Havasupai Falls: There and Back Again, A Bastian Tale

Upon moving to Arizona we saw a lot of pictures of these gorgeous turquoise blue waterfalls. When we finally figured out that this was Havasupai Falls, we decided we had to see it for ourselves. The falls are in the Grand Canyon drainage on an Indian reservation. It is about a 5 hour drive to the North of us, so we decided to make a trip of it. We were lucky to get permits as they fill up months in advance. The hike wasn't very hard, just long, which made it hard. It was 8 miles to the Supai village in the bottom. This a village that still gets their mail via a horse back rider. It was very odd to be in an isolated village in the middle of the good ol' USA. After the village there was another 2 miles to the falls and the camping area. We spent our 2nd day re-couping and swimming in the waterfalls. The water was cool and a beautiful blue color. Even I took a dip (I normally don't do cold water) and swam in the pool under the waterfall. That night we enjoyed a starry sky from our bug free zone (our tent). The third morning we packed up and set out on the trail just in time to see the sun coming up over Havasupai Falls, it was breathtaking. Coming out was a lot harder because now it was all up hill and we were pretty sore to begin with. The last mile and a half were particularly long, steep and hot! We just kept telling each other when we made it out we would find a chocolate malt somewhere. When we finally made it to the top, there was a sense of accomplishment to look down in the valley and see where we had come from that morning. On our drive home we stopped in the tiny town of Seligman on the old route 66 and found a 50's drive-in that made the best homemade chocolate malts ever. What a trip!