AWB Q1 2024 – Destination: Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) was established in 1919, making it one of the most venerable of all the parks. The best place to start for anything having to do with GCNP is the National Park Service’s (NPS) website for the park. This site has key information to help you plan your trip and stay abreast of alerts & conditions. GCNP was the second most visited park (after Great Smoky Mountains NP), with 5 million people per year.

You should know that if you are among the 1% that descends into the canyon, or the smaller fraction that rafts through the canyon, a serious level of commitment is required. It’s a highly physical undertaking that needs a lot of forethought and planning. It also demands flexibility, as the wilderness doesn’t always cooperate with our plans, and hordes of other people want to be there just like we do. But putting in the work to prepare for your rafting and hiking adventures will reward you with shared experiences of a lifetime. Because there is so much to know regarding the many possible encounters of the Grand Canyon, I’ve taken more of a deep dive approach to share what we learned during our trips and help you to set proper expectations.

Keep in mind that there are many possible Grand Canyon itineraries depending on your interests, and I’ve included several in the Before You Go section under Destinations. For instance, we combined a week of rafting with another week of hiking – from the Grand Canyon north & south rims on one trip, and in some of the California parks (Death Valley, Sequoia & Yosemite) on other trips.

Just seven days of rafting is, for most people, more than enough excitement for one trip. In fact, most of our fellow rafters on our trips were there solely to run the river. They also had less of a challenge in packing than we did by not having to also include necessities for a second week on the trails. In any case, the Grand Canyon offers a vast array of opportunities to have an encounter filled with immeasurable meaning.

Let’s begin with the fact that you will be outside in the desert for the entire length of your trip, in our case, seven days. You’ll be completely off the grid. No communication will be possible with your loved ones or anyone else. On my initial trip in 2018, the first morning was tough. I recall sitting on the raft with the frigid water stinging me and realizing that I had a week of this in my immediate future with no way of turning back. I thought of the lyric in the Taking Heads’ song Once in a Lifetime, “my God, what have I done?” Pretty soon the sun rose higher in the sky and the mid-June air quickly reached a toasty 100+°F. I also remembered to pull my rain suit out of my day bag to protect me from whatever the river dished out. After running a few rapids, and languidly watching the ever rising canyon walls go by during the long calm stretches in between, the world began to slow down and my sense of perception had somehow changed. By the time we had dinner in camp and watched the sun drop behind the cliffs, I was a changed man. This place had somehow permeated my being and all I wanted to do was to be here.

But after seven days of extreme heat and dryness, setting up and tearing down camp, the powder-like sand getting into everything, and peeing into the frigid river while trying to maintain my balance on a rock, that first warm shower sure felt good. Yes, after seven days we were ready to return to the comforts and insanity of civilization but, for me, the longing to return to the canyon began to intensify almost as soon as we got home. I feel confident in saying that the experience of the canyon will stay with almost anyone, but for some it really does approach being an awakening of sorts.

I often think of Grand Canyon in almost mystical terms. As I floated through it on the raft, it occurred to me that so much of what I was seeing – the sheer cliffs of the Inner Gorge dropping straight down to the cold, swift river below – was never touched by humans. That blows my mind. Many of the geological gems that we visited, such as Redwall Cavern, are only accessible by river. Of the 6 million people who experience Grand Canyon each year, only a relative handful – about 25,000 – do so by raft and ever see these places. The Grand Canyon is such an enigma that, as Kevin Fedarko noted, “nobody figured out how to walk all the way through the thing until a 25-year-old river guide named Kenton Grua completed it in the winter of 1976, some 65 years after both the North and South Poles had finally been reached, and 23 years after Mount Everest was first summited. Think about that for a moment – and consider what it says about how complicated and wild this place truly is.”

All of that said, we do need to remember the more prosaic considerations to be aware of when rafting through the canyon. These are important to know, because as I mentioned, there is no realistic way out once you shove off from Lees Ferry for the 188 mile river trip. Let’s look at the most important aspects of this journey to help understand what’s in store.

✦ Commercial vs. Private

The entire discussion here is based on rafting with commercial rafting tours, not private trips. On a commercially guided trip, there is a crew consisting of boat captains who navigate the river and lead the trip, and “swampers” who attend to most of the logistical tasks on the raft and in camp. The rafters are responsible for their own camp sites, packing and unpacking their gear, and helping to load and unload the boats. The crew handles many of the chores that would fall to the rafters on a private trip: providing and operating the rafts, supplying and cooking all the food, bringing essential knowledge of the best way through the rapids, setting up and tearing down the portable toilets, being ready to address medical emergencies, obtaining NPS permits and complying with regulations, and more.

However, this is definitely not glamping. This is a physically taxing undertaking. Unloading all the provisions and equipment from the boats every day in camp, and lugging your 25 pounds of gear to your camp site for a quarter mile over unstable sand is hard work. So is riding the boat through awesome, but violent, rapids and hiking through amazing side canyons in blazing heat. Still, for most people, commercial trips are what make an experience like this even possible. The outfit we used in both 2018 and 2019 was Western River Expeditions, one of 15 companies who are commissioned by the NPS to run tours on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. The fact that I returned to raft with them in 2019 attests to the high regard in which I hold them. Aside from the quality of the people, operation, and experience, there are other important factors involved in selecting a certain outfit over another. These will be covered in the Rafting Trip Alternatives section below.

✦ Cautions & Dangers

On both of my river trips, the very first thing on the lead guides’ agenda was a speech about safety. They idle the rafts directly across the river from the Lees Ferry boat ramp and give everyone the lowdown. On the 2018 trip our leader, Wiley, had a “big three” in term of cautions. First was scorpions. It’s no surprise that they are common in the canyon and, while usually not deadly, their sting can cause a great deal of pain. In camp, we all had to diligently shake out our footwear, sleeping bags, etc. before using them. No one got stung on our trips, but one morning I rolled over on my cot to see a baby scorpion on a large table-like rock right next to me. I have no idea how he managed to get up there.

