Sunday, November 23, 2008

November Mayhem

Half way through November and halfway through my third rotation. I spend most of my days in the ER in Pocatello seeing a lot of urgent care stuff but not a lot of emergent care. In the ER here the PAs do a lot of the easy stuff seen in the ER and the docs cover the really emergent situations. I get to work with the docs sometimes but usually I spend most of my time with the PAs. To tell you the truth most people couldn't care less if the student was there or not. You have to make yourself known and volunteer/ask for different assignments. I've got to see some pretty cool stuff in the past two weeks though. Probably the most exciting was participating in a "code." For those that don't know when a code is called in a hospital it means that a person has crashed and is in need of resuscitation. I was part of the CPR team. Unfortunately for the pt it was an unsuccessful code, but that's part of the business. Other things I've been a part of have been simple suturing/stapling, splinting, and saving lives...one sore throat at a time.
In the off times I've been out playing flag football with some classmates (see pic above), going to Jazz games, watching Bond movies, and enjoying my sleep.
While on my journeys through the ER I have come across some interesting information. Apparently the space shuttle has been docked with the international space station for quite some time and, if you catch it at the right time, you can see them pass overhead. Right now it passes overhead every two hours or so at night, but you have to catch it just at the right time because if you don't it will be eclipsed by the earth's shadow. If any of you are interested here is the website to follow the path http://www.n2yo.com and to check the times it flies over click on the 5-day prediction with graphics link. My preceptor is the one who actually showed me this website. It's actually quite exciting to watch as it passes overhead and then fades away as it passes behind the earth's shadow. The following videos were taken this evening and last night. In the first one it passed behind some trees before disappearing and in the second one it's kind of hard to know that it's moving, but you see it fade away.


So that's basically what's been going on. Not a whole heck of a lot to report on. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and most people I know will be heading home for the holidays...except for me. From my experience back at McKay-Dee I've learned that the best times to see interesting cases weekends and holidays so I figured that I'll take a shift in the ER for Thanksgiving. I'll make it home for Christmas though.

"Yo man let's get outta here!" "Werd to ya motha"

Saturday, November 8, 2008

The American Dream

Over 400 years ago there was a group of people who left their mother country in search of freedom, freedom from religious persecution. They braved the frigid waters of the Atlantic and settled in a land unknown to them. Coming from an industrialized nation such as England these people had little knowledge and skill when it came to tilling and taking care of the land. Had it not been for the indigenous people of the time, these early settlers would have perished. But providence wouldn't have it, so this people flourished in the land. Years later they would rise up in a declaration of independence against that same mother land whom they still paid tribute to. Again the battle cry of freedom was raised; freedom from wrongful taxation, freedom from an oppressive monarchy, freedom to live how they chose to live. The war progressed and many feared that this little nation would easily be suppressed by the powerful English infantry and navy. Again, providence wouldn't have it and this nation prevailed against all odds. As history looks back on this war there are many who still marvel that these thirteen little colonies could defeat the most powerful nation in the world. An thus the United States of America was born.
Over the years the United States gradually turned into a land of opportunity, a land of hope, a land of new beginnings. Millions would immigrate from their homelands, where their families have lived for thousands of years, in hopes of obtaining a better life for their children. Many came to escape oppression from their government. Despite their situation these people came to live the "American Dream." This concept continues this day with thousands of people immigrating every year (be it legally or illegally).
However, what is this "American Dream"? The Declaration of Independence states that "…held certain truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." James Truslow Adams, who coined the term "American Dream" in his book Epic America (1931), states the following: "The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." If you were to look up "American Dream" in Wikipedia you would find this statement: "The American Dream is belief in the freedom that allows citizens and residents of the United States to pursue their goals in life through hard work and bravery. Today, it often refers to one's material prosperity, which is dependent upon one's abilities and work ethic, and not on a rigid class structure."
I ask you this question...do you still believe in the American Dream? Do you believe that through hard work, personal sacrifice, and personal responsibility you can achieve your goals? Do you believe that each person is "innately capable" of making their own progress? Or have you abandoned this dream and sought out a new one, one of entitlement and "I deserve"? Unfortunately it is my belief that the people of this country are living that new dream.


Now I don't want people getting confused with my motives for that last video. It was not in any way an attack against President Elect Barack Obama, but more against the mindset of miss Peggy Joe and the millions of other Americans out there that have that same sense of entitlement about them. There are many who believe that the government owes them or should regulate all aspects of human life; healthcare, education, business, oil, etc. With the government running everything these people, like Peggy Joe, believe that all their problems will be solved. "If I help him then he'll help me," she says.
Our founding fathers did not believe in this principle. Those Rights that they (and we) believe in are 1)Life 2)Liberty and 3)Pursuit of Happiness and they established this democratic government to protect those rights. You have the right to life and liberty and our government must and will protect those rights. However, you do not have the right to be happy but rather to pursue after happiness. That right to pursue happiness is protected by our government but it doesn't guarantee it, nor will it ever. In essence what this means is that you have the right of protection from your government, but not to free handouts.
Why wouldn't our founding fathers establish a government that helped offered more programs to its people, or offered more help? Because they knew that if the people depended upon its government to provide for them then this people could never become self sufficient. It's the whole "Give a man/Teach a man to fish" concept. Another important lesson to learn here is that if there is a problem, then we the people need to step up and fix it. We should take care of the poor among us, not the government. A colleague of mine wrote about this in his blog about Universal Healthcare. In a nutshell he states that the spirit of charity and gratitude are taken away with this type of believe.
To finish my ranting and raving, live the American Dream! Live it to its fullest potential but realize that you have to pursue after it, it's not going to be given to you. Don't let a sense of entitlement persuade you into thinking that the government is going to make everything all right, because it won't. Socialism didn't work for Russia and it surely won't work for us. President Benson counseled back in 1977 that "the people should support the government but the government shouldn't support the people." Abraham Lincoln coined a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people," a urged the American people in his Gettysburg Address to work and make every effort possible towards maintaining that government and our American Dream.

2/4/09
I was perusing the Glenn Beck Page and found this article. Read point 6.

The NBA: Where 1000 Happens

Congratulation to Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. On 11/7/08 he got his 1000th victory with the Utah Jazz making him the first coach to notch over 1000 wins with one team (career total is about 1092 wins). To lead a team to that many victory means that you have to spend a long time with that one particular team. In Coach Sloan's case that's 21 years with the Jazz. Now those years haven't been all fun and games but his coaching style has made the Jazz offense one of the best in the league.
Over these past years he has been criticized by many Utah fans for not letting the Jazz players play basketball like the rest of the nation. His game isn't about show boating, fancy passes, live-or-die by the three, and many other style of play that's been growing in the NBA. His style of basketball isn't fancy and many times doesn't aesthetically appeal to the average viewer, but it wins games. It's fundamental basketball at its best. Setting plays for each other, constant ball movement, pick-n-roll (it worked beautifully with Stockton to Malone and now it's back with Williams to Boozer), high-lows, all lead to one thing; team play. Everyone touches the ball and has an opportunity to score. If the Jazz lose a game it's wasn't because the all-star of the team was didn't perform well but rather because they didn't play together as a team. In other words, they didn't play Sloan basketball. Two years ago when the Jazz got blown out in game 3 against the Warriors in the second round of the playoffs Sloan told the team, "OK you played the way you wanted to and lost. Next time we play my game." Anyone remember what happened next game? The Jazz blew out the Warriors at Golden State. They would later go on to win that series 4-1. So even though his coaching style might not be what the fans want to see, it gives the true fans what they want...a winning season.
When talking about Sloan you can't overlook one of the qualities he's most known for, his temper. All though it has become more under control over the past couple of years, it's still a treat seeing him up and yelling at the refs. You know he's about to get a T or thrown out when Phil Johnson gets up to calm him down. Now

Now Coach Sloan did get his 1000th victory tonight, however, those of us who went to the game knew it wasn't the victory he would've hoped for. A win is a win yes, but when you let a 31 point half time lead slip away and only win by 7 against a team that had one of the worst records last year, and only scored 29 points in the first half of this game then you know that temper of Sloan came out in the locker room. A career changing moment, a first timer in NBA history, and thousands of fans cheering his name as the seconds ticked away, Jerry Sloan walked off the court like it was just another game. That's the way he plays and coaches and that's the way he will continue to coach. It's a winning combination. So congratulations to Coach Sloan for becoming the first coach in sports history to achieve 1000 wins with one single team. The following are a few pics from that game.


