In our planning for our summer adventures, we took into consideration that August 10th is Paul’s mom’s 93rd birthday. Our hope was to be there for it, and we were.
We also try to schedule her doctor and dentist appointments for when we can be there, so, she had a very busy 3 days when we were in town.
Her party was scheduled for mid afternoon on a day that had lots of activities for the residents, so I was a little nervous about the attendance- but when we arrived, the room was full!
One of the attendees was a woman who used to be one of her main caregivers. She has since moved on, but comes back to visit periodically.
El Paso is sort of a turning point in our summer travels- an intermission of sorts. We had all our RV parks before August 10th booked in advance, and nothing booked for after the 10th. In late July we sat down and re-looked at our calendar. I still had to book a trip to Massachusetts, since the one I had booked for June was canceled due to my broken foot. We also needed at least a loose game for September and October.
Back in early 2020, Paul and I managed to score permits for a campground on a reservation, to visit Havasupai Falls. Getting the permits is difficult, as is the actual trip to Havasupai Falls. Reservations for the entire year open at 8 am on February 1, and sell out within minutes.
Our “original” dates were for March of 2020, for 4 people because two friends were going to join us. We all know what happened in March of 2020. So, we rescheduled our dates for October of 2021, then October of 2022, and now, since they are finally open again post Covid, October of 2023. Our friends have since dropped out, so it is just Paul and I now.
The trip is for 3 nights. In order to get to the campground, you have to hike 12 miles, 2200 ft down into a canyon. There are 3 restrooms in the campground, which is 2 miles long. Everything else, you need to bring yourself. All the food, tent, sleeping bags, clothes, shoes, cooking utensils- everything. Lucky for us, since we aren’t backpackers, we were able to hire a mule to carry our heavy things- although lately people have been saying that there aren’t always enough mules.
If we don’t get a mule, we can’t go.
Once you are in the canyon, there are trails to hike to different waterfalls. This is why its worth the effort to get there.
Will we make it? We will see. This hike is the reason we have been working so hard this summer to build up our stamina. Especially me, since breaking bones in my foot really set me back. Although I am happy with my progress, it isn’t enough. We will have to ramp it up more in Sept and Oct for me to feel comfortable making the trek. There is a possibility that we might be able to take a helicopter out of the canyon, but it doesn’t run every day, can’t be booked in advance, and doesn’t run if it’s windy. So, you need to be able to hike out.
We are lucky that our reservations are for after monsoon season because flash flooding is reasonably common, and has a drastic effect on the waterfalls…
Our tentative plan for before then: the rig, and Paul, will be in Fresno, CA, so he can spend time with friends while I fly to Boston for 12 days. When I get back, we will head a little further north, near Yosemite National Park, which has gobs of hiking. We will spend about a month there, getting in the best condition we can, and then head back to Arizona, mid October.
Havasupai Falls Trailhead is about 4 hours from our house, so we will give ourselves a week at the house to pack up our gear and buy whatever we don’t have. Mostly everything has been bought, since we expected to do this trip years ago. Our reservations are for October 26-29th.
I hope all your hopes for your trips come true.
ReplyDeleteLinda Sand