Number two on Wiley’s list was rattlesnakes. According to Death in the Grand Canyon (see Resources / References), there have been no reported fatalities from a snake bite in the canyon. But like Scorpions, the experience can be very unpleasant, possibly resulting in one’s having to be airlifted out of the canyon to a hospital. Here, the instructions were to be careful where you step. Snakes aren’t looking for trouble but may not take too kindly to being disturbed while resting underneath some brush. The third item to watch out for was a surprise: ravens. Wiley warned us that these birds, a larger cousin of the crow, are highly intelligent creatures and know how to get into a duffle bag or other type of case if they are not properly secured. As I recount in my story The Brazen Raven, this highly embarrassing event is exactly what happened to Alex and me during dinner on our first night at camp.

On our 2019 trip, our trip leader Evan, focused more on how to be safe on the raft and the river. First, and most obvious, it was mandatory for everyone to properly wear their lifejacket at all times on the boat. Next was one of Evan’s tips about how to hold on through the big rapids when sitting in the front of the boat where the ride is roughest. He told us to use an underhanded grip on the rope, with the elbow bent. Using a straight arm has resulted in torn biceps, the power of the river being what it is. Along with this was the need to bend low, face down near the boat’s front tubes right before they hit the rapid’s first wave. This is called “sucking rubber,” and is necessary because the boat is designed with a hinge to allow it to absorb the force of the waves by flexing suddenly at an unexpected angle. The last main topic concerned what to do if you are thrown into the river. Aside from always floating feet first through a rapid, we were admonished to remain calm and allow the crew to come to you and hoist you into the boat by the top straps of your lifejacket while you face away from the boat.

In 2018 we saw this unfold for real when one of our raft-mates was flung overboard while running Boucher Rapid. This mid-size rapid was more than powerful enough to surprise a guy who was sitting up front and not holding on correctly. Just like that, he was in the ice cold Colorado and, almost as quickly, our crew calmly pulled him back onto the boat. But right after that excitement, Wiley gathered the two rafts together for a powwow and made a chilling statement. Crystal Rapid, one of the two most dangerous of all the 80 large rapids in Grand Canyon, awaited us only a mile ahead at river mile 99.

In sobering tones he explained that the time for falling out of the raft was over and you absolutely would not want it to happen in Crystal. He made it clear that the boat’s small motor was mainly for steering and would not be able to power the boat back upstream for a rescue. Not to mention the fact that it would put all the others on the trip at serious risk. What made this particular rapid especially treacherous was the technical difficulty in navigating the boat precisely around a huge and extremely dangerous hole (or hydraulic). The risk of being sucked into this hole, either as an individual or as a raft, made Crystal the site of legendary carnage on the Colorado. We quickly understood that, this time, it was all about paying attention to our safety, not the joyride.

Lava Falls Rapid is the other beast of the river at mile 180. While not quite as technical as Crystal, is simply a gigantic, steep, and fast monster. Once the rafting trip gets underway, it’s not long before everyone knows that Lava Falls is the climax to the trip just before the take-out at Whitmore Wash (mile 188). And, as the grand finale, it certainly does not disappoint; there is much well-deserved celebrating and a shared sense of triumph for the entire group. But like Crystal, Lava Falls has seen its share of dramatic wipeouts. This is the main reason I felt more comfortable running the river in a bigger motorized craft (see Rafting – Trip Alternatives, below). There are no guarantees with big boats either, but they are safer (or at least the feel that way).

While I have the utmost respect and admiration for guides like Wiley and Evan, and Newtie our co-leader in 2019, I need to add my perspective as a rafter, which I think is also important. Once you sign the rafting contract, including the hold harmless clause, you are ultimately responsible for what happens to you on the trip. The Grand Canyon is an inherently unpredictable and dangerous place. A reputable outfit with experienced guides gives you an excellent chance of have a fulfilling experience. But as they say, stuff happens (see A Close Call at Dear Creek Falls).

The guides will not be your parents on this trip. My impression is that they know their guests have paid a lot of money to be on a once-in-lifetime adventure and will do everything they can, short of tolerating endangerment of others or the canyon, to refrain from inhibiting the guests’ experience. It’s also true that, for all the ways to die in Grand Canyon, the incidence of death on a rafting trip is rare. The onus is clearly on the rafter to decide whether to walk on a narrow ledge at the edge of a cliff, or to pee off an unstable rock in the pitch dark at 3:00 am right next to a powerful current in the ice cold river. I’ve had several conversations with my wife about their hands-off approach and what it would feel like to know a person fell to his or her death on your watch. But clearly the guides’ do it this way on purpose. There is no easy answer, and after all, we are accountable to ourselves. Again, being forewarned is being forearmed.

✦ Appropriate Ages

Taking both of our trips together, the people ranged in age from about 12 to 75 years. On the younger end of the spectrum, the main issue would be maturity. The young people on our trips were wonderful. In one case, a young lady was far more mature than the adults in her group. But to the discussion on dangers above, they still need proper oversight, and this 12 year-old was no exception. She had to be firmly counseled by the guides not to return from the Patio at Dear Creek by herself, but instead to wait until the entire group was ready to depart.

On the other end of the spectrum, we had a 75 year-old woman who, to my amazement, was able to join and complete most of the hikes. These were not walks in the park. Another septuagenarian woman was on the trip by herself (her fifth time!), and while not a hiker, she was able to get on and off the rocking slippery rubber boats and function independently in camp. So there are no cut and dried age boundaries and it really depends on the individual’s maturity and capability. I will say that, as a parent of two boys, I would not have been comfortable taking them on this trip at 12 years of age. However, that is probably more because of my fears than their development. As far as the elderly, I’m not in a position to lecture anyone. All I would say is to be honest with yourself and think about what additional load you might be putting on the guides, who already work incredibly hard, if you really can’t handle it.

