So I went to Havasupai by the Grand Canyon with my friend last week and I survived the 10 mile hike each way.
Oh my god it was gorgeous. The pictures and videos don’t do justice, but I will share some highlights of my trip and also talk about the benefits of negative ions which I’m sure I had plenty of during this trip.
I will be making a separate video detailing the experience later which may help the first timers prepare for this epic adventure because I learned so much from others before and during the trip.
There are five major waterfalls in Havasupai, the land of the Native American Tribe: Fifty Foot Falls, Najavo Falls, Havasu Falls, Mooney Falls, and Beaver Falls. The amazing turquoise color is the reflection of calcium carbonate in the water. According to Wikipedia, Havasu means green-blue water and Pai means people.
First day we hiked 10 miles from the trailhead to the campsite. We had one break to enjoy this spam musubi in a shade. We were so glad we had bought spam musubis at a Hawaiian place on the way. Before the campground, we had a heavenly frybread with Nutella, banana, honey and powdered sugar. We set up camp, had dinner, and a nice lavender foot bath after the long hike before going to bed.
The second day we started with a breakfast at Havasu Falls where Beyonce shot part of her music video Spirit. The water was pretty cold before the sunrise but it was nothing compared to the ice bath I experienced at Wim Hoff’s event in October. This water was much warmer and much more tolerable.
After that we moved our campsite to a better one with a picnic table by the creek and went to Navajo Falls. But first rice ball lunch break by a beautiful river. Rice ball or onigiri is a typical pack lunch in Japan. I had this emergency instant rice balls from Japan and they worked great. You just add water or hot water and it’s done. I even brought fresh seaweed because I like it crispy outside.
While you enjoy the view of Navajo Falls, about the ions. They are small molecules that cannot be seen but they can be absorbed into your body through your skin and from breathing. There are positive ions and negative ions in our environment.
Despite the naming, in general, positive ions are bad because they are more toxic and harmful. They are generated by things like computers, phones, and TVs, air pollution especially in crowded areas, confined areas like office buildings, and industrial areas. Taking in too much positive ions in the air can cause headache, anxiety, fatigue, allergy, insomnia, and other chronic diseases.
Negative ions, on the other hand, are good for you. They have healing properties to clean air, strengthen immune system, enhance mood, relieve stress, increase blood flow to the brain, and energize your body. Negative ions are generated by oceans, storms, forests and waterfalls like these.
The water was much more enjoyable in the sun. The bottom part of Navajo Falls had smaller waterfall and I could to go underneath it. What better way to get the negative ions. The top part of Navajo Falls was literally an infinity pool.
Here are Fifty Foot Falls. The mist was too cold so I didn’t get in but I saw brave people going under the waterfall.
The third day we went to Mooney Falls and Beaver Falls. To get to the Mooney Falls you have to climb down the rocky area holding onto the chains then a ladder. After we got down, we hurried our way to Beaver Falls first because the sunny time is very limited there since it’s in the canyon. During the 2 mile hike from Mooney to Beaver, we crossed Havasu Creek several times and encountered big horn sheep, climbed up and down the ladders and we made it in the sun.
First, we had the rice ball break again with different flavors and enjoyed being in the water before the sun disappeared by 11am. We hiked back to the Mooney Falls and bathed in the negative ions of this powerful fall for one last time before heading back up the ladder and rocks.
That night happened to be full moon so we got to bask in the moonlight too which also has stress reducing benefit.
Day 4 we packed up and hiked out. Unfortunately, my solar battery died and so did my phone because the day is very short there and couldn’t recharge enough. This is the last smile before the switchback of hell back to the trailhead.
Besides going to and coming back from the campground, we walked miles every day to visit the falls. I didn’t have milk to make the Golden Milk Elixir that I talked about last week, but I did have ginger and curcumin capsules every night more for a peace of mind.
After we got back to the trailhead, instead of spending a night somewhere to rest as we originally planned, I ended up driving a total of 7 hours to come home in the same clothes and hiking shoes. I don’t know if I was energized from the negative ions or simply got high from the hike out.
But whether negative ions or not, being completely off the grid in the gorgeous environment was healing by itself and it reminded me to get out more to the real nature, beyond the concrete river that runs where I live.
Episode #473 Havasupai Waterfalls and Benefits of Negative Ions http://bit.ly/mm-473