb all that and I promised myself that on the way back I am gonna take my good time to look around. At last we heard the sound of water flowing down a creek and a small sign pointing towards the village. We were at the village entrance at 5:45 P.M. We had to walk another 0.5 miles before we could really see signs of civilizations. We kept dragging ourselves until we asked a lady on a horse the direction to our lodge. On the way to the lodge, we continuously heard the sounds of all the farm animals. It was almost dark. We kept walking but couldn’t see anything similar to the lodge, this time we asked a family who were taking a stroll. They were kind enough to ask their little daughter “sweet water” to escort us to the lodge. Finally we were in our room after an eventful day. We woke up around 6:30 am, got ready, had breakfast and then went out to look around the village. The view was simply fantastic. On all the four sides, the village was surrounded by brick red mountains. There were mud roads and people were very simple. It seemed we were in a different world. Afterwards, we started for the “Navajo Falls”, the entire trail was fantabulous. We tried to capture some of the nature’s beauty with our camera, but one has to be there to really believe it. The sight of the waterfall was simply heavenly. The fall foliage could be seen and with that the blue-green water. To describe the sight in words, is never going to do justice to what you feel, one has to be there to experience it. The color of the water is so because of the high lime content in the water. We spent some time there and moved further through creeks, mountainous trails, forests towards the “Havasu Falls”. We went all the way to the bottom of the Havsu falls and then from there moved onto Mooney Falls. That was another wonder. To get down to the bottom of the Mooney falls, the only way down was via a slippery ledge, where you literally had to hold onto side walls and “climb down” one person at a time. All good things come to an end and soon, it was time to leave and we headed back towards the Village. The village had a single store, where we made our Maggi and filled up on water. Now we had to head back up to the hilltop. This time we took breaks, captured the scenic beauty and reached the hilltop in about 3.5 hrs. The hike was uphill this time. Looking back from the hilltop, we could not make out the depths we had descended into. We were back at the hilltop by 5:00pm, hiking a total of 21 miles since we started the day before. We were dead tired, but still had to make the 500mile drive back to San Diego, since Abhi had office the next day.