✦ Bodily Functions

As I mentioned earlier, peeing on a rafting trip in Grand Canyon is done into the Colorado River. All other liquids – for instance, an unfinished beer – also end up in the river. This is called the “dissolve and disperse” method. The average daily flow of the river ranges between 10,000 and 18,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), depending on the level of water being released from the Glen Canyon Dam upstream. This volume can easily accommodate a relatively tiny bit of urine. Peeing anywhere on the ground is forbidden, as it not hard to imagine what the canyon would smell like in these hot, arid conditions. Obviously, men and women have different approaches here. For the men, it’s mostly a matter of safety. Ensuring that your pee hits the water sometimes requires unnatural acts of balance and contortion. This is especially true at night, when you’re trudging down to the river at 3:00 am, half asleep on unfamiliar terrain, trying to find a stable spot and not fall into the river. The main challenge for the women is having nature call on the raft, say, after just shoving off from having lunch. Since the raft doesn’t stop, women are instructed to hang off the back of the boat and let ‘er rip. In camp, whether peeing or bathing, the men and women go in different directions – upstream or downstream, respectively – to take care of business.

Clearly, solid waste can’t be handled that way, so the crew sets up two portable toilets for use in camp. These are both essentially a sceptic tank in a box with a seat on top. One box sits inside a yellow tent-like enclosure for privacy not too far from the communal area. The second is quite interesting. The crew places that one out in the open about 100 yards beyond the enclosed unit. To avoid invasions of privacy, a token (in our case, a boat oar) is taken by the person currently using the facilities so that someone else knows to wait for the oar to be returned to its original spot. On some occasions the exposed unit is placed in a truly spectacular location. I’ll never forget doing my business all alone outside right on a ledge next to the Colorado as it rushed by. I sat there just taking it all in until I realized I was probably not making any friends as the line for the toilet grew.

This may all sound very strange, and indeed, it could be a deal-breaker for some people. Alex and I were not the only father-son tandem on our 2018 trip. In our case, we had been planning our adventure as a bonding experience, which was known to the rest of our family. With the other father and son, they said the wife and daughter refused to go on the trip because of the bathroom arrangements, or lack thereof, as I just outlined. But I can say that, although the average person on the trip may have had some initial discomfort around handling their bodily functions in the canyon, it didn’t take very long for any concerns to recede into the background. Everyone just accepted it and moved on. Of course, the overwhelming nature of the canyon helps to make all of these issues seem petty.

✦ Bathing & Hygiene

Bathing was an adventure, at least for me. It’s all done in the river, of course, but the water temperature is less than 50°F. If that doesn’t sound too bad, try turning on the shower full blast with only cold water and standing under it for a minute. You may ask, “Why is the river so cold if it’s over a hundred degrees in the canyon?” Until the Glen Canyon dam was completed in 1966, 15 miles upstream from the start of Grand Canyon National Park at Lees Ferry, the Colorado was often a raging torrent of warm, liquid mud. John Wesley Powell, who led the first expedition through Grand Canyon on the river in 1869, famously said that the Colorado was “too thick to drink and too thin to plow.” With the dam in place, the flow of water into the canyon is tightly controlled. It exits the dam 700 feet below Lake Powell (the huge 186 mile-long reservoir behind the dam), causing its dramatic drop in temperature. The Colorado now is often a rich green – at least it was in summer when we were there – and its metamorphosis has substantially changed the ecosystem around the river.

This digression is important to let you know the reason I screamed like a baby when I forced myself to dunk in the river every day after pulling into camp. The water’s cold really does take your breath away. Just standing in it up to my ankles caused intense pain in my feet after about five seconds. I thought I could just pass on bathing to avoid this trauma but the idea of going to sleep with sand and sweat all over me was too much to bear. The good news is that once you dunk, lather up with biodegradable soap, and dunk again, the warm air feels incredible. Still, I now understand why it’s easy for a person to die of hypothermia quickly if they are in the Colorado River for too long.

As you can imagine, all other hygiene and cleaning chores are also done in the river. Washing clothes – tee shirts, shorts, etc. – is simply a matter of giving them a good rinse and then finding a nice mesquite bush to use as a drying rack. With the low humidity, they will be ready to use again in no time. Unfortunately, your skin will not be as resilient. Make sure to pack lotion to help avoid the very real discomfort and pain from having your skin turn into a brittle piece of parchment. The same goes for sun protection, for lips as well as skin. The summer sun in the canyon is remorseless.

✦ Sleeping

On both trips with Western River Expeditions, they provided each rafter with a sturdy cot and an optional multi-person tent. Both were of high quality but because there was almost no precipitation in June, we chose to sleep on the cot under the stars. Assembling the cot took some getting used to, but like peeing in the river, it didn’t take long. In addition to the challenge of finding new superlatives for the daytime experience of the canyon, the same held true for looking up into a night sky that seemed to be made of a billion glittering diamonds on a field of pitch black. I watched satellites slowly traverse the heavens and saw shooting stars in all their glory. And I didn’t get a lot of sleep.

It’s jarring how fast it gets dark in the canyon and how quickly the temperature drops as a result. On average, we pulled into camp at 4:30 in the afternoon, set up the site and bathed, while the crew prepared dinner (the food was excellent throughout the trip). By the time we had eaten and visited with each other, it was dark by 8:00 pm and time to turn in. As I mentioned earlier, it can be surprisingly cool on a summer night in the desert. Having a lightweight fleece and augmenting it with the sleeping bag also provided by Western River definitely came in handy. At 5:15 am, just as the sun is rising above the rim, the coffee is brewing and breakfast is cooking. By 8:00 am, after loading the boats and throughly inspecting the campsite for micro-trash, we’re on the river again.

✦ Other Rafters

One dimension of the trip that will affect your experience is who your raft-mates are. The large 37-foot-long motorized rafts, such as those Western River Expeditions use, generally accommodate 14 passengers and 2 crew (a river guide and a swamper). There are usually 2 of these boats on a seven day trip. At Lees Ferry, where the trip begins, there is a grand sorting out of people, gear and bags that eventually make it on to one raft or the other. If there are two of you, this means that the other 12 people on your raft will become important determinants of your journey. If your goal is to be one with the canyon, and you are with hard-core partiers, that could be a problem. It’s impossible to know for sure what people are going to be like when you haven’t even met them yet. But you will have the opportunity to size them up from the time you gather a couple hours before at Marble Canyon Lodge until you shove off on your trip.

