Confluence Hike

I did it again. I hiked to Havasupai for a third time in less than a year. This time, however, I went with 2 other hiking buddies – Michelle and Jeannette. Hiking with others offer opportunities not readily available for a solo hiker – one being hiking in more remote areas. The hike to the confluence where the Havasu Creek joins the Colorado River is one such trail. It is long, and can be extremely hot during the summer months. The perfect time to hike to the confluence is mid to late June since it is before the monsoon season and it is when daylight is the longest out of the year.

The Confluence hike is a 17-mile round trip from the campsite. Beaver falls is along the way at the 2.5 mile mark, which is where most people end up just spending the day at.

Confluence is another 6 miles from Beaver, and the recommendation is to not pass this point later than 10:30am to avoid getting caught in the dark on the way back because you’ll still need to scale the Mooney falls steps before reaching campground

And you definitely don’t want to be caught on this section at night.

The tribal land and the national park border sits just beyond Beaver falls.

Big horn sheep are commonly seen along the route, and when they block your path, you have 2 options – wait for them to leave or you turn back.

This is how we met Tom from Sacramento. He was taking his retreat when we crossed paths. Apparently a large ram was blocking his way, plus he had already consumed half his water and did not bring a water filter. We offered to share our water and use our filter if needed. He in return provided us a sense of security as he’s a relatively experienced hiker who’s hiked up to Mt. Whitney (highest peak in the continental US) and Mt. Shasta in the past. Probably wouldn’t have felt as comfortable had he been just a city boy with limited hiking experience.