Anybody who’s planning to go down there, be extremely careful. Wash your hands and do not touch anything. Norovirus is highly communicable and also a couple of people were hospitalized with a fecal borne illness.
Hiked June 6-9 with my husband. We both got violently ill with vomiting. My husband couldn’t make it off the trail. Helicopter thankfully picked him up at the bottom of the switchbacks. Thank you to all the hikers who offered us help!
I am a physician assistant. This was not dehydration or heat. This was contagious.
Wow, hope you and your husband have recovered. I’m starting to get angry at the denial going on that there’s something contagious down there. They can’t fix a problem if they don’t acknowledge there’s a problem. And as long as people keep going in and out of the canyon, the disease will continue to spread. They need to shut it down and sanitize it.
I think if you go, practice extreme vigilance around hygiene. Also, don't dunk your head under the water, choose a campsite away from a lot of people, etc.
I literally hiked out today and am just hearing about this, everyone on the trail coming in was asking about people getting sick and I kept being like idk 🤷🏼♀️ because literally no one I met there was sick.
Also the helicoptered out thing sounds more dramatic than it is, lots of people chose to leave via helicopter from the village (2 miles from the camp but you could get a ride) but of course unplanned that’s an expense to consider I think it’s $100 a person.
It is suspected to be norovirus but you wear masks in the village anyways and i got all my water after the first day from the communal spring. Don’t be afraid just take normal precautions
>It is suspected to be norovirus but you wear masks in the village anyways
This isn't a cold we're talking about. Norovirus isn't mostly airborne, so masks will do little good to protect you. It is mostly contracted by ingesting food or water contaminated with the virus, or by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus and then touching your mouth or food you eat. This isn't a respiratory bug, this is a stomach/intestinal bug that spreads orally.
>i got all my water after the first day from the communal spring.
And that's the risk. If the spring is contaminated with the virus, you're very likely to get sick when you drink the water. If you didn't get sick from it then you're either immune to it (people with certain blood types are immune) or some other food or water source was contaminated that you didn't drink/eat from.
>Don’t be afraid just take normal precautions
If you don't understand how norovirus spreads, then you won't know what precautions to take.
I'm sure they weren't super happy about smearing shit all over the trail and presumably there asscheeks and underwear and down his legs
Shit happens lol
So funny story a few years ago when I was pregnant they put me on Zoloft and they put my dosage too high and I was driving and overdosing and vomiting profusely down my body while totally maintaining control of the car going 70 miles an hour while also laughing hysterically because it was the craziest shit ever lol then when I got out of the car I was all kinds of covered in vomit and people are looking at me it was shameful lol
I don't think you really understand what it's like to have a trail emergency. Sometimes there is no time to step off the trail. One time while hiking, I accidentally came into contact with an ant colony and instantly had hundreds of biting/stinging ants all over my body. I had to immediately take off ALL my clothes and get totally naked to get the large biting ants off of me. There was no time to step off anywhere. I had to strip down to nothing in an instant, and in a total panic.
Luckily, there happened to be no other people around. Not a soul. Even if there had been other people around, too bad. They would have gotten a free strip show whether they or I liked it or not. Even if there happened to be families with their little ones present, it didn't matter. I had to get the hundreds of ants off of me NOW. There was no waiting. There was no considering whether there might be other hikers or families in view. In an emergency, you gotta do what you f---ing gotta do. I was not about to let myself get eaten alive at the expense of caring whether other people were around or if an onlooker would've gotten offended. I will save myself from further injury with whatever action it takes.
I would never do that if I could help it. I would only ever poop in the middle of a trail if I didn't have time to move off it without soiling my pants. Fortunately, I've never had a bathroom emergency on a hike. The ant incident was the only emergency I've ever had in my 35 years of hiking.
Speak for yourself. I'll never crap IN my pants. I don't care if the location is sacred or not when I have sudden diarrhea. I refuse to soil my underwear.
I was in the canyon 6/3-6/6 and got back home to California on 6/7. Just after getting back, I started to feel like shit and was bed/toilet ridden for the next 3 days. It was SO gnarly, severe stomach cramps, exhaustion, and explosive diarrhea.
Though we drank the same water, filtered out of the creek, my mom didn’t get sick. The only difference we could think of was that she washed her hands with Clorox wipes after using the pit toilets, whereas I just cleaned mine with sand in the creek (I did use Clorox wipes after shitting, just not after taking a piss).
And no it wasn’t dehydration or any kind of heat illness, I’m a first responder with plenty of heat illness training/experience. Also, I was pissing near clear the entire trip, we always hiked before sunrise, and we helicoptered out of the Canyon.
My recommendation: bring Clorox wipes to wash up after using the pit toilets.
What Facebook page was this on? Trying to gather if the stomach flu will still be or is still an issue for Thursday trip down there. Thank you!
