There's a Place

Basically, you walk around this place with no pants...its very acceptable
lunch- and a bit of down time at our camp picnic table
Julie, first day in (not to camp yet) This was the first waterfall we saw
those guys up at the top are about to jump off into the water- fun stuff

There is a path in there somewhere, cause we crossed through this


Ok, so I know I've taken a "break" from the blog- but I'm back. I wanted to post about my Havasupai trip last month, but I haven't gotten a hold of Sarah's pictures yet. You see, my camera was stupid the whole time and for some reason takes blurry pics. So I am only posting a few of the ones that turned out (hardly any of me) and I will post more later. First off, this place was an absolute surprise! A little paradise hidden in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We started hiking down around 4 or 5am. It took about 4 and a half hours. It wasn't too bad until the sun started coming up! Then it got a bit toasty with our packs on. Our party consisted of Julie, Sarah, and I...and two friends and a bunch of their friends joined us later at the bottom. Once we got there and set up our little camp (which consisted of two tarps- one on bottom, one on top, and a floaty raft for each of us) we got to take a nap. Aahh. Then, the rest from there was pretty much hiking, swimming, climbing- and occasionally eating. The whole place reminded me of somewhere you hope to find while playing in the backyard as a kid....the water was literally the color of Blue Hudini Kool aide, there were lizards everywhere, and all sorts of hidden paths and trails through jungle-like terrain. (Obviously, I was a tom boy as a kid.) I'll try to post more pics later- but the highlights of the trip were:
*Finding a cool water cave underneath a waterfall- ( kinda scary to swim to. Googles were a must)
*Hiking over an hour back into the "town" (the indian res) our third day there just to get some COLD sodas, and some crappy diner food- so worth it!
*Seeing the breathtaking waterfalls
*Playing card games one night- lots of bugs, lots of fun
*Spending all day 5 days with Julie and Sarah- lots of laughs
*Hiking out of the grand canyon the last day in...flip flops. Yup, my blisters were too bad for shoes. It was pretty comfy, and I was proud of my accomplishment.
*Hot warm weather- and basically being in water the whole time
*Huge rope swings


Some of the not-so-fun highlights:
*Getting cactus in my thigh...and not even noticing til the next day- gross.
*Nasty port a potties
*Somehow losing my balance and falling into the river we had to cross (multiple times a day) to get out of our camp- actually this was funny. I had just woken up and obviously didn't have my balance yet. I awkwardly lost my balance enough to fall in up to my neck- I got my clothes and my little backpack wet (annoying.) Sarah and Julie had a good laugh at it....the water is only about crotch-deep. I'm still baffled about how it happened.
*So many blisters and cuts on feet- my flip flops became my best friends
*Waking up SO sore from the day before's hikes that I couldn't straighten my legs for at least 5 minutes....only way to cure it- HIKE MORE

This trip was a lot of fun, and a lot of work- pretty physically demanding. Mostly cause we just went from place to place and never took a break. But it was all beautiful. I even think my mom would agree on that. (she's not a desert fan.) Overall, a way fun adventure. I felt like I needed a few days off work after hiking so much to recuperate- but of course, I started work six hours after arriving home.