Grand Canyon Supai Trip

In early March 2008 I went with a large group of people to Hava Supai Indian Reservation in Grand Canyon, Arizona. We started our trip on Thursday and traveled almost to our destination. In the dark we missed the exit to highway 18 and went few miles past it. Stacey didn't want to camp at the trail head and opted out for the coldest motel room I ever was in. It felt great to wake up in the morning and exit the freezer I have spent the night in - should have used my sleeping bag in that room. In the morning we again got a bit lost and went over 15miles the wrong way. Due to our direction challenged travel we were a bit late for the meeting with our group. Turned out the group broken up into smaller teams, as predicted. Me and Stacey were last ones to leave as we waited for the baggage to be loaded on mules and for last few people in the group. The 10 miles down were uneventful - easy hiking to the campground. The Indian village had the air of a typical reservation settlement. Helicopters were flying over us every 5-10min - lots of air traffic. There were mule trains every few hours as well. People in the village were rather unfriendly with a clear expression of dislike towards any visitors. I was happy I didn't have to spend more time there. Overall the locals made very poor impression on me - they are just a shadow of their ancestors. The camp site was next to a river - a wedge between two walls. Water river thanks to the minerals dissolved in it had a beautiful light blue color. It was quite cold, but one could still take a short dip in it. Due to the regulations that ban fires, there was quite less social life than at other camping events I been to. On Friday we still managed to take a quick look at one of the caves in the walls of our campsite - they are very extensive and could be explored if we had a rope. On Saturday almost everyone left the campsite to go to the falls. We went with the Supai creek towards the Colorado river. Most people turned around after about three miles, me and a small group went all the way to the Colorado river. Hike was over mostly flat terrain with many river crossings - should have brought water shoes. Many beautiful views of both the river and the canyon walls. At few points hike could be classified as class 2 - you had to use your hands. The Colorado river was very muddy due to artificial flooding that was commenced for three days during our visit. We were back at the camp site around 6PM - after whole day of hiking. On Sunday it was time to go back to our cars. I have convinced Stacey to go with her light backpack up the hill. With some cheering on she managed to go up without too much trouble. I tested my ability to hold water by not drinking any till we reached the car. I would definitely not try to do that in the middle of the summer. Overall this was a great trip. If I ever do it again it will involve cave exploration and other activities.

Click thumbnails to see larger image and more detailed explanation of what is shown on a given picture.

you just want to jump in	what comes up must come down	waterfall closeup
water on its way to Colorado	water colors are just great	view from the village is great
view from the top	typical house in the village	typical GC panorama
this would make for great rafting if flow was a bit better	this is how water cuts the rock - walking in the old river bed	the first waterfall
thanks to dissolved minerals in the water the color is beautiful	taking a dip in very cold water	spear rock
small falls from above	river from above	river corssing
river (supai creek) next to our campsite	on the way to Colorado river	nice climbing wall
natural shower	local horses	largest falls height wise view from the top
inside river canyon	hikers on the trail - we spend the next two days together	great swimming pool
fun navigating the Supai creek	falls in the distance	falls cascade
falling rock	climbing on a ladder	cathedral in white
canyon view from the top of falls	camp dog having a break on our gear	at rivers end
at Colorado river during a human made flooding	another view of the falls	another view of the Supai creek from above
another view from the trail past the village	another falls	advance group at the river
Supai waterfall	Supai river entering into Colorado	Supai creek corssing
Supai creek 2	Stacy and a camp dog	Stacey going up
Helicopters fly every few minutes to the village - its a heavy traffic in the sky	GC views	Colorado river going fast

Album created on 2008-03-30 and last updated on 2008-03-30