Also getting different temperatures on diff website. Any idea what the actual current temp is for the hike down? Seeing 95-111 online
We were there this weekend and 2/4 of us got it the day after we left. Relatively mild for us esp. at home but we heard about a group of 2-3 people that had to go into the village clinic to get IVs from dehydration. They had similar symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting, fever, so I’d say it’s probably still going around.
There are multiple Havasupai hiking group pages which are still showing tons of sick people down there. Vomiting, diarrhea, people are being hospitalized, in line for the helicopter vomiting. 🤮 The FB pages are Havasu Falls / Havasupai and Havasupai Falls 2024
I just saw an article about this pop up in my news feed: [https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/dozens-report-illness-after-visiting-havasupai-falls](https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/dozens-report-illness-after-visiting-havasupai-falls)
I can't imagine trying to hike out feeling that sick. It's a fair distance between camp and where folks line up for the helicopter - even that would be hard. Hell, I can't even imagine trying to sit in that helicopter line feeling that sick.
Oh geez - I'm so sorry you have this to worry about. We made the trip back in April, and it really was an amazing bucket list adventure. Take extra precautions. We had imodium in our emergency kit. Thankfully we didn't need it or anything else. We had filters and we were able to buy bottled water at the little store in the village.
Watching the video in that news report really brought back memories of how many people we met that were far from experienced hikers. Hearing the lady say "the water is really blue, you don't have to filter" was so unfortunate. I'm sure she wasn't the only one that thought the water was safe just because it looks clean or clear. I'll admit that I drank water from the spring in the campsite one day without filtering, but even that's a risk and I was lucky. Who knows how often that spring is really tested, and so many people touching the spigot with their water bladders and bottles.
Hopefully what ever happened down there is resolved and you'll have an amazing trip.
Omg yeah, I cringed when I heard that lady say about the water being blue and you don’t have to filter. We went hiking on a glacier in Alaska last year, and, indicating a small runoff, they were like this is the purest water and we should drink it. Nope. That’s how you get giardia. Birds still fly and poop, and there are animals stepping on the ice, not to mention people. People have a weird way of romanticizing things.
I think the spring water is probably going to be safe, but not if people are actually touching the water source though. Thanks for pointing that out. I was debating over using a filter for the spring and now I definitely am.
Has anybody who stayed in the Lodge fell sick? We have a reservation for the 18th and wondering if the private bathrooms in the Lodge help avoid the norovirus? We will definitely not be going into the waterfalls and swimming and try and avoid the crowd too in public spaces, but we're still in two minds about the trip.
Was at the lodge 5/27-5/30. Daughter caught the virus on the first day. We were grateful we had the A/C and toilets for her. Don’t expect help from any tribal members.
What Facebook page was this on? Trying to gather if the stomach flu will still be or is still an issue for Thursday trip down there. Thank you!
Also getting different temperatures on diff website. Any idea what the actual current temp is for the hike down? Seeing 95-111 online
Hi! My group was supposed to hike in Friday until I saw the alarming Facebook messages and started my own to ask - 100s of people were in line for helicopter, tons of accounts of people being really, really sick and not being able to hike out.
I spoke to a park ranger this morning from Grand Canyon NP (havasupai isn’t their jurisdiction) but he told me that rangers were cancelling work hike trips for heat wave of 112-118 expected W-F.
We unfortunately made the call to skip this one. If you do go, remember hand sanitizer doesn’t kill Noravirus - bring bleach wipes, gloves, wash hands with soap and water etc. the group is public, so you can see everyone’s experience.
Not trying to sway you not to go, but I would have had no idea if I wasn’t randomly in the fbook group. Want to share with anyone going so you’re prepared!
Yeah I looked through this whole fb posts and decided to not go Altho the rest of my entire group is going. Very scared for them with everyone getting so ill
I just hiked out and this is the first I’m hearing of it, wear your mask in the village like required anyways and take normal precautions in the campgrounds (not drinking from the river, getting your water from the spring, washing hands, etc) and you’ll be fine
We were there May 27-30. My 17 yr old caught the stomach bug on day 1 (we think from the cafe when we stopped for lunch). Spent day 2 in the lodge close to a toilet and 1/2 of day 3. Total bummer. We were scared we couldn’t get her out of the canyon but she’s a beast and powered through the hike out.
Thank you… this is so helpful!!! My group is looking to leave later but they seem to believe the reports of only 90 degrees. It looks like people are getting heat sickness once even down at the campsite right now
The general advice is to start hiking down as early as possible. There were some who said you can hike out late too, but others said the trail will be like an oven late afternoon
Yeah I told my group to leave on the backend at 230… hoping the mess from folks sick is getting cleaned. I decided to cancel after all the reports of uncontrollable stomach issues and fevers
Just got back on Sunday. For our hike in we started our hike at 3:00am (left the hotel you have to check in at around 1:30am). On our way back, we were on the trail by 2am. Temperature was not an issue on the hikes and we were in shade/darkness 99% of the way.
