This unique backpacking experience provides outdoor enthusiast a solid backpack/hiking challenge followed by overwhelming rewards. There are no roads, no tom hillbilly 4X4 trails leading into the town of Supai, AZ. The only form of transportation outside of taking mules down is by helicopter or by foot. This isolated town was founded by the Havasupai tribe centuries ago. Hiking down the Havasu trail is a unique opportunity to get a grasp on how the Grand Canyon and it's tributaries were formed. Through my research on the creation of the Grand Canyon and the Geological evidence left to us today. I will spare the reader the technical theoretical views I have on the creation of the Grand Canyon. However, it becomes evident to me that the large floods in recent past in the Havasu Canyon provide a glimps of the destruction and power rendered by a large storm/damn failure. The Havasu creek is formed by the snow and water runoff above the canyon as it flows down cataract(havasu canyon) it joins an underground stream at Havasu Springs. The large amounts of limestone provide the creek with an abundant amount of Calcium Carbonate which lies at the bottom and reflects the blue-green color the human eye receives. Yea, chemistry and that periodic table as calcium is bonded to carbonate and oxygen to the third power. Sure it sounds like a Beck song, but it's a molecule.
Hikers will want to get an early start on the hike in the summer months as the temperatures get close to a hundred degrees in the canyon. The Wualapai Hilltop trailhead to the village of Supai is about 8 miles, and there is a small store and cafe providing cold drinks and hot food. Hike in another couple of miles to pass by the new rock springs and attain your destination at the campgrounds.
Another reason to get an early start prior 5am is to attain a nice camping spot next to the creek and not far from the one spring providing drinking water in the campground. As the core body temperature rises and the body secrets the necessary sweat the hiker must regulate their electrolyte, and H2O intake. In other words it feels real nice eating some real food and sitting in the sub 70 degree creek to cool off after a 10 mile trek through the desert. A favorite destination below the campgrounds would be beaver falls which is a scenic cascade of several waterfalls creating sublime swimming holes. To reach this beautiful destination, I recommend an early day hike. Hikers pass through a rare riparian landscape in route to beaver falls and the Havasu creeks seems to take on a true Caribbean blue.
