Monday, June 14, 2010

Costa Rica & Havasu Falls

From time to time, club members send me pictures of their travels. Cory wanted us to see that she really did rappel down a 114 foot waterfall in Costa Rica! You go girl!


Meanwhile, Keith and his wife, Sue, took the trip to Havasu Falls at the Grand Canyon which is located on an Indian Reservation. The Indians (er, native Americans) control this area of the canyon and the trip down to the falls and campground is, apparently, quite an adventure.

It is an eight to nine mile hike one way down into the canyon and you have to carry your camping equipment or pay for a mule to carry it for you. The first part of the hike seems very similar to what we experienced while hiking to Phantom Ranch. Then you have to camp in a tent for the duration of your stay at the falls area.

The route down from the campground to the falls seems to be quite an adventure ... to say the least. These pictures show that it involves chains, step ladders and iron ladders which are attached to the canyon wall. Those native Americans sure know how to make things exciting!

Never- theless, the end game seems to be extremely rewarding as the water in this part of the canyon is a beautiful light turquoise blue in color. Although this area was flooded a couple of years ago by a flash flood that trapped about thirty hikers and permanently changed the appearance of what used to be twin falls, the area has been restored and is still quite beautiful.

Keith is very excited about his trip and is willing to set up a similar trip for the club. You might want to think seriously about this one, folks! It would be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

So, Keith. What happens at the end of the ladder? Do you jump???







1 comment:

Tyrone Tucker said...

Amazing photographs of the falls! I just did a blog not too long ago with a commercial video link of them, but nothing compares to actually seeing them first hand! If your interested in other areas of Arizona please feel free to check out my blog site "Hot In Arizona" as I will be writing many blogs about our beautiful parks & hiking trails.