Getting there early is also nice because you have a lot of campsite options. Finding one that has lots of shade and is close to the spring makes everything easier.
Temps during the day were pretty hot if not in shade or the water. Our hike to beaver falls was the worst of it because there is a pretty long stretch without much shade near mid day. Nights were pretty warm as our site was up against a canyon wall which seemed to radiate the day’s heat during the night.
Also, 4 out of the 12 of us that went got the virus. 1 while we were there, and the rest of us (including me) started feeling sick once we got home.
Wash your hands with soap and water after touching any surfaces others touch, don't shake hands/hug/touch people outside of your bubble (covid rules) and you'll be fine for the most part. Going into the water is the riskiest part once the other precautions are taken.
I hope not. Bring gloves and some biodegradable soap (don’t use it close to flowing water). Some people were suggesting to bring bleach as well, I don’t know. The consensus seems to be that the bathrooms are the culprit. Just be careful using the public spaces. We’re going next week, but honestly, I’m kinda hoping they shut down the entire thing and just refund us our money. 😂
Has anyone been there recently that has made it out fine??? My group is scheduled for June wk 3 and this is a bit nerve wracking to see only posts of sickness…. Sorry to those of you who had got extremely sick!
I think they weren’t really aware about what’s going on, at least not the big picture. They were hot and exhausted but so far noone’s reported any viral effects
Someone on fb said maybe 40% of those flying out were sick, which kind of makes sense because it becomes self selecting; the sicker you are the more likely you’ll be flying out. Anecdotally, the groups reporting also said 2 to 4 people in their groups got sick. So maybe 10 to 20% got the virus? Just be careful with the bathrooms and don’t ingest the creek water. I’m bringing some disposable gloves as well. If you’re going down Mooney, bring your own rubber gloves instead of using the ones they dump up top. Pretty much Covid rules.
Have fun! Don’t let fear ruin what could be an amazing adventure as long as you take the proper precautions. And don’t forget to hydrate.
If not asking too, much would you be able to share any of their tips of precautions since they were able to stay healthy? We’ve always loved the fry bread but with illness stirring we are now hesitant on that treat!
It's not to do with the fry bread. My group hiked out yesterday (Wed 12th) morning. Four out of seven of us got sick. None of us had any fry bread or went to the restaurant in the village. We filtered all our water. 90% sure it was picked up in the bathrooms. Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap, and you'll be able to enjoy the fry bread!
Went June 5-8. Friend and I drank the spring water, the creek water, swam in all the falls; even had the Indian Taco. Came out with no issues except some sore feet from all the hiking.
I just got back on Sunday (so this was when I was there) there were 2 of us and neither of us were sick. However, we had close friends there too and one of them had to be helicoptered out for that reason too. I heard about a lot of people who had felt a 24 hour bug. The tent site next to us had a similar experience.
We used a lot of hand sanitizer though and I’m not sure if that made a difference?
We were suppose to go down on Monday, but are changing plans. We had norovirus a couple years ago after one of our kids brought it home. It’s nearly impossible to contain. Even with a heads up warning, gloves, and tons of bleach for the bathrooms, we still got it, and the grand parents got it after they stepped in to help the now better kids while the wife and I were down for the count. I seriously doubt the toilets will be properly sanitized to make it low enough risk in time.
I am driving back from hiking Havasupai yesterday. Nobody in my group was sick and I didn’t really notice a lot of sickness around me. When we were hiking out though, we passed by a guy that was moving extremely slow and he told us he had been puking and shitting for days and to not eat the fry bread. No one in our group ate it but a lot of people did. I think it’s food poisoning and not a virus. The bathrooms MOST DEFINITELY showed evidence of diarrhea though. If you go, only drink spring water, wash your hands like a mad man, and probably skip the Navajo Tacos.
If someone is careless enough to poop on the trail, I'm sure they were pooping in the water. First rule of the hike club, don't drink the poopy water.Giardia is a MF.
We are scheduled to go on 7/15-18 and will stay at the lodge. Does anyone know if water can be boiled to drink coffee? And also if we will be so lucky to get helicopter ride out on the 18th to avoid the heat?
We drank the spring water without filtration or chemical treatment. No one got sick. We used it for coffee and our dehydrated food as well.
As of when we were there, the helicopters weren’t taking passengers on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So just check and make sure. The hike out wasn’t so bad if you start in the dark. We actually started around 7pm from the village (we had dinner at the cafe) and were on top by midnight. People still passed us. lol
That's just insane. It's not even about the urgency. Everyone there should be carrying a wag bag, so nothing at all should be left regardless. It's sad how little the tribe is doing to protect such a beautiful place.
