Stats, trail tips and important information regarding this trail are located at the bottom of the blog post. Unless explicitly noted, all pictures in this blog are owned by me and should otherwise not be used without expressed written consent.

…in a sense, I was indebted to their gods for this greatest adventure of my life. The Indians’ well-being depended on the god-spirits, so they had refused to leave the canyon. When the Indian Office considered establishing a school for the Havasupai children, pressure was brought to induce the Indians to move to the plateau. It would be simpler for them to move out of the canyon than for the government to freight equipment for the school across the desert and down the precipitous trail. But the Indians became bewildered and frightened. “If we leave our gods, we die!” they cried. So the school came down to them.

People of the Blue Water by Flora Gregg Iliff

If you’ve arrived here, you’re likely considering hiking in the Havasupai Reservation. Here, I will tell you about my experiences including tips on how to properly prepare for the adventure. For adventure-seekers and avid hikers alike, you’ve seen the beautiful pictures of the waterfalls in this place. It is an enormously special and significant place. It is strikingly beautiful to its visitors, as Flora Gregg Iliff describes in her book. It is holy land to its inhabitants, those who have lived here for a millennium – and  still live in the Village of Supai and nearby. It is soberingly but properly inaccessible. It is dangerous and often without immediately available support if something goes wrong.

We completed this hike in May 2026. It is now October 2026. What took so long? Well, I wanted to read the above book, People of the Blue Water. I had a desire to gain a deeper understanding of the significance of this land to its inhabitants, the Havasupai Tribe, before writing this blogpost. It will be longer than other blogposts on Hiking Bucket List as a result.

This hike is one of the most logistically interesting hikes I’ve ever completed. If you’re hiking in without a mule, you’ll need to be picky about weight. If you rent a mule, you still have to consider how to pack properly and to keep it comfortable for the mule. You’ll hear frequent debates on online forums and social media about what type of shoes to wear into Havasupai. These are all interesting discussions. You will see my packing list at the end of this article as well as some tips. Because we rented a mule, we ended up investing in new camping pillows and a new camping pad. It was well worth the investment.

We landed in Scottsdale (AZ) from Austin (TX). We grabbed our Turo, stayed the night in a hotel and stopped at Just Roughin’ It Adventure Company before making the easy journey to the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn. Just Roughin’ It is a small store but had some curated items that we loved, including a moisture-wicking breathable hoodie. Highly recommend! We then drove up to Seligman and ate at Westside Lilo’s Cafe. We were initially lured in by the nostalgic look of a nearby restaurant, but Lilo’s DID NOT disappoint. The food there is amazing. Health food it is not; delicious is certainly is. 🙂 More on that later.

The Havasupai Tribe purchased the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn several years ago. Now, it is a convenient place to stay the night before going to Havasupai. The registration office is near the hotel lobby. Because it closes at 5:00 PM, you will need to go there the day before your hike unless you want to get a very late (and, depending on the season, potentially dangerous) start to your hike. We checked into the hotel then completed our registration. The staff at the registration desk and hotel front desk were kind. There is a small convenience store in the lobby, which came in handy to grab some last minute supplies.

We took a walk around the property of the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn which was a surprisingly eclectic mix of classic Americana. An old gas station is part of the property, as shown by the rustic gas pump here…

There are several old, non-functioning fire trucks at the front of the property. Do I look like a fireman?…

There are a handful of cheezy-looking dinosaurs in front of the hotel. We enjoyed checking those out…

It was quite windy and some of the dinosaurs seemingly came to life. 🙂 …

With the classic Americana dinosaurs, I had to find a creative name for this dinosaur so I named it a Mrrrrcccasaur.

As you may suspect, this deserty region has quite a few tumbleweeds. Jason picked one up and tried to look like Don King. It didn’t work. haha But it made for a cool picture.

We watched the sun go down at the hotel and it looked surprisingly beautiful….

