I’ve long debated if it’s possible to hike to Havasupai with young kinds, and ultimately decided to wait until my girls were at least 6 years old for this. Even for adults, this hike is very challenging due to the heat, logistics, carrying load, the climb down into Mooney Falls, and the distance.
We did this hike when the girls were 6 and 8 and I felt fully comfortable taking them at this age. They did great hiking in and out, as well as around, but we had done many long hikes ahead of this to prepare.
Preparing to backpack 30+ miles with kids
Here’s a quick breakdown of the distances here:
- 11 miles from the trailhead to the campsite
- 3 miles from campsite to Beaver Falls
- 2 miles from the campsite to the village
Double all these distances since this is an in-and-out situation, and you’re already hiking over 30miles. You technically don’t need to do the 2 miles from campsite to the village section but that’s where the smaller waterfalls are that we explored on the second day, and it’s also nice to get lunch at the village one of the days.
Kids could carry about 10-15% of their body weight, but that’s just a general guideline and highly depends on the child, the distance, and the environment.
We put all of the dense and heavy things into our packs (we also had my adult younger brother with us who is a very strong 23 year old!) and let the kids carry more of the larger-but-lighter items. My oldest (8yo) carried a single sleeping back that took up the entire backpack, and my youngest carried just one pot which barely weighted anything.
We also knew that there would be a possibility of us needing to carry the kids backpacks so it made sense to not load those up. That way when we ultimately had to front-carry their packs it wouldn’t really add much weight anyway.
My oldest carried her backpack the entire way, there and back and was very happy to do it. My 6yo was less inclined, but I’m just proud of her for hiking such a long way on her own!
As for preparing for doing such a long hike with kids – you definitely need to build them up to doing such long distances. We have been hiking with our kids since they were babies in a carrier. They’re used to going on cray adventures with us and have even hiked 13 miles in one day (22km) to an active volcano in Iceland with us at ages 3 & 5. We were confident with their hiking abilities and felt comfortable taking them here.
We also spent the summer before hiking 10+ miles per day in Glacier National Park, with lots of elevation gain so I knew they were capable. I think it’s really important to understand your child capabilities, as this place is quite remote and emergency medical or evacuation services are not readily available.
How to get Permits for Hiking Havasupai with Kids
This is arguably the hardest part of the process and may require everyone at your party to sit at a computer ready for the permits to go up on sale.
Havasupai camping permits go on sale at 8AM Arizona Time on February 1st each year. The lodge permits go on sale on July 1st. You’ll need to make sure everyone at your party (who’s able to use a computer) already has an account set up, and is logged in just before 8AM Feb 1st ready to hit refresh when those permits open up. You’ll have access to a calendar and be able to book your 3-night stay. You can book a longer trip too if you’re hoping to go up to Confluence as well or if you just want to spend more time there.
We decided 3 nights was a perfect amount (and it’s what the recommended length is), since we didn’t want to haul more things with us and thought this would be enough time to see everything we wanted.
Another option for getting permits is to check the cancelations and transfers page to see if there’s a good upcoming offer. This is the only official way to transfer tickets so there’s no beating the system here. There are often quite a few good options so make sure to check the list before joining the February 1st frenzy.
What to Pack for Hiking Havasupai with Kids
We decided to do the recommended 3 night trip, so the packing reflects all items we needed for that amount of time.
We didn’t have any of the camping gear, so I decided to rent it when we got to Las Vegas. Conveniently enough, Basecamp Outdoors has Havasupai rental packages that include everything you’ll need in terms of gear. We went with the 4-person package with a single tent and that was just right.
Gear
Not all gear is made equal, or for backpacking. Since it’s imperative for the gear to be as lightweight as possible, we opted for renting high quality backpacking gear from Basecamp Outdoors. The sleeping bags and pads we had at home were quite heavy, and the rented ones were about half the weight. If you already have this, then great – but otherwise I would recommend paying for lighter gear.