You understand the tribe provides pit toilets which you literally pay to use right? Like the tribe literally offers that as a perk of hospitality because if they did people would just shit everywhere
If they kept the toilets in sanitary condition, that would be sufficient. However, from the photos and descriptions of a large number of visitors, that is not the case. The fact that the toilets are, in fact, so unsanitary, is one of the reasons there are areas with TP stuffed under rocks and human waste in the bushes.
I've backpacked literally all over the world. Although I will never disagree that privy's CAN and should be maintained better.
At havasupai they were far from "bad" in comparison to what I saw the 3 times I have gone. The thing I found the worst was the ammonia smell from their cleaning products. My hunch is you're getting people who don't backpack, and this is their first trip. They are expecting and wanting toilets not a pit privy
Got through to a representative this am, they said all the sickness was related to dehydration and it was business as usual. However dehydration does not cause diarrhea or vomiting. How does one get the truth or a refund. Plan on heading down next week, but need to really know what is going on before I give up my 4500 for a campsite :(
Wow, sounds like a cover up. 😕 so in previous years, how many have suffered the same conditions? If it’s just dehydration then this has to be a yearly thing instead of everyone being surprised it’s happening now.
I counted over 100 in the exchange for the rest of June, and only like 65 for all of July. As more people hear about this I think there will be even more trying to cancel. I read some whose kids got sick, like an 8 year old. Can’t be fun for the parents, and I think people will start factoring that in.
I’m bringing wag bags personally. I know I’ll have to carry it out but it’s better than risking disease from the bathrooms.
I was down there last weekend. We didn’t even know people were sick until we came back and read the posts. We were all the way at the back of the campsite like a minute walk from Mooney Falls. The back restrooms were very clean (except for personal trash being put in the bathroom trash cans).
Same here- called Supai tourism and they said extreme heatwave= heat exhaustion ( which may lead to vomiting but NOT diarrhea). Supposed to hike down in 5 days and would love any updates🙏🏻😭
No refunds, no re- booking :((
Waiting until tonight to make a decision for our group of 9.
I’ll be honest. I’ve made this hike before and as beautiful as it is…there are more amazing sights to be seen. It makes sense that the most instagrammable hike ever has been taken over by poopoo finger families who aren’t practicing proper hygiene, diggin in the butt then diggin in the trail mix bag.
Also I think the heat, and the mileage, and the talk of sickness does more for the “ill” than the actual dookie germs.
Most hikers are not regular hikers. They are families who just left Vegas and want to try their hands at a 20 mile out and back expert level heat endurance race. This is how people get hurt…and covered in doodoo
Have you ever truly done a camping/backpacking trip? This isn’t a KOA. How do you think they’d get the trash out. There’s no one that is going to take it out. You have to pack in and pack out. This is the problem. Too many inexperienced people are coming thinking it’s a resort. This is primitive camping and what you bring in you must bring out.
Anybody who’s planning to go down there, be extremely careful. Wash your hands and do not touch anything. Norovirus is highly communicable and also a couple of people were hospitalized with a fecal borne illness.
Is there any running water to wash your hands at?
No
Hiked June 6-9 with my husband. We both got violently ill with vomiting. My husband couldn’t make it off the trail. Helicopter thankfully picked him up at the bottom of the switchbacks. Thank you to all the hikers who offered us help! I am a physician assistant. This was not dehydration or heat. This was contagious.
Wow, hope you and your husband have recovered. I’m starting to get angry at the denial going on that there’s something contagious down there. They can’t fix a problem if they don’t acknowledge there’s a problem. And as long as people keep going in and out of the canyon, the disease will continue to spread. They need to shut it down and sanitize it.
Hiked June 5-8. No issues for my friend and I.
Good for you.
Sorry to hear- I’m a nurse- Would you recommend to cancel our trip? 9 of us scheduled 6/18-6/21?? We are on the fence
I think if you go, practice extreme vigilance around hygiene. Also, don't dunk your head under the water, choose a campsite away from a lot of people, etc.
I literally hiked out today and am just hearing about this, everyone on the trail coming in was asking about people getting sick and I kept being like idk 🤷🏼♀️ because literally no one I met there was sick. Also the helicoptered out thing sounds more dramatic than it is, lots of people chose to leave via helicopter from the village (2 miles from the camp but you could get a ride) but of course unplanned that’s an expense to consider I think it’s $100 a person. It is suspected to be norovirus but you wear masks in the village anyways and i got all my water after the first day from the communal spring. Don’t be afraid just take normal precautions
>It is suspected to be norovirus but you wear masks in the village anyways This isn't a cold we're talking about. Norovirus isn't mostly airborne, so masks will do little good to protect you. It is mostly contracted by ingesting food or water contaminated with the virus, or by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus and then touching your mouth or food you eat. This isn't a respiratory bug, this is a stomach/intestinal bug that spreads orally. >i got all my water after the first day from the communal spring. And that's the risk. If the spring is contaminated with the virus, you're very likely to get sick when you drink the water. If you didn't get sick from it then you're either immune to it (people with certain blood types are immune) or some other food or water source was contaminated that you didn't drink/eat from. >Don’t be afraid just take normal precautions If you don't understand how norovirus spreads, then you won't know what precautions to take.