Friday, October 3, 2008

Intro into October

We're almost done with 2008. Is it just me or do the years seem to get shorter and shorter? It's kinda hard to believe that over a year ago I started PA school and now I'm half way done and already working in different clinics. Many friends have moved out of the state and are attending their respective graduate programs, everyone's married off (I know I'm a slacker, but I'm O.K. with that), my little nephews are growing and picking up on new things every day, and, unfortunately, the boat is being put away (if Daniel is reading this the boat being winterized early is not my fault. Dad decided that since I wasn't going to be down until the end of October he was going to get it out of the way. Everyone knows if I had my way I'd try to hit the lakes one more time this year. Se la vi.)
So here it is, first few days into October and one week into my second rotation. I'm working out of an outpatient family practice clinic in Idaho Falls. It's a community health clinic funded by the government and so it serves a lot of people who are financially troubled. Because of the increased Hispanic population I get to use my Spanish a lot more. It's been over a year since I used my medical Spanish in an every day setting and I can tell you it has gone quickly down the crap hole. Words and phrases that I used to use in my sleep now take some actual thinking on my part and it's not as fluid as it used to be. That really is a disappointing thing to come to terms with. I don't think it will ever be as good as it was while I worked as an interpreter.
This switch to outpatient medicine from psych has been a challenging one. The interview process and questions are different and I actually have to perform a physical exam. That's probably been the best part of the change. Even though my exam skills are rusty and I'm still learning the nuances and intricacies of the physical exam, that hands on medicine is quite satisfying. I'm not going to lie when I said that I was a little scared and nervous going into this rotation because of my lack of the vast amount of knowledge required in this field. However, as I said back in my psych rotation, going through the history and physical exam usually leads you to the next question that you need to ask. It's amazing how everything seems to fall into place.
For it being my first week I've got to do some pretty simple, but still exciting, procedures. My second day I got to remove an ingrown toenail. Not that difficult or exciting of a procedure, but I was still pretty excited to do it, it being my first one and all. It truly is something else to forcibly remove the nail from the nail bed by simply jamming and blunt ended instrument between the two, all while the person has no feeling whatsoever because of the lidocaine injected into the foot just minutes earlier. As I sat there ramming this tool under the nail to clear it away from the bed so I could cut it out I was amazed at how much pressure I actually had to apply to get it up there. It wasn't a simple push either; it was a shove, pull out, then shove again maneuver, like picking away at ice with an icepick. At one point I pushed hard enough to get completely through the bed and under the cuticle. As I heard the popping sound and sudden release of pressure as the instrument freely flowed under the nail until it came to a stop just after going under the cuticle I for sure thuoght I was going to be kicked by a screeming teenage girl. Nope, she didn't feel a thing. Her father was even amazed at the proceedings and he also thought she was going to screem. I cut the rest of the nail out, debrided the wound and then bandaged it up. A simple procdure that I was excited about for the rest of the day. Other simple things that I was able to do were cut off a little kids cast and trim some pretty horrific onychyomycotic (fungal infected) toenails.
After a couple of days I was feeling pretty confident about my history and PE skills but still pretty shaky on my assessments and treatment options. With the help of a couple good preceptors, good advice, study, and practice that has all changed. By then end of my fourth day I was pretty confident about my findings and treatment plans of all my patients except for one difficult case that needed some extensive work up. Even my preceptor agreed with me that this was a difficult case and he didn't know what was going on either, hence the extensive work up.
So that's what's been going on in the professional life. The personal life is still there and chugging along. I was down in Ogden a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately I wasn't able to partake of the pristine waters of Pineview because of lack of a boat crew. That's what happens when everyone moves off to college, the boat suffers. So instead I hung out and played with my little nephews for a little bit on Saturday.

I also attended an 80th birthday party for my grandpa. The man doesn't look or act like he's 80 so I was a little skeptic of the party but all the paperwork checked out. It was good to see some family and enjoy of their company for a while.

After that I took a girl I've been dating (yes I still find time to date with all that's gonig on, contrary to the rumors believed by my ISUPA classmates) out and we saw a play down in Salt Lake. The next day we took a drive up Ogden canyon after church to see the changing of the leaves brought about be the fall weather.
Then it was back up to Idaho for me.

I took the bike out one beautiful Saturday afternoon up Gibson Jack canyon (one that I've previously done) again to see the difference in colors due to the weather. It was a great, challenging ride that I enjoyed even more this time due to the change in scenery. While up there I got to thinking about the beauty that this impending death brought about (if you want to read more on those thoughts just check out my other blog site here). And then the rest of the weekend was spent studying.
So that's the update for now. Things are going well and I'm liking this current roatation a lot. One thing I forgot to mention was the constant Spanglish used at the clinic. All of the staff know Spanish and many of the patients uses some type of English in their speech so it's not uncommon to hear "ayer cuando me fui to work me fijaba que my arm was doliendo," or, "dice que you need to give la paciente something para relajarse." It's great!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

