Heaven on Earth

Try to imagine red canyon walls, turquoise waterfalls, and dark caverns combined into one place. It may be unimaginable but this place exists and Ryan and I agree it is the most amazing place we’ve ever been on the road trip. Still don’t believe such a place could exist? We have photo evidence to prove it.

Havasu Creek gets its blue-green color from the high iron content in the water, which also causes the cave formations and tiered waterfalls along the creek’s meandering route. As far as we could tell, Havasu Creek is spring fed, which is why the color is kept so pure, even though the red sediment of the canyon walls typically causes the water in other canyons to flow dirty brown. Havasu Creek flows down the canyon it has eroded through flooding all the way to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and while not as impressive as the Grand Canyon, the creek’s canyon still boasts high red and white canyon walls and is considered a part of the larger Grand Canyon system.

The oasis that is this incredible place was first inhabited, and remains inhabited, by the Havasupai tribe, which means “people of the blue-green water.” Their community is only accessible by either helicopter or the same trail Ryan and I hiked to reach the camp, ten miles one way down a dry canyon to the oasis fed by Havasu. The Havasupai’s economy is based on tourism, and they milk their little paradise for what it’s worth. Camping ended up costing over $80 a night. But we couldn’t have spent our money better.

The water is the perfect temperature, cool like an outdoor swimming pool and the perfect refreshment from the Arizona sun. We camped right by the clear water and walked to the various falls and pools enticing us to swim.

There was Havasu Falls, which while not the biggest, shows off the canyon and color of the water best.

The biggest, but slightly less scenic was Mooney Falls, which boasted by far the coolest hike to its blue pools. Check this route out:

Descend into a cave...

Then head down these crazy stone stairs...

And finish up with the ladders!

Once at the falls, we found a lovely picnic table situated in the water, plus a rope swing attached to an overhanging tree, which provided for quite some hilarity. (If video below does not load, click here.)

The first falls along the trail were called the Lil’ Navajo falls.

These falls were where we first tried out the water, grinning and splashing as we edged around the pool and wandered behind the falls. They were about 30 feet high and so it was quite a surprise when we noticed a man on top of the falls, inching towards the edge. Sure enough, he leaped and plunged into the blue green water, popping up a bit later downstream. Ryan looked at me. “No way,” I said vehemently, but I knew there would be no deterring him. And so this happened… (if video does not load, click here).

Ryan said it was one of the greatest thrills he’d ever experienced, and he was still shaking when he hiked up to me on the embankment. I just stuck to the three footers.

On the way back up the canyon to our car, Ryan and I both agreed we would have to go back. Hands down. We were bummed to leave as it was, but fortunately we had a friend following us along the trail too, a beautiful pure-bred looking German Shepherd who we assumed was one of the stray dogs of the village. He was probably about 6-8 months old and was finding all sorts of entertainment in treating my trekking poles like sticks to play with. Ryan threw rocks for him and he looked at us with beautiful golden eyes, head cocked while we ate lunch. Before we knew it, Ryan and I were conspiring about what to do should he happen to jump into our car. No, we were never going to force him, but if he wanted to come, how could we say no?

Havasu, (yes we named him, duh), decided for us, by taking the food we gave him and then eagerly

joining another party heading down the canyon. Pssshhh. Such a player. But that’s the story of how we almost adopted our first dog.

Overall, that day spent swimming in the pristine pools of the jungle oasis down in the Grand Canyon has been the best so far of the trip, and easily a day we’ll never forget. It’s the most mind blowing, gorgeous scenery we’ve experienced and writing about it here is just not good enough. Nor are the pictures. If you’re reading this, put it on your bucket list, and GO. That’s the only way you can really experience heaven on earth.