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Havasu Falls dropping over a red travertine cliff into a bright turquoise pool, with cottonwoods and pale mineral terraces spreading out to the left

Hiking to Havasupai Falls: the blue-green water, and what it takes to get there

Havasu Creek runs turquoise because it's full of dissolved limestone, and it sits at about 70 degrees whatever the month. Getting to it costs ten miles on foot, one February morning at a keyboard, and four days you can't shorten. The trip first, then what it takes to book it.

DestinationsUpdated August 16, 202614 min read

Photo: Traveling Man — CC BY-SA 3.0

The water is the reason anyone does this. Havasu Creek comes out of a limestone aquifer already carrying dissolved calcium carbonate, and wherever it churns over a lip it drops that mineral back out as travertine. That's what builds the pale shelves and dams and terraces stepping down the whole length of the canyon, and the mineral still suspended in the water is what scatters the light into a blue-green that looks retouched in every photograph ever taken of it.

The tribe's name for itself, Havasupai, means people of the blue-green water.

Havasu Falls is the one you've already seen: a single heavy column off a red cliff into a pool with a sand beach and cottonwoods along one bank. What the photographs leave out is that the creek holds around 70 degrees every day of the year, so the pools are swimmable in February if you can talk yourself in, and that the falls are only the loud part of a canyon that runs turquoise for miles.

You can't do it as a stop on a Grand Canyon trip. The tribe sells one kind of booking and it's four days and three nights, which sounds like a tax until you're down there. One day walks you in. One big day goes downstream to Mooney and Beaver. The third has no job in it at all, which turns out to be the point. Most trips to a famous waterfall buy you an hour beside it. This one buys three nights of hearing it from a tent.

None of which is casual. It's ten miles in and ten back out with everything on your back, the climb saved for the last morning, in a desert canyon with very little shade. And it's Havasupai land, not a national park, so the tribe's permit is the only way in and the tribe's rules are the ones that apply. That permit goes on sale one morning in February for the whole year. What follows is the trip first, and then what it takes to be on it.

The Havasupai Falls hike in four numbers

10 miles
Trailhead to campground

Eight miles to the village of Supai, then two more to the tents. There's no road for any of it.

2,000 ft+
Of climbing on the way out

Hualapai Hilltop sits at 5,200 feet, Supai Village at 3,205, and the campground lower again.

3 nights
The only length sold

Long enough that a whole day of it belongs to the water instead of the walking.

$455
Per person, 2026 campground

Covers all three nights, and includes every permit, fee and tax.

Upstream to downstream

The falls, in the order you meet them

These aren't ranked. The campground is strung along the creek between the second and the third, and Beaver is the last of the four: below it the creek keeps going to the Colorado, and that confluence is inside Grand Canyon National Park.

A wide curtain of white water spilling over a broad mossy travertine ledge into a green pool, framed by red canyon walls
One of the falls above the campground, photographed in July 2009, less than a year after the flood that created this stretch of the creek.Photo: Gonzo fan2007 — CC BY-SA 3.0
01

Fiftyfoot Falls and Little Navajo Falls

Between Supai Village and the campground

Where
Below the village, before you reach the campground
Getting there
On or just off the main trail, no scrambling
Worth knowing
Neither existed in this form before August 2008

These are the two the old guidebooks get wrong, and it isn't the guidebooks' fault. The 2008 flood pushed Havasu Creek into a new channel around the waterfall that generations of visitors knew as Navajo Falls, and cut two new falls on the way through. The tribe calls them Fiftyfoot and Little Navajo and groups them as the upper waterfalls; the geologists who documented the flood call the same pair New Navajo and Rock Falls. Both sets of names are still in use.

They're wider and lower than the famous ones downstream: broad curtains sliding over travertine into shallow green pools, with easy ground around them. Because they sit between the village and the campground, most people walk straight past on the way in with a heavy pack and come back for them on a rest day.

