Havasu Canyon Backpack Part 1 of 3

Several of us decided last year to go to Havasu Canyon in October 2012. In the end, 12 of us did go and we had a great time. The group was: Me and Randy, Yvette and TK, Jan and Paul, Sally, Arlene, Lisa, Lori, John and Jerry. We went from Sunday Oct 14th, a pure travel day, and got home about dinner time, October 17th. We broke up into groups, 3 or 4 to a car. We all left on Sunday, to stay overnight nearer the canyon. John drove the car with me, Randy and Jerry. We stayed in Seligman and everyone else in Peach Springs. From Payson we went north on 260/87 and then west on 260 to Camp Verde where we got on I17 north. At Flagstaff we got on I40 west, getting off at the Seiligman exit onto old Rt 66. The town is pretty small, making it's living off of Rt66 nostalgia.

We stayed in the Delux Inn Motel, the sign out front claiming it's an historic building. Rt66 is the Main St. and we wandered up and down it peering into the tourist traps selling Rt66 doodads.

We hit the grocery store for stuff to eat in the morning. The plan was to leave at 6am because locals were telling us it would take two and half hours at least to get to the Hilltop Trailhead on the reservation. The grocery is small, mostly a quick, bread and milk kind of place. Locals must shop in Flagstaff or Williams. After that, we stopped in what appears to be the only bar in town where we saw the

end of the football game, Arizona vs The Bills. That was disappointing. We went to dinner at a cafe across the street from our hotel, this was a higher end tourist trap but they had a menu so instead of driving to the west end of town, we just ate there. It was alright but we might have done better to drive to the Roadkill Cafe or the diner across the street from it. Live and learn I guess. In for the night, Randy and I got to see the opening season episode of Walking Dead. Our provider doesn't carry AMC, so that was a plus. The hotel may be old, located between the main drag and the railroad tracks, I could hardly hear the trains going by. I slept well enough even though I was excited about getting to the canyon the next day. On the 15th, we were up early and on the road by 6:15. We got to the Hilltop Trailhead by 8am so it did take us nearly 2 hours. The Indian road turning off of Rt66 was paved and in good shape so there were no surprises.

We met the rest of the group when they arrived by 9am, the original meeting time. Some of the group was hiring horses to carry their packs down. Some of us, including Randy and me, carried our own. By 9:30am we were headed down the trail.

Hilltop is 1000 or more feet above the canyon bottom so the trail zigzags down the canyon walls to the bottom, a mile and a half away. The trail is pretty wide because the Havasupai drive the pack animals up and down the trail. Hikers need to be alert to the horses and mules, mostly running free with a driver or two behind them, and get to the uphill side of the trail and out of the way. It took us about 2 hours to get down. We weren't in any hurry and we were enjoying the views.

Once on the bottom, it's another 6 and a half miles to Supai, the village where the Lodge is. All of us had reservations there for two nights. The trail winds along the canyon bottoms following dry stream beds. The scenery is just stunning.

Huge, water sculpted, red rock cliffs surrounded us topped by a crystal clear blue sky. The canyons twist and turn and there were times, looking ahead, that you'd think the trail would just end at a canyon wall. The whole time we were hiking, there was a helicopter buzzing overhead. For those who don't want to hike, or ride a horse to Supai, there is helicopter service. Every 20 minutes or so, it would fly overhead between Hilltop and Supai. About half a mile from the village, we ran into Havasu Creek. This is the creek, that further downstream, creates the waterfalls we were there to see. The gravelly trail surface turned to soft sand, a lot harder to walk in. We followed that into the village and to the Lodge.

One thing to note, the large number of dogs in the canyon. They were everywhere, lying in the dust of their yards, following the pack trains, loping along at the rear, sitting on porches. Nice enough dogs, most of the time they didn't even bark at us. But they were everywhere. The village is fairly non-descript. Small houses, most only marginally maintained, few gardens or livestock was in evidence.

One thing I did notice though was pomegranate trees. At first I thought they were late apples but passing one yard, the tree was near the path. That's when I discovered that pomegranates grow, apparently quite well, at the bottom of the canyon. The bright red fruit hanging from the branches. How cool is that! After checking into the Lodge and ensconced in our rooms, we gathered in the courtyard to chat. All around us we could see the canyon walls, looming over us, creating a marvelous view in every direction.

Lodge accomodations are adequate. The room and bathroom was clean but there were odd bits of disrepair. In our room one end of the curtain rod was broken, so we couldn't close the curtains. Randy had a zip tie and made a repair. The wall light (and the only light by the way) was missing the knob to turn the light on and off. I had to turn it off by unplugging it from the wall socket next to the bed. There is no TV or telephone in the rooms. We found out the only place to eat was the cafe we had passed on the way to the lodge and they close at 6:30. So at 5pm we all trooped over to the cafe. No supper menu, it was all fast food, burgers, fries, chicken sandwich, grilled cheese, etc. The only thing on the menu I could get was a burger so I ordered a burger, no bun. It was $8.50 and I felt a little pricey but I paid for it. Orders in, we waited. After awhile our food began to come out. My $8.50 actually bought 2 burger patties with cheese, lettuce and tomato. Others at the table had ordered grilled cheese with french fries. They got a triple decker grilled cheese, huge, and a whole plate of french fries, enough for 4 - 6 people. We all felt they should have mentioned the portion sizes when we ordered. Often, the food came out cold. We weren't sure how long it had been sitting before they called the order number. After that, there was more chatting in the courtyard, the office was locked and there was no lobby or common room to use. Once it got too dark to see, we all went to our rooms. Since I didn't bring a book (concern about pack weight) I made notes about the days trip. After that I was bored. I think I went to sleep at 7:30pm. I'll continue the trip report in the next blog!