Just to be clear, almost everyone we met on our trips was pleasant. But in 2019, we had an extended family of ten that drank and smoked (pot) their way through the entire trip. Fortunately, they weren’t overly obnoxious, but it would have been a detractor had we been on the same boat for the week. In camp, it was usually easy to find our own space and avoid the party, The odor of pot did waft over our camp occasionally but I actually like the smell, so no worries there. I did ask Evan and Newtie what would happen if a group of rafters became uncontrollable or destructive. They said they had satellite phones to call in the authorities and, if necessary, would not hesitate to use them. Then they regaled me with fascinating stories about the unruly guests they had to put in their places and how they did it. In any event, you do get a narrow window to decide which raft to ride, so make your first impressions and decisively place your bet on the horse you think is best.

✦ The Take-out

Eight miles after the ultimate rush of running the monstrous Lava Falls Rapid, it’s suddenly the end of the trip. Hard boiled adults such as us may try to hide it, but it’s kind of emotional. It reminded me of the last day of camp at end of summer as a kid, leaving Uncle Art, the cool, god-like counselor, and all your bunk mates you played ball with, rode the bus with, drank bug juice with, and liked and hated. You really feel a connection to the guides who you learned so much from and had come to admire. Then you go to hug them to tell them profusely how much you enjoyed their company, and you’re met with a wall of cold, professional detachment. This is obviously on purpose and I’m sure they are trained to separate in this way.

I believe one obvious reason is that they can become attached to us as well. On the last night of the 2019 trip, Newtie broke out the mini- Martin 6 string (similar to the one I played on the 2018 trip). After most of group turned in, he and I passed it back and forth and bonded over Neil Young songs and stories of concerts, bands, and families. But once we got to Whitmore Wash and I approached him to say goodbye, he was all business. There’s an even more understandable reason for this. While the group from the seven-day trip is departing, a new contingent is arriving at the same time for a three-day journey, run by the same crew, that continues from Whitmore to Diamond Creek at mile 225. Newtie and the rest of the crew now had to attend to all the logistics of quickly getting everyone and everything turned around to shove off again. As I watched the somewhat chaotic proceedings, I came to appreciate his priorities.

While the crew turns its complete attention to the new group, responsibility for the departing group is handed over to the helicopter shuttle brigade. That’s right, the only way out from Whitmore Wash, short of hiking and climbing thousands of feet to the rim, is a thrilling joyride in a whirlybird. Before getting aboard, there is a highly regimented process of weighing everyone with their bags, and then calculating which combination of six passengers and seat assignments will yield a safe payload and optimal weight distribution. The helicopter continues ferrying groups of six out of the Inner Gorge until the entire group is on the north rim.

After lift off, you are treated to a nap-of-the-earth ride 20 feet above the surface of the canyon as it rises up and away from the river. The nose of the helicopter is often tilted down, just like in the movies, so that you’re moving forward at high speed, facing the ground as you go. In ten minutes, you arrive at the Bar-10-Ranch, a charming destination in remote north rim country for getaways and the reclamation of grizzled river runners like us. For rafters who have been in the canyon’s elements for seven days, it’s a welcome return to the conveniences of hot showers, dining tables, and wheeled vehicles. It’s also the home of Whitmore International Airport, a landing strip for small planes, one of which will take you on a 45 minute flight to either Boulder City, Nevada, near Las Vegas, or back to Marble Canyon Lodge near Lee’s Ferry, where your journey began. Your first cell phone service in a week will begin once you touch down at either of these airports. Be ready to spend time looking at emails and texts to make sure your significant others are okay and that the world is still in one piece.

✦ Gear

Having the right gear with you on the rafting trip is essential. Here are Western River Expeditions’ guidelines for what to bring and how to pack. I’ve also included the checklist we used (at the top of this page) to cover our entire two-week journey. I want to emphasize the importance of making sure that your gear fits into the river bags provided by Western River to each rafter at Lees Ferry. The waterproof, heavy duty gear bag holds a 24 inch duffle and won’t be accessible until reaching camp. The 7 inch by 13 inch day bag is also dry storage, but is available for essential items (water bottle, sunscreen, rain jacket, camera, etc.) while on the boat. The message is to pack light. You won’t need much other than what’s on the checklist to be in the canyon.

There are 15 outfits who have concessions to run commercial trips on the river. Together, they offer a variety of trip durations and different types of river craft. There are also different segments of the river that can be run. A popular version of the trip starts from Lee’s Ferry at mile zero of the river and runs for 188 miles to Whitmore Wash, at which point rafters depart the canyon via helicopter. Shorter trips typically cover roughly 38 miles, from Whitmore Wash to Diamond Creek at mile 225. There are other variations that may involve rafting to Phantom Ranch at mile 88 and hiking up the Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim. The durations of these trips are largely dependent on whether a river craft is a large motorized rig, or a small oar-powered raft. The NPS has a comprehensive list of rafting services and information about each of their specific niches. Let’s take a closer look at each of these alternatives to help identify which type of river trip would be right for you.

✦ Large Motorized Rafts

• As I mentioned before, I traveled with Western River Expeditions on both my river trips. They specialize in operating a fleet of large, inflatable, motorized 37-foot-long rafts called J-Rigs. First, a large craft is inherently more stable and offers a variety of experiences, depending on where you sit on the boat. Sit up front, and you will get a wild ride through the big rapids. Sit further back, and the ride is smoother, but still exhilarating. Martin Litton, the late conservationist who was at the forefront of saving the Grand Canyon from being dammed up in the 1960’s, derisively called these large hulking craft “baloney boats.” I can understand his well-earned belief that a genuine Grand Canyon river trip ought to be experienced “in the raw,” sitting in a small boat down in the whitewater, eye-to-eye with the huge waves.

If the canyon had come into my awareness earlier in my life, I would definitely have done that “rad” small craft trip. For a middle-aged novice who also wanted the chance to contemplate the beauty around me and take lots of photos, the big boat had its advantages. Although no trip on the river is without risk, the bigger boats are less likely to flip in rough water, and are therefore safer. This was not only important for my comfort level, but for having more confidence in the well-being of my loved ones who were with me.