Why it's here: Almost everyone walks past these under load on the way in. They're better on a rest day, with your legs free and the pack left at camp.

Havasu Falls plunging in a single column down a red cliff face into a wide turquoise pool, with cottonwoods and a sandy beach on the left bank
Havasu Falls after the 2008 flood, which narrowed it to the single column visitors see today.Photo: Gonzo fan2007 — CC BY-SA 3.0
02

Havasu Falls

Just above the campground

Where
A few minutes' walk above the campground entrance
Getting there
The main trail passes directly above it
Water temperature
About 70°F, all year round

Up close it's one column rather than the twin jets in the older photographs. The 2008 flood took those off. Everything under it survived: the deep turquoise pool, the sand beach, the cottonwoods along one bank, and the travertine shelves stepping away below the outflow that are still building a little more limestone at a time.

It's also the last thing you pass before the campground, and the trail runs along the top of it, so most people meet it at the end of nine and a half miles instead of at the start of anything. Hot, tired, thoroughly finished with the pack. It lands harder that way.

Why it's here: You don't have to plan for this one. The trail to your tent goes over the top of it, so you'll see it whether you're ready to or not.

Mooney Falls dropping in a tall narrow column down a huge red cliff hung with travertine formations, into a pale blue pool with a cottonwood beside it
Mooney Falls, the tallest in the canyon. The dripping formations on either side of the water are travertine built up over centuries.Photo: Mark Reed — CC BY 2.5
03

Mooney Falls

At the far end of the campground

Where
Immediately below the downstream end of the campground
Height
The tallest in the canyon, at about 200 feet
Getting down
Mining tunnels, then chains and ladders on wet rock

You can look at Mooney from the top for free. Getting to the bottom is the most serious thing on this trip short of the weather. The route ducks through tunnels cut in the travertine, then works down a near-vertical cliff on ladders and chain handrails, permanently wet from the spray and slick with mineral deposit. It's single file, so it backs up, and the line is worst in the middle of the day.

None of that is optional if you want to continue downstream. This descent is the only way to Beaver Falls and everything below it, and the tribe opens the trails beyond Mooney during daylight hours only. It calls the descent extremely treacherous, and says it is not for children or for adults with physical limitations. Go early, go slow, keep three points of contact, and be honest with yourself about whether anyone in your group is going to freeze halfway down.

The tribe's flood instruction applies specifically here: do not go past the top of Mooney when it is raining or flooding. Below this point the canyon narrows, and a narrow canyon is the worst place to be in a flood.

Why it's here: Look at the ladders before you promise anyone you'll get to Beaver Falls. Plenty of people take one look and stay at the top, and that's a perfectly reasonable call.

Beaver Falls spilling in wide shallow tiers over pale travertine ledges into a bright blue-green pool, dark canyon vegetation behind
Beaver Falls, less a single drop than a staircase of travertine ledges, each with its own pool.Photo: RebexArt — CC BY-SA 3.0
04

Beaver Falls

The last waterfall in the canyon, well below Mooney

Where
Downstream of Mooney Falls, the last waterfall in the canyon
Getting there
The Mooney descent first, then repeated creek crossings
Time
The whole day from the campground, there and back

Beaver is a different kind of waterfall. Instead of one plunge you get a staircase of low travertine ledges, each spilling into its own turquoise pool. It's the quietest of the four, and the one shaped for swimming instead of standing under a torrent. Getting there costs you the Mooney ladders plus a few miles of creek crossings, scrambling and route-finding in both directions.

It's also the end of the line for waterfalls. The US Geological Survey calls Beaver the farthest downstream waterfall in Havasu Canyon; past it the creek keeps going to the Colorado, and the Park Service puts that confluence at river mile 157.3, eight miles below Mooney. The confluence is a very long day from the campground and needs its own planning, so it sits outside what this page covers.

Start early. The far end of this walk is no place to be figuring out where the trail went with an hour of light left.

