Planning Guide: Havasu Falls

Only 10 days away from visiting paradise and I am beyond excited to go back for a second time. I did a quick recap on last year's trip to Havasu Falls so check it out in the very slim chance you haven't already heard about the infamous blue-green waters. Otherwise, read on for my planning guide to Havasu Falls.

My quick recap briefly touched upon permits, budget and itinerary but this post will do a deeper dive into packing for Havasu Falls, planning your itinerary and understanding the general area. This will be my first time camping there (last year I stayed at the lodge) so my next post will cover hiking and camping with lessons learned from this year's trip.

Packing for Havasu Falls

I've heard that when packing for a backpacking trip, it's important to remember that less is more. This is something I struggle with given that I normally pack a large roll-y suitcase for a weekend trip, so bare with me if you think I should pack even lighter.

1. Create a planning guide. The first thing I do when planning a trip is create a Google Doc with separate tabs for research, itinerary and packing list. Throw some columns on the packing list so you can break it down by category (e.g., clothing, food, equipment, etc) or quantity (e.g., individual vs. group). It'll help you decide what's a need-to-have or nice-to-have. See below for a sample of my packing list for Havasu Falls.
2. Check the weather. This will give you an idea of what kind of clothes you'll need for the trip, which can majorly impact your load. When I visit Supai Village it's going to be mid-high 70's with a 35% humidity level, so I'll try to pack light with 2 pairs of shorts, 4 tops and a bathing suit.
3. Follow the sun. Look up the sunrise and sunset times. This is crucial for planning your itinerary, especially if you're going to be doing an all day hike with difficult trails.

The Waterfalls of Havasu Canyon

Although Havasu Falls is the most well known, there are plenty of other falls that are just as gorgeous. I actually recommend going to the lesser known falls for a higher chance of having the falls to yourself. They're further away and some are harder to get to but it's worth it.

• Navajo Falls - easy trail (1.5 miles north of Supai Village)
• Havasu Falls - easy trail (2 miles north of Supai Village; <0.5 mile south of campground)
• Mooney Falls - moderate trail (0.5 mile north of campground)
• Beaver Falls - tbd (4 miles north of campground)

4-Day Itinerary for Havasu Falls

Since this is my second time planning a Havasu Falls trip, my focus is going to be on Beaver Falls and The Confluence, where Havasu Creek meets the Colorado River. Most people say it's a challenging trail, about 8 miles one way from the campgrounds, so I'm dedicating a full day to it.

• Day 1: Hike in and set up camp.
• Day 2: Hike to The Confluence.
• Day 3: Hike to Mooney Falls and Beaver Falls.
• Day 4: Hike out.

Who else was lucky enough to secure permits to Havasu Falls?? If you have other questions about my planning guide to Havasu Falls feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email. I'm happy to help :)

xo, elle

A Quick Weekend Getaway: Santa Barbara

Sometimes you just need a change in scenery and that can be hard with a busy schedule (or limited PTO). Luckily there is no shortage on quick weekend getaways near Los Angeles. This specific trip to Santa Barbara was planned as an early Valentine's Day retreat but more importantly, a celebration to the end of The Whole 30. Obviously. I've only been to Santa Barbara a few times so it was hard to narrow down the itinerary, but since it's so close I can always go back! Every trip I plan includes three very important components: adventure, food and w i n e.

Adventure

Knapp's Castle is an old mansion (or what's left of it) that was built and then destroyed by a forest fire in the 1940's. It's nestled up in the Los Padres National Forest with a panoramic view of Lake Cachuma and the Santa Ynez Valley. Being the ambitious person that I am, I set my alarm for 5AM so we could catch the sun rising from the top of Knapp's Castle. Too bad the weather decided to be a jerk and all we saw were tiny water droplets moving around in misty waves.. I was a bit underwhelmed in the moment but I'm sure it has a lot of photo potential during a normal golden hour.

Food

We made pit stops at Jeannine's, Mony's, The Lark and Breeosh. Jeannine's was a pretty standard breakfast spot that I wasn't crazy about. Mony's was an unexpected delight after two wine tastings. Breeosh was a pastry heaven run by adorable French people and also located in a really cute area with lots of shopping. And the Lark was AMAZING. Hands down one of my favorite meals. The boothang and I were still pretty full from all the wine tastings and ended up splitting the corn bread (with HONEY BUTTER), brussels sprouts (which I normally don't like but loved theirs), duck confit and the most incredible and delicious cheesecake ever. It came with speculoos cookie butter (I am now a believer), honeycomb candy, honey ice cream and grapefruit. I wanted to order five more...and literally said that multiple times throughout the night.

Wine

We started the day at Santa Barbara Winery, which was probably my favorite because of the people and environment. The people who worked there were super friendly and conversational, and were very knowledgeable about their wines (the sauv blanc and pinot were my favorites!). Plus, the back room had a very IG-worthy set up with strung lights and wine barrels. Santa Barbara Wine Collective didn't seem like a wine tasting room and the service felt a bit more cold. The wine selection was okay but definitely in the higher price range. We made an impromptu visit to Riverbench, which in hindsight was probably a bad idea because all the bubbly made me miss my planned sunset trip to Deep Sea Tasting Room (wah) and almost made us lose our dinner reservations. 

Overall I'd say it was a successful weekend getaway and can't wait to go back. I've got quite a few trips coming up so stay tuned to see more travel guides :)

xo, el

Where to Go in Sequoia National Park

Apparently today is National Plan a Vacation Day (seriously, who gets to make up these holidays??) so in honor of it I thought I'd feature one of my recent travels. Earlier this month I got a lot of love for my Instagram post of me among some giant sequoia trees, and as a thank you I wanted to share where to go in Sequoia National Park to see this beauties.

