Havasupai - Moody Beaver

Are you ready for another round of pictures?

Because our second day in Havasupai we partied around the clock!
and took lots of pictures whilst doing so


we woke up when the sun peaked over the walls of the canyon, muscles achy and bellies starving
nothing that a body massage and apple+cinnamon oatmeal couldn't fix
then, we packed a bag with supplies for lunch, fetched a pail of water, and readied our neckties for the long day ahead of us

and maybe goofed around a little...

about a mile (maybe less!) from the campground is another big waterfall called Moody falls

it is easy to get a view like this
but, getting to the bottom of these falls is a trip for the books

at least they warned us!

before getting into serious hiker mode, we had to get some silliness out of our system

ok ok ok - now for the serious part

 the side of the mountain has been molded into a set of stairs - steep stairs

and the stairs are in a fun little tunnel, which is pretty neat

 once you get through the tunnel you get a beautiful view

but from here on out - it gets even steeper

but then you get this! sanctuary!  

and cue the frolicking

 

once we had our fill of Moody Falls, we headed downstream to Beaver
this part of the hike definitely had ups and downs - extreme ups and downs

for the first part of the hike, we were hiking through this beautiful green valley, so that was an up

but see how the shade is almost gone? that was a down...

hiking with your sisters made the sun bearable, so that was definitely an up!

but then we decided to split up...melissa and I took the high route and dani, megz, and mama bear decided to follow the river

the route sis and I took was insane, but we followed trail! Or at least we did whenever we could find it. I distinctly remember melissa asking me to remind her at the end of the day how awful that hike was, so that she could decide if it was worth doing again when she comes back with her family. It was hot - like it felt like we were in an oven baking to our death. We were hungry - no starving. And, the trail was cut off in a lot of the places so we didn't know if we were going the right way until we would see yet another partial wooden ladder telling us we had to rock climb over yet another massive cliff. 

And signs like this made it all the more deceiving

 We never knew when we would get there!
So that was how sissy and I were feeling...meanwhile
dani, meg, and mom thought they could make it to Beaver Falls by wading through the river (which is possible - just don't bring anything valuable because it will get soaked)

since these chicas were carrying precious cargo, once the river got too forceful they needed to find a different route
so, instead of backtracking all the way back to the trailhead they decided to literally shimmy up the cliff

can we just take a second and have a round of applause for my mom?!

FINALLY - we made it to Beaver

and we were graced by a truly beautiful site

cue frolic session #2

 

 

 

alas, all good things come to an end, and soon it was time to say bye bye Beaver 

 the hike back was much more bearable - we were in the shade and were full of happiness

we began hiking back to the campground through the river - taking our sweet time and going for a dip whenever we desired

mommy loovvveeedd cooling off and did so at every crossing - it was hilarious

hiking back to camp we found this gem, which we dubbed Little Beaver

 you guessed it, cue frolic session #3

  we had soo so much fun at Little Beaver - it was the perfect size and we had it all to ourselves
i think it's safe to say that this was one of the highlights of the trip, for everyone

 but all good things must come to an end, and quite the prickly pear popped up (literally and figuratively) upon leaving Beaver - all of a sudden I couldn't bend my knee! I have no idea why this happened - it just seized up, and I am still having trouble with it to this day (seriously, we went dancing the other night and after busting my moves I could no longer walk)
Mom graciously gave me her walking stick, and I hobbled the rest of the way back with a straight leg - bending was not an option

meg told me to make a sad face for this picture, but even though it's 'posed', I really was so sad and in so much pain. I wish I could say I was still a happy camper, but...

 at least my mom was ever so cheery as we hiked back up the cliffs at Moody falls
try walking for miles and then climbing a ladder and going up rocky stairs without bending your knee - ok vent session done

thankfully we made it to the top of Moody while there was still some light, but it got dark quickly and we had to walk the rest of the way to camp in the dark

dani went ahead of us to start preparing this delicious curry smorgousborg for dinner - gourmet camping over here! bonnets and all!

and then we all passed out

all in all - this was a great day. Tips for future trips? Hike in the shade, don't believe the signs, hike with people that will still love you even if you turn into a grumpy moody beaver, and have a skip in your step

next up, Navajo Falls and our grand exit!