Why it's here: It takes the whole day from camp. Don't leave it for the morning before you hike out.

What three nights actually looks like

The booking is fixed at four days and three nights, so the itinerary is mostly a shape you fill in. This is the tribe's own suggested version, with the reasoning attached.

  1. The night before

    Get to Route 66 and check in

    Check-in is at the Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn, and you can do it the day before your permit starts. Doing it the day before instead of on the morning buys you an early start and clears the one administrative step that can void the whole booking. Sleeping near the trailhead is not an option, because there's no camping at Hilltop. The permit section further down has the rest of it.

  2. Day 1

    Drive to Hilltop and walk in

    An hour and a half down Indian Road 18, then eight miles to the village and two more to the campground. In warm months you want to be walking before it's light. Plan on arriving, setting up the tent and getting in the creek. The waterfalls can wait a day.

  3. Day 2

    The lower falls

    The tribe suggests Havasu, Mooney and Beaver. In practice that means the Mooney descent early to beat the line, then the creek crossings down to Beaver and back. It's the biggest day of the trip and the one worth having fresh legs for.

  4. Day 3

    The upper falls, and not much else

    Fiftyfoot, Little Navajo and Havasu again, all within easy reach of camp. It's the day the three-night minimum stops reading like a rule the tribe imposed on you and starts reading like the best part of the booking.

  5. Day 4

    Climb out

    Ten miles back, with the climb to the rim saved for the end, on the tiredest legs of the week. Leave in the dark in summer. Then drive: the nearest fuel is 70 to 90 miles from the trailhead, so you're getting home on whatever you put in the tank on the way out.

The hike in: ten miles and 2,000 feet

The trail starts at Hualapai Hilltop, a parking lot on a rim at the end of Indian Road 18. No water, no fuel, no food, no shade. The road runs roughly 60 miles north from Route 66 and takes about an hour and a half, and it's open range, so you'll meet cattle and horses on it in the dark. The nearest gas is 70 to 90 miles away, in Peach Springs or Seligman.

That's why the tribe tells people to start down Indian Road 18 with enough fuel for at least 200 miles of driving. You also can't sleep there: camping at Hilltop is not allowed, and that includes sleeping in your car.

From the rim the trail switchbacks steeply down for the first mile and a half or so, then flattens into the bed of Hualapai Canyon, a dry gravelly wash between red walls that runs for miles with very little shade. Hilltop is at 5,200 feet and Supai Village is at 3,205, and the tribe's own description of the eight miles between them is that it involves very significant elevation change.

The campground sits two miles further on the main trail, lower again. Ten miles from the car, twenty for the round trip.

The two directions are not the same job. Walking in, you lose height and the day usually starts cool. Walking out, you gain all of it back, the switchbacks up to the rim are the steepest part and they come last, and by then you've got three nights of tiredness in your legs and a pack you've stopped enjoying. Day four is the one people underestimate.

Then there's the heat. The Park Service says summer temperatures here can reach 115 degrees, and that trails into Supai are closed when it goes above that. The tribe puts peak season at May to September, with days well over 100 and nights dropping into the 50s, and in warm months its advice is to plan your hikes in and out for the early morning. In the shoulder months it can be cold enough to snow.

If you really can't walk it, there's a helicopter: $300 per person each way, paid at the landing zone, currently flying Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. You can't pre-book it, tourists have the lowest priority, and the tribe's advice is not to rely on it for transport at all. Budget for walking and treat the flight as luck.

