Still On Board? Here’s What You’ll Need
A Pack – Don’t skimp on this. If you’re hiking 20 miles with 30-50 pounds of gear, you’ll want a well-made pack to carry it in. A well made, well packed and well fitted pack shouldn’t feel heavy or burdensome. Specialty stores like REI are a great resource to find the right pack for your body and trip needs.
Trekking poles are a great addition to your gear, they’ll help you stay balanced and distribute the strain of hiking over your entire body. When you’re carrying a lot of weight on your back, it definitely changes your center of balance and your ability to maintain that balance. Trekking poles can help with that. A lot. Plenty of experienced hikers don’t use them, but I don’t go on a hike like this without them.
Water – Enough for an 8 mile hike (you can fill up in the village and in the campgrounds). If you’ve got a proper pack, the easiest way to carry water is with a water bladder with a drinking tube
Somewhere to Sleep –
Option A: A Tent
You’ll want something that’s light enough to carry (or split between the number of people sleeping in it. Quality, lightweight tents can be expensive. Be sure you know how to set it up and take it down before you pack up for your trip. In our case, we actually had to move our tent in the middle of the night due to a potential flash flood in our campground area. We knew we had a well-made tent and were able to take out anything heavy and simply lift it and walk it to a new space. (Well, it didn’t feel simple at the time, but it was much better than having to break it down because it was a poorly made, easily broken hunk of junk.)
If you bring a tent, you’ll also need a sleeping bag and camp mattress. The market for these things seems to be: the cheaper they are, the bigger they are…the more expensive they are (at least for lightweight specialty items) the smaller they get when packed down.
If you don’t plan on using these items frequently, look into rental programs. REI stores (who have not provided promotional consideration, they’re just really useful for trips like this) do have rental equipment, availability varies by store.
Resource link for rentals: http://www.rei.com/stores/rentals.html
Option B: A Hammock
Camping hammocks are lightweight and comfortable. They’re strung up between two trees (and trees are readily available throughout the campground at Havasupai) and the “better” ones offer cover from the rain as well as optional bug netting so you can sleep without fear of bug bites. Unless you get cold easily, you won’t need a full-fledged sleeping bag for your hammock.
Clothing
Not as much as you’d think. Camping isn’t glamorous, you’ll rewear the same stuff a few times and it won’t be a problem. If you’ve planned for 5 days and packed for 5 days, take out half of your clothing. You won’t miss it. Try to bring wicking or quick drying clothing as you might encounter rain. Swimwear is optional. You can go into the water in shorts and a tee-shirt as easily as in a swimsuit. You will want water shoes of some kind as there are lots of rocks in and around the water. Hiking shoes that fit well and are broken in are a must. See an expert as most hiking or trail shoes aren’t meant to fit like sneakers. It’s not unusual to spend an hour trying on shoes, climbing on fake boulders and considering several fit options before you buy.
Food & The Means to Prepare It
Ahhh, food. One of the great delights of camping. You’ve got marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate? Great. Put them back in the pantry. No campfires are allowed and those items will take up far too much room in your pack. There are plenty of schools of thought for packing food for camping, but on trips like this, I always go with freeze dried meals.
Pair a Jetboil, or other lightweight camp stove, with oatmeal packets for the morning and freeze dried meals (like Mountain House brand) for dinner. The oatmeal and freeze dried meals only require hot water to prepare. The Jetboil is a simple, lightweight and compact device that boils water. Throw in a reusable spoon and a collapsible cup and you’re ready to go. You could bring additional freeze dried meals for lunch or just rely on cereal or protein bars. I also really like dried fruit strip snacks for a little sugar rush on the trail or as a sweet snack. They’re lightweight, compact and don’t require a lot of space in your pack.
Most of the campsites have at least one picnic table, so you’ll have somewhere to sit, prepare your food, eat and hang out.
Toiletries & Personal Care Items
Remember when I said camping wasn’t glamorous? I wasn’t kidding. You can jump in the water to freshen up, but don’t bank on washing your hair or using body wash. There are no showers at the campgrounds. There are composting toilets. Baby wipes are a great lightweight solution with lots of uses on the trial and at the campground. Need to get the grime off your face? Baby wipe. Want to wipe down your oatmeal bowl and your spoon? Baby wipe. I’m a stickler for cleanliness in the kitchen at home, but I’ve had to adjust to life outdoors having different standards for these sorts of things. A personal towel is great, but a traditional terrycloth towel will take a long time to dry if it’s raining or humid. Specialty towels that wring dry and pack down small are an easier option. You don’t need a full sized quick dry towel, one the size of a hand towel will do. Sunscreen will also be important, for the hike and your stay. The sun is just as strong in the canyon as it is in Phoenix, and long stretches of the trail are shade-free especially at mid-day.
A Great Attitude
As a friend of mine said when we arrived, “it’s not an adventure unless you have to change your plans.” Sure enough, upon arriving at the campgrounds we heard the weather had been severe enough to close the trail down to the Colorado river (a full day excursion from the campgrounds) and flash flood warnings had been coming and going all weekend. We decided to cut our stay short by a night upon arrival. We still had a great time, but it was because we decided we’d have a great time. Moving a tent in the middle of the night? Could be a disaster or an adventure. It’s all in how you handle it. We decided it was an adventure and felt pretty damn cool that we’d pulled it off and gotten a good (and dry) night of sleep.
Mooney Falls, the tallest of the waterfalls in the area is less than a mile from the campground. It’s gorgeous and has some great opportunities for wading, swimming and photographs. You do have to climb down a rock face, however, to get there. The descriptions online seem fairly tame. You walk down a trail, go through two caves in the rock face and then climb down with the aid of chains driven into the rock face.
Be sure, if you go, you have both hands free (carry a small day pack or don’t bring stuff down there you have to carry) because that last little bit? It’s daunting. The footholds aren’t easy to see and the chain can get wet from the spray of the waterfall. When you get to the bottom, you’ll look up and think something along the lines of “I’m amazing. I just climbed down that!” Going back up, incidentally, is much easier. You’ve already done the hard part. This time you can see where you’re going and you already know it’s manageable.
A Camera
Cell phone service is spotty at best and you’ll find your battery drained quickly. If you have a camera, you’re probably better bringing it than trying to capture pictures on your smartphone. It’s work making space in your pack for it.
