grand canyon colorado river rafting

[mogwai]

Hi everyone!
we are a small group (13) of students who are planning a trip in California-Arizona-Nevada (and a bit of Utah) area in March, and you'll probably hear from us coupple of times more :)
we would like to experience the grand canyon, therefore we are looking for different options. One most interesting one seems rafiting through the canyon if that is possible. Could anyone provide us information how to get the affordable one or two day program? and are there any good sleeping possibilities in the canyon except camping?
Thanks in advance

[Mass Tim]

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

I did a quick search on Google for Grand Canyon rafting and came up with quite a few hits. I haven't any experience with this, so I will defer suggestions to our members that may have had the opportunity to get along the Colorado by raft. I'm not sure you'll be able to find any rafting opportunities at that time of the year, however.

As far as lodging, you could check this link for some of the options that aren't camping.

[Foy]

Hello Mogwai,

I have to say I've never looked into it, but everything I recall reading about GCNP river rafting tells me the trips are on the order of 2 full weeks and are booked up + or - a year in advance. I'm sure some elementary research will correct or confirm that.

I had the pleasure of doing a 5 day float on the Colorado in 1994. We put in at Moab, UT, in the Canyonlands NP, and took out at Hite, UT, on Lake Powell. Ours was an oarboat trip and we were repeatedly passed by much larger rafts with small outboard engines. Our guides referred to these rafts as "J" Rigs or "Mini-Js", and said they did our same trip in 3 days. There were short, one day rides on the Colorado above Moab, too.

We searched and booked all of this pretty much on our own, in the days before large Web presence on the part of outfitters. There must now be a rich variety of Web advertising for such trips.

The river between Moab and Lake Powell was spectacular. One full day of our float was whitewater all the way--the Cataract Canyon, just below the confluence of the Green and the Colorado. I'm curious about water levels in late Winter/early Spring, as the snowmelt and runoff would seem not to have started by then and it would not surprise me to find the outfitters not booking trips that early.

Foy

[Mark Sedenquist]

we would like to experience the grand canyon, therefore we are looking for different options.

Although the longer trips certainly exist -- I once spent 30 days inside the Grand and about three weeks of that was rafting -- there are some outfitters who can offer 1-2 day trips. There is a series of posts that addresses this subject -- but I can't find it. I remember responding to it last year, but.... One of the very best guide books to the canyon is this one!

And you might enjoy reading this tale of adventure atop a mule descending into the depths of the Grand Canyon from one of our RoadTrip Enthusiast Members.

Mark

[mogwai]

thanks, all.
But to move the discussion a bit further: i did a lot of googling myself and what have i noticed is, that most of the programmes are for a week or more. However i found one for a day, but it included a chopper drive back, so the sum price was near 400$ which is a bit too much. So somehow I realized tht there is no option for a short trip through GC, because the thing is just too huge to do it the fast way. However i found one interesting one-day solution somewhere berween Bryce and Glenn Canyon, do you think this can be a good experience? Would this be as nice place to see as the GC area would be?

[PNW Judy]

That's why some call it the Big Ditch! :)

I've never done any river-rafting in the Grand Canyon area. The closest trip I've done was in the Moab area. But I have done numerous river-rafting trips in the Pacific NW. And I've loved them all. The scenery along a river is always interesting. So I guess what I'm saying is that if you all really want to do a river-rafting trip and if the trip from Bryce area you found fits your budget, I'm sure you will love it. Even if it doesn't go directly through the Grand Canyon, the scenery in that part of the country is amazing. Bryce is just as awesome as the GC. So I would have to believe that the area between them won't be disappointing at all.

The only lodging option under The Rim of the Grand Canyon is the Phantom Ranch. Or camping.

Hiking down and back up is a great experience. But you need to be very prepared for it. You will want to read up on what to expect and how to prepare properly and safely. Check out here and here and here for tips, trail information, and more. You might also enjoy this photo essay by two women who hiked down into the canyon.

I don't think it's possible to hike all the way down and back in one day. Unless you can get lodging at the Phantom Ranch, you will need to camp down there.

Or you can just go a bit down to get the experience. Keep in mind that a good rule of thumb is that it takes twice as long to go up as it does to go down. And takes water. LOTS of water.