When we saw the first houses of the village of Supai we were just on the edge of the village; we wanted to drop off our luggage and check in at Havasupai Lodge and since at that time we did not have a map, we just had to go on until we got there. It appeared to be located at the other end of the village. We arrived at about 11:00 and since it was still to early to check in we decided to walk on to see the falls, the main attractions of Havasu Canyon. Fortunately the lady that told us to come back around noon did have a map for us, which gave us an idea of where we were going.

So after only 15 minutes resting we went on our way again. Next stop was 1.5 miles further on, at Navajo Falls, named after a Supai Chief according to the information we got from Havasupai Enterprises. We decided on the way there that we would not go back to the Lodge to drop off our luggage, the small backpacks weren't worth the extra miles.
When we arrived at the 75 feet-high Navajo Falls we were a bit (culture) shocked to find people there on bright yellow air beds eating peanut butter sandwiches. It seemed very much out of place in these oasis-like surroundings. We were glad to find a less crowded part of the falls where we stayed for about an hour, climbing rocks, swimming and resting. It felt like we had the place to ourselves, it was great!

After that we walked another 1/2 mile to Havasu Falls, the best-known of the four. They're huge, 100 feet (50 meters) high, beautiful and surrounded by pools. These were definately the most popular, I think the pictures show why. Lots of people stay there for a while, relaxing on the strech of grass and swimming in the pools. While Igor climbed around to take pictures, I stayed on the grass to rest.

Although I was still struggeling with my knee, I wouldn't let Igor go on alone since I didn't want to stay behind and miss anything (pretty selfish, I know). So we walked along the creek, passing the campsite, and on for 1 mile, to Mooney falls. These falls, dropping about 200 feet, are named after the man who fell to his death at this place. Nice, huh?
In order to see Mooney Falls from below, you need to go down a steep and narrow ledge. Signs at the top warn you that it can be pretty dangerous going down. Since it was definately too rough for me at that moment, Igor would have had to go alone, which I wouldn't let him because I wouldn't be able to help if it turned out to be dangerous after all. So we only watched these falls from above. Next time we go to Havasu Canyon, we'll go down the path together, I'm determined.

After spending some time at Mooney falls, taking pictures and gazing around at the huge rock walls surrounding us, we decided to go back to Havasupai Lodge. Although I'm used to camping, I am also used to a certain level of comfort and to be honest I was happy that we had changed our plans to staying at the Lodge instead of camping at the campsite. Surely, the surroundings are beautiful, especially along the creek, but there are hardly any toilets or other facilities, not to mention the extra walk we hadn't anticipated. But maybe next time we'll try 'roughing it', who knows...

We arrived back at the Lodge around 4:30 PM. The room was very nice, it actually looked a lot like our room at the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn, except for the absence of a TV. After we had settled in we went back to the center of the village to do some shopping, since we had to have water for the trip back. Supai has its own school, church, clinic, police station, post office, general store and cafe. We found out that the cafe, which also serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, would close at 7, so we were just in time to have dinner (hamburgers, fries and sodas) there.
Back in our room we tried to do some reading and I wrote a few pages in my vacation diary. I calculated that we had hiked about 14 miles (22,5 km.) that day. Next time we'll do things differently, take more time and see all four of the magnificent Falls (we had to give up Beaver Falls), maybe even walk on to the Colorado river.
We went to bed early that night, around 8, getting ready for the hike back to Hualupai Hilltop.