I visited Sequoia with family at the end of December and it was freeeezing. The upside of that is pretty snow photos and less crowded trails. We didn't have a lot of time so we decided to do The Congress Trail, which starts at the General Sherman. In total it's about a 3-mile loop. Despite the cold it was pretty crowded at General Sherman since it's easy to get to - literally park and walk a few yards up to it. But The Congress Trail was a different story. Everything was covered in snow and we saw maybe five other parties throughout our hike. It felt like we had the forest to ourselves and it was incredible to walk in silence among the great giants. Definitely worth dealing with the cold.

Because of the snowy conditions we had to get chains for our car since it wasn't a 4WD, so make sure you always check weather conditions before heading up there. Also, don't forget to pack some snacks for the trail so you can take as long as you want soaking in the beauty. I highly recommend a visit if you haven't already!

xo, elle

Whole-y 30: I Did This To Myself

Whole-y 30. Where do I begin. 

Today marks the start of Week 2 of the program and my thoughts are all over the place. As someone who is not a stranger to the juicing and dieting trends, I have to admit I'm still getting used to it. I think I like it so far. 

I initially heard about The Whole 30 Program awhile back but forgot about it until one of my coworkers said he was going to start it again. I shifted into research mode (mostly out of curiosity and partially because of my crazy sugar binges) and later found myself telling everyone I was going to do it too. [Insert big eyed emoji] Luckily I gave myself a week to mentally prepare for the torture that awaited me. This is not something to dive into on the fly.

Delicious things I'd like to eat but can't..

in-n-out [source: thrillist.com]

donuts [source: laweekly.com]

brunch [Republique]

happy hour

chinese food

wine

and more wine...

The basic concept behind The Whole 30 is to remove foods from your diet that are commonly allergens. That means no grains, legumes, sugar, dairy or booze. Yikes. But there were a few reasons I decided to take it on:

1. The percentage of my diet that was made up by sugar was wayyy too high. (my wake up call was when my teeth hurt the morning after eating half a box of sour punch straws..)
2. Part of my resolution to eat healthier included cooking more, which I was too lazy to ever do.
3. But mostly, I wanted to challenge myself. Obviously I could achieve the above two without committing to this program but I liked the idea of testing myself mentally and physically. (sorry tummy)

Now, I'm only one-and-a-half weeks into this program so I'm no expert, but I do want to share some of my notes for those of you who may want to try The Whole 30 too..

• Do your homework! The Whole 30 website has all of the resources you'll need to understand what you're getting yourself into. From program rules to shopping lists to meal templates, it's all there.
• Give yourself time to research recipes for the first week or so. Meal prepping can be pretty time consuming but in my opinion, it's a better alternative than being that person who asks for the chicken salad with a million substitutions. These are some of the recipes I've tried that were simple to make and delicious:
  • Tomato basil beef goulash with eggplant (I used turkey instead of beef)
  • Egg cups
  • Rosemary butternut squash fries
  • Whole 30 ketchup
• Once you've found the few recipes you want to try for the week, make a list of ingredients you need and hit the grocery store. I like to make enough food for 3-4 days so I don't get too bored.

Like I said, I'm still gathering my thoughts on the program and my cravings for sweets and carbs are as real as ever. 10 days down, only 20 more to go..

xo, elle

New Year, New(ish) Me

Hellooo 2017. 

2016 was a rough year but that's not to say there wasn't a lot of growth or new opportunities. And even though you can start over whenever, the beginning of a new year tends to bring about a fresh wave of inspiration. The problem is always keeping that inspiration around.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Reflecting on this past year I did a lot of complaining and comparing but didn't do anything to change the outcome. This year I want to focus on making more meaningful decisions and holding myself accountable to those commitments. It's a lot easier said than done but I'm sure everyone struggles with this to some degree, which is why I'm using my blog to hold myself accountable (and hopefully help others do the same!).

I recently read this article "To Change Your Life, Learn to Trust Your Future Self" and it spoke directly to my struggle with staying committed to the right choices. Through the lens of future versus present, it provided a fresh perspective to goal setting and staying on track. You need to see the greater value a decision will hold for your future self than at that given moment. "To conquer temptation and achieve change, then, you need to dispel the fog of self-doubt and develop confidence in your own future behavior... The point is not to build a habit, but to establish a pattern of evidence for your own brain to observe. Find a very doable piece of behavior to adopt, then focus on doing it, no matter what. "

The Best of 2016..

Setting Expectations

I'll be honest. My goals haven't changed much over the years so what I am changing are the expectations around them. These aren't things to be achieved overnight or even in a year. It's going to be a continuous process and I want to focus on behavior that will lead to self-trust. In the words of Nike, "There is no finish line."

Staying On Track

It may not be eco-friendly but I love printing out spreadsheets and checklists to track my progress. I'm also a very prideful person, hence why I'm talking about my goals online! I think it's very important to set yourself up for success, and who knows yourself better than you??

Measuring Success

I've decided to break up my goals in a programmatic approach. I know I struggle with long-term routines so in a way it's like setting up a bunch of short-term goals that all work towards the same change.

• To establish a healthier and more balanced diet I'm going try Whole 30 for the first time. 
• To incorporate fitness back into my life I'm going to start Kayla Itsines' BBG (for the umpteenth time).
• To work on photography I'm going to go on monthly shoots, even if it's just down the street. 

Like I said, nothing out of the ordinary. I am in no way an expert on setting and achieving goals, but there's no time like the present to become the best version of you. Expect many more posts on this self-trust journey and a deeper dive into the programs I'm committing to. And if you don't see any, feel free to call me out ;)

xo, elle