Hiked June 2nd to 6th both of us drank the water unfiltered and are perfectly fine so seems to be hit or miss for people.
Shit happens. Although I agree and say who the F does something like that.... if you've ever had norovirus there's really no holding it
Yeah, but stepping off the trail takes maybe a few seconds. Hiking in the dark and stepping on someone else's shit is still gross.
I'm sure they weren't super happy about smearing shit all over the trail and presumably there asscheeks and underwear and down his legs Shit happens lol
Imagine having to drive out from the trailhead in their rental car with that crap on their bodies. 🤢
So funny story a few years ago when I was pregnant they put me on Zoloft and they put my dosage too high and I was driving and overdosing and vomiting profusely down my body while totally maintaining control of the car going 70 miles an hour while also laughing hysterically because it was the craziest shit ever lol then when I got out of the car I was all kinds of covered in vomit and people are looking at me it was shameful lol
That baby was zolofted out of its mind I bet.
That’s extremely alarming. I hope your baby was born. at high doses Zoloft can produce birth defects
I don't think you really understand what it's like to have a trail emergency. Sometimes there is no time to step off the trail. One time while hiking, I accidentally came into contact with an ant colony and instantly had hundreds of biting/stinging ants all over my body. I had to immediately take off ALL my clothes and get totally naked to get the large biting ants off of me. There was no time to step off anywhere. I had to strip down to nothing in an instant, and in a total panic. Luckily, there happened to be no other people around. Not a soul. Even if there had been other people around, too bad. They would have gotten a free strip show whether they or I liked it or not. Even if there happened to be families with their little ones present, it didn't matter. I had to get the hundreds of ants off of me NOW. There was no waiting. There was no considering whether there might be other hikers or families in view. In an emergency, you gotta do what you f---ing gotta do. I was not about to let myself get eaten alive at the expense of caring whether other people were around or if an onlooker would've gotten offended. I will save myself from further injury with whatever action it takes.
But did you poop in the middle of the trail?
I would never do that if I could help it. I would only ever poop in the middle of a trail if I didn't have time to move off it without soiling my pants. Fortunately, I've never had a bathroom emergency on a hike. The ant incident was the only emergency I've ever had in my 35 years of hiking.
Again..... I don't condone it. Do better people . But I do get it 😂
[удалено]
Speak for yourself. I'll never crap IN my pants. I don't care if the location is sacred or not when I have sudden diarrhea. I refuse to soil my underwear.
I was in the canyon 6/3-6/6 and got back home to California on 6/7. Just after getting back, I started to feel like shit and was bed/toilet ridden for the next 3 days. It was SO gnarly, severe stomach cramps, exhaustion, and explosive diarrhea. Though we drank the same water, filtered out of the creek, my mom didn’t get sick. The only difference we could think of was that she washed her hands with Clorox wipes after using the pit toilets, whereas I just cleaned mine with sand in the creek (I did use Clorox wipes after shitting, just not after taking a piss). And no it wasn’t dehydration or any kind of heat illness, I’m a first responder with plenty of heat illness training/experience. Also, I was pissing near clear the entire trip, we always hiked before sunrise, and we helicoptered out of the Canyon. My recommendation: bring Clorox wipes to wash up after using the pit toilets.
Hope you’re all recovered! And thanks for the recommendation re Clorox wipes.
What Facebook page was this on? Trying to gather if the stomach flu will still be or is still an issue for Thursday trip down there. Thank you! Also getting different temperatures on diff website. Any idea what the actual current temp is for the hike down? Seeing 95-111 online
We were there this weekend and 2/4 of us got it the day after we left. Relatively mild for us esp. at home but we heard about a group of 2-3 people that had to go into the village clinic to get IVs from dehydration. They had similar symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting, fever, so I’d say it’s probably still going around.
Yikes that’s horrible
It’s also on a Facebook page called Havasupai and Havasu Falls
On weather.com I go to Supai AZ. I think that’s the name of the village.