September Update

Well it's been almost two weeks now since I've been back in Pocatello and have started my first rotation in my training as a PA. For those of you who don't know my second year of PA school will not consist of classrooms, or long, boring lectures, but will be based off of five week rotations to different sites where I can get "on-the-job training" and practice. There will be eight rotations in all and they range from outpatient/inpatient, ER, surgery, OB/GYN, etc. I will be doing a few in Pocatello and, if things go to plan, my last few will be down in Ogden.
My first rotation is at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare working in an outpatient psychiatry setting. Luck has shone down on me because it is the same place where I have been doing an internship since January and so I was already prepared for the environment and what I would be doing. I felt bad for some of my classmates because they had surgery first thing Monday morning and have never been in that situation. However, ask me in three weeks when my second rotation is about to start and I will probably feel the same way they did. I go in Mon-Fri from 8am-5pm, weekends and holidays off, and have participated in a variety of things. The majority of my time is spent seeing patients who are clients of this clinic and managing their medications, but when there isn't another provider there with me I have to find other ways to fill my time. I've decided to use that time to gain a better knowledge of the resources these patients have that don't pertain to the medical part of psychiatry; individual/group therapies, crisis evaluations, and so on. These are all different parts of psychiatry but they all are involved in the armamentarium that is used to help maintain these patients stable or to help them improve their situation. Literature has shown that medication alone isn't sufficient for most of these problems because it's not always just a "crosswiring" if you will of the brain. Patients with these problems need to learn skills to help them adapt to their situation, and medication just won't do it. It's been said, "...therapy solves problems, medication treats symptoms." I've enjoyed what I've learned by sitting in and participating in these different treatment options. I've even taken notes and am trying to apply these principles in my own life, not just use them as suggestions for my patients.
I've also had and will have the opportunity to work in child mental health. What a completly different setting from adult mental health. Many of the disorders present in adult mental health cannot be diagnosed in childrens mental health so it's like going to a whole new specialty.
Today I had the opportunity to attend a court hearing of a person who is going to need institutionalization. I was asked if I wanted to attend to see how procedings went and what the courtroom setting was like. The psyhcologist that I went down with was called as a witness because of a screening that he did on this individual over a year ago. I read through his report and it was quite detailed. He was asked about certain situtations that he talked about in his report and what his opinion was as to the outcome for this individual. While on the way home he took time to explain this persons history in a little more detail so that I would have a better understanding of why he put in his report what he did. He also used this opportunity to stress the importance of careful, and judicious charting. He told me that a year ago when he was writting this report he "knew" that this case would eventually end up in court and that he might be subpoenad for his testimony. With this forsight he said that he detailed his report so that he could remember it later and to also leave no room for ambiguation as to his findings. Now this was something that I've been taught all year long, "chart everything!" but sometimes it really doesn't sink in until you experience its importance for yourself. I'm just glad that I saw it in this context and didn't have to live through it myself.
So I've been able to see a lot of patients in these past two weeks. Some of them are stable and have mild problems, while others aren't so stable and have some pretty amazing stories to tell. It takes a lot of self control to not react to some of these situations, even when deep down your thinking "Really? Are you kidding me?" There are so many diagnoses that overlap eachother that sometimes it's hard to diagnose on the first visit. I've had the oportunity to give initial examinations to a few patients and I have had to sit back and think "how do can I differentiate between these three possible diagnoses?" Sometimes patients can have co-ocurring disorders but you have to be really careful to get all the information that you can so can give an accurate diagnosis. The wrong diagnosis will lead to the wrong treatment, which will not only lead to prolonged suffering, but can also be dangerous depending on how the treatment works.
I'm grateful for the staff that I work with and that take the time to help me learn and understand. The chief psychiatrist is very knowledgable, patient, and willing to take time to give me little pointers here and there. She also acknowledges fairly constantly when I do things well, which is always appreciated from a young PA. All the staff that I've worked with so far have been very helpful in helping me understand the way things work and give pointers here and there.
So that's how my rotation has been going so far. I feel that I've learned more in the past two weeks then I learned all last year sitting in class. Class room learning is important but acutal experience is when things really start to sink in.
Not much else going on around Pocatello right now. I haven't gone mountain biking since I've been back, mainly because of time but hopefully I can get a couple of rides in before the weather gets too cold.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

New Blog

So I've got another blog up and running along with this one. The two will touch on different categories so you'll have to go check it out. Continue to check this one out periodically as well. The new site can be found at

http://tyler-inspirations.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Havasupai Flood, August 17th, 2008


This will be my report on the happenings and my experiences during the flash floods of Aug 17th-18th. Before getting into it I want to open with a quick reminder to scroll down and read the previous blog about Havasupai if you’re not familiar with the area because I have already given an explanation of the area in that blog. It’s just a blurb about my trip down there (except for the flood part) and a little description of the area. If you are familiar with the Havasupai area and still want to go down and read it feel free to.

On Saturday, August 16th around 4:30 - 5:00 pm a few thunderclouds passed over us and dropped a light amount of rain on the campground. It wasn't much and only lasted about ten minutes. The sky remained cloudy on and off the rest of the afternoon but not much rain fell. About 6:00 pm a couple of native Havasupai came through camp letting all the campers know that a flash flood warning had been issued for the area and was in affect until 10:00 pm that night. They also told people swimming in the pools at Mooney falls to come back up to camp and not go back into the water. About a half hour later, one of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) officers came through on a four wheeler cautioning people to be prepared. Campers were cautioned to consider moving to higher ground. Even though we were informed of the flood and cautioned to be prepared it was done in a casual manner and felt as if it were more a "heads up" type warning. Some of the campers asked Havasupai and officer what to expect and, from their account, they were informed the river would only rise about two to three feet, if it did at all. At that time the river running through the campground had turned a redish-brown and looked like the river flowing through Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Dad and I hiked up to Havasu falls and it was still that beautiful turquoise blue. However, right next to Havasu falls is another little side canyon that meets up with Havasu canyon and a river was now flowing through what was once a dry washbed. Just below Havasu falls is where the two rivers connected and the color change took place. It wasn't a gradual color change either but a sharp distinction of color separation.

With the extra water the river had risen but only about a foot. From there we hiked down to the top of Mooney falls to see the change the new color had brought about.

The falls were still a spectacular sight but instead of a white water falling into a blue pool it looked like twist flavored soft serve ice cream coming from the machine. The pool and the river downstream had turned that red0brown color as well. Before the change in color you could see where the pool ended and the river began because of the travertine formations that created the pools. These were no longer visible. Quite a spectacular sight to witness. After that all thought that that would be the end of the "flooding". Havasu was still blue and the flood had come from the adjacent canyon and looked to be slowing. Without any more rain falling everyone thought that we were in the clear.

12:30 am - 1:00 am: I was awaken by someone shaking my tent and saying "there's been another flood, get up." I slowly dressed and got out of the tent to check things out. I walked over to the river about 150 feet away from our camp and saw that the river had risen about five feet and was now running at what seemed to be 25-30 mph. I told Dad to come check it out and we decided to pack everything up. We were still on one of the higher spots of the campground and it would take substantially more water to even threaten our camp, but we thought to be on the safe side and just be prepared. After striking the campsite we wandered down the camp and talked with a few of the other campers. What we saw completely took us by surprise. We came to a pint in the camp where the river had overflowed its banks and had washed away peoples tents, gear, and camps. This was about 300-350 feet downstream from our camp. One of the high grounds just down from that was turned into an island with the river raging on both sides of it. You could see people's headlights and flashlights moving around on that island as they scrambled to pack everything up and try to keep it dry. They even built a little campfire on that island for light and warm (with the rising river and increased speed of it, it brought a little chill through the camp). Everyone downstream from that spot and those who had camped on the other side of the river to begin with were immediately cut off from the rest of us, and the way out. We noticed that the foam and debris from the initial surge that came through was about 2-3 feet above the current water level and most of us thought that it had reached it's highest point. We hiked up to Havasu falls to see if we could see anything in the dark and you could just hear the increase in power that the water was falling. Looking over a ledge you could also see the river had risen and now spanned the entire length from the canyon wall to that ledge wall (it doubled in width basically). Looking at the falls you could see that the mist from the falls was rising well above the initial height of the falls.

We back to camp and continued talking with some of the campers. We learned of a group of five young adults who had crossed the river from their campsite, just five minutes before the flood, so that they could fill up their water bottles for the night from the spring. Now they were cut off from the other three members of their group. Sadly this group had camped right next to the bank on a lower part of the camp and when the surge came through it took everything they had. Tents, backpack, clothes, wallets, car keys, cameras, everything was swept downstream. The other three had to scramble to higher ground while watching their stuff disappear and knowing they were trapped while their friends were on the other side. The five that were on our side of the river yelled back across to let their friends know they were all right. These five were given a couple of mats and sleeping bags so that they could try to get some sleep.

At this point Dad and I returned back to our original campsite and tried to catch a few minutes of sleep. Dad slept on top of the picnic table while I crashed on it's bench. About 3:00 am a group of people came by led by a guy named Benny and said that they were Rescue One. They informed us that everything seemed to be stable at the time but were numbering off all the people that they could account for. This Benny was actually a guy who has worked in many search and rescue events and was camping down there at the time. He organized the group of campers in the site next to him as the Rescue One. About a half hour later this group came back saying that we were to move to higher ground. This higher ground was at the horse stables just outside of the camp. It really wasn't much higher than where we were at already. I again walked over to the river bank from our camp to see and it had risen another five to six feet from the last time it rose. Everyone moved up there and the people on the other side were told to seek higher ground themselves if they could. Unfortunately we had to leave those people trapped on the other side. There was nothing we could do to help them. The waters had risen too high and were flowing to fast for anything to be done.

