You want me to do what?

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My words will never do nature justice, so I won't waste your time describing the falls. The pictures say it all (and even then it's still not the same). BUT, I will tell you about the most terrifying thing I believe I've ever done. The Havasupai area has a variety of falls. There's the first set you see, which are the new falls because a flood rearranged things a few years ago. There's Havasupai falls, my favorite because it's the easiest to swim around. There's also a cave you can climb to, but I already scraped up my knees at Mooney Falls so didn't venture up that rock wall. There's Beaver Falls, which I didn't even know about and heard about later, which is a challenging hike from Mooney Falls (will do that one the next time I go), and then there's the "Mother of Water" Mooney Falls.

Now, people will warn you that you have to climb down a chain ladder to get to this thing. You're 190 feet up before you get down to the swim hole. But you see no one can truly warn you what this is like. I'm fairly certain I came pretty close to shitting myself, but I was so puckered up the people below me were spared a horrible mishap.

So, the climb down goes something like this. You start at the top of a rocky cliff, then wind yourself down around the cliff. There's a spot that's a little hairy because, well, if you lean to the left you're dead. This is the easy part. Then you go down two rock tunnels. Because it's narrow I felt secure holding on to the walls while climbing into the dark before the light. When you get out of the second tunnel there's a beautiful view of the falls and a ledge. This is where it gets tricky. Some go down face first, but most turn around and climb down (probably because who in the hell wants to see how far they have to fall). This chain ladder is no ladder. There's a series of chains --- some of it hangs loose; most is bolted into the rock --- and rebarb poles throughout the cliff. You hang on for dear life and figure out where you put your feet one slow step at a time. At first this was no problem for me, but as we got more into it I just couldn't see where to put my feet, oh and did I mention some of the rock is wet and slippery from waterfall spray? Luckily, I had two heroes from our group. You see I wasn't prepared for this so I was wearing a little sun dress, and Vince (my first hero) realized I couldn't see where to step because the thing kept billowing up (um, poor Vince and everyone below me also got to see the tug of war going on between my bathing suit and ass). So, he'd hang on to a chain and tell me where to step. I'd go down a few and then reciprocate the favor to the woman above me, because even though she had shorts on she too had trouble seeing where to step (so maybe you could do this thing naked and still not know what to do). But then things got even scarier and Vince didn't have room to hold on and help. Lucky for me another man came to the rescue and talked me through the climb to find my way to a little wooden ladder attached to a rock. After that you had to swing to the side (total leap of faith) and grab on to a chain, crawl down until finally you come to an old house ladder attached to the rock.

And still I have not prepared you for what this is like. Everyone kept telling me the climb back up was much, much easier and it was. But, I still had a little freak-out moment. There are two spots where you had to really stretch your legs to get to the next step down, so going up that meant you had to figure a way to pull yourself up over that. I have long legs, so this should've been easy for me. But, no I clung to that damned wall like a starfish. I looked up to whimper to Mary Lee, our 69-year old group organizer (another truly amazing member of the human tribe), and she was wiggling up that cliff as if she were Spiderman herself. WTF?! So, there I was all alone wanting to just quit. But, what are you gonna do? So, I shit you not, I grabbed a pole, closed my eyes (who does this?) and went for it. And then I just kept climbing as fast as i could (turns out I have a little Spiderman in me too). I was so shaky when I got to the top, not from muscle strain but from the sheer terror of it all.

To make matters worse when I got to the top of the trail, an extraverted 5-year old told me he was going down to see his dad. Right behind him was his 4-year old brother and mother. I joked with Mom about how he must just swing down those chains (because seriously his little legs can't reach the rock holes I used as steps), and she proudly said, "he sure does." Now, I know the villagers know every inch of space down there, but wow can you imagine what it was like for her the first time she took her kids down that cliff? I can't.

So there you have it; I survived the climb. As for swimming in the waters ... oh wow it is so cool. All I can say is that all of you have to one day do this. If the climb down to Mooney Falls is too much for you (and it should be, especially if you're afraid of heights and/or just the idea of falling to your death) don't sweat it. Seriously, Havasupai Falls is the best place to swim in, and the climb down to that isn't scary.

To learn more about Mooney Falls, you can go to http://www.havasupaitribe.com/mooney.html

or, even better, google Youtube videos on the climb down. I was not brave enough to whip out my camera to photograph/video tape that climb.

P.S. Keep scrolling for more photos

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Photos

a view of Mooney Falls
This is named after a man who fell to his death. Some say he hung on a rope for three days before he finally died. Anyway, not too long afterward his buddies were told about the rock tunnels, so they blasted through a bit to make the rock steps and then put in the chains and poles. I'm grateful for their efforts, but these boys were crazy!

a peak of the first set of falls
I didn't go down to swim in these, but a lot of others did. Maybe next time.

Another shot of first falls
this is on our way back to the lodge, so the sun was on its way to setting

Picnic table
close to the top of the path down is a picnic table for those who'd rather just sit this thing out, OR for those who need to get the wobble out of their knees. It'd be a super cool place to have lunch though

tunnel entrance
hahahaha, um I just noticed it might look a little vaginal, but yep we climbed in and out.

the climb up/down
It looks easy, but thats not some sort of chain rail alongside steps. The little canopy to the upper right is one of the worm holes through the cliff.

that last ladder
I never thought I'd feel such relief at the top of an older ladder, but Good God this was a big ole Amen to me!

my little diagram
I'm trying to show how scary this climb is, but I don't think my little arrows add much...

the cave entrance
This is another smaller falls at the bottom of Mooney Falls. to the right of that tree is a small underwater cave some of our crew walked into. I did not.

Crazy campers
someone actually set up their tents this close to the top of Mooney Falls. There's no way I'd sleep there.

path
this is part of the climb back up, AFTER you've survived the 'ladders.'

walking on the edge
One of our fellow hikers picked up my camera to snap some shots of me. this one is my favorite because I'm walking along the edge of a smaller waterfall. It does bring out the kid in you

Should I jump in
this is at Havasu Falls, and I'm debating whether I should swim in the pool, which was wavy from the power of the falls. I did swim, but not in this one.

random horses
It's not unusual to see horses just chilling by themselves along the path, or to see a lone pack horse/mule schlepping stuff up or down.

Bev and Me
at the bottom. I did run and jump in as soon as I got down there, but I ran right back out because the water was chilly and the spray from the falls stung my eyes.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Discovered your blogs today
Mooney Falls look great. I've taken a peak at a couple of your blogs and look forward to reading more.

[Badgette]

Hope you enjoy them
The hard part while we're on the road is uploading photos, so they tend to gat included later. I'm in Washington near Mt St Helen's now. If only I could travel allll the time. Soooo love that I doing it now though... Work returns nest week.