Havasu Falls

Havasu Falls is the best-known waterfall on Havasu Creek, in Havasu Canyon on the Havasupai Indian Reservation, about 1.5 miles below the village of Supai. The creek pours as a single chute over a cliff of about 90 to 100 feet into a series of plunge pools. Its blue-green color, which gives the Havasupai, the People of the Blue Green Water, their name, comes from the high concentration of calcium carbonate in the spring-fed water, which also builds the travertine dams that hold the pools. The tribe says the water is about 70°F all year.

The falls do not keep one shape. Floods have rearranged them many times. Before a flood in 1910 the water came over the cliff in a near-continuous sheet and the falls were known as Bridal Veil Falls; the notch it pours through first appeared in 1910 and has changed since, sometimes splitting the flow into more than one stream. Flooding along the creek is common, and a flood in August 2008 forced an evacuation of the canyon and closed it to visitors until 2009.

There is no way to see Havasu Falls without a Havasupai permit. Every visitor must book in advance on the tribe's own site, every booking is four days and three nights, and for 2026 a campground permit cost $455 per person and a lodge room $2,277 for up to four people. The trail from Hualapai Hilltop drops 8 miles to Supai, and the campground is another 2 miles beyond, close to the falls. The tribe's suggested plan spends a full day on the lower waterfalls (Havasu, Mooney and Beaver) and another on the upper falls (Fiftyfoot and Little Navajo).

Swimming in the pools is part of the draw, and it is possible to swim behind the falls, but people have drowned here. In monsoon season, usually July to September, rain brings a real risk of flash floods: if you see or hear floodwater, get to high ground, and the tribe says not to go past the top of Mooney Falls or into narrow parts of the canyon when it is raining. Peak season is May to September, when temperatures on the trail can pass 100°F.

You are a guest on tribal land. Personal photos of yourself and the scenery are allowed, but not of tribal members, animals, homes or sacred sites, and drones and commercial photography are banned. The reservation is dry, pets and service animals are not allowed, and you must carry out all your trash. On August 31, 2026, the tribe said Havasupai was open and that the flood reports that week concerned Grand Canyon National Park, not the reservation.