Havasupai was an absolute dream, I am so grateful to have been able to go and experience the waters, the falls, the scenery, and the culture there. I was hoping to be able to give you all a detailed review of our experiences, so here’s to hoping I don’t forget to leave anything out!
We left Grand Canyon Caverns at 2:00 AM. The trailhead was 65 miles away and it took us an hour and a half to get to. We went well under the speed limit because the road was littered with Elk, Cows, Bunnies, and we even got to see our first wild Mountain Lion that I nearly hit 🥲 
Upon getting to the trailhead we took about a half hour break to get our bags finished packing, and get some snacks in us. We were immediately met with local dogs who teamed up to distract us and grab the last two Pinwheels we had 😂😅
The walk down is nearly entirely downhill. Not just the switchbacks either. Walk carefully and purposefully, blisters are easy to get when your feet are pushed to the front. I developed two blisters within the first few miles, however with Moleskin I was able to cover them and keep them from bursting the entire trip. It is 9 miles to the Village! So be prepared. And another two to get to the campground itself.
It took us five hours to get to the campground, once we unpacked our campsite we headed to Mooney Falls! This is around a 200ft descent to the bottom of the waterfalls, down a path drilled into the side of the rocks. There are chains and handmade ladders, but as you get closer to the bottom it starts to get wet and slippery, because of all the mist the waterfall causes. It feels like a mini hurricane, just hold on tight and you’ll be fine 😅
We took a nap in our hammock and then ascended back up to camp, and to check out Havasu Falls, I wanted to do the scary descent first, so that I could try it again another day! I was really worried I would be too scared, but you’ll see plenty of other people freaking out a bit more.. just watch them get down, where they put their feet etc, and you’ll be good.
Havasu & Mooney Falls had the most people, Havasu Falls is absolutely gorgeous but the most easily accessible waterfall from the campgrounds and lodge so it will have a good amount of people throughout the day.
Dehydrated food is AMAZING when you’ve been out all day. I totally recommend having them, but I wish I had brought a few cup O noodles too because that sounded really good out there 😅
The Facebook group we had joined told us constantly that it was HOT down there. That we would only need a light sheet MAYBE, For the evening. Well lemme just say that first night was a LIE 😂 I woke up at 1:30 and until 7:30 in the morning, it was COLD. I was so glad we brought down a sleeping bag and a light blanket but that night it still wasn’t enough. The other two nights, they were right and it was very warm, but it you get cold easily, make sure you have something just in case! I didn’t expect that chill AT ALL…
Day two we hiked an additional few miles down to Beaver Falls. This is past Mooney Falls so we had to descend the rocks again. Beaver Falls was absolutely GORGEOUS. Seeing how the water cascades over these strange rock layers… it doesn’t feel like your on Earth. The entire walk felt like I was walking through a fairies world. Just wow. Everything bright greens and blues… on the way back I (literally) nearly ran into a bighorn sheep! He was blocking the path and I hadn’t noticed him until we were maybe 6 feet apart. Thankfully he was not in a bad mood, and moved out of the way for us.
I believe this was the night that made me feel a bit weird. We went to watch the stars at the top of Mooney Falls. Several natives came next to us on horses. They got off and started snapchatting and being kids (or teens, idk). It was crazy to watch one of the boys stand at the very edge of the cliff, SO COMFORTABLY, gosh you can tell they’d been doing it their whole life. However upon them leaving, we watched the locals litter the land. Not only did the boy leave an entire unopened bottle of Pepsi right at the edge of the cliff, as he got onto his horse he reached into his saddlebag, pulled out 3 melted and connected otterpops, and threw them into the bushes near the campsites. I know he saw us. I’m shocked that the natives complain about the campers, but they themselves throw frikkin otter pops and sodas onto the land? Were they trying to make us campers look bad? Or do they just not care about their land? I don’t know. I can tell you if they wanted to try and say campers littered those things, what kind of camper is going to hike in otter pops with no way to even freeze them 😅… Needless to say this left a very bad taste in my mouth.
We got to cowboy camp which is something neither of us had either done. We had a sleeping pad, and our blankets, it was awesome. Yes we heard about and saw the scorpions during our stay, but we didn’t get bothered at all, it was one of the best nights of sleep for me personally. Waking up to all the stars.. just wow! 
The 3rd day we changed out campsite again, we moved sites every single day to get a feel of the whole campground and I totally recommend. The last day we wanted to be as close to the village as possible so the hike would be short 😅 We camped near Havasu Falls and spent most of the day relaxing. We went and saw 50 FT Falls and Navajo Falls. We tried to go to the Frybread stand twice this day and both times it was closed. Which if you know, you know. The Frybread stand is located ABOVE Havasu Falls, so to get to it you must climb a rather tall hill and even further up around the bend is the stand. It was upon the second time going up to see it closed we decided that they need a flagpole at the top of Havasu. Then when they are actually open they can raise the flag for all us tourists haha because that hill was rough 😂 
You are not supposed to shower in Havasu Creek however it seems many campers don’t like to respect the rules. We had a man come through our campsite and start bathing himself directly in front of us. He had NO SHAME, washing his booty as he made eye contact… you would think if your going to break the rules you would go at least downstream of camp… ick.
We did not get sick this trip! You could tell the camp was not nearly as full as it could be, it seemed many people cancelled their trip to avoid the sick going around but we brought antibacterial wipes, peroxide, and soap and did just fine. It was awesome to not be stressed over finding a camping spot.
Our last day we headed to the village to Helicopter out. We got to speak with a local who had lived there his whole live and he gave us a lot of information about where the money from this place goes, as well as what happens behind the scenes from what we see. We also got to see a native funeral… it was very sobering. He told us it was a man who went missing for 10 days. He was a campground worker who they thought had gotten lost in the canyon. He was found in his home from alcohol and drug abuse. We watched them say goodbye as his body was lifted by helicopter out of the canyon. The native we spoke with told us there would be another funeral that night that would last throughout the evening. A younger man who died in his sleep from the same abuse.. It was strange seeing the village and the people. There was such a disconnect from many of them, but I’m thankful that some of them were more open and willing to share.
We got to the village at 8, and helicoptered out at 11:30. People got to the helicopter pad as early as 3am, there was no need to this day though as there was still room on the helicopter list as people were arriving at 10:30…
This trip was unforgettable but I know I’m leaving some key points out I wanted to talk about. It’s hard to remember everything, when absolutely EVERYTHING was memorable 😅 Does that even make sense? Lol.
If you’ve got this trip planned and want to ask me anything, please do! I’ve never done a backpacking trip before this one, so if you were in the same boat as me and don’t know if you can do the hike in, YOU CAN! As long as you are fit, and you have enough water, you’ll be great 💖
These are just some of the photos we took, there’s till so many more but you’ll be seeing everything eventually 😉 Love you friends! Take care!