We Can Do Hard Things: Hiking Havasupai

We've talked as a family about doing this trip for quite awhile now.  Thirty+ miles in 3 days.  Rob and I both understood that this wasn't something we were doing for ourselves; it was something we were doing so our family could have the experience.  We could have spent less time, money, and effort, and just done a fun or relaxing trip--but we purposefully chose this.  And it couldn't have gone more perfectly.  (Not easily or smoothly, but perfectly.)  It provided just the right set of circumstances for us to learn more about working together, accomplishing difficult things, tender mercies, and exercising faith.  I truly believe that when parents are united in a common goal for the benefit of the family, events unfold in exactly the right ways.


  

Tues. night--packing up to go.  Uggghhhhh!
We headed out mid-day Wed. (7/10) so we could be ready to hike down first-thing Thursday morning.

In Flagstaff, looking for a post office to mail Ashlee a letter on our way.  Every road leading to the post office was closed.  Twenty-five minutes later we finally found another post office and drove in just as the mailman closed up for the day.  Uggghhh...  But that's how much we love our Ash-lash!  Oh, well--so she got it a day later than we hoped.  We tried!!!

Singing the Cup Song on the drive in the motorhome.

We got to the top Wed. evening, where we would park for the night and sleep in the motorhome, and then get up and leave early the next morning.  We ate some taco soup and called it a night.
Thursday we got up, made sure we had everything we needed in our packs, and got started.

All ready to go!

Here goes nothin'!

A little way down the trail.

I loved the way Rob and Kaybree would hold hands sometimes.

A few miles into the hike we came upon this little horse.  A mule train happened to be passing and we thought the little horse was with them, but when they went on we realized otherwise.  Look at him next to that dog--so tiny!!

We looked up on the side of the hill and realized his mama was up there.  She was so thin and malnourished, and we were pretty sure she had just had him in the last 24 hours.  We also wondered how they got separated...  Poor things!

The kids loved petting the little horse.

A little heart-shaped hole in a rock.

Peek-a-boo!  Too bad you couldn't see all the way through...

The "rock rock."  We each added our own on the hike out.

Interesting and sad find on the way in.

Stopping for a rest.

The kids thought this mountain looked like stacked blocks.

One of the many mule trains we shared the trail with.  It was a little scary sometimes, especially if they were running.  We couldn't always hear them coming until they got close, since our steps were noisy too.  I don't think it would have bothered the mules at all to just walk--or run--right over the top of us!

More hand-holding.  Melts my heart... =)

Nature is so awesome.

Almost to the village!

Beginning of the village.

These funny little beetles had fuzzy red butts.

Woohoo!  8 miles down, now just 3 to go...

We mailed a letter to Ashlee from the Supai Post Office.  I don't know if she'll notice on the envelope where it's from, but it was fun anyway, knowing it would go at least part of the way by mule.

We found out that school in the Supai Village only goes through 8th grade.  Kids who want an education beyond that go to boarding schools back east from Sept.-May.

That's a pink house!

We passed this in the village.  Evidence of children playing, making mud pies.  Love it!!!

Ahhh... Nature.....

Now these are trees with character!

Chase catching a little frog.  They were everywhere!

It was a little unsettling to see this hill of flowers across the way, apparently in memory of those who have died here.

Between the village and camp it started raining.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but we all got DRENCHED!

Holding a baby frog.

And more frogs....

Tiny little one.

Heading into the camping area.  I loved these vines that were growing everywhere--so pretty!

And this is how Chase arrived at camp, 11 miles down--soaking wet, whistling, and happy as could be!

Our perfect little camp spot.

The boys just chillin' after camp was set up.

They say that the more time a woman spends in nature (hiking, gardening, just being outdoors...) the better she feels about herself.  I believe it.  It's just about impossible to spend time in this beautiful world and not be amazed to see God's hand in everything.  And before long you can't help but realize that you and everyone around you are a part of the miracle too...

After we set up camp and had some pbj's, we headed up to play at Havasu Falls (about a mile up from camp.)

Em and Kay getting ready to jump off the little waterfall at Havasu together.

And there they go!

Chase getting ready to jump in with me.

Chase and Emmee taking the plunge!

Rob, Blake, and Spencer going behind Havasu Falls.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous watching them.

They're back there somewhere...

Blake diving out through the Falls.

Popular playplace!

Blake and Spencer getting ready to jump.
The next day when we went back I didn't bring my camera (phone), since it had been such a pain to carry it around in a trash bag to keep the rain off the day before, and since I thought I had all the pics I needed.  So I missed getting a pic of Kaybree cliff-jumping (I think from the spot where Blake is in this pic--about 15-20' high), and the girls going behind the Falls with Rob.  Rob also jumped from the higher spot, which I missed too.  And of course the 2nd day there was no rain while we were there anyway....  Grrrrrrr!

