| HIKING DOWN THE GRAND CANYON |

On June 6, 2014 5 of my friends and I started our 22 hour road trip to the Grand Canyon for a trip of a lifetime. We hiked around 30 miles total, saw breath taking views from the top, bottom, middle, everywhere you can think of, swam under amazing blue-green waterfalls, and created unforgettable memories. Since then a lot of people have asked about the trip and how it all went down because they were interested in experiencing it for themselves. So I thought I would create a blog (Iv always wanted to anyways) and explain in more detail and pictures what the trip was all about. Enjoy!

DAY 1

On Sunday, June 8 we headed to the top of the hike in Hualapai Hilltop, AZ. We stayed in Seligiman the night before, which I highly recommend because its a very cool little town. We started the 10 mile hike down around 8 in the morning so it wasn't terribly hot. In fact the weather was pretty perfect the whole time and there was a lot of shady areas on the hike. We took our time, stopping for pictures and snacks and just taking it all in.

 Can you spot my Spider-man buddy? :)

We all carried backpacks with almost everything we needed except for some bigger things like tents, sleeping bags, and what not. If we had the money we would have probably bought tents and sleeping bags that were small and meant for trips like this but maybe next time. We split a mule between the 6 of us which didn't cost much. The mule could carry 4 large duffle bags that weighed 35 pounds so I recommend that route if you are in a similar situation.

About 8 miles in you will reach the little town in the Havasupia Indian Reservation. We stopped for a much needed meal at the little cafe and then proceeded the final 2 miles to our campsite. These 2 miles however consisted of streams and waterfalls that we relaxed in for a while. It was so amazing and I cant even begin to describe the views.

We then made it to camp and picked out a perfect spot right by the clear fresh spring that ran through the whole campsite. There were picnic benches all around and trees for hanging bags or clotheslines. We set up our tents, fixed our food, and fell asleep under the bright sky and surrounding canyon walls. 

DAY 2

On day two we woke up had breakfast and started on our way to Mooney Falls and Beaver Falls. Oh and by the way, for food we had oatmeal for breakfast, trail mix and cliff bars for lunch, and freeze fried packages for dinner. You can not have fires down there so we had a little Bunsen burner to boil our water. The freeze fried packages were surprisingly very good, we had chicken fajitas and rice and chicken. So we packed our little day bag with water and food and hiked to the end of the campsite. This is where Mooney Falls is located.

View from the top, where campsite is located

From here you descend at your own risk down. It was so exciting! You start by going through a cave and then straight down the mountain with only some chains and wooden steps bolted to the canyon walls. It was pretty intense but we all made it safely to the bottom. We have some cool videos of the cave part and other things along the way which I put on YouTube so click here if interested. 

This was the easy part :) but look at that view!

Mooney Falls

From here we ventured down stream for 2 miles to Beaver Falls. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because we didn't follow a given path, just made our way through the water whichever way we thought best. There were ladder bridges in areas and little waterfalls the whole way.

The water is ridiculously beautiful.

Towards the end of the hike it was very intense. I don't even remember it all because we were out of water, food, and it was strenuous so I was a little out of it. I remember climbing up a tiny ladder that felt ridiculously long and then going down tiny path ways. But then we made it to Beaver Falls and it was all worth it!

Beaver Falls

We didn't explore the whole thing because I think it went down pretty far but it was basically all these falls that you could sit and swim in and just hang out. It was really beautiful and I wish we could have stayed longer but it awesome while we were there. We then hiked back, ate, and fell sound asleep.

DAY 3

This was our last full day and we were all pretty sore so we just wanted to relax and not do much hiking. We hadn't seen the Havasu waterfall which is the biggest and most known so we hung out there most of the day. Its located right before the campsite so it was very close.

Havasu Falls

Everyone was jumping off this little waterfall which was really fun. There were also many spots to just relax and enjoy the fresh clear water. 

DAY 4

We woke up at 4 am, packed up our remaining items, and headed up the canyon for our last 10 miles. I didn't eat much breakfast and I didn't have much energy so the last mile and a half (which is pretty much straight up) was a little difficult. The struggle was real to say the least. But we all made it safe and sound and the whole trip worked out pretty perfectly. Hopefully some of you will get a chance to experience this and see all the wonders of the Grand Canyon.