I also appreciated the design of the J-Rig compared to the other large boats, called S-Rigs, that I saw on the river. Rafting on the J-Rig allows you to sit facing forward in most areas of the boat, which affords the same panoramic windshield-view you would get driving a car. On the S-Rig, most rafters sit along the side of the boat, their backs against its interior section, so that the view is like being in the back of car looking out the side window. Still, you’re in the Grand Canyon, so perhaps that’s nitpicking. Still. as I mentioned above, the J-Rig’s design offers more seating choices around the boat, each of which provides a different ride. Clearly, my only river trips have been with Western River Expeditions, and there were lots of other outfits who seemed to be thriving and giving their guests their money’s worth. But my trips did not disappoint, and the type of craft we rode was a big reason why.

One other important consideration with a large motorized raft is its effect on the duration of the trip. As noted above, the 188 mile trips run from Lees Ferry to Whitmore Wash in durations of six or seven days. The additional day on the seven day trip affords extra time to see a few more attractions along the way. A low-horsepower motor on the boat acts as a rudder for steering, and also provides more maneuverability compared to manual oar power on a small inflatable raft. This helps a big boat to cover more distance per day. In contrast, the trip duration over the same route using a small five-passenger rubber raft with one person rowing could take up to 18 days.

✦ Small Oar-Powered Rafts

Clearly, a small raft makes for a much different experience. I love the idea of taking 18 days to explore more intimately the same terrain I traversed in seven. The flip side is that it’s even more physically demanding and there is a significantly greater chance of capsizing in the big rapids. Yet, these small boat tours run all the time, and people live to talk about it, so it must be a blast. Again, another choice – in this case the chance to feel the river in a much more dynamic way and become even more immersed in this cathedral of the earth.

✦ Dories

Martin Litton was not only a great American conservationist. He was also the founder of Grand Canyon Dories, a legendary fleet of small, colorful five-person boats with a captivating heritage. Litton named each of his boats after a natural treasure that was lost to development projects, such as those now underwater behind a dam in places like Glen Canyon. Litton, who passed away in 2014, left an indelible legacy in the southwest. The full story of Martin Litton, his dories, and so much more is captured in the riveting book, The Emerald Mile, by Kevin Fedarko. They are also memorialized in Martin’s Boat, a masterful 22-minute on-line documentary directed by photojournalist Pete McBride. I heartily encourage you to consume both book and video. Having just finished viewing Martin’s Boat again, I feel determined, if at all possible, to do what I can to have this experience.

Eventually, Litton sold his fleet to Oars, another venerable commercial rafting outfit that specializes in smaller craft. According to Oars, the dories are: “Hand-crafted using fiberglass and closed-cell foam, … hardwood-hulled and ultra-buoyant. At an elegant 17 feet, dories slice through waves and buck through rapids and land large drops with ease …” The Emerald Mile describes these boats as sitting lower in the water than an inflatable raft, which provides more stability for a craft of this size. In any case, it’s another experience of the river that sounds mind-blowing.

If rafting through Grand Canyon on the Colorado river is a highlight of a lifetime, so is being on the trails under or on the rim. It’s another unique experience of a place that, as you know by now, reveals itself in an endless kaleidoscope of possibilities. Hiking in and around the canyon also comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. For day hiking, check out this guide from the National Park Service (NPS).

For trails below the rim, which is our focus here, The Grand Canyon Conservancy has a nice introduction. The National Park Service (NPS) publishes a more in depth guide that includes comprehensive information about each trail’s maintenance level, skill requirements, trail head access and route, and backcountry use areas (camping, capacity, ecology, etc,). There are four types of use area zones, through which the trails in the Grand Canyon travel. Each is described in this concise excerpt from the NPS guide:

Corridor Zone Recommended for hikers without previous experience at Grand Canyon. Maintained trails. Purified water stations. Paved roads to trailheads. Toilets, signs, emergency phones, and ranger stations. Use of private livestock (horses and mules only) allowed only when specified on permit.

Threshold Zone Recommended for experienced Grand Canyon hikers. Non-maintained trails. Scarce water sources. Dirt roads to trailheads. Pit toilets. Use of private livestock (horses and mules only) allowed with permit only on Whitmore Trail and on designated roads and trails on the rim.

Primitive Zone** Recommended for highly experienced Grand Canyon hikers with proven route-finding ability. Non-maintained trails and routes. 4-wheel-drive roads to trailheads. Occasional signs. No other developments. Use of private livestock (horses and mules only) allowed with permit only on the Ken Patrick Trail to Uncle Jim Trail to Uncle Jim Point and on designated roads on the rim.

Wild Zone** Recommended for highly experienced Grand Canyon hikers with extensive route finding ability. Indistinct to non-existent routes require advanced route finding ability. Water sources scarce to non-existent. No other development. Use of private livestock is not allowed.

** Primitive and Wild Zones are not recommended for use during summer months due to extreme high temperatures and the lack of reliable water sources.

In the commentary on Rafting Trip Alternatives, I mentioned that I felt most comfortable being on the large motorized craft due to my lack of experience running the river. The same holds for me with regard to hiking into the canyon. The trails in the Corridor Zone are highly maintained and well traveled, and more than challenging enough to give me all the exhilaration I can handle. Keep in mind, we are talking about some of the most iconic hiking in the world. It’s possible to have kick-ass day hikes from both rims on the North Kaibab and South Kaibab Trails, as we did. If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can go all the way from one rim to the other on the corridor trails. This is known as the Rim-to-Rim Hike, a 21 mile bucket-list adventure for many people (using the South and North Kaibab Trails). Usually, this is recommended to be at least a two-day journey, requiring a backcountry permit to camp overnight in the canyon.