We had planned to wake up around 2:00 AM so we were in bed early. We knew we had weight limits to each pack that would be on the mule so we bought four gym bags and equally distributed the weight (below 30 lbs a piece) as best we could. We woke up, packed our stuff and was on the road by 3:00 AM.

If you’ve done your research, you’ll know the drive on Indian Road 18 in the middle of the night can be quite treacherous. Here is what it looks like…

And yes, it is absolutely pitch black otherwise. These are some of the darkest skies you will ever see. We drove below the speed limit and it took a little over an hour to get the Hualapai Hilltop. After returning, I read from other visitors around the same time (even the same arrival day) that they were dodging cows, deer and a huge, dangerous pothole. In fact, one group who left the same evening we did ended up having a flat tire from said pothole. They had to wait, get a tow truck from a nearby town and drive back in. Obviously, that’s a huge inconvenience because the area is so remote. It’s worth it to exercise caution driving in. The actual speed limit is not safe in the middle of the night.

We arrived at Hualapai Hilltop around 4:15 AM and luckily found a perfect parking spot near the restrooms. We dropped our bags off for the mules – the first ones to do so – and then we started the big journey. When you begin this hike, the “epic journey” vibes are as strong as you will ever feel. It makes you feel so alive. The trail immediately begins with steep (but not so treacherous) switchbacks. This picture was taken near the top at one of the first two switchbacks…

As you can tell, a handful of people began before us. The headlamp spots and tiny human dots in them, along with the trail pattern, created an extremely cool picture effect. Oddly, this ended up being one of my favorite pictures of the trip. If you’d like a view of what the switchbacks look like, here’s a picture of, frankly, one of the less steep sections…

Once you’re out of the switchbacks, there’s a gradual ascent (and it does not feel like such hiking BACK) until you eventually enter the canyon. From here, the hike is quite flat for most of the way. The sun starts to peak through and creates an amazing color contrast with the canyon walls…

The next several miles look like the next two pictures: flat, surrounded by canyon walls, with quite a bit of rock scree and boulders around. Here’s Jason posing for a picture a few miles in…

And here is a pic of me in roughly the same spot…

We met a handful of hikers along the way, coming and going. In some places, the foliage is quite dense. Jason took this picture and the canyon color contrast, along with the accompanying foliage, is simply stunning. People go here to take pictures of the waterfalls. It’s a disservice to not soak in the beauty of the canyon along the way.

As the canyon-walled part of the hike ends, you’ll see much taller canyon walls as the inner canyon flat terrain widens…

As you get to about 2/3rds the way through the hike, you’ll start to see the first signs of running water!

Frankly, there is a small pool in the canyon before you get to this spot, but this is right past where the first running water of Havasu Creek begins. You’ll cross over a couple of bridges and around mile 8 you will enter the Village of Supai.

No pictures of Supai, you’re wondering? There are ordinances that don’t allow visitors to take photos in the Village of Supai, or of the dogs or the mules. We’re visiting these people’s sacred land so, despite some debate on the treatment of the latter, we definitely wanted to respect their rules. After all, they’re offering us the opportunity to visit their land. Why not respect their rules?

The town is a mixture of nicer municipal buildings (church, school, store) and structurally questionable homes. Many homes have gardens and most people who live there seem to have mules. After reading People of the Blue Water, I understand that their culture is simply different than white people’s culture and that’s reflected in the way they live. They seem to prioritize the land and adjoining spirituality over physical possessions. A local was walking by us as we were towards the other end of Supai. He told us “indica this way”. Haha It took us a second to realize what he said but we politely said ‘No’. I guess he is the Supai dispensary? 😂

The trail between the Village of Supai and the Havasupai Campground is quite hillier than the majority of the hike. On the way in, it is mostly downhill. As you hike in, you’ll see the river expand and eventually get to Havasu Falls. I’m certain you’ve seen the pictures. Our jaws dropped when we saw how stunningly beautiful it is. You walk down some natural steps as you’re hiking in with the waterfall in full view. I’ll suspend disbelief to later in the blogpost. We took plenty of pictures later.