Hikers spread out along a gravel wash trail between low red rock walls in Havasu Canyon, with the pale cliffs of the Grand Canyon rim in the distance
The trail below Hualapai Hilltop in July. Once the switchbacks are behind you it's miles of open wash like this, with almost no shade in either direction.Photo: Chris English — CC BY-SA 3.0

What it takes, the short version

  • Every booking is four days and three nights. It's the only length the tribe sells, and the Park Service's wording is that day hiking is no longer permitted. The campground is the trip, not a stop on one.
  • This is not a national park. Havasu Canyon belongs to the Havasupai Tribe, and the Park Service says plainly that it lies outside the boundary and jurisdiction of Grand Canyon National Park. The tribe's rules apply, and its own court has sole jurisdiction over anything to do with your permit.
  • Permits go on sale online in February for that whole year; in 2026 it was February 1 at 8 a.m. Arizona time. A paid early-access window opens in late January if you want a head start.
  • A 2026 campground permit is $455 per person for the three nights, every fee and tax included. Cancel 90 or more days out and half of it comes back. Inside 90 days you get nothing, whatever the reason.
  • The campground is ten miles from your car, eight of them to the village of Supai and two more beyond it. The tribe puts Hualapai Hilltop at 5,200 feet and Supai at 3,205, and the campground is lower again. You climb all of that back out on the last morning.
  • Between the rim and the village there's no road and nowhere to buy anything. Phone signal is unreliable, and no rescue team is standing by. Everything you need goes in on your back, or on a mule you booked in advance.

How Havasupai permits actually work

This is the part that stops most trips, and it happens months before you pack anything. The Park Service says there are many more reservation requests than available campground spaces. Everything below is the tribe's own procedure, with the 2026 dates as the tribe and the Park Service published them. Check the tribe's page for the year you're going: it reserves the right to change any of this without notice.

  1. 01

    Make an account before the day, not on the day

    Bookings happen only at havasupaireservations.com, and you need an account there to make one. Setting that up while thousands of other people are also setting it up, on the morning the calendar opens, is a bad plan. Do it in January.

  2. 02

    Decide whether to pay for early access

    For 2026 the window ran from January 21 at 8 a.m. Arizona time to January 31 at 5 p.m. Those are the dates the Park Service put on record when the tribe announced them. It buys ten days' head start, and it costs a fee on top of the permit price. That fee doesn't come back even when the permit partly does: the tribe's cancellation policy returns 50 percent of the permit fee and says in the same breath that it excludes the early access fee.

    The tribe doesn't publish the amount on its own site, so take it off the booking page instead of off a number you read somewhere else.

    It's a head start, not a draw. The tribe's booking flow is add-to-cart and check out, so the popular dates come down to how fast you can click.

  3. 03

    Be logged in for the general sale on February 1

    The regular on-sale opens at 8 a.m. Arizona time on February 1 and covers the whole season. That was the tribe's announced date for 2026, and it posts each year's opening day on its own site. Arizona doesn't observe daylight saving, so figure out what that is in your own time zone instead of assuming it matches Mountain or Pacific.

  4. 04

    Add permits one at a time

    The system takes one permit per booking action: put one in the cart, click Add Booking again, repeat for every person, then check out. The tribe warns that it sends you back to the calendar each time, so check the dates on every pass. A campground booking can hold up to twelve people.

  5. 05

    Name your alternate trip leaders while you still can

    At checkout you can name one or two Potential Alternate Trip Leaders. One of them, or you, has to show up at check-in with photo ID or the booking is void. You can't add or change a PATL afterwards, and permits cannot be resold or transferred to anyone. Publicly offering one carries a permanent ban.

    People on your booking may reimburse you up to the face value of their own permit. Anything above that, or any public sale, is prohibited.

  6. 06

    Check in before you drive to the trailhead

    Permit check-in is at the Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn on Route 66, either the day your permit starts or the day before. You collect wristbands and a parking pass there, and you need the license plate of the car you're leaving at the trailhead. Miss check-in and the booking is canceled with no refund.

  7. 07

    Book a mule if you want one, at least 72 hours out

    Pack mules cost $400 round trip per mule and must be requested online at least three days before you arrive. One mule carries four soft-sided bags, up to 32 pounds and 36 by 19 by 19 inches each. No coolers, nothing dangling off the outside. Inbound bags go in between 4 and 9 a.m. at the trailhead and usually reach the bottom between 2 and 5 p.m.