We moved up to the horse area and then immediately told that we needed to move to even higher ground because the river was still rising. We hiked back up the trail past Havasu falls and grouped together in a the cemetery that is just upstream. Historically this was the highest ground nearby and has never flooded, that's why the cemetery set there.

4:00 am: So here we are at the cemetery. Benny circles everyone around him and tries to answer the questions that were being asked. Just listening to the questions and hearing the voices with which they were asked you could sense the fear in some of the people. Now this was my first flash flood experience but I've grown up hiking and camping and being in the back country so I felt that I was somewhat prepared to handle what would come. However, some of the people were over from Europe of back east and have never experienced this type of thing before, nor grew up knowing what to do in these type of situations. That, coupled with the fear of not being able to see the river at that time and not knowing if it would continue to rise, helped to escalate the tension and fear felt by many of the campers. Dad and I were sitting next to the group of five that had been separated from their friends and gear. They had nothing on but swim trunks, short sleeve shirts, and shoes; nothing else. I brought our bags over to them and we gave them our sleeping bags, air pads, a hoodie, two jackets, couple pairs of pants, and some dry clothes so they could at least stay warm. We found out that they were from the Provo area and we told them to stick with us and we would help them get home and help accommodate them with what they needed. As dawn was coming and the sky was starting to lighten up I walked over to the edge of the cemetery to check out the river. You could make out the rapids and the level of the river in the dim light. It looked like it had grown five or six times it's original width and height. There was a constant rumble from the river that sounded like thunder off the canyon walls and you could feel the vibration through the ground. It's banks we probably a good 75 feet away and down from where we were at. I repeat by saying that the roar of the river sounded like thunder. You could also hear what sounded like lighting as the force of the river was so powerful to uproot or snap full grown trees and carry them down river. It truly was a sight seeing tree after tree being swept away. This sight those caused us to worry about those still caught in the campground area. The massive amount of debris flowing through could easy knock someone into the river or kill them instantly.

At this time we could see lights from the canyon walls and hilltops nearby. The main trail that campers hike in by was inundated and the two foot bridges that cross the river were blown away by this massive river but there are a couple of trails along the cliffs that the locals used. These are "secret" trails I guess you could say and were a back way in and out of the canyon. From there the locals had come down to check out what was going on and to help where needed. They made it all the way to the campground and started helping some people cross the river. This rescue happened later on from when we were in the cemetery but I'll add it hear while talking about the back trails and the locals. The three young adults stranded from their five companions were just some of the people who were saved by these tribe members. At the time the river started to rise even higher, after we had left, these people had to scramble up trees and stand on top of picnic tables and hang on to trees for their lives. They stuck in these trees for over five hours, half in the water and half in the tree. They had lost their shoes and some of the clothes they were wearing. The story from one of them was that a couple of tribe members came to where they were at and helped them crossed. One was told to jump from her position in the tree and extend her arm so that the Indian could catch her. With hesitation she trusted him and leaped into the water (it's speed had increased with the additional rise and was now estimated to be flowing around 35-40 mph) She says that she jumped in and went completely under expect for her right hand, which had been caught by the native there to help her. He pulled her to shore and continued to help others. Others crossed in similar ways. I also heard that there were attempts at using ropes to help get other across but I'm not completely sure about those details. Another young man caught in a tree had to actually move to another one because the debris hitting his caused it to start to break. He said that massive trunks would just slam into his tree and knock it around. He also stated that at various times he saw chuck of rock and mud the size of cars just being swept away through the river.

5:00 am: Back at the cemetery and before the local natives had made it down to the campground light was starting to illuminate the river and our surroundings. It was impressive. It looked like the Colorado flowing through Cataract Canyon. Just a series of rises and troughs as the river carved it's way down the canyon. Finding this secret trail we started climbing up the cliffs behind us to safer ground. The water now was at the cemetery edges. We found a canyon in the cliffs with a path to climb up and ropes to assist us. This was used by the locals when they came that way into the cemetery. We formed a support line up the wall to help those campers who would struggle climbing up. People were informed to leave what they had and to only take what they needed. Not many headed this call so it caused the climb to be delayed. Everyone got up and sat on the cliffs watching this amazing feet of nature that took a calm, smooth flowing, blue river surrounded by lush vegetation and in a matter of hours turned it into the floods of Noah. By this time the Indians had scouts and walkie talkies along that trail and were informing everyone to hike back to the village that was about two miles away, using the back trails. While the others started the hike Dad and I climbed back down the cliffs to get our gear that we had left behind and to help anyone else that was still down there. Before this I gave my day pack to the group of five and told them to head to the village and that we would meet them there shortly. I initially packed this packed at 12:30 am when the first flood came through so that I had the essentials handy in case we had to quickly move. It consisted of two camelbacks full of water, two or three bags of trail mix, a couple of granola bars and powerbar gel packs, camera, gps handheld, wallet, and car keys. I already had my multi tool and flashlight with me so I kept those. Because we had unpacked all our gear to give to this group we left it there while we climbed up the cliffs. After everyone was up the wall we climbed back down to get it. The waters hadn't risen in a while and were still not posing a danger to where we were at. In fact, I don't believe the waters rose much more after that. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it over to see how this had affected Havasu falls but some people that I met did and got some amazing pictures.

We got back up the cliffs and hiked the two miles back to the village, catching up with many of the campers. Hiking bike we found another cemetery, hiked through people's corn fields, climbed through barbed wire fences, and through muddy washes that had been created earlier that night when the initial flood hit. Part of the village close to the Havasu Creek was inundated as well but the main part went unscathed. While hiking back I could see Navajo Falls. It was completely covered in mud and only a trickle of water was coming down.
About twenty minutes later I saw the reason why but didn't realize it was the cause until the next day. While hiking along I heard this sound that I thought were the initial helicopters in to rescue those down stream. It was to constant though to be choppers. I looked up and saw above the tree line another waterfall, one that didn't just a day earlier. At the time I had no idea where we were at in relation to the river but it was too big to have been missed if it existed previously. I couldn't see where it came from or where it was going but it was like a mini, muddy Niagara.
We made it back to the village and met up with the group that we were helping out. I went to the store and bought a couple things of gatorade for them and Dad went to the cafe where we got some food. The trail mix, granola bars, etc were all gone by the time we met back up with them because we told them what was in the pack and to eat what they needed.

9:00 am: We're now back at camp and relatively safe. The first chopper on seen was the AirWest chopper which was the privately run chartered helicopter used by the locals to get supplies. It started flying down the canyon to evacuate those cut off downstream. A couple of Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) choppers arrived and continued the air evacuation. The first people to be rescues back to the village by the helicopters arrived around 10:00 am or so. Talking with some of them I learned that a large group had been able to gather at the cliffs of Mooney falls away from the flood waters. We were grateful that those people made it there safely because if they had gotten swept away they would have gone over that 200 foot waterfall. (For a youtube video of the flood over Mooney go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyqsNcqMGZg it was taken by one of the people stranded down there). Others who didn't make it down to Mooney were able to climb the cliffs into some caves. Those trapped on the island (a group of 11-12 year old scouts and others) had to spend part of the night in trees as well until they could be air evacked out. These boys came back completely exhausted, dehydrated, and scared. It was not hard to look at their faces and see the fear and terror that they went through.