We then hiked into the campground which is about a mile long and includes three bathrooms. Past the first bathroom, you see this stunningly beautiful little spot…

There are open campsites right by this spot. If privacy isn’t something you prioritize, it looked like an amazing spot. We saw some ducks in the water and it simply did not like real…holy crap…

It takes a second to realize what you’re seeing here, right? The water combined with the white sediment at the bottom create this amazing, Glacier Freeze-like color. It is simply stunning.

Generally speaking, we noticed that the further you hike through the campground, the more likely you are to snag a campsite. This makes sense. Most people are relatively exhausted and become less picky about where they camp. We hiked all the way past the third bathroom, close to Mooney Falls, and the spot we found was very quaint. This general area has some beautiful shelved waterfalls and a couple of smaller tributaries you can camp around. This bridge is how you get to several of the campsites…

Pretty damned cool, huh!?! We crossed this bridge many, many times while at Havasupai. Let me give you a walkthrough…

We ended up staying across this bridge all three nights. BUT… we camped in three different locations. The first night was a quaint indentation in the ground, under a tree next to a tributary with foliage around it. Not the most scenic spot but it was comfortable! The next morning, our neighbors informed us that some people had left down the way. We scoped out a better campsite, with more space and closer to the larger tributary, and moved our entire tent. Watch the video below for my tips, but there is generally a sweet spot to move campsites. Most people hike out of the campgrounds by 6:00 AM and very few people hiking in make it to the campground before 9:00 AM. So between those times, it is the ideal time to go search for a campsite upgrade. We did and lucked out. Here is my campsite strategy…

The picture below is our first campsite and me drinking my first cup of coffee…

And THIS… is our campsite on the third night. It was absolutely perfect and, for the first time on the trip, we had a picnic table at our campsite. You’ll see our second night’s campsite in the video above.

What happened in between those days, you ask? Well, WE HIKED THE CONFLUENCE. That’s another blogpost I’ll write after this one (it will be linked later). We explored the campgrounds quite a bit and there were other little “bridges” that looked dicier…

Our bags were expected to arrive via mule by 5:00 PM. That did not happen. So us and multiple other groups waited until around 6:00 PM to get our bags. The park ranger, who is also a tribal member, said that the person transporting our bags got drunk, parked his mule at his house and passed out. So our mule bags were left on the mule. Someone else had to grab them to complete the delivery. I’m not sure if he was yanking our chain, but it was a very interesting story. Thankfully there are a handful of wheelbarrows you can use if you’re camping closer to Mooney Falls.

Before we grabbed our bags, while we were on the other side of the campground, that was when we first spent some time swimming and taking pictures of Havasu Falls.

I’ve decided to aggregate all of my amazing photos of Havasu Falls in one spot. We visited Havasu Falls twice while we were there. We visited it on the first day and swam. We also visited it on day 3 after the Confluence hike. We ended up walking to the Village of Supai, grabbing some snacks, hoped to catch the fry bread stand open (it was never open 😕) and visited Havasu Falls a second time.

Luckily, we had plenty of time to take pictures and videos without human beings in them. It was such a blessing. As you’re hiking into the park, this is the view of Havasu Falls you will see…

Here’s a picture of Jason right in front of the stunning Havasu Falls…

I set up my tripod when the crowds were thin and took this picture. WOW! Just absolutely stunning…

The crowds weren’t too crazy during this visit, but manageable! Still a pleasant experience. A huge group of kids showed up shortly after and we sensed that was our queue to leave. 🙂 They were friendly, though.

We took a light dip in the water. It was cold but man was it refreshing. We decided to take a time-lapsed video as well as a good pic pulled from the time-lapsed video…

Another absolutely stunning picture of Havasu Falls from the hiking-in perspective…

Perhaps my favorite picture I took of Havasu Falls. Quite honestly, one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen. I’ve seen many, many waterfalls in my lifetime.

