Grand Canyon Rafting Trips Vary From Wild To Mild

Grand Canyon National Park: home to some of the biggest, baddest white water on Earth. The rapids of most of the world’s rivers are rated on a scale of 1 to 5. The Colorado River of the Grand Canyon is a whole different animal - it’s rated on a scale of 1 to 10. And like that famous line in “This is Spinal Tap,” the last big rapid on the run is said to sometimes go “all the way up to eleven.”

A Grand Canyon rafting trip is a once in a lifetime experience, and a serious undertaking. It requires time (the shortest trip is 4 days, and factor in 2 travel days on either end), money (prices range from $1,000 - $3,500) and sometimes endurance (some trips require you hike 10 miles downhill to Phantom Ranch at the start the trip, or hike 10 miles up from Phantom Ranch at the end). Children have to be at least 8 to participate, and the season only runs from late April to mid-October. So where does that leave families traveling off-season, young children or seniors, or those with a limited budget or limited time? According to Karlyn Bunting, president of Grand Canyon.com, “it leaves them with a lot of options.”

Karlyn explains, “The Colorado River of the Grand Canyon is actually quite multi-faceted, with big, huge rapids separated by long, mellow stretches. Modern times, of course, saw the construction of two dams: the Hoover Dam on the West side, and the Glen Canyon Dam on the East side. Both dams provide an entry point onto the river, where people have been enjoying float trips for about the last thirty years.” “Float Trips” are river excursions without rapids. They require virtually no strenuous activity, and offer lots of magnificent scenery.

Appropriate for kindergartners to great-grandparents and everyone in between, examples of Colorado River float trips are excursions like the “Black Canyon Adventure.” Originating at Boulder City’s Hacienda Resort, this 7-hour trip takes visitors from the base of Hoover Dam to Willow Beach and is available from February through November. Near Lake Powell on the border of Arizona and Utah, the town of Page is the site of the “Colorado River Half Day Float Trip,” a 15-mile trip from the base of the Glen Canyon Dam to Lees Ferry, which runs from mid-March through mid-November. Prices for these trips include return transportation to the check-in location.

Grand Canyon.com also arranges tours where the float trip is just one element of a whole day of sightseeing. These packages include round-trip transportation from Las Vegas, Grand Canyon South Rim, Flagstaff, or Sedona, and meals like a continental breakfast or picnic lunch. The company’s most popular package is a 3-in-1 combination called the “Canyon River Adventure,“ which begins with a sunrise Grand Canyon air tour from the South Rim to Page Municipal Airport, segueing into a safari-style slot canyon tour, then the half-day float trip from the Glen Canyon Dam. Karlyn says, “that product in particular is probably the most comprehensive Grand Canyon tour package. You get to see not only Grand Canyon, but Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Glen Canyon and Marble Canyon. Then you throw Grand Canyon West into the mix, and that opens up a whole new range of possibilities.”

Grand Canyon West is the newest tourist-oriented development in the Grand Canyon area. Situated near Peach Springs, Arizona on Hualapai Indian Tribal Lands, Grand Canyon West has done what was once impossible: they’ve made getting to the bottom of the Grand Canyon easy. Here, visitors can helicopter down to the river for a short cruise by pontoon boat up the channel, and chopper back out. This part of the river is also smooth, which means it’s appropriate for families. Similarly to the other trips, this Colorado River Float can be incorporated into a variety of packages from the Las Vegas area. Popular combinations are the “Grand Voyager Tour” (airplane, helicopter and float), and the “Rim to River Expedition” (bus, helicopter and float). Other Grand Canyon West tours are offered from Boulder City, Flagstaff, Sedona, Page/Lake Powell and Grand Canyon's South Rim.

It is also possible to do a one-day Grand Canyon white water rafting trip from Hualapai Lodge in Peach Springs. This trip features Class 2 and 3 rapids (1 to 5 scale), and is open to those age 8 and over. The trip is about 10 hours long, but it is advisable to set aside two days and overnight at Hualapai Lodge the night prior to the trip. The trip begins at 7:00 AM and the lodge is a 2-3 hour drive from its nearest neighboring towns.

A Colorado River Rafting Trip would be the highlight of any Grand Canyon vacation, to be sure. But whether you want to a trip full of "ooooh aaaaaaaaah" or "yeeeeeeeee haaaaa!," remember: without advance reservations, you could find yourself "up a creek."