Havasupai Falls Hike Guide Tips/Tricks

As I was scrolling thru Pinterest one day, I came across a picture of a bright blue waterfall that looked fake. Sure enough it said it was Havasupai Falls in Arizona! I just HAD to go there. So I did some research and booked the trip. I live in San Francisco bay area so my boyfriend and I decided to fly into Las Vegas after work one night, got a rental car, stayed at Hualapai Lodge in Peach Springs (about a 3 hour drive from the Las Vegas airport), and got up in the morning, ate our big free breakfast, then drove an hour to the Havasupai Trailhead.

If you are planning on doing this trip, make sure to book your camping reservation far in advanced. Here is a link that gives you phone numbers and prices.  http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/havasupai.htm
I booked our reservation in February, as soon as they began taking reservations for the 2015 year.

We booked 2 nights of camping. It is a 8 mile hike to the reservation, and an extra 2 miles to get to the campground. Here we are at the trailhead all ready to go with our packs!



Some people use the mules to carry their packs down for them, but I would never do this! These poor mules looked BEAT! It made me sad seeing them with those heavy loads.

So speaking of our packs, I wish I had known a couple of things. First, at night, the Grand Canyon gets COLD! Sleeping outside in a tent, the temperature got down to about 27 degrees F. I was shivering all night. All I brought was a pair of yoga pants, a long sleeve t-shirt, and one thin jacket. I ended up wrapping my head in the jacket trying to get warm and sleep. We only had 2 sleeping pads, and 2 thin blankets that we were sharing in our tent. I would recommend buying and bringing a sleeping BAG each. You are going to want your own sleeping bag to keep you warm at night, trust me! I found some lightweight sleeping bags that are good for cold weather at REI for next time :-)

Another thing is that our packs were HEAVY because we thought we had to bring enough water for 3 full days! We would have been good with just bringing 4 water bottles each, maybe a gatorade too for the hike down. Once you reach the village, there are 2 stores that sell cold drinks! They even take credit cards! Also at the campground there is a running water area that you can drink from/ fill up water bottles. We didn't trust this water but everyone else was drinking from it and seemed to be ok. Next time I am not trucking down 12 water bottles for no reason!

The 8 mile hike down to the village wasn't too bad, my feet started hurting and shoulders hurt from the heavy water bottle filled pack, but it took us about 4 hours total. Here are a couple of pictures of us on our trek down, starting to feel the pain :-)



When we finally got to the village, we checked in at the desk, got our camping pass, and continued 2 more miles down to the campground.  Here is a picture of the Havasupai Village.



 As we were finally getting closer I could hear the waterfall, and soon enough we came around the turn and THERE IT WAS! The bright blue waterfall I saw in the Pinterest picture! Here are my own pictures to prove it!



After taking some selfies, we continued to the campground and found a nice spot to set up our tent.  It gets dark in the canyon pretty early so we ended up setting up our tent, eating our colossal protein bars and goldfish crackers for dinner, and then going to sleep around 9.
Here is a picture of the campground area.


The next morning we woke up around 8 and headed to Mooney Falls. After taking a few pictures of that, we headed back to the Havasupai Falls and played in the water for a few hours. The water was cold, but felt refreshing on my sore feet and body! (Not as cold as the Pacific Ocean but close)



After playing in the water all day, we went back to our tent, had our protein bars for dinner again, played some card games, then went to sleep pretty early. The next morning we ate our bagels with peanut butter, took down the tent, and were on our way to hike out! Of course we stopped at the store in the village to grab some cold waters and gatorades for the hike. The 8 mile hike out seemed to go faster than the hike down (maybe we knew what we were in for, and our packs were MUCH lighter.) EXCEPT, the last mile and a half, is the uphill battle! We had to take a few breaks, but we made it! It felt so nice finally getting back to the car and knew we were on our way to go get some burgers and fries!

All in all, this was such a fun trip! I would definitely recommend going here at least once in your life!

My First Stitch Fix

So my obsession with Pinterest got me again, and I kept seeing all this hype about StitchFix! I got my first fix shipped to me and wanted to post the pictures of the 5 items!

First, I LOVE these black crop pants! They are Kut from the Kloth and fit perfectly! For $58, I decided to keep these because I know they will be getting worn lots! Can be worn either to work with heels or flats, or out in a more casual setting as well. I also liked the shirt, but it was priced at $58 and I know I can find something like it for $25 and then have 2 different colors ;-)
 
Next, I also really like this tank top. It will be perfect for summer coming up when I'm going out on a date or with friends. My favorite part about the tank is the top silver part that adds the built in necklace look. Makes it a little more fancy. Keeping this shirt, even though it costs $68.
 
Last, I like the idea of the blazer, but wish the color was different. Not really into the material it came in and how it easily wrinkles. I also like the necklace $34 (kind of tough to see in this picture) but I normally don't wear any long necklaces.


To sum it up, I feel like my stylist Lindsey really put some time into looking at my Pinterest board and figured out my type of style!! Looking forward for my next box to come in the mail!

Click HERE to sign up for your first Stitch Fix and receive a $25 credit!

Brunch Idea

Oh weekend brunch with endless mimosas, WHERE are you??!! I always find myself searching for the best spot that has this deal, and usually looking for one that is at least open until 2 PM, since I am not out of bed until 11 AM on weekends! Yes, there are a couple spots around my house to go to, but they are all about a 20-30 minute drive, and after having endless mimosas you are stuck out in that area until you are good to drive. So I've come up with a solution!! Make your own brunch and mimosas! You are going to save money, save calories (you know how much butter/oil you are using), and don't have to drive anywhere (as long as you go to the store the day before).

Your shopping list for Friday:

  • Champagne (more than one bottle if you want bottomless mimosas)
  • Orange Juice
  • Eggs
  • Bacon
  • Potatoes
  • Bread
  • Ketchup (optional)

Saturday and/or Sunday morning brunch instructions:
  1. Wake up and pop that champagne! Fill the glass half-way (or more) and top it with orange juice. You can then start the cooking.
  2. Start the potatoes:
    • Heat oven to 420 degrees.
    • Slice 2 or 3 potatoes into small squares or triangles.
    • Place potatoes onto 13 x 9 or whatever you have (make sure you spray it with cooking spray)
    • Season potatoes with salt, pepper, and anything else (I use garlic salt or paprika)
    • Put in oven for 25 minutes, then flip and re-season.
    • Put back in oven for another 25 minutes or till crisp to your desire!
  3. While waiting for the first 25 minutes of the potatoes to go by, put on some dance music and continue drinking your mimosa.
  4. After flipping the potatoes and adding another 25 minutes for potatoes, wait until the timer gets down to 10 minutes left and start making the bacon. Put bacon on pan on medium heat, flip after 3 minutes.  Continue cooking until desired crispness.
  5. Also while cooking the bacon, use another pan to make the eggs. You can make the eggs anyway you would like, but I make mine over-easy. If that is too difficult, just go with scrambled. (I hope you can handle that without directions.) :-)
  6. Make sure to pop in the bread for some side toast!
  7. When everything is ready, you can go with my style, place the bacon on the toast, and put an egg on top of it to make an open-faced egg sandwich. Potatoes can soak up any extra yolk and/or use ketchup for potatoes.
Enjoy and BE healthy, have fun, don't have too many mimosas or you might end up needing my Hangover Cures !