The tribe's rules

These are not campground etiquette suggestions. The tribe's terms say a violation can end the permits of everyone on your booking, with no refund, and can carry fines, removal from the reservation, seizure of property and prosecution in tribal court. The first list is things to arrange before you go. The second is things that will end your trip. Read the tribe's own rules page before you leave, because this is not all of them.

What the tribe asks of you

  • Wear your wristband for the whole stay. Being on the reservation without a permit and wristband is trespassing.
  • Pack out everything you carried in, including trash and partly used fuel canisters. Leaving gear behind brings a civil citation and a fine, because getting it out means a helicopter.
  • Bring your own food and water for the entire trip, and be ready to take care of yourself and your own property.
  • Filter or treat any water that doesn't come from the village supply or the campground's freshwater spring. The tribe suggests filtering everything to be safe.
  • Store food and trash in odor-proof, rodent-proof containers. There are no bears, but there are squirrels and mice that will chew through a tent to get at a snack.
  • Photograph the scenery and your own group, for your own personal use.

What is not allowed, anywhere

  • Alcohol and drugs of any kind. This is a dry reservation, and possession alone is prohibited.
  • Drones and any other aerial photography or filming, plus any photography or recording for commercial purposes.
  • Photographing or recording tribal and community members, their homes and buildings, animals, burial grounds, and sacred sites or objects.
  • Pets, service animals and privately owned horses, everywhere on the reservation: the trail, the village, the campground and the lodge.
  • Reselling or transferring your booking, in whole or in part, publicly or above face value. The penalty is cancellation with no refund and a permanent ban.
  • Camping anywhere but the designated campground, and camping at Hualapai Hilltop, which includes sleeping in your vehicle.
  • Campfires, anywhere on the reservation.
  • Jumping or diving off the falls. The tribe's stated penalty for jumping off Havasu or Mooney is a $5,000 fine, a ten-year ban, immediate removal, and the bill for every rescuer and helicopter involved.

The gear this particular trip keeps asking for

Ten miles in with everything on your back, three nights on the ground, no campfires, and a village store that carries a limited amount of food and is not a plan. Four of our guides cover most of that, including a water filter and a hard food container, both of which the tribe itself puts on its packing list.

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Questions people actually ask

Why is the water at Havasupai so blue?

Dissolved limestone. The creek rises from a limestone aquifer full of calcium carbonate, and every time the water churns over a ledge it drops some of that back out as travertine, which is what the pale shelves and dams in the creek bed are made of. Mineral still suspended in the water scatters the light toward blue-green. It's why the tribe calls itself Havasupai, people of the blue-green water, and it's why the color doesn't change with the season.

Is Havasupai part of Grand Canyon National Park?

No. Havasu Canyon is on the Havasupai Reservation, and the National Park Service states that the Havasupai Tribe administers the land, which lies outside the boundary and jurisdiction of Grand Canyon National Park. Your national park pass is worth nothing here, and the tribe's own rules and court apply. The park boundary begins downstream, past Beaver Falls.

Can you day hike Havasupai Falls?

No. The Park Service's wording is that hiking from Hualapai Hilltop to Supai and Mooney Falls is not a day hike and that day hiking is no longer permitted. The tribe backs that up from the other side: permits are required for all visitors, every booking is four days and three nights, and being on the reservation without a permit and wristband counts as trespassing. There's no shorter permit to buy.

How much does a Havasupai permit cost?

For 2026 a campground permit is $455 per person for the three nights, and a lodge room is $2,277 for three nights for up to four people. Both include every permit, fee and tax. A pack mule is $400 round trip, and the helicopter, if it's flying and has room, is $300 per person each way. Prices are set per season, so check the tribe's page for the year you're going.

When do Havasupai permits go on sale?