Here’s everything we picked up from Basecamp Outdoors, as part of their Havasupai rental package. You can use this list as your own check list as well if not planning on renting.
- Backpacking Tent
- Sleeping Bag (2-4 lbs depending on the season)
- 1 x Lightweight Sleeping Pad (1.4 lbs)
- 1 x Headlamp (2.5 oz)
- JetBoil Stove and Pot + 1 Fuel Canister (1 lb)
- Trekking Poles (1.3 lbs)
- Rodent-Resistant Cache Bag aka RatSack (10 oz)
- 50-70L backpack so you can comfortably carry all gear and personal items yourself (4-5 lbs depending on the pack)
- Collapsible water container
Clothing
We went at the end of May, so the weather was quite warm at that point. The weather that time of year is usually quite warm during the day (30C) and chilly at night (5C). I wasn’t sure if we needed our down jackets, but since they’re small and packable we ended up bringing them and using them as pillows. We honestly could’ve left those at home since it ended up being quite warm at night.
Here’s a quick packing list per person, for a 3 night, 4 day trip. This list is quite minimal to reduce weight, and assumes you’ll be re-wearing one of your UV shirts and shorts once. Pick the least dirty one and wear that on the way out 🙂
- wool long sleeve
- 3 UV shirts
- 1 pair of long pants
- 2 pairs of shorts
- 1 swimsuit
- 4 pairs of underwear
- 4 pairs of socks
- Sombrero hats for kids
- microfiber towel
- Kids Hiking sandals
- Adult Hiking Sandals
Food
Since we had to ration our food, we had to be very intentional about how much food we brought. I made a spreadsheet to visualize it a bit easier for myself and to help with packing.
For practical reasons, we decided we would mostly eat the same stuff for three days. We bought a large bin of Mountain House dehydrated meal kits from REI for our dinners, a large box of oatmeal packets (we rationed 2 packs per person). Watch the REI sales as they often have these meal kits on a good sale, and they’re obviously shelf stable so you can buy them way in advance when the sale is happening.
Everything else we got from Costco – some trail mix, granola bars, box of oatmeal packets. I also ordered some milk powder since we like that in our coffee and oatmeal. We bought some bread and PB & J for lunch and packed some fresh fruit/veggies for the first couple of days as snacks. We also picked up some powder electrolytes to put in our water!
We rationed about 3L per person for the way down, and ended up needing more at the village.
| Hike In Day | Beaver Falls Day | Campsite Hangout Day | Hike Out Day | |
| Breakfast | At hotel/in the car | Oatmeal 8 packets | Oatmeal 8 packets | Oatmeal 8 packets |
| Lunch | Fry bread | PB & J | PB & J | PB & J |
| Dinner | Mountain House x 4 | Mountain House x 4 | Mountain House | Hotel dinner |
Ratsacks are a MUST when storing your food, as the squirrels and other critters are RELENTLESS when trying to get to your food. We watched one very determined squirrel try to get into one of the ratsacks (unsuccessfully), and the maneuvers it was pulling off were really quite impressive.
One thing I wish we knew was that the Havasupai village has everything you need so you don’t really need to stress too much about how much food to pack. We ended up hiking back to the village for lunch on our second day there, and exploring the other waterfalls. We ended up trying the fry breads, got some wifi and coffee and felt like part of civilization again 🙂
There’s a drinking fountain at the campsite and we used our collapsible water container to fill it up and have water at our campsite for washing dishes and cooking. We filtered this water with the Sawyer filter, though most people were fine drinking straight from this spring. If you’re filling up water from any other source you must filter it!
Camera Gear
This was a point of contention in our family because, obviously, I wanted to bring every lens and a tripod but Danny wanted to… not. I debated for a while which lens to bring and asked many photographer friends which lens they ended up using the most, so that I only brought one.
I ended up going with the 15-35mm f2.8 lens for my camera, which was a great choice. Most shots of the waterfalls are taken at the widest FOV – 15mm. It was nice to have the telephoto range though so I could get some portrait shots of the kids at 35mm with the f2.8.
