Grand Canyon Rafting



Grand Canyon Rafting

Rafting the Grand Canyon

If you saw Operation Grand Canyon on BBC2  you may have been inspired to think about a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. If you missed the programme, check out a clip.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kqfaEYr2HY&w=350&h=250]

If that looks a little scary, don’t worry, commercial rafting trips take place in purpose built modern rafts which are entirely unlike the wooden boats used by the Dan Snow team. You can take on as big an adventure as you choose, from day trips to the full 280 mile Lee’s Ferry to Lake Mead route taking from 6 up to 18 days.

There are a lot of operators offering trips. If you want to book from the UK, the best trip we have found is from Exodus Travels. They have a stupendous 8 day Grand Canyon Rafting tour. This starts at Lees Ferry and follows the Colorado River all the way through to Lake Mead where you end your tour with a jet boat ride. You will be camping out under the stars as you travel through the canyon and will have the opportunity to look for wildlife and explore some of the side canyons. The Exodus website has loads more information, or you can call, online chat or e-mail them.

If for any reason the Exodus trip does not appeal there are other US based options. As the Grand Canyon is a US National Park, all trips must be licensed by the Park authorities. To make sure you are booking with a properly licensed operator, the best place to plan any trip is to start with the Grand Canyon National Park website.

View of the Colorado River from the air

View of the Colorado River from the air

There is currently only one licenced operator to run day trips, Raft the Canyon, so if that is your plan it is an easy choice.

There is however, a large choice of multi day trip providers and going through them all could take a long time. To help you decide what sort of trip you want a good resource is raftgrandcanyon.com which has a really useful summary of the various options available. There are also two companies that act as trip consolidators, Rivers and Oceans and Advantage Grand Canyon. These companies aim to help you decide which trip would be the most enjoyable for you and can also access availability details for all the companies providing trips. This is a very useful service as many trips get booked up a long way in advance, numbers of strictly limited to protect the Park, and finding a provider with slots available on your dates can be very time consuming.

I have never done a multi day rafting trip myself, being something on a non-camper. I do have some friends who have done a 6 day trip through the Grand Canyon. They say it was an incredible experience and they want to do it again with their kids when they are old enough. Their top tip – book yourself into a really nice hotel at the end of the trip. It will feel especially luxurious after several nights camping.