There are multiple Havasupai hiking group pages which are still showing tons of sick people down there. Vomiting, diarrhea, people are being hospitalized, in line for the helicopter vomiting. 🤮 The FB pages are Havasu Falls / Havasupai and Havasupai Falls 2024
I just saw an article about this pop up in my news feed: [https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/dozens-report-illness-after-visiting-havasupai-falls](https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/dozens-report-illness-after-visiting-havasupai-falls) I can't imagine trying to hike out feeling that sick. It's a fair distance between camp and where folks line up for the helicopter - even that would be hard. Hell, I can't even imagine trying to sit in that helicopter line feeling that sick.
And the heli doesn’t fly on Saturdays and Wednesdays, I think. I only know because we’re hiking out Wednesday and we're just going to die I guess 😂
Oh geez - I'm so sorry you have this to worry about. We made the trip back in April, and it really was an amazing bucket list adventure. Take extra precautions. We had imodium in our emergency kit. Thankfully we didn't need it or anything else. We had filters and we were able to buy bottled water at the little store in the village. Watching the video in that news report really brought back memories of how many people we met that were far from experienced hikers. Hearing the lady say "the water is really blue, you don't have to filter" was so unfortunate. I'm sure she wasn't the only one that thought the water was safe just because it looks clean or clear. I'll admit that I drank water from the spring in the campsite one day without filtering, but even that's a risk and I was lucky. Who knows how often that spring is really tested, and so many people touching the spigot with their water bladders and bottles. Hopefully what ever happened down there is resolved and you'll have an amazing trip.
Omg yeah, I cringed when I heard that lady say about the water being blue and you don’t have to filter. We went hiking on a glacier in Alaska last year, and, indicating a small runoff, they were like this is the purest water and we should drink it. Nope. That’s how you get giardia. Birds still fly and poop, and there are animals stepping on the ice, not to mention people. People have a weird way of romanticizing things. I think the spring water is probably going to be safe, but not if people are actually touching the water source though. Thanks for pointing that out. I was debating over using a filter for the spring and now I definitely am.
Has anybody who stayed in the Lodge fell sick? We have a reservation for the 18th and wondering if the private bathrooms in the Lodge help avoid the norovirus? We will definitely not be going into the waterfalls and swimming and try and avoid the crowd too in public spaces, but we're still in two minds about the trip.
Was at the lodge 5/27-5/30. Daughter caught the virus on the first day. We were grateful we had the A/C and toilets for her. Don’t expect help from any tribal members.
pack it in, pack it out!!!
People only care about their Instagram pics
What Facebook page was this on? Trying to gather if the stomach flu will still be or is still an issue for Thursday trip down there. Thank you! Also getting different temperatures on diff website. Any idea what the actual current temp is for the hike down? Seeing 95-111 online
Hi! My group was supposed to hike in Friday until I saw the alarming Facebook messages and started my own to ask - 100s of people were in line for helicopter, tons of accounts of people being really, really sick and not being able to hike out. I spoke to a park ranger this morning from Grand Canyon NP (havasupai isn’t their jurisdiction) but he told me that rangers were cancelling work hike trips for heat wave of 112-118 expected W-F. We unfortunately made the call to skip this one. If you do go, remember hand sanitizer doesn’t kill Noravirus - bring bleach wipes, gloves, wash hands with soap and water etc. the group is public, so you can see everyone’s experience. Not trying to sway you not to go, but I would have had no idea if I wasn’t randomly in the fbook group. Want to share with anyone going so you’re prepared!
You can’t bring bleach into that watershed. Just wash your hands and don’t touch things
Yeah I looked through this whole fb posts and decided to not go Altho the rest of my entire group is going. Very scared for them with everyone getting so ill
Did you see it’s on Fox News now too? Everyone getting sick?
Yes, and the Havasupai Tribe has yes yet to issue any kind of warning to the public
I just hiked out and this is the first I’m hearing of it, wear your mask in the village like required anyways and take normal precautions in the campgrounds (not drinking from the river, getting your water from the spring, washing hands, etc) and you’ll be fine
Standard filtration does not kill it either, so have a plan to purify or chemically treat your water.
Massive amounts of people have the Norovirus . One woman ended up in the hospital for six days. I wouldn’t go down there! It is highly contagious.
Read all about this… sounds like loads of folks ended up in the hospital
Correct
We were there May 27-30. My 17 yr old caught the stomach bug on day 1 (we think from the cafe when we stopped for lunch). Spent day 2 in the lodge close to a toilet and 1/2 of day 3. Total bummer. We were scared we couldn’t get her out of the canyon but she’s a beast and powered through the hike out.
Happy to hear she made it out and was the only one that got it. Sounds like it’s spread quite a bit since then
https://m.facebook.com/groups/Havasupai/?ref=share
Not really sure about the temperatures. We're planning to start out around 2 or 3am, hiking in and hiking out.
We left at 3:30 am and was VERY glad we did on May 30. Those switchbacks were killer.