10:30 am: News spread through the camp that the Redlands dam about 30 miles upstream had broke and another flash flood potential existed, one that could even threaten the main part of the village. I went over and talked with the evacuation coordinator who was also the onsite FEMA coordinator to get a little clarification on the rumor. He informed me that one of the helicopter pilots had flown over the dam to assess the situation and reported that it had broke but that it was not affecting the height of the water to a worrisome level. The main focus at this point was getting all those still trapped downstream out of the current danger they were in. About 11:30 am or so the three remaining people from that separated group made it to the village. They were air lifted out from their spot and dropped off at the cemetery, from there they had to hike back to the village, two of them not having shoes. When they arrived they were beaten, bruised, and exhausted. I attended to them the best that I could and gave them some pain meds (Mortin and Tylenol) that we had in our first aide kit.

Noon: By this time I believed that everyone that they could account for were rescued from the campground and back at the village, of course there was no way of being 100% certain. A group of hikers that started hiking out before the flood hit were also brought back to the village by the choppers. The had made it past the village and were headed up the canyon to the parking lot when they were trapped by flood waters as well. We were told that choppers would soon be coming to get us out. There were over 200 campers there and so I knew that it was going to be a long, long time before we even set foot on the bird. So we just had to make due with what we had. About 12:30 pm we were moved to a place in the village that would be large enough for Blackhawks to land and told to form a single file line. "The choppers will be here soon," we were told. An hour and a half later the first one landed. We were moved from our spots in the shade into an open field and waited next to a fence for an hour in the noon day sun. This was the sign of what was going to be a very frustrating afternoon. The organization of this air evacuation was that of poor, poor quality. No information was being given to the group, "just going to have to wait," we were told. Now where we were lined up waiting for the Blackhawks to arrive was right next to the landing pad, 75 feet away. Anyone who has been near a helicopter when it lands know of the massive dust they kick up while landing. Now imagine behind 75 feet away from a military Blackhawk landing in a dusty dirt field; a little annoying.
After it took off the coordinator decided that we probably should move back and form the line farther away from the LZ. "No kidding," I said to my Dad, "You'd think they would have thought of that in the first place." One of the guys we were helping out looked at me and said, "Let me tell what was wrong with that last sentence of yours. You started with the phrase, 'You'd think'." We all got a good laugh out of that. Now we were told that the Blackhawks would be taking ten people at a time and that three would be used in the effort. However, when the first Blackhawk arrived it only took six and the second one only took seven. The "third" never even showed up, contrary to the reports you might have heard from the Cococino County Sheriff on the news. The other two DPS helicopters also assisted in air lifting people out but they could only take three or four at a time. They also had to stop in the afternoon because the pilots had passed their fourteen hour flight limit due to their part in the rescue downstream and the time it takes to fly to and back from Phoenix, where they were sent from. It was about a fifteen minute turnout from take off to return for the Blackhawks and from touchdown to take off they averaged five minutes to load. So you do the math; two Blackhawks, fifteen-twenty minute intervals, six-eight people at a time, and over 200 people to evacuate equates for a long, long wait in line for those of us located near the rear. We left our bags and went and sat in the shade. I would occasionally go and moved them as the line progressed but returned back to the shade.

When the first Blackhawks arrived they brought some police officers from another local tribe to help with crowd control. I went over and started talking with them and they told me they had no clue what was going on and they were as just in the dark as we were. They were a couple of good guys and I talked with them through the remainder of the day. I was informed by them though of something rather interesting and disturbing. Although two army Blackhawks were being used, evacuation wasn't being run by the government. In fact, it was being run by the local tribe leaders and was only being assisted by the government. So it was the tribe council man who decided what route the evacuation would take place. Well around 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm we were informed that they were going to start evacuating the local tribe people before the rest of the campers. This wasn't a forced evacuation of the tribe members but those who chose to go could. So while we had waited in line to board the choppers for hours, many of the tribe members that chose to evacuate came up to the front of the line with wheel barrels of their personal property, pets, and whatnots and boarded the Blackhawks.

Now I need to explain a concept before I continue. There is a private helicopter service that provides transportation for supplies and the Indians in and out of the canyon. It is contracted out through the tribe. On the days the helicopter flies tourist can use this service as well for a fee. It provides a different perspective of the canyon on the way out if you don't want to hike back up. It cuts a four hour hike down to four minutes and provides spectacular views. It's run on a first come first serve basis so tourist need to get to the helipad early and sign up. However, because it is there for the Indians they have first pick if they want. That means that you could be waiting for two hours to get on and if a local needed to use it to get out they got to jump to the front of the line. This is a totally acceptable concept because it is for them really, it's just a convenience for tourist.

I asked the FEMA guy who was "organizing" (I use that term loosely because there was very little organization, if any, that existed. No information was being passed along, people were moved from shade to sun an hour before the first chopper arrived, groups weren't organized so that the loading of the choppers would run more efficiently, etc) why the villagers were being able to play that "first pick" card when these were military helicopters and this was an evacuation. He told me that because the evacuation was being run by the tribal council, and that that decision to evacuate the locals first was made by them, that's what they were doing. I also asked why there was a need to evacuate the villagers, was there an imminent danger to them or the village? He told me not at the present moment but more flash flood warnings were predicted for the next couple of days so they decided to evacuate the villagers as well.

Now you can only imagine how us campers felt about this little decision. Many people were irate. There was no imminent danger to the village. They were passing up the people who had been caught in the flood, no means of communication to the outside world to inform family members that they were all right, many had lost their gear in the flood and only came out with what they were wearing, people not familiar with the land to evacuate those who had lived for years, had a community that could support those who were affected by the flood, who had places to stay with food to eat, didn't have flights to catch or drives to make or family to inform, and weren't waiting in line for five hours up until that point. There was a lot of speculation as to why that decision was made and why the government didn't step in and say that this was unacceptable and the first priority were to be the campers and tourist since there was no immediate danger to the village. Those speculations were made and everyone is entitled to form their own opinion but I won't be commenting on any of them because this blog is intended to inform what happened, not why it happened.

One thing that I want to comment on though is an incident with the local government doctor assigned to work in the village of Supai. He was part of the group that elected to leave when the locals got to leave. Just before he got on the chopper I stopped him and asked him a question about a person in our group that had a somewhat series medical condition that required her to take a medication every day, that medication being washed away. Now I knew about that condition and her medication through my studies as a PA student (just starting my second year) but didn't feel comfortable giving her advice because of the type of medication it was. As I explained to him her condition he looked at me without taking his hand off his suitcase and explained that he didn't have any and said "She'll be fine for at least three days without it," then turned and got on the chopper. I just stood there in amazement at how this man, this medical professional, had absolutely no regard nor compassion for this young woman. Now he was right, the medication has a long half life and will remain in her system for a couple of days and there really was nothing he could do about it, but to see him turn tail and run onto the helicopter while there were still over a hundred campers and tourists waiting to be evacuated made me extremely upset. I would like to think that those of us who go into the medical profession do/did it because of our desire to care and help others. It's only common to place the needs of others above our own desires and needs. How could he just leave everyone there to save his own tail? What if something happened to someone that required medical attention after he had left? He is a government paid doctor assigned to that village, and yet, his oath as a doctor meant nothing at that time. Every man for himself it seems to be. For those of you reading this and are in the health profession I hope that you went into it for the reason of helping and serving, and not just the big paycheck. I helped attend to some of the wounded and a couple of other doctors who were camping there did too, but the village doctor who was getting paid didn't. In these situations it takes us to overcome ourselves and even disregard our own desires and need to attend to those in need of help. Sometimes that requires that we let them go first in the evacuation so that if an emergency does arise later, we are there to help.

