Havasuipai- Grand Canyon

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How does this place exist and it seems like no one knows about it?

It is called Havasuipai and it is an Indian Reservation attached to the grand canyon. We knew it was going to be a 8-11 mile hike (which was the on going debate), but we didnt know how tough, how hot or what we were getting ourselves into.

We left Orange County at 7:30pm and drove 8 hours through the night. Warning: Drive slowly during the last 90 minutes of the drive. We received this warning from the website due to animals on the road, but who listens to warnings. It wasn't until we were going 60 mile per hour and saw a 12 foot tall elk like creature that we decided to heed the advice. The elk wasn't the last of the large glowing animal eyes we saw on the road sides, we saw 4 more elk, rabbits and mice. At one point we were so on edge not to hit an animal that we started seeing things, including an African elephant.

We arrived at the "parking lot" at 4:30 in the morning as the sun was barely starting to glow over the mountains. Barely visible were the deep canyons we have been driving along side for the last couple miles. Although too early in the morning to fathom hiking into the canyon, we strapped on our bags and began our sleep walk journey down the "switch backs." These famous "switch backs" consume the first 2 miles of the hike. The whole way down you are forced to think about how brutal it is going to be hiking back up them out of the canyon. One foot in front of the other we made our way down the hills, through the canyons and four hours later to the "village." At times I was so focused on the path in front of me, that I had to remember to look up at the magic existing around me. Sky scrapper cliffs and canyons painted in every color of red. By 9:30am it was hot and the last 2 miles into the campground felt like a mean tease. We wanted to see these infamous waterfall that we had heard so much about. We were wondering if this hike was going to be worth it. Answer: Yes

Important details:
Make reservations in months in advance. You will not check in until mile 9 at the Indian Village.
You don't need a water filter, the camp ground has a filtered well to get water from.
Water shoes to play in the fall and climbing cliffs to jump is ideal.

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Photos

We made it!
The vibes were good! The boys kept a strong pace and the girls did their best to keep up.
Cory did you hike the whole thing in sandals?

Horse crossing
Along the hike the locals were all around us

One, Two, Three...Jump
We timed it perfectly.

Game plan
Getting ready.