We made it back from our two week trip out west and Im not sure where to start...
We flew to Vegas and instantly left town. We had a lot of road miles planned for the next few days so we spent the night in Laughlin. We hung out on the river for hours while trying to adjust to a three hour time difference. The next morning we headed out early and drove to Oatman, Az. It's an old ghost town that has some tourist shops set up. It's pretty cool. There are wild burros all over town. We saw one eat somebody's papers out of their jeep and another knock over a Harley while scratching its ears on the handle bar. We heard by shop owners that the burros will also scratch their ears on the car mirrors and knock them off too. So we headed out of town after some food at the old saloon.
We drove to the Joshua Forest Parkway and followed it to Phoenix. The parkway was pretty with lots of rock features, cactus, and Joshua trees. After meeting up with some friends we had to hit the road to get to Sedona for the night. We didn't think we would ever get there after such a long day. Aft a few beverages we were ready to crash. In the morning we got up early to check out the sites. We took Alot of pictures and headed out through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff to meet my dad for an early supper. He drove in from Holbrook to meet us. Once on the road we started getting really excited for our hike to Havasu Falls.
We made it to Peach Springs for our night stay before our hike. And if anyone is wanting a drink you better buy it before you get on the reservation, as it is dry. The hotel had a good restaurant, store and friendly staff. On our way to our room we passed a common area that had 20 or so hikers hanging out and playing cards. They told us about a brown sack breakfast you can order and have between 4:30-6:00am if you don't want to wait for the restaurant to open. I think it was around $5 a piece. We grabbed ours at 5am and hit the road. 9 miles up the hwy is the turn off to hilltop parking area. When we were in Sedona at an outfitters picking up fuel, he warned us about the elk on this 60 mile stretch. We're glad he warned us. We came up on one huge one and a little later two smaller ones.
We hit hill top and unloaded our gear at the trailhead. My wife stayed with the gear while I headed back up the road looking for a place to park. It was packed! .. We made a quick check to make sure we had our water and headed to the trailhead. .. My wife stopped pretty quickly and started telling me she didn't think she could make. She is new to hiking and this was way out of her comfort zone. But after our daughter passed away 1 1/2 years ago she has been trying to experience everything. I told her we would just take it one step at a time. After 1 mile or so down we made it to the wash that we would follow all the way to Supai, the village before the falls. We took our time with lots of breaks to smell the cactus and made it to Supai around 3pm. We paid for our reservations and got a cold drink at the store.
Our plans just got changed. We both knew she would have a really hard time hiking out so we decided we would take the helicopter back out. But by doing that we would only have one night by the falls. So for the next two miles to get to the campground she was tired, upset about not being able to spend three nights, and upset about not being able to hike out. On top of that our daughter was heavy on our minds. .. Before she was born we had hung a picture of Havasu Falls over her bed and the reason we were down there was to replace that one with one we took ourselves... After the bridge you cross out of the village you pass three waterfalls before you get to Havasu Falls and the campground. We reflected on life for a while then I headed out to find a spot to camp.i found a great spot with the rangers advice on how to find it and we made camp. She ate and was out pretty quickly so I headed back to the falls. I must say that this is a magical spot that everyone should try to visit once. We didn't get to see the falls farther down river so we have already started planning a return trip.
My wife woke up early and we packed up and headed back to the falls. We hung out for a bit then hit the trail back to the village. She was worried about making it back up and missing her ride back out. .. She made it out in no time at all. Kinda like when we all hike and we know we are so close to a cheeseburger and a cold drink. You just blink and your there. We made the landing zone and signed in on the list. We went to the store for a cold drink and we loaded the helicopter an hour later.this was the first time for either of us to fly like this and we both enjoyed flying over and seeing where we had just hiked.
Cant Wait To Do It Again!!!
We flew to Vegas and instantly left town. We had a lot of road miles planned for the next few days so we spent the night in Laughlin. We hung out on the river for hours while trying to adjust to a three hour time difference. The next morning we headed out early and drove to Oatman, Az. It's an old ghost town that has some tourist shops set up. It's pretty cool. There are wild burros all over town. We saw one eat somebody's papers out of their jeep and another knock over a Harley while scratching its ears on the handle bar. We heard by shop owners that the burros will also scratch their ears on the car mirrors and knock them off too. So we headed out of town after some food at the old saloon.
We drove to the Joshua Forest Parkway and followed it to Phoenix. The parkway was pretty with lots of rock features, cactus, and Joshua trees. After meeting up with some friends we had to hit the road to get to Sedona for the night. We didn't think we would ever get there after such a long day. Aft a few beverages we were ready to crash. In the morning we got up early to check out the sites. We took Alot of pictures and headed out through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff to meet my dad for an early supper. He drove in from Holbrook to meet us. Once on the road we started getting really excited for our hike to Havasu Falls.
We made it to Peach Springs for our night stay before our hike. And if anyone is wanting a drink you better buy it before you get on the reservation, as it is dry. The hotel had a good restaurant, store and friendly staff. On our way to our room we passed a common area that had 20 or so hikers hanging out and playing cards. They told us about a brown sack breakfast you can order and have between 4:30-6:00am if you don't want to wait for the restaurant to open. I think it was around $5 a piece. We grabbed ours at 5am and hit the road. 9 miles up the hwy is the turn off to hilltop parking area. When we were in Sedona at an outfitters picking up fuel, he warned us about the elk on this 60 mile stretch. We're glad he warned us. We came up on one huge one and a little later two smaller ones.
We hit hill top and unloaded our gear at the trailhead. My wife stayed with the gear while I headed back up the road looking for a place to park. It was packed! .. We made a quick check to make sure we had our water and headed to the trailhead. .. My wife stopped pretty quickly and started telling me she didn't think she could make. She is new to hiking and this was way out of her comfort zone. But after our daughter passed away 1 1/2 years ago she has been trying to experience everything. I told her we would just take it one step at a time. After 1 mile or so down we made it to the wash that we would follow all the way to Supai, the village before the falls. We took our time with lots of breaks to smell the cactus and made it to Supai around 3pm. We paid for our reservations and got a cold drink at the store.
Our plans just got changed. We both knew she would have a really hard time hiking out so we decided we would take the helicopter back out. But by doing that we would only have one night by the falls. So for the next two miles to get to the campground she was tired, upset about not being able to spend three nights, and upset about not being able to hike out. On top of that our daughter was heavy on our minds. .. Before she was born we had hung a picture of Havasu Falls over her bed and the reason we were down there was to replace that one with one we took ourselves... After the bridge you cross out of the village you pass three waterfalls before you get to Havasu Falls and the campground. We reflected on life for a while then I headed out to find a spot to camp.i found a great spot with the rangers advice on how to find it and we made camp. She ate and was out pretty quickly so I headed back to the falls. I must say that this is a magical spot that everyone should try to visit once. We didn't get to see the falls farther down river so we have already started planning a return trip.
My wife woke up early and we packed up and headed back to the falls. We hung out for a bit then hit the trail back to the village. She was worried about making it back up and missing her ride back out. .. She made it out in no time at all. Kinda like when we all hike and we know we are so close to a cheeseburger and a cold drink. You just blink and your there. We made the landing zone and signed in on the list. We went to the store for a cold drink and we loaded the helicopter an hour later.this was the first time for either of us to fly like this and we both enjoyed flying over and seeing where we had just hiked.
Cant Wait To Do It Again!!!