As I mentioned in The Western Road Trip That Went South, my son Alex and I had planned to do the Rim-to-Rim in August 2020, but fate had other plans for us. It was just as well, because the temperature at the bottom of the canyon at that time was hitting 115°F. Carrying gear on our backs along with two gallons (16 pounds) of water in that heat, not to mention hiking during monsoon season, would have probably been a bridge too far. We have talked about going for it again someday, but in the cooler conditions of May or September. It’s also important to note the logistical challenge of parking your car on one rim, hiking across to the other rim, and having to find a way to get back to your vehicle. Unfortunately, unless you want to retrace your steps 20+ miles in the reverse direction, you have to follow the 213-mile route that crosses the Navajo Bridge to the east. That’s the last point a car can cross the Colorado River until 277 miles downstream near Lake Mead. Fortunately, the Transcanyon Shuttle provides four-hour rides (departing early morning and early afternoon) to the opposite rim from May into October.

For those who want to take it to the limit, there is the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim hike. As the name indicates, it involves returning pretty much the way you came to your starting point. Well, not exactly. Usually, if you start on the South Rim, you will descend to the river by way of the South Kaibab Trail. This is because it involves hiking down a ridge where there is high exposure to the elements, mainly the relentless sun. There are no water sources on this trail, so it’s best to let gravity help reduce your effort (albeit with extra stress on your knees). On the return, from the river back up to the South Rim, you would follow the Bright Angel Trail, which is a bit longer. But this route offers some shade and sources of water along the way. Except for individuals with triathlete-level fitness, most people would cover the 43 miles and 10,000+ feet of elevation gain in five days or so. If I were going to attempt any hikes of this magnitude, it would be multi-day affair. Not only to avoid killing myself, but nearly as important, to savor every bit of the canyon I possibly can.

✦ Corridor Zone Trails – A Deeper Dive

Even on a day hike, the corridor trails are not for the faint of heart. Knowing what to expect and how to prepare is critical. This includes having the right gear. For instance, a well-fitting pair of good quality hiking shoes or boots can make all the difference (see our checklist above). The NPS has a great resource that covers the Essentials of Corridor Trails Hiking. It contains, among other insights, the charts highlighted below for all three trails with mileage, time, and elevation to reach each major landmark, and the risk guidelines for each.

Click on an image to view it full size

The NPS map below clearly shows the configuration and length of each corridor trail, as well as the major campsites and landmarks. You can quickly see that the North Kaibab is a beast at 14 miles long, while the the South Kaibab and Bright Angel Trails are relative babies at seven and nine miles, respectively. Of course, at 4,300 to 5,700 feet in elevation gain, none of these trails should be considered babies. But the difference in the amount of hiking on the north and south sides of the canyon does raise another interesting alternative. You could hike from the South Rim to the river by way of the South Kaibab, stay at Phantom Ranch or Bright Angel Campground overnight (if you’re fortunate enough to get a reservation or backcountry permit), and return to the South Rim on the Bright Angel Trail. This would be a nice two-day 16 mile excursion, perfect for many people. However, there is a logistical twist here, too. The trailheads of these trails are about five miles apart. It happens that most of the hotels on the South Rim are adjacent to the Bright Angel Trail. So you would use the park’s early morning shuttle service to get to the South Kaibab and begin your hike, knowing you will emerge from the canyon the next day just a short walk from your hotel (well, no walk is short after hiking down to the bottom of Grand Canyon).

✦ Corridor Zone Trails – Our Experience

North Kaibab Hike

As I mentioned, Janet and I hiked on both the North Kaibab and South Kaibab Trails. After a week of rafting and hiking in the side canyons, day hikes on the corridor trails were a perfect undertaking. But believe me, they each were some of the most incredible hiking we’ve ever done. We did the North Kaibab first, descending almost 3,300 feet and five miles to Roaring Springs before turning around. This segment traversed most of the Roaring Springs Canyon before it meets the Bright Angel Canyon that runs for another nine miles down to the Colorado River and the Inner Gorge. Our entire route, including the one-and-one-half mile trek from Grand Canyon lodge to the trailhead, covered 12 miles in ten hours.

When we set out at about 5:30 am, it was a chilly 40°F, fairly normal for June at the North Rim’s 8,300 foot elevation. I remember after about a mile into the hike experiencing an incredibly intoxicating smell, the likes of which I had never known. It seemed to be a combination of several trees and flowers at that time of the morning, and I won’t even try to describe it because I can’t. In a couple hours, we had descended through the subalpine layer into the dry desert climate where the heat quickly ramped up. We chatted briefly with a passing ranger who told us he was hoofing it back up to the rim after a week-long shift at Roaring Springs and confirmed that it was indeed hot – 95°F. The constant pounding of the descent on my legs was turning them into jelly even though I had trained pretty diligently before coming out west.

As we reached the four mile mark, we starting to hear (but not yet see) Roaring Springs, a gusher of water pouring right out of the east wall of the canyon. I had learned that while the Colorado River supplies water to a large swath of the American Southwest, this spring supplies water to facilities inside the canyon, as well as on the North and South Rims. As we neared mile five, the spring really did approach a full roar and we stood watching it pour down the opposite side of the canyon.

Finally, we decided to turn around, knowing that in the canyon what goes down must come up. This is more than a trite saying. Most people are used to hiking up a hill or mountain and then descending. There are certainly pitfalls and dangers in the up-then-down scenario. But even if you exhaust yourself on the way up, you still have gravity as your friend on the way down. With a canyon’s down-then-up scenario, other than the possible stress on your knees, it’s seems pretty easy. But it generally takes twice as much effort to ascend, even more so because of the hot desert climate where the altitude approaches 8,000 feet. You have keep enough stamina, strength, and drinking water in reserve to get out. Having a plan to turn around after a realistic amount of time and distance is crucial.

One more interesting facet of our experience, mainly on the return trip, was our encounters with the mule trains. Besides the much greater exertion, heat, and oxygen deficit on the way back up, was the challenge of being overtaken by people riding mules on the trail (more on mule trips in Grand Canyon). First, hikers are required to stop and yield to the trains when they pass. This sometimes meant pressing ourselves into the canyon walls on the narrower sections to make room for these 1,000 pound animals. Second, as you can imagine, mules relieve themselves on the trail wherever it suites them. As the heat and dryness of the afternoon set in, the trail becomes very dusty. While the smells during early morning were intoxicating, these hot afternoon odors could be characterized as simply toxic. When the mules passed us by and kicked up the dust, it was pretty tough. The solution here, as we learned, is to have a neck gaiter handy, something we won’t overlook next time. Yet the mules were an amazing sight to behold. Watching their loping pace and placid demeanor makes it seem like they are ambling along in low gear. Then you look away for just moment to take a swig of water, and turn back to see that they have climbed literally a couple hundred feet above you. A good metaphor for how the entire Grand Canyon is a perception-altering paradox.

