This page was created by Alison Morgan. The last update was by students at Xavier University.
Havasu Falls
This trip was special. About 20 of my classmates and I had the opportunity of a lifetime to camp out for a few days about ten miles down into the canyon in the middle of March. The ten mile hike down was amazing in itself. Walking on paths made by mules and villagers, as exhausting as it is, is pretty remarkable, and unlike any other hike I’ve ever embarked on. For the first six miles or so, it’s more like hiking through a desert than anything else. It’s incredibly dry, very limited growth and wildlife, and the sun beats down hard on your back as you hike. A little more than halfway down, the canyon becomes deeper and narrower, and we caught our first glimpse of water. A little stream running off to the side of the trail. A small stream, but just big enough to jump in and wade around a little bit, which we all took turns doing. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of jumping in a cool body of water after a long and hard hike on a hot day. About three quarters of the way through the hike you run into a little village called the Supai Village. With very limited electricity and no motorized vehicles, the Havasupai people truly live in harmony with the nature of the Grand Canyon. The village is not accessible by road and car, and on the hike down we would pass mules carrying boxes of mail and other goods. The Havasupai people grow their own produce and raise their own livestock, it’s truly amazing that these people can live so peacefully and efficiently in such a remote place as the Grand Canyon.
The canyon becomes even more beautiful after you pass Supai Village and descend deeper into the canyon, for this is where the waterfalls and streams become abundant. The hike was much more aesthetically appealing during this portion, for the waterfalls and rivers give way to narrower and deeper crevices in the canyon, and allow the color green to flourish. Throughout this part of the hike, we were constantly hopping from rock to rock to cross different streams and wading around in the clear, crystal clear waters of the canyon.
The waterfalls are spectacular as well. When the sun is shining directly on the water as it falls off the cliffs, it gives off a remarkable blue tint in contrast the red colored rocks next to it, and you can see clouds of steam rising in the opposite direction of the water. The most amazing water fall was the famous Havasu Falls, which is the largest waterfall in this part of the canyon at 100 feet. The waterfall has created a large natural pool at its base, where we spent lots of time swimming and hinging out on the banks. Our camping location was extremely close to this waterfall. About a ten minute walk to the top of the waterfall from our campsite, we would walk over at night and sit at the top of the waterfall and listen to it roar as it toppled over the edge of the cliff. This is where we had some of our best moments and made some of our best memories of the trip. There was something about that setting that sparked a pensive and reflective mood in myself and my peers, which led us to have some deep conversations, including one that led me to make my decision to come to Xavier. During those moments, I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else in the world than at the top of that waterfall, with nothing but our words, thoughts, and our surroundings to occupy us. It made me appreciate nature in a more pure way than I ever had before.
Another important aspect of the area of the Grand Canyon we were in was the fact there was little to no signs of pollution. Granted there isn’t an excessive amount of human traffic down there, but nonetheless you would be troubled to find a single piece of trash anywhere down in the canyon. It’s hard to realize how special that really is, but when I compared it to some of the other places I’ve been, it undoubtedly made me appreciate the beauty of the canyon for what it truly is, a setting essentially unaffected by humans. Furthermore, the people that frequent there often, such as the villagers and tour guides, are adamant, almost excessively, about keeping the area free of trash. They were constantly reminding us not only to hang on to our own trash (there are no trashcans on the hiking trails) but to also pick up any other trash we saw lying around. It was easy to tell that they loved and deeply cared about this area, and were passionate about keeping it preserved.
Looking back on this experience now, it pains me to think about how places such as this are becoming more and more scarce in our world. For myself and so many others, places such as these serve as a sort of sanctuary, a place to think and reflect, and unfortunately they’ve been on the downfall in recent history, but let’s not lose hope quite yet. Should we be angry with previous generations for acceleration this destruction? I don’t think so. They had to make sacrifices to support such a rapidly growing population, and they didn’t have technology to act “green”. Furthermore, they weren’t aware of the damage that they were really doing to the environment at the time. Because of this, I don’t think this is the attitude we ought to take in response to our immediate ecological crisis. Being in that canyon didn’t give me the sensation of hopelessness. In fact, it did just the opposite. Even though places like the Grand Canyon have become rarer, some have managed to stay, in a sense, perfect, because people fight to keep it that way. The green movement picks up momentum every day, and technology is being developed on a rapidly increasing exponential curve. People are becoming more aware of the real issues we face in regard to our environment, and at the same time are becoming more motivated to actually be the change we need to see. For me, my experience in the Grand Canyon gives me that motivation, inspiration, and hope, and I think others can find that same drive in similar experiences of their own.
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