The general sale opens on February 1 at 8 a.m. Arizona time and covers that whole year; that was the tribe's announced date for 2026. There is also a paid early-access window in late January, January 21 to 31 in 2026, which carries a fee on top of the permit and does not come back if you cancel. The tribe doesn't publish that fee on its own site, so check the booking page instead of a number you read elsewhere.

Booking is first come, first served rather than a draw. Arizona doesn't use daylight saving, so convert the start time carefully.

How hard is the Havasupai Falls hike?

The distance is ten miles each way, and the climbing is a little over 2,000 feet. The tribe puts Hualapai Hilltop at 5,200 feet and Supai Village at 3,205, with the campground lower again, and the steepest of it is in the mile and a half nearest the rim. Neither number is extreme on its own. It gets hard when you do the climb on the fourth morning, in a desert canyon with very little shade, carrying three nights of food and gear.

The Park Service's advice is to be fit, athletic, well hydrated and prepared for a difficult desert hike, and it notes that trails into Supai close when the temperature goes above 115 degrees.

What is the best time of year to hike Havasupai Falls?

The tribe's own answer is that the canyon is worth seeing at any time of year, and that the trade is comfort walking against comfort swimming. Cooler months are easier on the hike. Warmer months are better for being in the water, at the price of starting both walks before dawn. Peak season is May to September, when it can pass 100 degrees by day and drop into the 50s at night.

July to September is monsoon season and carries the flash flood risk. In the shoulder months it can snow.

What happens if there is a flash flood, or the canyon closes?

You lose the money. The tribe can close all or part of the reservation at any time, and its cancellation policy says permits are non-refundable inside 90 days for any reason at all, weather and natural disaster explicitly included. It also takes no responsibility for flights, hotels or other costs. Floods here are real and recent. The Park Service lists damage in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2024, and the 2024 flood killed a visitor and shut the campground and lodge through the end of September.

Is there water and phone signal at the campground?

There's drinking water in Supai Village and from a freshwater spring in the campground; the tribe asks you to treat or filter anything else, and suggests filtering everything to be safe. Phone signal is another story. Most of the reservation, including the trail, the campground and the lodge, has no reliable cell or wi-fi coverage. Plan on being unreachable, and tell someone at home what that means.

Sources

Facts on this page were checked against these. Conditions, fees and rules change — check the official page before you go.

  1. Havasupai Tribe Reservation — Grand Canyon National Park, National Park Service · checked August 9, 2026
  2. Frequently Asked Questions — Havasupai Tribe (Havasupai Reservations) · checked August 9, 2026
  3. Havasupai Entrance Permit Rules and Regulations — Havasupai Tribe (Havasupai Reservations) · checked August 9, 2026
  4. Homepage — permits, check-in, trailhead and rules for permit holders — Havasupai Tribe (Havasupai Reservations) · checked August 9, 2026
  5. Official Havasupai Tribe Website — opening day, cancellation and resale policy — Havasupai Tribe · checked August 9, 2026
  6. When the blue-green waters turn red: Historical flooding in Havasu Creek, Arizona — US Geological Survey · checked August 9, 2026
  7. Historical flooding in Havasu Creek, Arizona — full report (Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4059) — US Geological Survey · checked August 9, 2026
  8. Travels in Geology: Havasu Canyon, land of blue-green water — EARTH Magazine, American Geosciences Institute · checked August 9, 2026
  9. Northern Arizona Monsoon Season — National Weather Service, Flagstaff · checked August 9, 2026
  10. Shorthaul Rescue of Stranded Boaters from Havasu Canyon, August 17, 2008 — Grand Canyon National Park, National Park Service · checked August 9, 2026
  11. Grand Canyon National Park Reports Discovery of Deceased Individual Following Flash Flood — Grand Canyon National Park, National Park Service · checked August 9, 2026
  12. Havasu Falls closed indefinitely after deadly flash flood — Arizona Public Media · checked August 9, 2026
  13. Tribe releases when Havasupai Falls will reopen after flash flood — KOLD News 13 / Arizona's Family · checked August 9, 2026

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