My year in Arizona, USA: My big adventure- Havasupai Hike

This were probably the most exciting and adventurous 5 days in my life.
I don't really know were to start..
It happened so much and I saw things I will never see again. I did things I thought I will never be able to and I pushed myself to the limit.

The first night all the 28 exchange students and the 7 chaperones who looked for us, camped in Flagstaff. We had a great evening, ate s'mores and whatched the beautiful sky with all the stars.
The next morning we left early to go to the Grand Canyon.
We hiked about 5 hours down to the bottom of the G.C. It was hot, the sun was burning in my neck and my feet were already tired.

But we arrived the village of the native Indians at about 3 o'clock, after 9 miles and we took a rest, ate ice cream and inspected the small and simple village of the Indians who have lived here for now almost 600 years.
I was amazed by their lives that they built here, so far away from everything, from other people and from cities and all the modern things.
They have their horses, their mules, their dogs and shanties and they even have a school, a church and a small store.
It was so interesting for me to see all that.

When we arrived the campground after about 2 more miles, we were all so tired and had our first blisters but nothing of all of that hold us away from going to the waterfall that's only 5 minutes away.
I have never ever seen something like this in my whole lifetime.
The water was as blue and clear as I would never have belived!
The freshness was awesome after this exhausting hike and we all jumped into the water, from small waterfalls and stones and took pictures.
We enjoyed it so much and when it started to get cooler, we went back to the campground to eat a delicous and simple dinner.

When you think we slept in a tent- you're wrong I'm sorry guys!
We slept under the stars.
We saw the sky.
The endless and deep, blue sky.
With all the stars.
I could even see the milky way!
I slept right next to the river.
I heard the sound of the water.
Saw the stars.
I was happy.
I felt free and uncomplicated and exhausted but good!

Unfortunately this didn't stay for long and I soon felt very sick. I had to throw up several times during the night and also the next morning.
That meant I had to stay the whole Saturday in my sleeping bag and get better.
I felt so bad but in the evening I could already eat again and all my friends helped me so nice and were here for me so I felt good again soon :)

This night we saw a scorpion!! This was really scary because it was right next to our sleeping bags and they are very poisonous! So we had a hard time to remove it.
We also saw bats, all kinds of insects and wild dogs.
At least we didn't get attacked by a snake! phuuu.
But something else happened that wasjust horrible..

When I was staying the day in the camp, the other students went on a hike to another waterfall.
Lila, a girl from Norway, almost lost her life because they crossed a river and she didn't saw a whole between some stones.
She fell.
The water took her down.
Down into the cave!
The water was so strong and she couldn't do anything!
She was under the water but nobody saw her because she was the last one in the row.
So Lila just did the only thing she could do: She raised her arm so the others would hopefully see her and come for help.
She could just pray that they would return.
And finally somebody saw her and tried to pull her out.
It didn't work!
4 strong boys had to pull her out of the water and she was already nearly at the point of giving up.
She would not have survived if these guys wouldn't have been there and helped her.
That was just so crazy and when I saw her, exhausted and shocked back in the camp, I was just thanking god that he let her life..

The next day, Sunday, was not less filled with crazy things.
Me, Ronja, Katharina and some boys wanted to swim behind the waterfall to get into the cave that was hidden behind.
We had to use all our power and all our courage and after 4 times of returning I really made it.
I was so proud and I ope I can show you the pictures soon!
I took them with my water camera so I first have to send them and wait.
But I can't wait till you see all of them it was probably something of the most adventurous things I have even done.
Because the water was so strong and pulled you on the rocks and pulled you down under the water.
I could barely breath and was already so exhausted that I thought I wouldn't make it but how I said- We did it all!! And even if I thought I have to die, after that experience I'm so glad I did it because it was so good to see what my body is able to do and we did a great team work.
All the boys helped the girls to get in the cave and when we wanted to get out again, we juped through the waterfall into the cold water and warmed up on the stones afterwards.

The second horrible case wa, that Emilie, a gril from Stockholm fell down a small waterfall and couldn't even walk anymore.
It was frightening but I can't explain everything in details otherwise I would be telling stories all day ;)
She survived but she was very lucky she didn't hit her head!

Besides that, Sunday was a very good day and we had lots of fun and Emilie was soon better.
We played cards, laugehd, played charades and talked a lot.
And then we already had to prepare for the next day when we had to leave the camp ground.
We had a short night hike and then we slept the last night under the stars, next to the wild animals and all the jeopardies of the wilderness ;)

We woke up early and started hiking up the Grand Canyon.
A last picture of the beautiful waterfall.
A last look back on the camp ground.
A last soda in the Indian village.
Then we were almost halfway up.

I can't describe the feeling, when I arrived the top of the Grand Canyon and saw the long way I hiked up.
More than 5 hours of hard hiking.
Over the last 30 minutes I had the feeling I had to die because the sun was burning down and I thought I couldn't do one more step. My legs just didn't wanna walk anymore.
I was almost crying, and so Katharina and Ronja.
But we did it.
We really did it.

And all in all we had a great time, unforgettable and unbeliveable and so full of adventures!
I'm so proud on everything I did and I feel so much stronger now.
And I looked so forward to my bed, my shower, my bathroom, my watermelon, my coffee, my host family and a long good sleep.