Havasu Canyon

The Grand Canyon National Park is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, a World Heritage Site, and geological heaven. It is hard to overpraise the canyon’s raw, outlandish shapes and formations: they are justly famous.

The Havasu Canyon has to be one of the Grand Canyon area's most beautiful and interesting places, a deep and extraordinarily lush canyon which starts as a usually dry wash many miles south of the Grand Canyon, and gradually sinks into its famous canyon form, getting greener and deeper as it progresses. It joins the Grand Canyon (as a hanging canyon) some way west of the central area, indeed it is on American Indian territory rather than in the National Park.

The high calcium content of the water has resulted in travertine walls retaining pools and creating some famous waterfalls including the 100ft Havasu Falls, the hard-of-access Mooney Falls and the Upper and Lower Navajo Falls, and in the famous bright blue colouring of the pools.

The canyon has been occupied for many thousands of years, and the history and way of life of its dwellers are one of the attractions of this special place. The canyon-bottom village of Supai has been home to the Havasupai, the “people of the blue green waters”, for more than 1,000 years, so is an inherently interesting, if dusty and tourist-oriented place. It is inaccessible by road (foot, horse and helicopter only), its supplies brought in by the mule trains you are likely to meet.

Being remote, and requiring in-demand permits, the canyon doesn’t see the visitor numbers you will find in the main Grand Canyon, but don't expect to be alone by the falls. 

You can walk to the falls in a few hours. After some 1.5 miles of steep switchbacked descent from the trailhead to the bottom of a side canyon, it is relatively easy canyon-bottom hiking, 4.5 more waterless miles until the trail joins the Havasu Canyon proper, 8 miles in total to Supai; and another 2 or so the Havasu Falls, near which is a good campsite. 

It is in theory possible to do the whole hike in one very long day, but this is not permitted (as at 2018) and an overnight near the falls is a delight (and a multi-day walk down the Havasu Canyon hiking heaven) as well as a necessity for most mortals. Ideally you would take at least 3 days – one down and one back up, and one exploring and just enjoying the magical canyon bottom.

You can go it alone, but will need to be properly prepared, including carrying a lot of water; or join a guide group, which will have many advantages including expert knowledge of the area and the Havasupai. 

This is a walk Walkopedia covets; we regret not having time when we were at the Grand Canyon.

The Cicerone guide has good information on all these walks.  Find these and other books on Amazon.

See our Grand Canyon page for much more on the canyon, and detailed practical information.