After 3 Years, Havasu Falls Will Reopen to Visitors in 2023—With One Big Catch

Adam Roy
·2 min read

This article originally appeared on Backpacker

Three years after it closed due to Covid concerns, the Instagram-famous blue waters of the Grand Canyon's Havasu Falls will open to tourists again on February 1--but to get in, you’ll need to have had a canceled reservation from 2020.

The Havasupai Tribe, on whose land Havasu Falls sits, closed their nation to visitors in March 2020 during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement on the tribe’s website, officials attributed the closure to the Havasupai people’s “limited access to meaningful healthcare." That wasn’t the last challenge the tribe’s tourism infrastructure would face: In 2022, severe flooding took out bridges and damaged sections of trail leading to the falls. The tribal government also said that a tourism operator it had contracted with had stopped cooperating with the tribe, leading it to take legal action against the operator.

This year, the tribe is focusing on rescheduling would-be visitors who had to cancel their reservations due to the closure (all reservations are being processed online). Hikers who don’t have a canceled reservation won’t be able to make a new one; however, in the event someone with a pre-existing reservation opts not to reschedule, new visitors will be able to grab those reservations on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“This has been a trying experience for all involved and we appreciate your patience as we move through this transition,” tribal officials wrote. “However, there are many positive things as a result. While you may see downed trees on the trails where the flood crashed through, you will also see flourishing flora and fauna and new waterfall flows.”

Buoyed in part by a constant stream of pictures on social media, Havasu Falls draws crowds of hikers and tourists with its teal-blue cascades. The tribe estimates some 30,000 to 40,000 visitors come to its reservation annually. Getting there requires a 10-mile hike from the trailhead, and visitors need to book a 3-day permit and plan on staying in the nearby campground.

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