Havasu Falls

Hualapai Hilltop

Hiking from Hualapai Hilltop to Supai Village

Supai Village

Hiking to Havasu Falls

Navajo Falls

Hiking to Havasu Falls

Havasu Falls

Mooney Falls

Taking the helicopter out of Supai Village

A Quick Guide to Visiting Havasu Falls

September 4, 2016

I'm still letting it sink in that I just got back from visiting Havasu Falls - it's easily one of the most beautiful and majestic places I've ever been. I've wanted to make a trip out there for the past 5 years and seeing its popularity grow finally got me to plan a trip. I've gotten a lot of questions from friends about my visit so I thought I'd put together a quick guide to visiting Havasu Falls! (I'm working on a few more detailed posts with planning tips, hiking tips and lessons learned, so be on the lookout for those.)

Getting Permits For Havasu Canyon

Before you get too excited about discovering this blue-green oasis, you'll need to secure an entry permit in order to go. You can get permits for visiting Havasu Falls by reserving a campground site or a room at the lodge. Campground reservations for the year open February 1st - be ready for a calling spree. My group of four plus me were calling the different phone numbers endlessly for the first week of February before one of us managed to get through. At that point they only had availabilities starting in August, so make sure you have a few backup dates ready when someone answers the phone.

Campground Phone Numbers:

928-448-2141
928-448-2121
928-448-2174
928-448-2180

Lodge Phone Numbers:

928-448-2111
928-448-2201

Mooney Falls was more challenging to get to but worth it because no one was there.

Setting a Budget For Your Trip

Things quickly add up! Decide if you want a rugged or more comfortable trip when visiting Havasu Falls and book everything accordingly. My group started with six and then turned into two so things became much pricier since we opted for the more luxurious options. This is what the three day trip cost us:

RT Southwest flight for 2 - $175.92
4-day Car Rental - ~$220 (we stayed an extra night in Vegas before flying back)
2-night stay at Havasupai Lodge (includes entrance fee x2, environmental fee and tax) - $401.50
Helicopter out for 2 - $170

We brought snacks for the hikes but ate a few meals at the cafe there. Food cost is definitely inflated but if you're looking for a hot burger at the end of your hike, it may be worth the $10. There's also a small grocery shop if you don't want to carry all your food throughout the trip.

Got to Havasu Falls early and had the whole place to ourselves.

Planning Your Itinerary For Havasu Falls

We did this trip in 3 days but I would have loved an extra few days to explore more and make it to the Colorado River. June to August is considered their monsoon season where thunderstorms and flash floods can happen unexpectedly - we definitely encountered the tail end of this season and experienced some thunder, lightning and rain on our second day. The weather was a pretty solid 90-100 degrees but make sure you account for rain if you plan on visiting during these months.

Day 1:

Fly into Las Vegas and pick up rental car (4 hour drive to Hualapai Hilltop)
Hike into Supai Village (8 mile hike; took close to 4 hours)

Day 2:

Hike to Navajo Falls, Havasu Falls and Mooney Falls
Thunder and lightning had us turning around at 3:00 PM

Day 3:

Helicopter out (expect 5 hours of waiting)
Drive back to Vegas

Fara, our adopted puppy who hiked the whole way in with us!! <3

Be Flexible!

It's important to have a general schedule when visiting Havasu Falls but leave room for change. You may get lost while driving to Hualapai Hilltop or it may start to rain while you're at the waterfalls. Do your research and be prepared! (Shout out to @johnonelio for answering my endless questions!) Look for my next post that will go into more detail with planning tips.

xo, el

LA Marathon Tips on Anything for the Crown

LA Marathon Recap & Tips

February 15, 2016

Crazy to think that just over 24 hours ago I was crossing the

LA Marathon

finish line. Race day flew by, even though it sure didn't feel like that while I was in the middle of it. I've never done much on Valentine's Day but I must say that this was one of my most memorable valentines. So I thought I'd share some LA Marathon tips and takeaways.

Every race is like déjà vu. I sign up because it seems like a good idea at the time (or because I want some extra medal), then three months later I realize race day is less than two months away and I scramble to pick up my mileage. The week before I cry a river and during the first half of the marathon I cry a mental river. But then during the last 10k of the race I'm surfing a huge wave of runner's high thinking about how frickin' amazing everything is: the other runners, the volunteers, my body still being in one piece and life in general. It's seriously such a trip. If I hadn't already made a deal with myself that the

LA Marathon

would be my final full marathon, I would've signed up for another one by now.

Why am I retiring after five full marathons? For two reasons: I'm setting new fitness goals that marathon running won't achieve and I want to start focusing on speed for half marathons. And sadly, I don't have the amount of time that I did in undergrad to devote to training. It also seemed appropriate to end my marathon streak after the LA Marathon since I've pretty much always done San Francisco races. It's been a great 6 years of running and I have no intention of quitting. I've just changed my goals, but I'll post more about that in a future update.

Overall, the

LA Marathon

was a combo of bittersweet and amazing. Oddly enough I was hitting a wall around mile 10 but from mile 17 and on I was really enjoying myself. The last mile I paced 8.5 minutes per mile and couldn't wipe the smile off of my face.. Despite completing barely 38% of my training mileage I finished at 4:46:33, which is one of my worst times, but decent given the circumstances. So if you're looking to get into a relationship with the streets of Los Angeles, a few LA Marathon tips..

Start training earlier and ease into it. That way if you miss runs here and there you don't feel as bad. And if you really have to pick and choose which runs to do, make sure you get your long runs in.
Make sure you prep for race day a few days before so you're not up until 11PM making a playlist and picking your outfit.

Don't do anything differently on race day. If you don't normally eat or drink during certain miles, don't feel like you have to just because it's there.
If you need to use the bathroom during the race, try to wait later in the race otherwise you'll waste minutes waiting in line. The bathroom lines are pretty long for the first 5 miles or so.

Run in the middle of the road if possible. The left and right sides of the road tend to slant so your legs are hitting the pavement unevenly and you'll def start to feel it.
Finally, don’t forget to have fun! Take pictures, use Snapchat to document the various emotions you’ll go through and most importantly, smile 😃 (cause you never know where the race photographers are gonna be!)

Oregon Adventures: That PNW Life

August 11, 2015

My first trip to Oregon was an incredible experience with amazing company. Over the course of 88 hours we drove 987 miles (90% of it done by Jeff), visited 7 cities, enjoyed 9 scenic destinations and ate at 8 different places. Not too bad for a trip that was less than 4 days long. Planning this trip took me more days than I care to share but every hour was worth it. It’s not easy to pack years’ worth of destinations into just a few days, especially when it involves that PNW life.

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Not to be overly sentimental, but this trip wouldn’t have been the same without the people I went with.

Young Money

and

Jeffrey Falls

totally let me take control of our itinerary and didn’t say a word despite my Nazi-like planning tendencies. Young was a rockstar at booking all of our accommodations and Jeff was a stud for handling all the transportation. Most importantly, we stuck together and never lost our cool even when we ran into, or rather, fell into deep waters ;)

That PNW Life

So if anyone needs help on recommendations I think I have more than enough suggestions for ya! I hope some of you can appreciate this mapped out route of our trip’s adventures, and I also hope you all enjoy the photos from this beautiful place <3