Participants: Tom Chester, Eva Fullmer, Linda Fullmer, Linda Hermans, Do Kester, Gene Kopan, Mehrdad Moshir, Kathleen Spellman and Sherry Wheelock.
Dates: 2-4 April 1989 (Written up 4 November 1996)
See 1986 Havasu hike for a general introduction to Havasu Canyon and this hike. This description gives just the details specific to this return trip. See also the Supai fact sheet. I am relying on my notes from this hike for this description.
Mehrdad and I drove out in his BMW, after Mehrdad finally decided that maybe it wasn't too risky to leave his car at Hualapai Hilltop. This time Mehrdad and I stayed at a motel in Kingman, AZ. We had a good dinner at the House of Hunan the night before the hike.
Three others in our party drove out in one of their Mom's car, and couldn't figure out why the car was overheating whenever they went up a grade. Just before they got to Hualapai, they figured it out: the automatic transmission was in second gear!
Even leaving from Kingman in the morning, we got to Hualapai Hilltop by 10 am, and were the first ones there. The others arrived shortly. One of the first-time Grand Canyon hikers had not only a full big backpack with sleeping bag, but was carrying several 6 packs of coke! We convinced her to leave behind the sleeping bag and half of the cokes. (She was staying in the lodge, too.) Her pack was still very heavy, and ended up "destroying" her foot, limiting her hiking for the next several days.
The rest of us had a great hike down, and reached Supai at 3 pm. The lodge was in much worse shape than 3 years earlier. Mehrdad and I stayed in the same room, No. 18, and it still had the same leaky toilet. Unfortunately, it had a serious new ill - the shower oscillated from hot to full cold water every 5 minutes! The wood of the lodge is all rotting away. The coke and ice machines broke and are there no more. But the worst tragedy of all was that the cafe's milkshake maker broke a year ago and they still haven't fixed it! Oh well, it was still great that we could day hike and stay in the canyon, sleeping on a bed with semi-running water in the room.
Gene and I hiked the trail in back of the lodge. We made it beyond the linear drainage to the east of the lodge, using a beautiful trail beginning at the water tower just above the graffiti. (Yes, you heard that right - graffiti.)
The park service put in logs and steps at that bad place near Beaver Falls. Just a nasty 10 foot rope climb, then it's easy.
As always, the hike out comes too soon, but it is always the part I enjoy the most. This is the part that separates the men from the boys (or the women from the girls)! We left at 8:22 am, and got out at 12:21 pm and drove back home. This trip, I vaguely recall being able to catch a glimpse of Mt. Sinyala for a brief moment at one place along the trail.
| Recording number | Mileage | Time arrived | Time left | Altitude | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.00 | 10:41 | 5300 | Hualapai Hilltop | |
| 1 | 5.45 | 1:06 | 1:34 | 3900 | Lunch near end of Hualapai Canyon |
| 2 | 8.00 | 2:20 | 3500 | Jct. Hualapai Canyon and Havasu Canyon. | |
| 3 | 9.55 | 2:56 | 4:30 | 3450 | Supai Lodge. |
| 4 | 13.75 | 5:55 | Took trail "behind" lodge and got behind linear drainage behind lodge and back. |
| Recording number | Mileage | Time arrived | Time left | Altitude | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.00 | 8:31 | 3350 | Supai Lodge | |
| 1 | 2.30 | 9:37 | 10:19 | 2950 | Base of Navajo Falls |
| 2 | 3.85 | 11:22 | 12:27 | 2750 | Lunch at base of Mooney Falls |
| 3 | 4.40 | 12:59 | 2700 | End first creek crossing. | |
| 4 | 4.70 | 1:20 | 2650 | End second creek crossing. | |
| 5 | 6.10 | 2:09 | 2550 | End third creek crossing. | |
| 6 | 6.80 | 2:47 | 2550 | Beaver Falls | |
| 7 | 7.00 | 2:55 | 2450 | Beaver Canyon | |
| 8 | 7.05 | 3:13 | Snack | ||
| 9 | 7.45 | 3:30 | 2450 | End "terrifying descent". | |
| 10 | 7.80 | 3:53 | End third creek crossing (=5) | ||
| 11 | 9.05 | 4:28 | End second creek crossing (=4) | ||
| 12 | 9.25 | 4:47 | 2700 | End first creek crossing (=3) | |
| 13 | 9.70 | 5:08 | 2850 | Top of Mooney Falls | |
| 14 | 10.50 | 5:26 | 2950 | Base of Havasu Falls | |
| 15 | 11.00 | 5:39 | 3300 | Top of Navajo Falls | |
| 16 | 12.40 | ~6:10 | 3450 | Supai Lodge |
| Recording number | Mileage | Time arrived | Time left | Altitude | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.00 | 8:22 | 3150 | Supai Lodge | |
| 1 | 1.90 | 8:56 | 3200 | Jct. Hualapai Canyon | |
| 2 | 6.00 | 10:42 | 3900 | ||
| 3 | 7.20 | 11:18 | 4050 | Jct. alternate trail at smiling water tank. | |
| 4 | 7.70 | 11:34 | 4300 | Jct. main trail at telephone pole. | |
| 5 | 8.70 | 12:21 | 5150 | Hualapai Hilltop. |
This page last updated 22 October 1999.