I also snuck in the tripod – which almost resulted in divorce – and then barely used it. Leave it at home. Use a rock instead.
If you like action cameras, I’d also bring a GoPro or insta360, as doing the Mooney descent is quite intense and you can stick the camera into your backpack as you’re going down to film it. You’ll need both hands free for the climb so make sure you have a way to attach it to yourself!
Where to stay for the Havasupai Hike
There aren’t many great options unfortunately. We ended up staying at the Best Western in Kingman. Kingman is the closest large-ish town near the trailhead, but it’s still about a 2 hour drive away. We woke up at 6, had a quick breakfast, drove for 2 hours, picked up our passes and somehow still ended up at the trailhead at 10am. This was less than ideal as it gets extremely hot by that point. You really want to get to the trailhead no later than 8am so that you do the most exposed section of the hike as early as possible. Some people wake up around 3/4am just to start the hike early enough when it’s still dark out.
Another option is to stay right at Grand Canyon Caverns Inn, since that’s where you need to stop to pick up the permits. The reviews aren’t amazing and I really didn’t want to end up with bedbugs right before the trip so we chose Kingman instead.
Neither option is really great so just accept that part and look past it to the epic hike!
Our favorite waterfalls at Havasupai with Kids
Here’s a map to help visualize some of the points of interest! From the trailhead, all points of interest can be found along the main path in order.
Trailhead -> Village -> smaller falls -> Havasu Falls -> Havasupai Campground -> Mooney Falls -> Beaver Falls -> Confluence.
The campground is located between the two main falls that most people come here to see, and stretches across about a mile.
Mooney Falls
This is the famous waterfall descent! You technically don’t even need to do this section of the trail if you’re scared, but it would be such a shame to miss this incredible sight. Mooney Falls is located just past the campground, and the descent is indeed quite scary. We were able to safely go down with a 1-1 parent to child ratio and guiding the kids on where to place their feet. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart as everything is wet, and some of the reaches for footholds or handholds are quite long.
The other thing to note is the traffic at key points during the day. It’s very hard to go the opposite direction of where most people are headed as this is a one-way road and you cannot see or hear the people on the other side.
In the early morning, most people are going in the downward direction, and in the afternoon most people are headed back up. It’s just good to keep this in mind as you’re planning your itinerary.
Mooney Falls with Kids 
Mooney Falls with Kids
Beaver Falls
The classic cascading waterfall at Beaver Falls! Such a unique spot and so incredibly photogenic.
This was our Day 1 excursion from the campsite. The hike is only about 6 miles roundtrip and is quite easy and fun. The girls really enjoyed the ladder and rock climbing along the way, as well as dipping in the waterfall here!
Most people go here for the day, but some also go further up to Confluence. I briefly considered doing that hike without the kids but I think it would’ve been too rushed for our first visit!
The hike to Mooney Falls is actually quite nice. I REALLY loved the lush green jungle-like growth here this time of year. I’m guessing it dries out later in the year after July.
The lighting is best here after the sun has set behind the canyon, since the midday lighting is quite harsh. I think this was taken around 5pm. It also emptied out quite a bit around that time so I was able to take some photos without anyone there.
Havasu Falls
I think this was my favorite waterfall of the trip! It’s the first waterfall you see after the 11 mile hike down, and it truly takes your breath away.
Havasu Falls 
Havasu Falls Drawing
We spent a good chunk of our second day just hanging out here, painting (yes I brought paints…), splashing and just enjoying the views. I also came out here at night to see if I can see the stars!
Little Navajo Falls & Fifty Foot Falls
On our second day at the campsite, we explored the smaller waterfalls that are between the Supai village and the campsite. You have to backtrack a bit for this but it’s not that far to get to these and we mostly had these waterfalls to ourselves! We also ended up going to the village for lunch this day since we were already halfway there. These are right next to each other and easily accessible from the main path.