There goes Blake!

There goes Spencer!

Chase learning that it's ok to pee in the water. =)  He just thought it was the most disgusting thing ever, even though we told him everyone does it.  He wanted us to walk back to the bathroom with him, so Rob threatened/chased him down to the water and gave him the 101 on sitting there long enough and swishing around to get it all out of your shorts.

I know what's going through Chase's mind right here:  "I can't believe I'm peeing in the water...."

Mission accomplished!

Then we headed up to Navajo Falls (about 2 miles up from our camp).

On the rocks behind Navajo Falls.

The girls down below while the boys went up top.

Boys getting ready to jump off.  Kaybree wanted to do it too, but Rob said NOPE!

There goes Blake!

And there goes Spencer!

Right after this it started POURING again, so we headed back to camp.

Some burnt trees we saw.  Still so pretty.

Havasu Falls from above, just after the rain.  Already looking muddy.

Watermelon vines we would see occasionally throughout the campground.

Little baby watermelons, about 3" in diameter.

A couple of them hiding underneath.

Time to make dinner...

I personally think Top Ramen is about the least nutritious food around... So we never eat it.  Therefore the kids thought it was such a treat that we were having it for dinner.  Rob heated our water in the jet-boil, and the kids' vacuum-seal bags were their bowls.

After dinner we got ready for bed, knowing it would likely be a miserable night for all.  And it was.  We were expecting rain, so 5 of us tried cramming into our small tent (along with our packs and most of our belongings, to keep them dry).  Blake and Spencer slept in their hammocks, with tarps hung over a clothesline above them to keep dry.  Chase told us his ankle was hurting, but we didn't think much of it.  We were all sore from the hike, so we figured his ankle was no different than the rest of our aches and pains.

The next morning Chase tried to stand up and realized he couldn't put any weight on his right foot without his ankle hurting terribly.  He tried several times to just stand on it, but couldn't even touch it to the ground without pain.  Rob has had ankle problems for years and knew this one was bad news.
We started talking about how we could get Chase out the next day.  Eleven miles is a long way to carry someone--(thank goodness he only weighs 50 lbs.!)--plus we'd also have to redistribute one of the packs and make everyone else carry more.  Rob's pack had holes in the bottom (intentionally, haha!), so at least Chase could put his legs through there...  Wow, this was gonna be fun for all!!!

Chase soaking his ankle.  (The closest thing we had to ice!)

As we were figuring out how to get Chase around for the day, I asked Rob whether we should bring Chase's water shoes just in case his ankle improved.  Chase had already heard all the discussion about putting him in a backpack for the hike out, and he hadn't heard the whole conversation right then to know we were talking about his shoes, so when I said (talking about the shoes), "We could just put 'em in a Walmart bag," Chase said, "NO!!!  I am NOT riding in a Walmart bag!!!  That would just be weird."
Cracked us up!  =)

Rob putting water through the purifier to fill our camelbaks.

Blake helping Chase into a hammock.  The kids were great at helping him get around all day.

When we hiked to the water, the oldest 4 of us traded off carrying him piggyback.

Hiking down to Mooney Falls.  Scary, steep ledge! =/

And back up...

Mooney Falls.  (Yes, that's a man in a red shirt down at the bottom.)  We couldn't get much closer than this, since it involved an 80' climb down very steep steps, holding onto a chain.  Blake and Spencer went down and stayed for a little while, but the rest of us opted out (especially with Chase having to be carried... Impossible!)

After Mooney we had planned to possibly hike down to Beaver, but we asked one of the villagers about going and he advised us not to, since rain was expected soon.  So we went back up to Havasu to play again.

On our way back to camp from Havasu we were met by a villager/worker who told us to get to high ground, that a flood was coming.  He said it was passing through the village right then, so it would be down to our camp before long.  Our camp was one of the lowest, down by Mooney, so we were a little worried about our stuff.  We headed down to gather up the important things, in case the water got too high.

As we gathered our main things, we started thinking maybe it would be easier to just pack up everything and start the hike out then.  We were planning to leave in the morning anyway, and we didn't want to pack/unpack/pack again.

So we went ahead and took down our camp and packed everything up.  It involved some arranging and rearranging, to leave a whole pack open for Chase to ride in.  Our plan was just to get as far as we could and then put our sheets on the ground and sleep.  It couldn't be any worse than our first night's sleep, anyway! ;)

Blake getting Chase situated in the pack.  We teased Chase and asked him if he felt like a baby getting a diaper change. ;)

Giving the pack a try.  Chase looks more sure about this than Blake does...

Ready to hike out before the flood hit harder.

The first big hill out of camp, going past Havasu Falls.

After awhile Blake traded packs with Rob and carried Chase.

