During the last weekend of our spring break, I hiked with some friends to Havasupai Falls. It was great, though parts of the hike were a little more grueling than I thought it would be. At least that’s what I thought until we were being passed up by kids and old people.

It’s about a ten or eleven mile hike from the trail-head to the campgrounds. On the day we set out, it rained ALL day and well into the night. I know the desert welcomed the rain, but it made for a very muddy, wet, and cold day.

Apparently two days before we arrived, someone had jumped off a cliff into the falls and died. I guess he didn’t see all the signs saying that it was a bad idea. The falls were beautiful, but the water was still too cold for me, so we just hiked around and, like the yuppies we are, took a lot of pictures.

My only real complaint, and this might not be very popular, is the way in which members of the Havasupai Tribe treat the horses and mules on the trail. Next to helicopter, I understand that these animals are vital for getting supplies back and forth to the village. I also understand that the tribe doesn’t have a ton of money. On the trail we saw mules over worked and over loaded. They’re strung together close enough so that the mule’s mouth hits and rubs up against the behind of the one in front of it. Many of the mules we saw had bloody mouths because of this. Also, we saw some that were strung up side by side and because the trail is very narrow, mules scrap up their legs on rocks and canyon walls as they try to make room for two side by side, when there is only room for one. I just wasn’t expecting this.

I also wasn’t expecting other campers to litter as much as they did. I would have thought that people willing to hike ten miles in the desert might have some kind of respect for the land and the tribe. Of course, maybe those that are littering are those who pay for a helicopter ride.

All and all, it was a great trip and I plan on going back. I’d recommend the trip to anybody. The falls, the water, the landscape are all indescribably beautiful.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 9:35 pm and is filed under updates & me stuff. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.