South Kaibab Hike

The day after our North Kaibab trek, we drove due east back over the Navajo Bridge near Marble Canyon, then south and west to Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. This is a fabulous 200 mile ride through the desert, with many lookouts and opportunities to explore a bit off road (see Driving Around the Strip – Overlooks & Sights under the section below, The Arizona Strip & Other Nearby Attractions). After a night at the Bright Angel Lodge, we caught the shuttle bus for the South Kaibab trailhead. I had some reservations about how my body would respond just two days removed from the exertion, heat, and altitude of the North Kaibab. Surprisingly, I did pretty well, as did Janet. For one, the weather was perfect – in the 70s – 80s, probably owing to the fact that we started later in the morning and “only” went down into the canyon 1,100 feet, to Cedar Ridge. The three mile round trip made for a tidy four hour excursion.

The views on the South Kaibab are iconic and spectacular. This is helped by the fact that the trail follows a ridge, such that the earth slopes away on three sides, providing an expansive panorama in almost all directions. It’s a much different experience than the North Kaibab, where the hike descends into a deep canyon and a section of the trail, built in the 1920s, is actually a ledge that was carved into in the west wall. It’s still an aspiration of mine to hike the full rim-to-rim route someday soon to see all of the Kaibab trails (see this history of the South Kaibab Trail).

Images of Our Hikes (click on a photo to view it full size and use arrows for carousel viewing)

✦ Other Trails in Grand Canyon

We have not hiked any of the trails in the Threshold, Primitive, or Wild use areas (non-Corridor trails). At my stage of life it’s unlikely I would acquire the well-honed backcountry skills (advanced route finding, traversing ledges of cliffs, rock climbing, etc.) needed for many of these routes. If I were only twenty years younger. But … if I am able to maintain good physical fitness, I could see myself getting a just a taste, probably to the consternation of the rest of my family. Two trails have captured my imagination, and I’m sure I could be enticed by others, if nothing else, in my dreams.

One is the Nankoweap Trail. The reason I am intrigued by it is because it ends near a short, steep trail that leads up to the Nankoweap Granaries. These are the ancient structures that were carved into the cliffs around 1,000 years ago by the Anasazi Indians 700 feet above the Colorado River (at river mile 53). Janet and I hiked up to the Granaries after stopping for lunch on the second day.

It’s one thing to scramble up 700 feet of boulders and talus for a few hours in the mid-afternoon desert heat. It’s an entirely different proposition to hike almost 6,000 feet from the north rim down to the Colorado River on the eleven mile Nankoweap Trail. This paragraph from the NPS backcountry trail guide captures it nicely:

This trail is classified as MOST difficult of the named trails in Grand Canyon. It has the largest total rim-to-river drop (5640 ft / 1735 m) and is one of the longest trails. Hikers must be experienced in canyon route finding; this trail is not recommended for inexperienced or solo hikers. The Nankoweap Trail is not enjoyable as a summer hike as there is no water and little shade.

Hmmm … the most difficult trail of all the difficult trails in one of most extreme places on earth.

Let’s move on to the Tonto Trail. This is no walk in the park either. Instead of going from rim to river like most of the other trails, it runs longitudinally through the canyon on a shelf 1,300 feet above the river called the Tonto Platform. The Tonto runs for “95 rough, unmaintained miles, from Red Canyon on the east to Garnet Canyon on the west.” What places it at the edge of possibility is that it can be divided into segments (such as Bright Angel to Hermit Trail). Parts of the Tonto can also be combined with rim to river trails to create an interesting itinerary that allows for hiking along the river, albeit 1,000-plus feet above it.

The entire Tonto Trail is harsh and dangerous in varying degrees, and certain areas should be left to only the most experienced wilderness gurus. There are long stretches with no water sources, no way to bail out, and no way forward but going into and across side canyons that intersect the trail. So it’s essential to be clear where your segment of the Tonto will begin and end. If I do the Tonto, it will only be for a short stint. Maybe down the South Kaibab, west across the Tonto for a bit, and back up via the Bright Angel. All told, an otherworldly 12 mile jaunt through the canyon. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

✦ Grand Canyon Rim Overlooks

These are the places are where you really get the shock and awe experience of Grand Canyon’s mind-bending immensity, infinite variation, and sheer incomprehensibility. Looking out from the rim can be so disorienting that some people have fallen off after getting too close to the edge and losing their equilibrium. It’s not only the effect of the astonishing visual tableau before you. The all-encompassing and incongruous silence of the place, at least where there are fewer people (such as Toroweap Overlook), adds to its majesty.

Most people will have their encounter with Grand Canyon from these overlooks. This is especially true on the south rim in the Grand Canyon Village vicinity, which draws roughly 90% of the total 5 million visitors per year. A great synopsis of all the main lookouts on the north and south rims is James Kaiser’s Guide to Grand Canyon Viewpoints. I also relied on his book, Grand Canyon, the Complete Guide, to gather very valuable need-to-know information about the entire park, not just the rim overlooks.

During a visit in 2022, I was able to rent a bike from Bright Angel Bicycles, at Mather Point in the Village on the south rim, which allowed me to avoid the crowded shuttles and devote two full days exploring the south rim trails and overlooks by bike at a leisurely pace. I also made sure to visit the more remote north rim overlooks, including Point Imperial. According to the NPS, this location is “the highest point in Grand Canyon National Park at 8,803 feet (2,683 m) … [and] also the most northern boundary of the park.