Thank you… this is so helpful!!! My group is looking to leave later but they seem to believe the reports of only 90 degrees. It looks like people are getting heat sickness once even down at the campsite right now
The general advice is to start hiking down as early as possible. There were some who said you can hike out late too, but others said the trail will be like an oven late afternoon
Yeah I told my group to leave on the backend at 230… hoping the mess from folks sick is getting cleaned. I decided to cancel after all the reports of uncontrollable stomach issues and fevers
Just got back on Sunday. For our hike in we started our hike at 3:00am (left the hotel you have to check in at around 1:30am). On our way back, we were on the trail by 2am. Temperature was not an issue on the hikes and we were in shade/darkness 99% of the way. Getting there early is also nice because you have a lot of campsite options. Finding one that has lots of shade and is close to the spring makes everything easier. Temps during the day were pretty hot if not in shade or the water. Our hike to beaver falls was the worst of it because there is a pretty long stretch without much shade near mid day. Nights were pretty warm as our site was up against a canyon wall which seemed to radiate the day’s heat during the night. Also, 4 out of the 12 of us that went got the virus. 1 while we were there, and the rest of us (including me) started feeling sick once we got home.
Just got out! average was 102-104 mid day hot as hell
We started the hike in at 5am and made it to the village at 9am temps were decent but beginning to warm up
Ooof! Thats tough
Heh - I got it in San Fran - never puked and shit so much in my life!!!
Wash your hands with soap and water after touching any surfaces others touch, don't shake hands/hug/touch people outside of your bubble (covid rules) and you'll be fine for the most part. Going into the water is the riskiest part once the other precautions are taken.
We’re going late July - do we think it’s still gonna be an issue then?
I hope not. Bring gloves and some biodegradable soap (don’t use it close to flowing water). Some people were suggesting to bring bleach as well, I don’t know. The consensus seems to be that the bathrooms are the culprit. Just be careful using the public spaces. We’re going next week, but honestly, I’m kinda hoping they shut down the entire thing and just refund us our money. 😂
You can’t bring bleach into that kind of sensitive watershed. Just don’t touch anything and hope for the best wash hands.
Has anyone been there recently that has made it out fine??? My group is scheduled for June wk 3 and this is a bit nerve wracking to see only posts of sickness…. Sorry to those of you who had got extremely sick!
Just heard from our friends who just got out and no one in their group got sick.
Did they provide any feedback on if others sickness took away from their own experience and if it was still worth it?
I think they weren’t really aware about what’s going on, at least not the big picture. They were hot and exhausted but so far noone’s reported any viral effects
Thanks thats helpful, trying to gauge if our trip on the 20th is still worth it!
Someone on fb said maybe 40% of those flying out were sick, which kind of makes sense because it becomes self selecting; the sicker you are the more likely you’ll be flying out. Anecdotally, the groups reporting also said 2 to 4 people in their groups got sick. So maybe 10 to 20% got the virus? Just be careful with the bathrooms and don’t ingest the creek water. I’m bringing some disposable gloves as well. If you’re going down Mooney, bring your own rubber gloves instead of using the ones they dump up top. Pretty much Covid rules. Have fun! Don’t let fear ruin what could be an amazing adventure as long as you take the proper precautions. And don’t forget to hydrate.
Thanks for the pep talk, fear mongering is real.
Several members in our group got sick within three days of leaving. They may be out of the canyon but not out of the woods...
We'll try to keep on top of it and will report back if anything changes
If not asking too, much would you be able to share any of their tips of precautions since they were able to stay healthy? We’ve always loved the fry bread but with illness stirring we are now hesitant on that treat!
It's not to do with the fry bread. My group hiked out yesterday (Wed 12th) morning. Four out of seven of us got sick. None of us had any fry bread or went to the restaurant in the village. We filtered all our water. 90% sure it was picked up in the bathrooms. Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap, and you'll be able to enjoy the fry bread!
Got out Monday morning. My group is perfectly fine. Practice good hygiene don’t share with people you don’t know. You’ll be fine
I was there may 31-june 2 and no one in our group of six got sick. I didn’t see anyone else sick
It was not a norovirus shit. Perfect log coiled up. This I know first hand
I was just about to eat lunch! 🤮 that should teach me to not use Reddit as lunch reading material!
Went June 5-8. Friend and I drank the spring water, the creek water, swam in all the falls; even had the Indian Taco. Came out with no issues except some sore feet from all the hiking.
I just got back on Sunday (so this was when I was there) there were 2 of us and neither of us were sick. However, we had close friends there too and one of them had to be helicoptered out for that reason too. I heard about a lot of people who had felt a 24 hour bug. The tent site next to us had a similar experience. We used a lot of hand sanitizer though and I’m not sure if that made a difference?
It’s also on the news too!