Eventually the choppers had to refuel and were gone for about an hour to an hour and a half. They eventually returned and started shuttling people out. During the time they also brought supplies, like bottled water, for those of us still stranded. Of course the local store was still open and you could still go and purchase items to eat and drink...that is if you still had your wallet and it wasn't swept away. Eventually the Red Cross made a deal with the store to put everything from that point on on credit and it would be reimbursed so the refugees didn't have to pay for supplies.

Now there were officials on site, like BIA officers, local police and sheriff, but what they were doing we have the faintest clue. They weren't passing along any information (and we were wondering if they were getting any from up top) nor were they controlling the local tribes horses that were running wild through the camp, many times through our line and almost taking out half a dozen people. Again, no organization. You would see them ride around on four wheelers and sit down and talk. Now the police officers were only brought in to keep the crowd under control and didn't have much authority to do anything else so I'm not including them in with those people who were not taking charge when they should have. Plus I talked with a couple of them for most of the night and they were pretty decent guys in the same situation as us, no idea what was going on.

It's now about 7:30 pm or 8:00 pm and the sun has gone down a long time ago. There is still light out but it is growing dimmer by the minute. One of the BIA officials tells everyone to leave this organized line that we had formed on our own and form four single file lines in a bottleneck section formed by a corral. Not taking charge himself and putting these people in an organized fashion, he just told everyone to do it and then walked away. Now our organized line has become a disorganized herd of people, with us being even farther back now.

A Blackhawk touches down and the ground crew signal that it can take ten people. Ten run out and seven get on with the remaining three being tol to turn around and go back to the line. What? While they were returning the three ground crew that were helping people get on all day long jumped on themselves and the chopper took off. I saw that and immediately thought "Well, there goes the last chopper for the night." Fifteen minutes later that was confirmed when we were officially told that we would be stuck there for the night. (Now KSL news reported that 50 people or so "elected" to stay behind for the night and that they would be choppered out in the morning. The Cococino County Sheriff also told CNN that everyone who wanted to be out would be by nightfall. I want to set the story straight and inform everyone that those are false statements. First of all there was around 80-90 of us still there and not a single one of us elected or volunteered to stay back. The truth is we had no choice and were forced to stay back because the choppers weren't going to come back. So we didn't elect, but were elected to stay back. And as for the Sheriff's statement, everyone that wanted to get out that night didn't.) Many questions were asked like what about the possibility of another flash flood and where to go (when I heard that question I was like "Really? Did you seriously just ask that? YOU START CLIMBING UP THOSE ROCKS!), where were we to stay, what were we to eat, and what time would they be back in the morning? We were told that the choppers would be back at "first light". "What time is first light?" someone asked. "Dawn," was the answer. Dad raises his hand and said, "That's not what the question was. The question was what TIME is first light, or in other words, what TIME are they planning on coming back?" "At dawn," was the response. Another question was asked what was to be done with the line and how would people be able to save their spots? I first thought at this point what does it matter where you are in line anymore? Regardless of what time "first light" is and what time the choppers actually get here your day tomorrow is already shot. No response to that question either from the officials. I raised my hand and asked if he, the BIA officer, would personally organize the remaining group into smaller groups and assign numbers so that there would be some form of efficient loading of choppers in the morning and so that people didn't just start lining up at "first light" to sit and wait, you know, some kind of organization to appease the already irate group that was left. Nope. Didn't happen.

We took refuge in the local community center and food was provided from the store. There is a lodge there (for those who don't want to stay at the campground) that was charging $45 to anyone who wanted a bed. Convenient, right? So we slept there that night. Many people used the phone found in the store to call their families and let them know that they were all right. We also heard some of the news reports that our families received from CNN and other services, like us "volunteering" to stay behind.

I wake up about 4:30 am and walk outside. It's a full moon out and you can see the canyon wall with great detail. Blackhawks have flood lights on them right? How is it that they couldn't get the rest of us out earlier? Most people start waking up about this time because yesterday "first light" came around 5:00 am. Over the walkie talking it's heard that the first chopper would be there at "0600." So just before 6:00 am everyone was lined up out side the LZ waiting for "first light" and "0600." Luckily we got there early and were one of the first in line, instead of last. 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, and still no chopper. By 8:00 am the sun was up and shining on the village, still no chopper. "First light?" A report comes in to prepare the LZ by 9:00 am. 9:00 am rolls around and still no chopper.

While waiting I decided to go off and do a little exploring. Remember that new waterfall I talked about earlier? Well I found it, and it's consequences. This new waterfall had formed about 0.3 miles upstream from Navajo falls and cut, literally cut, out a new canyon from flat ground. The canyon was at least 40 feet deep and I can't give you an estimate as to how wide it was, but it was enough to divert the river away from Navajo and dry it up. Absolutely amazing to see this feet of mother nature and how such little time it took. I stood there in awe and wonderment about the sheer force and power only "9 inches" of water falling in canyons 30-40 miles away can do when it all funnels into one. For those of you with Google Earth or some kind of mapping software the coordinates for this new fall are:

36 degrees 14'46.76" N
112 degrees 41'59.29" W

The coordinates for Navajo Falls are:

36 degrees 15'01.99" N
112 degrees 41'55.88" W

If you look at the landscape you can see a flat, forested land. Now check out this video I took an those coordinates.



Finally! 10:30 - 11:00 am the first chopper arrives! "First light?" It's a DPS air rescue chopper and starts again with the evacuation. Shortly after two National Parks Service (NPS) chopper from the Grand Canyon arrives and another Blackhawk assist with the remainder of the evacuation. Each different organizations chopper had different protocols. The DPS choppers loaded people up quickly and flew them out. The Blackhawks had to follow army protocol and load everyone up, securely fasten them in, etc. The NPS chopper I rode out on has a set of its own rules: jumpsuits, helmets, and a pre-flight itinerary. Are you kidding me! Just get me on the bird and out of this canyon!


I'm finally in the air! 36 hours post flood and I'm finally being evacuated! We were taking to a hilltop about three miles away from the parking lot and interviewed to make sure that everyone in our party was accounted for. We were shuttled back to our car and by 1:00 pm we were finally on the road. What awaited us ahead was a 12 hour drive home. We gave those who were lost a ride home to Provo and pulled into our garage at 1:30 am Tues morning. What an adventure!

As of lately I was informed that eleven campers are still considered missing. To that I can't comment on because I didn't know the exact number of how many campers were there in the first place. All I can say is that the initial rescue effort to get those people who were cut off by the river was amazing and everyone was working hard. I also don't wish to make it sound like the choppers did a bad job at the evacuation. DPS, the army, and NPS choppers and crew did an excellent job and were only following protocols and orders. Those who dropped the ball on this were the initial ground organizers.

I took my GPS handheld down and saved the coordinates to the falls, the trails we hiked on, the chopper right out, etc. I've loaded them into Google Earth and created a .kmz file so anyone who would like to see them let me know and I'll email them to you.

You can also see my full collection of pictures (pre and post flood) at

http://picasaweb.google.com/havasupaitrip08

Havasupai 2008

This past weekend I spent down in the Native American tribal land known as Havasupai. The Havasupai are a group of indigenous people located in a small little village, known as Supai, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Although not a part of Grand Canyon Nation Park, Havasu Canyon is part of the Grand Canyon complex. The village lies about 17 miles south of the Colorado River and relies on its water from the beautiful blue-green waters of Havasu Creek which flows through Havasu Canyon and merges with the Colorado.

These blue-green waters are what give the land its beauty. This land has some of the most amazing, beautiful scenery that I have ever scene. It’s a stark contrast from the rest of the Grand Canyon. Those of you familiar with the Colorado know that when it passes through the Grand Canyon it is a muddy body of water in most places. There is life at the bottom of the canyon but it is scarce.

