Northpoint Young Mens Excursion to Havasupai according to my recollection...

 

We planned to leave at 3:00 PM on Wednesday. We didn’t leave until after 3:30 and I wanted to make sure that I got my pack into Bro Murdock’s trunk instead of in the back of a truck. 10 minutes after we left the downpour started. We stopped at Inn-and-Out in Prescott. 

 

When we got to the trailhead, we had planned to sleep until 4 AM and then hike in while it was still cool. Throughout the trip, I felt like we weren’t really ‘leaders’, but more like just the drivers, as the boys seemed to do their own thing regardless of our plans and admonitions. The boys refused to bed down for the night and threw on their packs and headed down to the trailhead. After a couple hours, eventually the leaders got worn down trying to harness the boys and we headed down the trail around 12:20 AM or so, under the one condition that we stay together. We headed down the trail and the boys took off, never to be seen again until the village where they crashed. As the leaders, we moved along at a pretty good clip and never stopped. My group of leaders made it to the bottom of the switchbacks in 30 minutes, to the stream tributary around 2 hours, 15 minutes, and to the village lawn by 2 hours, 40 minutes.

 

We crashed on the lawn of the village store. I slept from about 3:00 AM to 4:30 AM…but that was all with all the distractions around, including the cats, dogs, roosters, horses, and wandering Indian women. When the boys awoke, they likely woke the rest of the village. We plodded along to the campgrounds and started setting up camp. The boys put down their packs and headed off to do their own thing for the day. As the leaders, we took our time and enjoyed the morning, setting up camp, eating, taking a nap, and then headed off for some fun. Thursday was a picture-perfect Havasupai day filled with swimming, hiking, rope swings, waterfalls, blue-green water, sleeping, and eating. We went to the rope swing, up to Havasu falls, up to Navajo falls, and then back to camp. The boys, with their marathon of running to and fro, eventually crashed for the rest of the day. The weather was fantastic on Thursday, nice and cool with the monsoon clouds rolling in and threatening, but never hampering us.

 

Friday morning I awoke to an Indian telling our camp to clear out and head to higher ground because a flash flood was coming. We migrated to higher ground and less than 30 minutes later, my tent site was underwater. Then came the muddy waters and our blue-green water paradise vanished. We mulled about the rest of the day, filling our time with catching lizards and watching the flood. We attempted to nap, but the heat made it difficult and we weren’t particular anxious to play in the floodwaters. We eventually relented and went in to cool off. Meanwhile, Bro Jenkins had decided to take the helicopter out and hurried to make the 1:00 PM deadline. He flew out at 1:45 PM and it took about 4 minutes for him to get out of the canyon. The boys didn’t feel like hanging around any more and most of them took off to stop in the village before heading out of the canyon. The rest of us stayed and enjoyed the canyon and headed out in the evening as the wind was picking up. The tourist office caught us on the way out and advised us not to attempt to hike out because of possible flash floods. The thought of hanging around for another night wasn’t too appealing, especially when half of our group was already at the top. The rain, wind, and lightning was already picking up, and if we had really thought through the dangers and responsibilities, we probably would have camped on the helicopter landing area as the office recommended. We decided to huff it out and brave the rain and storms. We made it from camp to the store in 55 minutes, to the 6 mile remaining mark in 1:15. We huffed it up the canyon in the coming darkness. By the time we made it out of the narrows, darkness has set in and the rain was steady. We made it to the switchbacks from camp in about 3 hours. At that point, we broke up and headed up at our own pace. I donned my headlamp and settled into a mode of going a ways, pausing, then heading up. We caught quite a few people on their way out. I made it to the top 4 hours and 10 minutes after leaving camp and I was very glad to be done and get out of the pouring rain. I was tired, but doing ok, and glad to be done. We had planned to camp at the top and head out in the morning, but due to the weather, we decided to take off. Of course, the drivers of the other cars were well-rested and ready to roll. Bro Murdock was on the border of crashing and burning when he got to the top, but he managed to drive us to Chino valley.   I took over the wheel a little before 1 AM and went the distance until a little after 3 AM when we finally dropped off the boys at home. Eating sunflower seeds constantly and listening to the radio kept me alive and awake. I was amazed that I still had it in me, since I hadn’t slept or rested since 7:30 AM that morning when I had to roll out of bed to escape the flood waters…and having stayed up until 1:30 AM the previous night and 3:00 AM the night before…with 11 miles down the canyon, and 11 miles out in the rain.

 

All in all, it was an awesome trip. We got the full Havasupai experience…from the hike in, to the picturesque beauty of the canyon, to the flash flood, the muddy waters, and huffing it out of the canyon. The previous time I had been down to Havasupai was in 1998, when we subjected ourselves to the heat of the day in hiking in and out. The natives seemed much friendlier this time around. My pack was about 40 pounds hiking in and probably around 35 hiking out. It’s hard to forego some of the camp comforts, including tent, mattress, stove, etc. I suppose I could have been in the 20-30 lb range if I had wanted to like most of the boys. Another great trip under the belt, complete with great pictures and video to secure the memories…and I look forward to the day when I will return to the blue-green waters (hopefully not during monsoon season) and hopefully eventually bring my family down there to enjoy the oasis.

 

In attendance:

Vincent Greco, Nick Taylor, Neal Johnson, Jordan Sunderhaus, David Hunt, Durk Chesley, Kris Larson

Mike Jenkins, Joseph Murdock, Lonnie Larson, Chris Johnson, Dwayne Rogers, William Patchett