We never heard a word of complaint from Blake.  Such a good big brother...

Navajo Falls when we were playing there.

Navajo Falls (from above) with the muddy flood water coming down.  What a difference!

And Havasu Falls with the flood water coming down.  Crazy that that's the same place where we were just playing in the bright blue water a little while earlier!

Doesn't even look like the same place!

A closer shot of Navajo Falls.  Muddddddd!

Kaybree spotted a centipede crossing our path.

As Kaybree and I were bringing up the rear =) coming from camp into the village, we passed this woman who was sitting down under some trees near Navajo Falls.  We smiled and waved as we went by.
A little while later she came walking behind us and called to us.  She had seen the rest of the family go by a few minutes before and so she asked us about our hike.  I told her we had planned to hike out in the morning but had instead decided to just go ahead and hike out then, because of the flood.  She mentioned the LDS Church in the village, and said that we might be able to stay there.  She said that people camp out there sometimes, but she also said that her husband is the 3rd Counselor and has the key to the building.  (We found out that the rest of their branch of 60 is in Peach Springs, and their family are the only active members in Supai.)  Her husband was down warning people about the flood, but would be back later.  (I'm hesitant to mention this, because I don't want to publicize her hospitality and cause them any problems.  I know they can't offer this to everyone who comes through.  But at the same time, this was such a special part of our trip, I have to include it.)  I'm not sure what caused her to decide we were such weary and deserving travelers, but her offer was so kind.
We walked the rest of the way to the village with her, and had such a great chat.  We learned that she has 7 children and 4 grandchildren, that she and her husband have lived in Supai their whole lives (except for his high school years, when he lived in foster homes in San Diego so that he could attend school).  She basically never leaves the village.  She has lived within the same few-mile radius, in a canyon, her entire life.  She told us she had gone down to Navajo Falls to wait for her husband so she could walk home with him, but then she realized he would be later than usual that day, so she headed back.  What a sweet and simple gesture that lets her husband know she enjoys spending time with him; something I'm sure she does regularly.  Sadly, for most of us in our fast-paced world, things like that are a foreign concept.
I'm always happy and sad at the same time when I get to cross paths with someone like this.  It's so neat to instantly feel a connection with them and to find out incredible things about the life they've lived.  But at the same time it's sad to realize what a short time you're actually going to be spending together before you'll be going your separate ways, back to your normal life, and likely never meet again.  Times like this remind me of one of my favorite sayings:  "Friends in the Gospel never meet for the last time."  Carol is a kind and generous woman who I definitely now consider a "friend in the Gospel."  I pray we will have the chance to meet again one day.

The LDS Church building, built in 2004.

We walked to the church, not sure whether we'd just be camping out on the grass or actually going inside.  We were just grateful to be settling down for the night.  (Yes, Rob is braiding Kaybree's hair.) =)

We were only there a little while before Carol's husband, Delbert, came walking up the path.  He opened up the building for us and we all went inside and had a nice talk.  It was inspiring to see their strength as we talked about the Church there, and how few members actually attend with them.  On a given Sunday, sacrament meeting consists of Carol, her husband and their 19 yr old son, any hiker-visitors who happen to stay for church, and a member of the stake or branch who comes in by helicopter to speak.  Delbert talked about "experimenting" when he was 15 years old, to find out for himself whether the Church was true.  He said, "It's all about faith."

So true.

The chapel.

They currently have no functioning Primary organization, since there are no children in the village who attend, and the same with a Youth program.  But they have a small room for each, ready to go, if the opportunity should arise.

We were so grateful for a shower and a washer/dryer.  We didn't want to put our dirty sheets--or selves--on their clean bed!  Of course we hadn't brought laundry soap, though, so we just used our little bottles of shampoo...  Better than nothing!

The church building is really more like a house, with a chapel that can also be used as a living room (or in our case, a big bedroom).

Chase continued hobbling around on one foot, like he had all day...

Unfortunately the village has some phone service, so out came the electronics!  One of the best things about this trip was the lack of electronics...  We talked to each other...  actually interacted...  AMAZING!!! =)

It felt strange to camp out in the chapel, but it was obvious that this place was intended to be a stop for weary travelers as much as a place of worship.  We still did our best to treat it with reverence, and gratitude for the kindness of those who have charge over it.

This guy crashed in about 2 seconds, literally moments after our family prayer asking that he would be able to get the rest he needed.
Just before this, Rob had given him a Father's Blessing.  We knew the ankle situation was going to be a hardship for all of us, and that a blessing would help.  Rob's expectation was to bless Chase that our family would be able to help him, but when he laid his hands on his head he instead blessed him with the faith, courage, and strength to walk and get himself out the next day.  I have to admit, I was surprised by the words I heard.  But I know that faith brings miracles, and I trusted that Rob knew what he was doing.

