Supai to Colorado footwear Q

[matthewkphx]

Hello, I'll be visiting Havasupai in a couple weeks and I'm thinking of doing the hike from the campground to the Colorado River on one of the days while we are down there. I'm ok with getting my feet wet in my meshy trail runners and merino socks but I'm concerned by the number of water crossings that it means I'll have wet feet all day. So 2 concerns:

1) Approximately how many water crossings are we talking about? Is it wet feet all day?

2) Any recommendations on footwear? Stick with my trailer runners? Bring a pair of water shoes (Keens? Salomon Tech Amphibians?) to hike in? Hike in my trail runners and switch to flip flops or Vivos for the wettest crossings?

Thanks!

[azbackpackr]

@matthewkphx

(Please note that the following info is only for the hike between Mooney Falls and the Colorado River.)

34 crossings total. The hike will take all day so plan on leaving camp no later than 7 a.m. and not being back until 5 p.m. I have done this twice to the river, and once (this past September) I went only as far as Beaver Falls.

BRING YOUR HAVASUPAI PASS (or your receipt) for camping on the rez. There is usually a ranger at Beaver Falls who will want to make sure, on your return trip, that you have already paid to get onto the reservation. You might want to visit with him on your way down so he sees who you are. The guy is very diligent at his job. He does not let anyone onto the reservation, coming up from the river, who hasn't paid the entry fee. He is a tribal member who walks all the way down to Beaver Falls every working day from the top of Mooney Falls. (He drives an ATV to Mooney. If you haven't been there for a while, this may distress you. Yes, ATVs are used at Supai now.) He's a nice guy to talk to if you aren't breaking any rules!

I highly recommend using two hiking poles. You will almost certainly end up loaning one of them out to someone. There is always going to be that frustrating person who says, "I never hike with poles." Then they will want to borrow yours. So, bring two. If you're lucky you'll actually get to use both of them.

If you don't have a waterproof camera then have a dry bag for your camera to put it in for the crossings. The crossings are not super difficult, and mostly only about thigh deep or so, but I have never been on a trip where at least one person didn't fall in and get everything wet.

On each of my hikes I wore regular Teva sandals with very thick wool socks. On the two full-length hikes I taped up parts of my feet that would get some sand abrasion. My friends wore either water shoes with wool socks (to prevent the abrasion) or old sneakers. Do not wear Keens-type semi-closed sandals. You will have to stop and get the rocks out of them all the time. Do not plan to change your shoes for every crossing or you'll never get there. You're going to be hiking the entire way in wet shoes and socks.

Do bring duct tape or other really sticky tape for your feet in case the socks are not enough to prevent the sand abrasion. Bring extra socks in your pack, also. You can't drink the water, so you'll need plenty of water--at least 3 liters--unless you use a water filter.

Wear shorts. There is not any shrubbery of any real consequence to scratch your legs. If you wear long pants, that's one more thing that will be wet all day long.

Have fun! It's a rewarding hike. You might even meet some river runners down there! Then, if you're like me, you will not stop thinking about river running for the rest of your life... First time I met river runners in Grand Canyon was at Havasu Creek. The rest is history...

[Al_HikesAZ]

Liz's answer is great as usual. I wore Chaco sandals and NRS hydroskin wetsocks with Bridgedale liners. I don't remember as many crossings as Liz. We went high just north of the palm tree at the rope and stayed high past Beaver falls to the Rez Boundary.

[azbackpackr]

I don't remember as many crossings as Liz.

Round trip. 17 crossings each way, (or thereabouts). And yes, climb up the ladders (no longer ropes, ladders everywhere nowadays) by the palm tree. Might be the only palm tree in all of Grand Canyon.

[matthewkphx]

Thank you for the detailed information. I'm intimidated by the amount of water but I do have Tevas, wool socks and lots of Luekotape and Tincture of Benzoin so I can deal with abrasion as it happens.

[azbackpackr]

@matthewkphx
Little old ladies (like me) do it. So can you! ;)

[ddgrunning]

I've only been as far as Beaver Falls (ok, a little past the GC boundary marker). From Mooney Falls to that point at least, just plan on having wet feet. The number of times you cross the creek is a bit arbitrary. Honestly, you get to the point that it's just not worth it to keep trying to find ways to stay on dry land; much easier just to tromp across or straight down the creek. Plus, it's frankly just a lot more fun. I did it in an old pair of running shoes with some basic running socks. I didn't have any issues, and found that hiking in the wet shoes was not nearly as bad as I had imagined.

I also found that, unless the creek is running high, there's no need to go up at the palm tree to get to Beaver Falls (just hike the creek, and save yourself a lot of up/down energy). Of course, if you're destination is the Colorado, you'll have to go up at some point, but you could choose to do so at the bottom of Beaver Falls instead.

[ddgrunning]

One more thing: As noted above, bring a hiking pole. The famed "blue/green" waters are beautiful, but you can't see a darn thing below the surface, so having a pole to keep your balance while meandering the creek is a real plus.