Toroweap Overlook

No place on the Arizona Strip captured my imagination or heart like Toroweap Overlook, and that’s saying something. We are familiar with the Grand Canyon looking like an upside down wedding cake, descending to the river in a succession of tiers. But Toroweap is one of the only locations on the rims where the canyon walls drop straight down to the bottom. From the moment I saw the pictures of the staggering vista upriver from the cliffs 3,000 feet above the Colorado, I knew I had to see it in person with Janet. But that’s easier said than done. The only route to the overlook is an unpaved, rutted 61 mile dirt track. A standard passenger car would have a tough time getting most of the way there, but the last five miles? Forget it. You need a four wheel, high clearance vehicle, ideally with the ability to make repairs if you break down. You don’t want to get towed out, which can cost thousands of dollars and wouldn’t happen until you were able to get word of your predicament to civilization. This would probably be done courtesy of the ranger on duty at the station a few miles away.

Not to worry, though. We were able to book a tour with Dreamland Safari Tours, based in Kanab, UT to take us to the edge. They provided a rugged Suburban, an experienced guide, a nice lunch, and a satellite phone in case of the unexpected. In fact, Kanab is a hub for all kinds of fabulous excursions into the Arizona Strip and Southern Utah desert. For this reason, we include Toroweap as part of our Southern Utah itineraries.

Our tour required a full day to account for four hours of very slow and careful driving, and four hours of sublime exploration and photo ops at the rim. It was also the perfect spot to give Janet a ring to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. But although Janet was shocked and pleased, I became somewhat of a villain to the other husbands on the tour when their wives heard about my romantic stunt.

Dreamland Safari also has an overnight version of the Toroweap Tour which, given its extreme remoteness, is a great location for photographing the night sky. Capturing the sun coming up the next morning over the cliffs upriver, was an experience I’ll never forget. In any event, it’s a very good thing that long, bumpy, almost impassable dirt road is there. It’s the only thing keeping Toroweap the pristine treasure that it is.

Seasonality is an important factor in deciding when to visit the desert American Southwest. Nowhere is this more evident than in Grand Canyon. The canyon is so vast and deep that it encompasses most of the desert and mountain climates found in North America, from Mexico to Canada. This includes the alpine landscape of the North Rim with its Ponderosa Pine forests, reaching elevations of 8,600 feet. The riparian ecosystem of the Colorado River lies at the bottom if the inner canyon almost 6,000 feet below.

The canyon is, indeed, a place of extremes, particularly regarding temperature and aridity. As the National Park Service (NPS) states, “the highest temperatures are found at the lowest elevations inside the canyon.” More specifically, “temperature increases 5.5°F with each 1,000 feet loss in elevation.” So in addition to the season, it’s very important to consider climatic conditions at the elevations you will be visiting. In early spring, for instance, there might be snow and ice on the rims, while the temperature at the river could be in the 70s. Planning a hike from rim to river would have to account for all of these conditions.

From late November through mid-May, the North Rim is closed to vehicles and there are no visitor services available. Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim, at 1,000 feet lower, has a higher average temperature and is open to visitors during winter. But since the commercial rafting season runs from April through October, this will be our main period of interest. With that in mind, here are the three general climates to consider for an experience in the canyon. Also see this comprehensive average monthly weather and climate data from the NPS for the inner canyon, and north and south rims.

✦ Cooler wetter spring

In April and early May, the inner canyon temperatures range from lows in the upper-50s to highs in the 80s, There is almost a half inch of monthly precipitation, almost twice as much as early summer. This may sound comfortable for a rafting trip, and it may be for much of the time. But the weather can be unpredictable. In case the temps fall well beneath the averages, be prepared with a heavier fleece, neoprene socks for the river, and additional layers for camp. The Colorado river’s water in the canyon is a frigid 47 to 50ºF. During the month of June, when we rafted, we felt every bit of its bone-chilling cold, but the 100+ºF heat helped us to quickly regain our warmth. I’m sure an early spring trip is awesome, but the message here, as with any foray into the canyon, is to be ready for the conditions you may encounter.

✦ Hot dry early summer

This period covers the tail end of May through early July, when high temperatures in the inner canyon reach well into the 100s – perfect for rafting in the icy Colorado. The lows are generally in the 70s, nice for sleeping outdoors. Both of our June rafting trips had this ideal weather, but there were some pretty chilly nights when sleeping bags came in handy. On one particular night, when it stayed above 90ºF, everyone slept right at the river’s edge for some natural air conditioning. One advantage of a June trip is that there is hardly any precipitation. In the 14 total days we were on the river over two years, we had one very brief rain shower and mostly cloudless skies. In fact, our lead guide during our 2018 trip started us off by saying that we picked the perfect time of year for a Grand Canyon rafting trip. At the time, I thought he was just trying to get us stoked for the adventure, but now I know he was right.

Still, as noted above, the water in the river is frigid and the currents are swift and powerful. While the extreme heat and aridity of the canyon require continual vigilance against rapid dehydration, the water’s severe cold requires the same caution with regard to hypothermia. Care must be taken not to stray more than a few feet from shore while bathing or urinating, to literally avoid being carried off by the river. Being in the cold Colorado for more than 20 minutes can be a life threatening proposition.

As far as hiking in the canyon, June is also an awesome time, but it’s absolutely essential to carry adequate water to counter the very harmful effects on the body of extreme heat and low humidity. Do not, under any circumstances, underestimate the threat of quickly becoming dehydrated and slipping into a life threatening state of heat exhaustion. I won’t cover the preparation required for hiking in the canyon here, but I have shared resources with lots of great information about all of these topics.

✦ Monsoonal mid-summer/early fall

From late July through early September, it’s monsoon thunderstorm season in the canyon, as well as in most of the desert southwest. Not only is it the hottest time of year, but in desert canyons, it’s also the riskiest period for flash floods. The possibility of experiencing entirely clear skies in one location in the canyon, and finding a wall of water rapidly approaching from the torrential rain of a thunderstorm 20 miles away, is very real. There are well-known incidents of people being washed away while hiking in a side canyon, completely unaware of the presence of a nearby monsoon storm. This is not to say that one shouldn’t enjoy the canyon during the summer, but “being forewarned is being forearmed.”