Trips
Grand Canyon National Park: Hike it to Believe it
Hualapai (pronounced “Walapie”) Hilltop, perched on the rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park, is the only land travel access to Havasupai. Starting at 5,400 feet, the trail begins with switchbacks until you reach a dry streambed, where it levels out. Canyon walls creep skyward you as you drop deeper into a labyrinth of red sandstone. At Mile 8, the Canyon widens and the vegetation turns lush as you enter the Native American village of Supai, the most remote village in the U.S. (where even the U.S. mail still arrives by packhorse). Here at 3,200 feet, cottonwood-lined paths lead you through the village and into the Canyon’s backcountry. An easy two-mile hike to your base camp meanders past the 80-foot Navajo Falls and 100-foot Havasu Falls, where you pause for a dip. Just down canyon from Havasu Falls, you arrive at your private, deluxe base camp, tucked away against the Canyon walls, where a hearty, well-deserved dinner awaits.
Welcome to the Grand Canyon, deservedly one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Grand Canyon National Park, a World Heritage site and a national park since 1919, is still a work in progress as the Colorado River slowly carves a channel through the sedimentary rocks of the Colorado Plateau. Over millions of years in the making, the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, ranges in width from ¼ to 15 miles across and in places is more than a mile deep. Today, nearly 2 billion years of the Earth’s geological history is revealed in the Grand Canyon's multicolored cliffs, monolithic stone temples, hidden caves, buttes and buttresses.
Join us as we explore the narrow canyons, thundering waterfalls, travertine turquoise pools, lush spring-fed ferns gardens, underwater grottos and awe-inspiring overlooks of Grand Canyon National Park. Relax your mind, energize your body ignite the adventurer within with Austin-Lehman Adventures.
Did You Know…
- At Grand Canyon National Park, you can witness five of the Earth’s seven life zones (Lower Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, Transition, Canadian and Hudsonian), which comprise 3 of the 4 desert classifications in North America. This level of biodiversity could only be matched if you traveled all the way from Mexico to Canada!
- President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of the Grand Canyon, visiting on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.
- In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran with a thirst for science and adventure, made a pioneering journey through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. He accomplished this with 9 men in 4 small wooden boats, though only 6 men completed the journey. His party was, as far as we know, the first ever to make such a trip.
- The Grand Canyon "Skywalk" was completed in March of 2007. The glass bridge is suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of the Canyon. It can withstand the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes (more than 71 million pounds) and can sustain an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. More than a million pounds of steel went into the construction of the Grand Canyon Skywalk.
Click below for more information on Austin-Lehman Adventures' Grand Canyon vacations:
Grand Canyon & Sedona - High Desert Country
Havasupai - A Grand Canyon Oasis
Grand Canyon & Sedona - High Desert Country
Havasupai - A Grand Canyon Oasis
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