Once you get to Havasu Canyon though things changes completely. Through Havasu Canyon runs Havasu Creek. Havasu Creeks starts at least 80-90 miles southeast of Supai on the plains. It is created from the runoff of snow and rain an flows northwest about 50 miles until it drops into Cataract Canyon, which then feeds into Havasu. There the stream is fed from an underground river that flows upward through an artesian well. The river flows the entire distance of the canyon until it finally feeds into the Colorado. The river is what brings in the tourist though due to its distinction from the Colorado. First of all its blue-green color is a thing of beauty at the bottom of the desert. The color is due to an enormous concentration of lime (CaCO3) contained in the streambed. This lime also gives the creek its other amazing distinction, its travertine formations. Sediment trapped in the river gets mineralized very quickly and thus the stream bed is ever changing with new pools and rapids being formed yearly. The entire distance of the stream can be described as a series of “step downs” from pool to pool. These “step downs” are the travertine formations. They are not very big drops with the average being about a foot.The water remains at a cool, refreshing 70 degrees F yearly and is a great place to cool off from the mid-day sun. However, Havasupai isn’t known for it’s blue-green water and travertine formations alone, it’s most famous distinction are a series of four waterfalls in between the village and the Colorado. This is what brings in the tourist from all around the world.


There is a primitive campground located just north of the first two falls and can accommodate around 200 campers or so. Because the ground is located on an Indian reservation each group is required to make reservations and accommodations through the local Havasupai tribe. This is not a government national park. The funding brought in by tourism helps keep the local village of Havasupai alive. The village is home to around 400 tribe members and is only accessible through helicopter or hike. It gets its supplies through a contracted helicopter service (known as AirWest) and a mule train.

In fact, it is the only place in the world where the mail is still delivered by mule (yes, there is a post office there).

It’s not a primitive village by any means; there is a K-8 school, courthouse, jailhouse, store, clinic (small), community center, churches (LDS and Christian), café, and homes. Many of the residents have satellite dishes, electricity, and phones (landlines). Don’t get me wrong, it’s not completely modernized, but it’s not primitive either. Many of the residents work with the tourism part of the community packing down tourists gear on the pack mules, working security, and other things. Some are farmers and grow corn. The kids run around barefoot in the dirt through thorny weeds and rocks as if pain didn’t exist.

The following is a brief description of the four major falls.

Havasu Falls

Havasu falls is actually downstream from Navajo falls but it’s the first one you will run into if you stay on the main trail. It’s an amazing fall to run into because you come at it from behind. In fact, if someone didn’t tell you it was there you wouldn’t know to expect it. So you’re hiking along the west side of the river and come to a steep down slope ans you start your descent you can hear the falls and as it makes its first turn to your right you see this amazing 120 foot, pure kinetic energy wall of water that spans 50 feet. It drops into this pool of turquoise blue made by the travertine deposits forming natural dams. Because of the sheer force of the falls the pool gets extremely deep (I really can’t give a good estimate of w

hat it would be). Along the west bank of this pool is an outlet for an underground stream that also feeds the pool. At the north end is another wall that encloses the area and makes it seem like you’re in a private resort. The walls by the falls are these stalactite-like projections that look like clay falling off piece by piece and just waiting for the potter to come and shape them.

Mooney Falls

Monney is by far the largest of the four with a drop of over 200 ft! It’s not as wide as Havasu but just as impressive. It’s located about a mile downstream from Havasu and again you come up on the falls from behind and walk into a world of amazement! It truly is spectacular to witness the massive amount of energy being dropped so far dow

n. Like Havasu, Mooney drops into another deep pool of turquoise blue water perfect for swimming and playing around in. To get down the base of Mooney it’s a little more technical of a climb. In fact, that’s what you’re basically doing…climbing. There are steel stakes and chains down the “path” so you can hang on while you go down, down those 200 feet I was talking about. At one point you have to climb down through a cave. At the bottom is set up a standard aluminum ladder that you can buy at any hardware store to get you down that last 15 feet. Once at the bottom your look up and again are just bewildered at the sight. The mist coming off of the falls, along with the canyon breeze is refreshing for any hiker who has been tortured by the day’s sun.

Beaver Falls

Is no where near the height of the other two but none the less impressive. It is a series of three waterfalls and pools that step down to the next. The highest of the three would have to be around 25-30 feet and is perfect for the afternoon cliff jump. On one of the levels there is an underwater cave that is easily accessible and amazing. While in the cave you look up at the ceiling and it looks as if a ceiling of spikes is about to come down on you. Surrounding the pools at Beaver are plenty of trees to give shade for lunch. Beaver is located about 3 miles down Mooney and the trail is fairly easy. However, finding Beaver is not. At one point you have to scale up a rope/wood ladder and walk along the canyon wall. The canyon widens a little bit and for a while you can’t see the river but can still hear it. If while hiking you come to a sign that says “Now leaving Grand Canyon National Park and entering Havasupai tribal land” you’ve gone to far. Turn around, climb down the canyon wall an

d walk upstream and there you’ll be. It’s one of those places that if you don’t know what you’re looking for you’ll easily miss it.

Navajo Falls

This was the last of the falls that we visited and is actually the first of the series, but because it’s not along the main trail so you’ll miss it if you’re going straight to the campground. By the way this was my favorite of the four. It’s probably only 70 feet tall but the landscape is just amazing. The water looks like it cascades down a series of beehives. To the east of the falls is a little cavern with a pool and a mini waterfall coming out of a

hole in the wall about the size of volleyball, if not smaller. The lush vegetation around the pools and the falls gives it a secluded feeling. One can climb up along the back side of the falls and explore a little around the top, then scale down the middle of the falls using a rope that’s been tied to a tree up top and stand on a ledge about 50 feet up from the pool. From that ledge you have two choices, stay there looking down at the water from that height and question whether you should jump or not, or, close you eyes and throw yourself through the air and plummet towards the water. Really the later of the two is the most fun.

Now that you’re a little more informed I can recall my trip. Dad and I started driving from Ogden, Ut on Wed, Aug 13th in the morning and reached the Hilltop parking lot around 8-9 pm (~12 hr drive). We got the tent out a slept in the parking lot that night. We woke up at 4 am and started hiking down the trail at 5. Around 5 am is when the canyon starts lighting up. Now, there’s a reason it’s called Hilltop parking lot, it’s on a hi

ll on a canyon ledge. The trail begins there and immediately descends about 1500 feet in about 1.5 miles through a series of switchbacks. Once down you hike along the river wash of the plateau. At this time in the morning the sun is just barely shining on the top of the canyon walls and is one of the more beautiful and breathtaking dawns that one can experience.

A quick side note, because of the hot Aug temperatures one has to start early in the morning because by 9:30 or 10 it’s already 100+ in the canyon. The sun beats off the red sandstone walls and you start to feel like a brick over pizza. Back to the story: With the dawn slowly rising we continued along the plateau until we came to another spot on the trail where we drop down another canyon (the Grand Canyon is one HUGE canyon with canyons in the canyon). The trail now follows the wash and you’re hiking in the bottom of this amazing sandstone creation with walls towering over 2000 feet above you. One cannot help a sit in awe at the mighty creation of this amazing place. Just taking it in with the human eye is overwhelming, let alone processing its formation. This little canyon you start in eventually takes you into Havasu Canyon where you will encounter the Havasupai village. The distance from the parking lot to the village is around 8 miles and took us around 3.5 hrs. This is a backpacking trip so you have to pack in your own tents, bags, food, everything; which means you’re packing around 35-40 lbs on your back the whole time.


Upon arriving at the village everyone is required to sign in at the camp office to receive their permits and instructions. From there we went to the local café and caught a quick breakfast before continuing on.

