Havasupii Trip

Almost anyone who was related in any way to a Tadje was in on this trip only a few chose to stay home and hold down the fort. It was a blast the hike down was pretty good (remembering that everything is relative, and this is definitely true when related to the hike out). Some of us chose to make it a bit more interesting by climbing a random boulder by the side of the trail, specifically Alex and I (Scott).





We got there, got our packs, set up base camp and were ready for water. We headed to havasu falls (the main falls) and quickly learned how cold the water was but we were strong and overcame it (or maybe we went numb... who knows). We jumped off boulders, swung from rope swings, and waded into the water. We didn't find the 30 ft cliff to jump off of till near the end of the trip due to the fact that it was directly behind the falls, but when we found it we made the most of it. We had to drag ourselves behind the falls with the wall because of the heavy current but just behind the fall there was a ledge to stand on then a ladder to climb up. It was at this point that we discovered that you could spit 'up' because of the insane wind current being generated by the falls crushing down just inches from us. We climbed the ladder (a very tall ladder whose actual height is only known by those who climbed it, but I'll stick with 30 ft), and at the top there is a little alcove to jump from. At first we (Darren and I) just jumped off but then we were shown up by an old geezer AKA my Dad whose insanity drove him to dive off. Whether insanity is contagious or we just couldn't stand to be shown up by someone 50+ years old we soon were diving as well. It was awesome.

We also made it down to Moony falls which is a bit more difficult to do. In order to descend you have to scale the canyon side placing Huge amounts of trust in rusty chains and old wood ladders, but in the end we got multiple 50+ year individuals down including mom, yeah! Here to our demise we found the rope swing that had such a rep, had been hacked off the tree and replaced with a lame makeshift one. There were rumors of another good one farther down the canyon but the only one that had enough energy to get down there was of course the insane Reed, my dad. Some of us tried to find it but didn't get down far enough.

We also made it to Navajo falls which is not as big as the others but was much wider. We explored the little cavern that was was part of it but no one got up enough courage/insanity to copy what a few others were doing which was climbing up a rope found on the right side and working there way up to a ledge just below the very top and throwing themselves off... maybe next time.

Just before we crossed the river to get to Navajo falls a scout told us about a little cave up a bit from there. Turns out it was full of stalactites, plus just before crossing the river to get there was a pretty good little ledge to jump off.

We also explored the abandoned quartzite cave (I think it was quartzite anyway) we found a large youth group there and went in with them. We went a couple of levels down using some rope but largely hands and knees.

The hike out was a grueling one but we all made it out safe and sound.