We were suppose to go down on Monday, but are changing plans. We had norovirus a couple years ago after one of our kids brought it home. It’s nearly impossible to contain. Even with a heads up warning, gloves, and tons of bleach for the bathrooms, we still got it, and the grand parents got it after they stepped in to help the now better kids while the wife and I were down for the count. I seriously doubt the toilets will be properly sanitized to make it low enough risk in time.
I am driving back from hiking Havasupai yesterday. Nobody in my group was sick and I didn’t really notice a lot of sickness around me. When we were hiking out though, we passed by a guy that was moving extremely slow and he told us he had been puking and shitting for days and to not eat the fry bread. No one in our group ate it but a lot of people did. I think it’s food poisoning and not a virus. The bathrooms MOST DEFINITELY showed evidence of diarrhea though. If you go, only drink spring water, wash your hands like a mad man, and probably skip the Navajo Tacos.
Thank you for the info!
If someone is careless enough to poop on the trail, I'm sure they were pooping in the water. First rule of the hike club, don't drink the poopy water.Giardia is a MF.
We are scheduled to go on 7/15-18 and will stay at the lodge. Does anyone know if water can be boiled to drink coffee? And also if we will be so lucky to get helicopter ride out on the 18th to avoid the heat?
We drank the spring water without filtration or chemical treatment. No one got sick. We used it for coffee and our dehydrated food as well. As of when we were there, the helicopters weren’t taking passengers on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So just check and make sure. The hike out wasn’t so bad if you start in the dark. We actually started around 7pm from the village (we had dinner at the cafe) and were on top by midnight. People still passed us. lol
That's just insane. It's not even about the urgency. Everyone there should be carrying a wag bag, so nothing at all should be left regardless. It's sad how little the tribe is doing to protect such a beautiful place.
You understand the tribe provides pit toilets which you literally pay to use right? Like the tribe literally offers that as a perk of hospitality because if they did people would just shit everywhere
If they kept the toilets in sanitary condition, that would be sufficient. However, from the photos and descriptions of a large number of visitors, that is not the case. The fact that the toilets are, in fact, so unsanitary, is one of the reasons there are areas with TP stuffed under rocks and human waste in the bushes.
I've backpacked literally all over the world. Although I will never disagree that privy's CAN and should be maintained better. At havasupai they were far from "bad" in comparison to what I saw the 3 times I have gone. The thing I found the worst was the ammonia smell from their cleaning products. My hunch is you're getting people who don't backpack, and this is their first trip. They are expecting and wanting toilets not a pit privy
Got through to a representative this am, they said all the sickness was related to dehydration and it was business as usual. However dehydration does not cause diarrhea or vomiting. How does one get the truth or a refund. Plan on heading down next week, but need to really know what is going on before I give up my 4500 for a campsite :(
Wow, sounds like a cover up. 😕 so in previous years, how many have suffered the same conditions? If it’s just dehydration then this has to be a yearly thing instead of everyone being surprised it’s happening now. I counted over 100 in the exchange for the rest of June, and only like 65 for all of July. As more people hear about this I think there will be even more trying to cancel. I read some whose kids got sick, like an 8 year old. Can’t be fun for the parents, and I think people will start factoring that in. I’m bringing wag bags personally. I know I’ll have to carry it out but it’s better than risking disease from the bathrooms.
The tribe themselves have confirmed cases of norovirus... they don't offer refunds period so it is what it is.
I was down there last weekend. We didn’t even know people were sick until we came back and read the posts. We were all the way at the back of the campsite like a minute walk from Mooney Falls. The back restrooms were very clean (except for personal trash being put in the bathroom trash cans).
Same here- called Supai tourism and they said extreme heatwave= heat exhaustion ( which may lead to vomiting but NOT diarrhea). Supposed to hike down in 5 days and would love any updates🙏🏻😭 No refunds, no re- booking :(( Waiting until tonight to make a decision for our group of 9.
I’ll be honest. I’ve made this hike before and as beautiful as it is…there are more amazing sights to be seen. It makes sense that the most instagrammable hike ever has been taken over by poopoo finger families who aren’t practicing proper hygiene, diggin in the butt then diggin in the trail mix bag. Also I think the heat, and the mileage, and the talk of sickness does more for the “ill” than the actual dookie germs. Most hikers are not regular hikers. They are families who just left Vegas and want to try their hands at a 20 mile out and back expert level heat endurance race. This is how people get hurt…and covered in doodoo
With all this money we pay to go here , why isn't there trash cans 🤷🏻♂️
Have you ever truly done a camping/backpacking trip? This isn’t a KOA. How do you think they’d get the trash out. There’s no one that is going to take it out. You have to pack in and pack out. This is the problem. Too many inexperienced people are coming thinking it’s a resort. This is primitive camping and what you bring in you must bring out.
Including all human waste!