Leave the world behind at Havasu Canyon

by Anne Dimon

The world takes on a singular perspective when the rims of red rock canyon walls are your everyday horizon. Wedged deep in the heart of the Grand Canyon, this is where the Havasupai have lived and farmed since the 1300s. Dry and dusty, yet dotted with thundering waterfalls and turquoise-hued, cascading pools, the rugged, isolated, soul-inspiring Havasu Canyon is no place for sissies.

It’s early morning when we begin our 13 km trek down to Supai Village. There are 12 of us: two guides, a party of nine including four children under 16 and one newbie “adventure woman.” Today, there are a number of trekkers and backpackers trudging the narrow, dusty Hualapai Trail but it’s the packhorses and mules ridden by Havasupai wranglers that have right of way.

Packhorses move most everything in and out of the canyon – including mail - and anything that can’t be carried by these four-legged transportation trucks, portable toilets for instance, is lifted in and out by helicopter. “Twice a week during high season, two toilets fly in and one flies out,” explains Brian Jump, of Arizona Outback Adventures (www.aoa-adventures.com) “Campers risk life and limb,” he jokes, “to be first in line for a fresh toilet.”

There are no washrooms along this trail, and very little shade. Just a wide expanse of dry terrain studded with tuffs of dessert grasses, wild junipers and scattered boulders contained within steep canyon walls.

It’s early afternoon when we arrive at the collection of wood and stone buildings that is Supai Village, about 608 dusty meters (2,000 feet) below the rim. Over the last decade, tourism has helped the community boost its dwindling numbers. When high school students come home for holidays, head counts can reach as high as 700 all living in the shadow of The Brothers - two tall red rock pillars that are the guardian spirits of the Havasupai people.

From Supai Village it’s just two miles to base camp. The thundering Havasu Falls heralds our arrival and announces that camp is mercifully close. I have blisters on my blisters. A short walk from the falls on the shore of Havasu Creek, the camp ground used by AOA is guarded by a massive red brick wall. “Being here really puts life into perspective,” says fellow trekker David Louch from Canada. “One feels so small.”

I’m handed my tent and told to select a place to set it up. Surrounded by canvas, rods of varying lengths and different colored ties, I must have looked confused because 12-year-old Christiana Durfeld of Whistler, B.C. comes to my rescue. Soon all tents are up, sleeping bags are rolled out on thick foam mats and the al fresco kitchen is set up and ready for Jump and fellow guide Matt Delaney to don their chef hats. To our collective surprise, these charming and trail-savvy guides are as adept in the kitchen as they are on the trails. Sun sets behind these looming red walls around 4:30 p.m., and by 7 p.m., when we sit down for a meal that far exceeds the basic campfire basics, it’s already dark.

Following each morning’s hearty camp breakfast and before heading out for the day’s guided hike, climb or nature walk, “Doctor Jump” administers to cuts and blisters, and there are plenty of them all around. Over the last three years, Jump has spent the equivalent of a year inside these steep walls, and has developed a special relationship with the Havasupai people. One afternoon he’s arranged for a visit from the tribe’s first female spiritual leader.

A confirmed traditionalist, Pamela Sue, or “Baby Sue” as she is affectionately known, is in traditional dress, and a medicine bag hangs from her waist. Like many of her people she was schooled in California, then returned to Supai Village to live and raise a family. Her calling, she tells us, is to revive some of the tribe’s lost traditions. Things such as hunting venison on the plains, farming crops, and having a shaman heal the sick with prayer and touch. Using a feather to fan the smoke of the smoldering sage brush she holds in her hand, she gives each of us an individual blessing, then ends the ceremony with a soulful flute solo before departing for more pressing tribal duties.

Another afternoon Jump guides us up to Tonto’s Bench, a thick rock formation that rises high from the canyon floor. We think it’s just another hike but soon learn otherwise. Bolstered with words of encouragement from Jump and under his constant eye to safety, we push ourselves to where certain muscles have never gone before. One foot here on a ridge barely big enough for a toe, a stretch to find a hand-hold, then an everything- you’ve-got push with the thigh muscle.

“Find that toe hold and push,” he instructs. Another giant stretch up and we just might make it to the top without tumbling back-wards. I didn’t know my limbs could do this! The effort is worth it. From this lofty perspective the eye falls on a dramatic rocky crevice that snakes across the earth’s surface to the horizon.

Tonto’s Bench turns out to be the appetizer for the more “extreme” outing that includes a climb down and back up the 61 meter (200-foot) Mooney Falls. Jump tells us that he always picks the route to suit the physical capabilities of the individual group, and this one, he says, is for “the fit and fearless.” You’ve heard of the proverbial “slippery slope?” Well this is the real thing.

A crawl though an old miner’s tunnel chipped through the travertine rock, then straight down using thick iron chains and giant spikes imbedded deep into the rock for hand holds. Steep, narrow steps chiseled out of the cliff wall offer foot holds as Mooney showers the scene in a cool white mist making some sections extra slippery. Don’t look down. Lean into the wall. Focus. “We can do this,” I keep telling the adventurer within me. The little pep talk does the trick because we all make it back to camp in one piece.

“When you talk about vacationing outside-the-box,” says Bernie Morton of Whistler here with her husband, “this is it -- unwrapped and wide open.” A little physical challenge stirs the mind and does a body good.

Anne Dimon, editor of www.traveltowellness.com will be hosting two four-day trips into this magical and meditative canyon. For dates and details go to www.traveltowellness.com/pamperedhiker or call Arizona Outback Adventures at 1-866-455-1601 and ask about the Pampered Hiker.