Havasupai: Good Times and the End of an Era

Our Labor Day weekend was bittersweet. It was one of the most fun long weekends I have ever had, but it was also one of the last weekends we had with our good friends, Sarah and Jess, before they move to Germany.

Sarah is seriously amazing. Despite the fact that she had been packing up her entire life and figuring out how to ship it to Germany, she still managed to plan the perfect weekend. It started with a 12-hour drive from SLC to Havasupai. We broke things up a bit by stopping for breakfast in Utah County, where we encountered the most convenient flat tire ever. We stopped for breakfast, noticed that Sarah's tire was flat, they took it to the service station while we ordered breakfast for them, they arrived just in time for breakfast, and we picked the truck up as soon as we were finished eating and headed on our way.

We followed Sil's prego nose to Carl's Junior in Las Vegas for lunch, after which the girls piled in one car (with our mixed fountain drinks) and the boys piled in another. We had a brief stopover at in Henderson, gambling and trying unsuccessfuly to get a helicopter ride, and Rod gave us an insider's tour of the Hoover Dam. The girls took advantage of an unexpected detour to spend all of the their quarters and shop for Sarah's new car. We rocked out the whole way down Route 66 until we picked up Fry Bread and stew at the lodge.

We made it to Havasupai well after dark. We weren't too disappointed, though. The camping area was basically a parking lot. Rod and I slept in the back of the 4Runner. It was hot, but the drone of the mosquitoes in our ears forced us to close the door and windows.

The next morning we started the long, hot hike to the campground. Sarah outfitted us all with more jerky and trail mix than we could have eaten in a month. It wouldn't have been a bad hike (all downhill or flat), but it was unbearably hot. By the time we made it to the Village, all I wanted was a cold soda. There were still two miles until we made it to camp. By this time, I was really wishing we had caught a ride on one of the mail donkeys that kept passing us. Yes, the tribe still receives their mail by donkey.

When we made it to the campground, it was all worth it. I did not know that places like Havasupai Falls even existed. Words and even photos can't do it justice. The limestone in the water makes the water an milky aqua color. That water in contrast with the red rock walls shaped like petrified waterfalls was unbelievable.