Another picture of Havasu Falls during a luckily not-busy time. Looks like Gatorade Glacier Freeze, doesn’t it? 🙂

As mentioned previously, we did some exploring the day after the Confluence hike. Below is the trail in between Havasu Falls and the Village of Supai. From the campground to the village, it’s a pretty consistent incline. On hotter days, I would suspect it would be a tough beginning to your journey hiking out later.

Here’s me stopping at Havasu Creek in between the campground and Supai. The Brita filtering water bottles were super helpful and I would highly recommend them for the Confluence hike.

We walked around towards the area above Havasu Falls and caught a glimpse of the water. The greenery in between the canyon is close to where the campground begins.

What you’ll notice in this blog post is that there are few pictures of Mooney Falls. Yes, people who do not hike The Confluence when they visit Havasupai will almost certainly visit (and climb down to) Mooney Falls. I’ve elected to show just the campground areas near Mooney Falls and reserve the Mooney Falls pictures/videos for The Confluence blogpost. Below is the very, very top of Mooney Falls. There are a few “pots” (if using the hot springs terminology) directly next to where the water cascades 200 feet over the canyon wall. Here’s a picture of Jason in one of those pots…

Pretty cool, huh? Some would say this is a dangerous thing to do. It pretty much is! But the pot behind it is LITERALLY right by the top of the waterfall. That was one spot I didn’t care to explore. It’s you-fall-you-die zone. Here’s a video of what the top of Mooney Falls looks like from the end of the campground…

After we visited this spot, a woman came in behind us and dipped into the pot directly next to the top of the waterfall. She asked us to take some pictures of her and she kept leaning over the pot towards the waterfall. She’s crazy; no thanks! But I’m sure they made for some cool pictures.

Another video of the tip top of Mooney Falls…

You can actually camp within 30-40 feet of this spot. What an amazing camping spot! I’m sure those nearby slept well.

We woke up around 3:00 and began our journey back.

We took a handful of beautiful pictures from the opposite perspective on the way back. This lone tree greeting us along with the red-black curvature of the canyon wall was super cool…

We reached the ascent at the end of the hike around 8:15 AM. It was already feeling relatively hot but thankfully we were well-prepared. This is the gradual ascent before the crazy switchbacks that take you all the way to the top…

Once we got to the top, just past 9:00 AM, it was amazingly gratifying seeing the canyon one last time before waiting for our bags…

And it’s the perfect time to take a self-pic too…

Of course, I always like to take a picture of the trailhead. I would’ve shuffled this one to the top and pretended like it was taken at the start of the hike – but who would I be fooling? Our hike in was in the middle of the night. 😂 But here is the trailhead…

Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait for our bags long and we were headed back to Scottsdale. We stopped back by Westside Lilo’s and had a well-deserved cheat meal. The food was absolutely delicious just like the first time we visited. The waiters we had were also very kind. I would highly recommend visiting if you’re ever in Seligman.

…and HIGHLY recommend the French dip…

Because this was Jason’s birthday trip, I booked a nice room at the Hotel Valley Ho for one night before our flight departed back to Austin. It was so relaxing and the patio was just right…

A spacious room at the mid-century modern Hotel Valley Ho. We absolutely loved our stay here and the lobby is something you have to check out. We loved the architecture of this place. It has been lovingly preserved over the years.

Took Jason to a formal birthday meal at Hai Noon and we were not disappointed. It was absolutely delicious. When I was preparing this blog, I noticed that the place is now permanently closed. 🙁 So much for giving my readers a restaurant recommendation!

We woke up early the next morning, walked to a nearby coffee shop and had coffee on the patio. It was so peaceful and a perfect ending to our trip. We returned our Turo that day and flew back to Austin. This is an experience we will never forget.

Morning Coffee on the Patio

As far as the book The People of the Blue Water, I would highly recommend reading it so you can gain a deeper appreciation of the Havasupai culture. It is a truly fascinating read.