The campground is another 2 miles down the trail, and it’s the worst part of the hike. Going down the canyon is not bad because for the majority your walking on sandstone and packed dirt. The trail from the village to the campground is different; it’s sand. Think of walking along the beach shores and then imagine doing that with 40 extra pounds on your back, in 100+ temperatures (by this time it’s around (9:00 am and the sun has already hit the village) for another two miles. It’s not that it’s a hard, technical trail…it just plain sucks. It’s like busy work in school that you have to do. Along the trail we passed Navajo and Havasu falls. We finally arrived at the campground and set up camp near a spring that supplies fresh water and about 50 yards from the river. Then we quickly changed and rushed to Havasu falls to cool off in the water. We swam around there for a couple of hours and then went back to camp to take a nap. I had brought my backpacking hammock and quickly lost consciousness as I laid in it. Dad got out his air pad and slept on the picnic table. We were both exhausted from the hike down and the hot sun. I’m pretty sure we both slept for a couple of hours. After awaking we explored the rest of the campground, and hiked to Mooney falls just about a mile outside of the camp. Explored around there for a little bit and then went back to camp, ate dinner, and just kind of watched the other campers. It’s interesting to see how prepared, or unprepared, other backpackers are. You can easily spot the ones who have the experience and those who don’t. There were many times we saw what people were packing and thought “Really? Why would you bring that?”

It gets dark in the canyon early because the sun starts to disappear behind the canyon wall around 5:30 or 6 pm. We took another quick hike to Havasu falls (0.3 miles from camp) to catch them in the different light. From there we went back to camp and went to bed.

Friday morning we woke up when it started to get light, had a freeze dried pack of scrambled eggs and ham for breakfast and then took a day hike down river to some falls called Beaver Falls. This is about a 3.5 mile one way hike. It’s not difficult at all but just takes some time. There are three different points that you have to cross the river, a forest of vines and thorns, couple of cliffs to climb, and weathering a hot sun to get to the falls. The falls are located right at the point where the tribal land merges with Grand Canyon national park.

There is a sign that marks this point, and if you get to that sign you have gone too far and missed the falls. We ate lunch there and played in the water for probably 3 hrs or so. You would think it would be hard to spend that much time in one spot but as beautiful as it was with so much to explore around, and as tired as we were and relaxing as it was, we didn’t find it that difficult to just lounge. Plus, what rush were we in. It’s not like we were on a time table at all. We planned this trip to give us plenty of time to do everything we wanted and spend as much time as we wanted. While at the falls we met up with a group that hiked up from the Colorado River (about another 3.5 miles). These people were on a 14 day river rafting trip and stopped off at the Havasu/Colorado junction to get a change in scenery. One of them said that as soon as they heard there was a place to go swimming in clean, fresh water they were all up for it. Their guide started showing them some places to go climbing and cliff jumping and also showed a couple of them where there was an underwater cave that had an air pocket in it to go exploring. I listened closely to him from a distance and watched where he went so I could go find it for myself. After he left I went looking for it and found it. The entrance wasn’t that far from the surface and I came up in this little 10 foot by 3 foot air pocket. The ceiling was full of stalactites formed from the water seeping through. I showed dad where it was at and tried to get him to go explore it but he didn’t want to. That didn’t matter though, because at that time I had taken him to a place where the only way down was a 25 foot jump off the falls into the pool below. I jumped and was just paddling in the water waiting for him to jump. He just looked at me from up top and gave me this look of “why did I follow you up here?” Eventually he jumped and it looked like he enjoyed it, of course I couldn’t get him to do it again. He’s not too comfortable with that height and prefers the 15 footers. We played in the pools a little more and then headed back. It only took us about an hour and a half to go back because we didn’t stop as much on the way down (I already took pictures on the way down). One of the parts in the trail requires you to climb a 15 foot ladder with rungs about 6 feet apart. There a ropes in-between the rungs to help you get up. On the way back we came across a rope swing that some teenagers were playing at. We joined the fun and flung ourselves out into the river. Dad was getting ready to go when one of the boys asked if he wanted them to grab his legs and pull him up higher so he can swing out farther. Surprisingly Dad said yes and they threw him out. After complaining about that 25 foot jump I was shocked that he let these kids do that to him. Oh well.

The hike down and back to Beaver, and all the playing in between took about the whole day so when we were done we went back and ate some dinner. For lunch we packed down some tortillas, tuna, and cheese and brought down much more than we should have so that night for dinner we had tuna quesadillas and a freeze dried peaches and cream pie. Before the trip I bought a 2 lb bag of tortillas and put them in the food sack, which eventually ended up in Dad’s pack. When he pulled that out at first he just started laughing and said “I can’t believe you made me pack that!” (For those of you not familiar with backpacking you have to pack light things so that you can actually carry your pack down the trail. Every little ounce matters and you really only take what you need)

That night it started raining a little. The tent we took down didn’t have the rain fly and so we had to improvise with a couple of ponchos. Ours was the only redneck tent in the campground!

It’s now Saturday morning and we have one more day left before we pack out. We decided to hike upstream to Navajo Falls about a quarter of a mile away. There I found some places to go climbing and cliff jumping. Dad cliff jumped as well, just not off the same ones. I found a place that was probably about a 50 footer. To get there I had to climb up to the top of the falls, then, climb down in the middle of them using a rope that had been tied to a tree up at the top. I also saw a couple of kids climb up a semi-cave and jump out from in the middle of the falls. Of course, I had to go find this cave and experience it for myself. That was a little more difficult than expected. It was right under the falls and so initially it was hard to see where to get some good holds to pull myself up. I had to actually climb up and in between a couple of walls to get to where I could jump. It was a fun jump though. We were the first group up there in the morning and more showed up later. A large group of guys came up and I showed them where to jump from. These guys we doing back flips and twists of the cliff into the pools. A couple of them even did a little “synchronized jumping” which gave everyone some good laughs. After a couple of hours there were headed back to camp for some more tuna quesadillas and a nap. This time Dad took the hammock and I got the picnic table.

After another couple hour nap we woke up to some thunderclouds rolling over and some rain. It didn’t rain hard and it quickly passed but that storm that passed over would change the course of our trip, and Havasupai forever. See my next posting on the flash floods.

All and all the trip was amazing! I would love to go back in the future to see the effects of the flood and those changes it brought. I was already surprised at the changes that happened over night. After everything we went through I would still go back. That country down there is the landscape of the Great Creator and it was truly a spiritual experience as well to enjoy of His beauty, created for our enjoyment.

I took plenty of amazing pictures of this place! Overall I have about 1.4 GB of pictures and video, that’s over 300 pics and vids. For those of you familiar with my blog I love to take pictures of the outdoors and backcountry. That being said, I don’t take a lot of pictures with people in them and I also take a lot of the same area trying to get different angles and lighting patterns. People say that a personless picture is a boring picture but I disagree. The most beautiful pictures I have ever seen have been nature in its own element, without mankind mucking it up or ruining it with a cheesy smile. Now I still am one to get in a cheese it up for everyone to see but there is always the pure shot that I get. When I do get people in my shots I like to get them with their natural looks and not a pose so you’ll see a lot of pictures of people hiking with their backs to me, etc. That way it looks more real. Because of the sheer quantity of pictures I have created another site apart from my other picture page with my Idaho backcountry pictures so that I can fit most of them in. This site is located at

http://picasaweb.google.com/havasupaitrip08

Feel free to go perusing if you wish.

For those of you who are familiar and enjoy playing with Google Earth I also took my handheld GPS and mapped out the trails that I went on, the waterfalls, and some other interesting points. I have created a Google Earth .kmz file and so if you would like that please leave your email and I’ll send them your way.