#47. Go to Havasupai. CHECK!

Virgil Ash would be so proud. After 22 years (okay, so only after about 5 years but the story gets bigger every time I tell it) I finally made it to the Grand Canyon. Havasupai to be more precise. Thank you, Virg, for sparking the dream!

It truly is a tropical paradise in the desert. I fell in love with the brilliant orange cliffs and the amazingly clear greenish-blue water. I know the pictures won't do it justice.

We started out on Thursday with a fun little road trip to Kingman, AZ. After driving up and down Route 66 looking for a cheap motel (But one with a hot tub. Hey, we have standards.) we settled on the Quality Inn. We woke up early the next morning to find that Cyndi had gotten sick. Food poisoning? Stomach Flu? Whatever it was, it was not good for a ten mile hike into the Grand Canyon.

From Kingman it was about another hour and a half to the trail head. Once we got there we discussed what we would do with Cyndi. Should she go in her state? Would she even be able to carry her pack? She would need electrolytes and fluids. So we decided to put her pack on the helicopter (for a $20 fee) and she would just hike down with a daypack full of water, gatorade, and toilet paper. She realized halfway down the trail that every time a helicopter flew over head she would need to high-tale it to a bush quick! I guess Pavlov and his dog were on to something with that whole operant conditioning thing. Pretty funny, in that sad-for-Cyndi sort of way.

The hike was long. It took us six hours. My feet were aching by the end and I don't think any of us were in a very happy mood. We rolled into camp around 6 o'clock and by then it was already dark. We were informed by some tourists in the village of Supai that it gets dark at 5:30pm. They were right it turns out. So we found our group, set up camp, made some Pad Thai, and pretty much went to bed.

The next morning we went on a little hike to Mooney falls. Cyndi stayed at camp for this one. Too bad, because she really missed out! The falls weren't too far from the campground, and we could've gone on a longer hike to some other falls (the rest of our bigger group did that) but I was more concerned with playing in the amazing water than hiking. The approach to this waterfall was cool. You had to climb down through this rock tunnel and down some old ladders that had been placed. Closer to the bottom it got really slippery and wet from the mist and spray of the waterfall. It was actually kind of scary, but well worth it.

The water was a little cold, but not too cold to keep us out of there. We jumped off little waterfalls into pools of water and splashed around in the larger pool. The waterfall was amazing.

After our hike back up through the rock we went back to camp. Cyndi was nowhere to be found. We just figured she was in the bathroom. It turns out she was at Havasu falls, bathing. A funny thing about our sick friend, Cyndi. She was famous among the bigger group in camp, but also mysterious. No one had seen her, only heard about her and how hardcore she was for hiking down there in her condition. Later that afternoon she was feeling better, though, and she was up and about and went with us to play in Havasu falls so everyone got a good look at her. We were hoping to sneak her in and out of camp undetected. Oh well.

Havasu falls was awesome! There were so many little pools to sit in and we were brave enough to swim out to the big waterfall and climb up on these rocks behind it. We actually got to jump into the waterfall from behind! Too much fun. Y'all should see my pictures sometime.

The last night we camped in Havasupai was spent in battle against raccoons.

"What's that noise?"

[Maggie or Tori proceed to bang on tent]

"Cyndi?"

"Yeah?"

Did you leave your backpack out?"

"Yeah..."

Somehow those rascally guys got into her pack and pulled out some trail mix. At least they didn't shove her pack into the river like they did to Maggie last year. I think she's still bitter about that one. But we had to wake up at 5 am anyway to get out on the trail, so the battle had to end. We took down camp and were on the go before the sun even came up.

Luckily Cyndi felt much better by this time. What took us 6 hours to hike down only took us 4.5 hours to hike up. I guess things move a lot quicker when you don't have to duck behind a bush every ten minutes. The hike wasn't bad until that last push straight up the mountain. But we buckled down and did it. Yeah for Havasupai!!!

The ride home was fun. . . I got to spend nine fun-filled hours with some of my favorite people. Mags played DJ and gave us our own little personal concert/DJ mix and Cyndi drove the whole way home. I got to sit in the back and eat food. Life is great sometimes.

In true girls camp fashion we gave each other "awards" of sorts. This is what we came up with:

CYNDI - Trip Trooper - I am amazed that anyone could hike that with food poisoning and still have such a good attitude!
ANNA - Trip Hippie - My "Do it for love!" motto was in full effect, and I ate anything that was offered to me, and I was all about the environment and LNT on the trail.
TORI - Trip Guru - She thought of everything and thought ahead to any possible situation. She's a smarty-pants!
MAGGIE - Trip Mom (or Trip Nazi) - Some might say trip nazi, but really she was the one to get things done and make a decision. She really helped out with Cyndi and was just totally there for her in her time of need.

So plans are in the works for a trip next spring, we couldn't wait a whole other year. I hear my eternal crush, Christian Sabey wants to come. . . If I had only known! So yeah, Havasupai. A tropical paradise in the desert. Pure love.