Campin' out.

We all crashed pretty hard and slept well (except for Rob--another rough night, too much going through his mind). =(
When morning came, Rob got up and started gathering our things to pack up.  Chase woke up and Rob simply asked him, "Chase, do you think you can walk today?"  With no hesitation, Chase literally jumped up and started walking around the room.  I was still in the bedroom, so I missed seeing it.  Rob said it reminded him of the story of Zeezrom, in Alma 15:  "And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying:  O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ.
And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people..."

These are Chase's words in a letter he wrote to Ashlee after our trip:
"...Our family hiked in the Grand Canyon. I sprained my ankle on
the way there, but it didn’t hurt until we got to the camp spots. Then it hurt
so bad that I couldn’t walk....
Dad gave me a fathers blessing for my ankle. The next morning dad
told me to start walking I just stood up and started walking around perfectly
fine. Now that’s a miracle!"

~~~Oh, the faith of a child!!!~~~

As we were cleaning up to leave the church-house, Emmee was sweeping and spotted the tiniest scorpion any of us had ever seen.  This is Blake's hand next to it.  We were all walking around barefoot, so we were a little creeped out!  Thank goodness Emmee's focus was on the floor right then--otherwise one of us probably would have found it the hard way!

The Church is true wherever you go... =)

We obviously weren't the first grateful travelers to pass through, so we had to add to the note on the chalkboard in one of the classrooms.  They also keep a guestbook, which was full of names, probably mainly of people who go there to attend church.  (Carol told us that most people don't know until they get there that there's a church they can attend, so they don't have Sunday clothes with them and just have to wear their hiking clothes.  Then she laughed and said, "So, we just wear normal clothes too!")  We would have loved to extend our trip and be there to have church with them, but we decided that would definitely be overstaying our welcome.

We tried to leave things at least as good as we found them.

Just before we had gone to bed, Delbert Jr. had knocked on the door and told us they had found a young horse abandoned by its mother, and asked us to make sure we didn't let it out the gate when we left in the morning.  He said they had tried putting it with their horses, but their horses were mean to it.
 We knew it had to be the same one we had seen on the way in.  So-far they had only been able to get it to drink water.  Poor little guy--and his mama too!!  So sad....
The kids said goodbye to him as we left.

Chase getting his shoes on for the hike out, still amazed at the miracle.  (Yes, he's in the same clothes he put on yesterday afternoon and slept in.  Don't judge...) ;)

Off we go!

The girls adding their rocks to the "rock rock."

The remains of a dead horse on the trail. =(

This sign means we have the last--and hardest--1-1/2 miles to go... But it also means we're close to finishing!

Our first glimpse of the top (we're parked near that antenna sticking up in the middle).  The end is in sight!

As we passed this man and stopped to rest by him for a minute we found out that his whole job is to be there and make sure all the hikers are alright.  (You can see the back of his horse on the left and he's sitting on the wall closeby, with a hiker coming up the trail.)  We just thought he was giving his horse a rest.  I'm glad we found out more so we could thank him!

Heading into the final, "excruciating" uphill part of the hike (Rob's words in preparing us for it).

Kaybree's look of relief when we realized we were getting close to the end.

Tender mercies.  During the last (hardest) 1-1/2 miles, going uphill with the sun directly overhead and very little chance of finding shade, there were several times when clouds would roll over and keep things overcast just long enough for us to cool off a bit and regain our strength.  People can argue all they want, but there are times when you just know it's not coincidence.  Moments like that feel like a little hug from heaven to cheer you on.  I couldn't help smiling and just saying a little prayer of gratitude in my heart.

The top is in view...

Made it!!!

We all got out alive!  Chase walked all 8 miles from the village--in fact, he jogged and even sprinted some of it!
Although there were a few times the kids asked why we were doing this, they commented on the way home about how good it felt to have accomplished this goal.  We can do hard things!!!

Swollen fingers.  I wouldn't even attempt to get that ring off right now!

A little rock Kaybree found and gave to Blake.  She thought he would like it since it has a Nike sign on it. =)

I had to snap a picture of this motel we passed in Peach Springs where Rob (and sometimes Ashlee and I) would stay when he went to work there, almost 20 years ago.  It still looks the same.  The first time we went along, Ashlee was 3 weeks old.

In Seligman we stopped for a late lunch at the Roadkill Cafe.  We like to try to find the most "authentic" places to eat when we're away from home.  This one got the unanimous vote!  We had worked up an appetite, and it was pretty tasty!

We had heard on the radio about the world-famous pies at the Rock Springs Cafe (how had we not known of this place before?!?), so we had to stop there when we hit Black Canyon City.  We took some home and called it dinner. =)

Other than some sore muscles, this was the worst thing I had to show for the trip.  Not too much to complain about!