I promised you a list of items we packed so here it is. Keep in mind, as mentioned in the beginning of this blogpost, if you’re not using mules you will need to strategize differently. In essence, it is similar to planning a camping trip compared to an overnight backpacking trip. Also, if we didn’t plan to hike the Confluence, we probably would have worn hiking shoes instead of waterproof Tevas. But either way, using them felt like a solid move.

I will leave you with a bonus video. This is the serene sound of Havasu Falls that was shot on my tripod. The same day we were blessed with light traffic at the falls. Feel free to fall asleep to this. ♥️

Total Distance/Time: 21.6 miles in 10 hrs 31 min
Calories Burned: 5,937
Trail Type: Out-and-back, multi-day
Trail Features: Canyon, rock, dessert foliage, switchbacks, village, waterfalls, campground, creek, lizards
Best Time to Hike: Mar-May
Difficulty Rating: 8.5/10
Trailhead Coordinates: 36.159306, -112.709288
Trail Tips (phew, here goes)…

• Shoes: You’ll read much debate about what you should wear for footing. It’s a somewhat unique hike. I ended up buying Keen’s Men’s Newport H2 Closed Toe Water Sandals and they performed excellently for this hike and The Confluence. Jason chose the Ecco Men’s Yucatan Outdoor Hiking Sandal and he was very satisfied with those as well. Hiking shoes are probably fine for this hike given there are no creek crossings.
• Accommodations: We stayed at the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn. It was a comfy motel and it’s about as close as you can get to Hualapai Trailhead. This is also where you can register, which was pretty effortless.
• Campsite: If you begin your hike-in early, you should arrive to the campground around 7:00-10:00 AM. Depending on how busy the campground is, you’ll have a better selection of campsites. We left around 4:00 and reached the campground after 9:00 AM. Unfortunately, there were not a ton of sites available. But as you can see in our blogpost, we moved to a better spot every night. In our experience, there are more sites available the further you walk towards Mooney Falls.
• Timing: You’ll want to leave the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn by 2:00-3:00 AM in May. If it’s hotter, perhaps a little sooner? First, it does get quite hot in Havasupai. But also, the later you leave the less options you have for campsites. For hiking out of the campground, I would also recommend leaving very early. In May, we hiked out around 3:30 AM then arrived at Hualapai Hilltop right at 9:00. AM. It was just starting to get hot and the sun was beating down on the switchbacks heading up to Hualapai hilltop. I suspect hiking in the middle of the summer, you would want to leave sooner. We did not have any concerns with getting heat stroke. So that was a sweet spot for May. Adjust accordingly depending on the season.
• Mules: The mule debate online is real, too. Some refuse to use them because there has been indications of mistreatment in the past. We used a mule and they all looked well-treated to us. I won’t judge whatever decision you make. If you do, just know that each pack cannot exceed 30 lbs and you’ll want to pad your pack so that sharp objects don’t hurt the mule.
• Moleskin: Bring moleskin! It comes in handy if you get a blister on your feet. This place is pretty your-on-your-ownish. There are helicopters to get out if you can’t hike out but, from how I understand it, the locals are prioritized first.
• Cheat Meal: If you did this hike, you deserve a cheat meal, right? There’s a diner in Seligman called Westside Lilo’s Cafe. The food there is delicious and the service is great. They were so d*mned nice! Highly recommend the French Dip!
• Cliff Jumping: Let me state first – I love to cliff jump. I’ve done it on Lake Travis (Austin), near St. John (USVI), the Ouiska Chitto (Louisiana) and several other places. But at Havasupai, first there are rules against it. I am not always a rule follower, I admit. But these people have allowed us to access their sacred land and I feel it’s the best move to be respectful of their wishes. Also, the tribe makes it quite clear that you are on your own if you get seriously injured. You are in a very remote area. So if you get injured in a fall, you may not get help for a long time. For those reasons, I would recommend not cliff jumping here. We saw a few guys cliff jump from Havasu Falls. I won’t lie, it looked thrilling. But we elected not to do it for those reasons.