Preparing for Grand Canyon Rafting

Our Arizona River Runners rafts at Redwall Cavern

Once we decided to raft the Grand Canyon, I had to make some choices and get prepared.  Obviously, we wanted to go on a guided tour. The Grand Canyon is dangerous -- even experienced athletes and well-trained rafters die there. We are neither. I wanted to be -- and feel -- safe. I wanted a good experience. And, I wanted to be realistic based on our age, fitness and level of bravery. Plus, I wanted to see all the good stuff and not have to do extensive hiking, which would take the emphasis off the water.

Plus, while I knew it would take time and would be expensive, I didn't want to go crazy. But, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Video grab: Scott Stevens

Unlike hiking, it is possible to book closer to the date you want to go. Tough, but possible. That said, I made my initial booking with Arizona River Runners (ARR) nine months in advance for a May 15 trip.

We chose May for several reasons: greater availability because many kids were still in school; lower temperatures than mid-summer, where 120 degrees is not out of the question; and the lowest possibility of rain (may averages one day a month compared to August, which averages five). Why is this so important? You’re rafting and you’re gonna get wet, so what’s a little rain?

Video grab

Well, obviously, rain makes camping, hiking and photography difficult and thunderstorms can be dangerous. But, most important: it muddies the water. When there is no rain, the Colorado River is a gorgeous blue-green. When it rains, the river looks like chocolate milk. And, that not only means the photos aren’t as pretty. It also means that every splash (and there are lots of splashes) is a face full of mud rather than a shower of pristine water.

Left, the Colorado River during our trip; right, photo from No Barriers Warriors

Our date choice was perfect. The weather was great – hot when you were away from the water, lovely on the water, no rain, clear blue-green water. We could not have asked for better. 

Why did I choose ARR? I honestly can’t recall, but I think it is because they had the best website and the best trip options and availability for us. Regardless, it was a great choice.

ARR offers two types of tours: oar-driven and motorized rafts.

The oar trips use smaller boats driven by guides. They are much slower (and a bit more prone to turning over). Arizona River Runners offers six-day and eight-day trips that both require travelers to hike eight miles out and a 13-day trip that goes through the Canyon with no hike out.

The motorized trip was more to our taste – a bit more steady and no hiking in or out. We took the six-day trip that traverses Marble Canyon and most of the Grand Canyon.

On the river

The end includes a helicopter ride out of the Canyon. ARR also offers a three-day trip, but it doesn’t cover much of the Canyon (it gets in where we got out – actually using the same helicopters to bring people in and the same crew and rafts).

Helicopter enters Whitmore Wash

With the six-day trip, you can start and end in Las Vegas, Nevada, or in Marble Canyon, Arizona. We chose Marble Canyon because it is closer to home. I did have a brief period where I regretted not starting in Las Vegas because I was concerned about leaving cameras in the car while we were gone (and, if we went to Las Vegas, we could leave things with Scott’s sister, Nancy). 

ARR makes it very clear that the Marble Canyon Lodge, where they recommend you stay the night before (not included in the trip), will not store baggage. But, I asked the Lodge directly and they were happy to store our camera bags. They just don’t store big suitcases.

If you start and end in Las Vegas, there is an additional $270ish charge because the airline flight is longer.

And, the cost? Well, it ain’t cheap. The actual trip with tip was almost $6,000 for the two of us. Plus, we had hotels before and after and all the gear we bought. Expensive. But, so worth it (and you don’t spend any extra money after you shove off – there is no place to spend it).

The canyon

Now, it would seem that after all the travel we have done recently we would have everything we needed for this trip. Nope. I ended up buying a new rain jacket (the hood and cuffs on the one I had didn’t cinch well), neoprene booties (that came in handy after sand in my water shoes irritated my feet) and neoprene gloves (I bought them to keep my hands warm; I didn’t need them for that, but they were great when my hands got sunburned).

Photo: Fellow Traveler Brent

Plus, I had to buy a new duffle bag because the one I had was too small (I probably should have used it because it might have limited what I packed), two new bathing suits (one a swim dress so that I would feel more comfortable walking around in a swimsuit and so that I wouldn’t have to sit with bare skin against the boat), two rash guard shirts (a great decision, but I would have been fine with one), two pairs of board shorts and a quick-dry shirt, a sarong (to soak in water and wrap around myself to keep cool -- it works!), a new fleece jacket (I never needed it on the river, but did use it on the trip) and yoga pants to sleep in (I could have slept in my shorts – and did the last night). 

I also bought something I had been thinking about for a long time: an Olympus Tough T-5 waterproof camera. That was a great buy – and something I will need when I finally get to the National Parks in the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa! I bought a telephoto lens that I didn't use much and Scott got me a wide-angle lens that I used almost the whole time.

Scott got a lot of similar things and some great waterproof bags that I am sure we can use on future trips or if we go boating. 

The girls had given us waterproof cases for our I-Phones and sunglasses straps that came in very handy, as did the hat I bought for (but hardly wore in) Africa. The rain hood over the hat isn't a great look, but it worked.

Speaking of cameras, in addition to the Olympus, I took our two Go-Pros with head straps (Scott and I both used them) and my old Canon T-4 with two lenses (my kit 28-125 and the 70-300 Canon that I bought before I got my Tamron 150-600 and don’t really like). I did use the Canon while on dry land, but I didn’t really need it. 

Photo: Scott Stevens

For this trip, the best bet is decent cameras that can take a pounding with water – lots and lots of cold water. 

Scott took gear to take night sky pictures and got some beautiful stuff. He has better equipment for night sky and is much better at it, so I didn’t take my fast wide-angle lens. Between the water and the ubiquitous sand, it’s a tough environment for cameras. 

Yes, I could have gotten more beauty shots had I taken more equipment, but it wouldn’t be worth the worry and the weight. And, my little Olympus did OK.

In addition to the cameras, I took my Omnicharge charging station, which worked like a charm. I was able to recharge my Go-Pros and Olympus without ever running out of juice. 

The guides recharge camera batteries with boat batteries, but that seemed like a pain. ARR also provides large batteries (somewhat like car batteries) for CPAP machines. At least three people on the trip, including Scott, had CPAPs.

California Condor

I was worried that I would see fantastic animals (Mountain Lions! Condors! Peregrine Falcons!) and miss my Tamron lens, but we didn’t see much that my long lens could have captured.

I took too much. I always do. My bag was one of the heaviest on the trip. But, it wasn’t so much that I added stuff. I just followed the recommendations. I took, but didn’t need, fleece pants, a fleece jacket, thermal underwear, gloves and a warm hat. It is possible that we could have had cold weather (they did the week before), but we didn’t. 

I took two pairs of long pants and wore one – but I didn’t really need long pants at all. 

I think you could get by on one bathing suit, two pairs of board shorts, a quick-dry tee and a rash guard shirt. That’s because you get wet so often that your clothes stay clean. And, the climate is so dry that they don’t stay wet long. Now, if the river had been muddy, the situation might have been completely different.

Photo: Scott Stevens

I did have a problem with shoes. I took a pair of water shoes – the kind that look and behave like a pair of hiking shoes with lots of holes in them – that I wore most of the time. I did get rubbed raw from bits of sand and had to wear the neoprene booties or quick-dry socks to prevent further damage. I also took a pair of hiking shoes that I used once in the Canyon. I didn’t do all the offered hikes; if I had, I would have worn the hiking shoes more. I did wear them for the flight home. 

Maybe a better choice

I also took good quality Nike flip flops that broke after getting stuck in the muddy river bottom. I sure missed them because, on shore, the water shoes tended to get all coated in big clods of sand. Although ARR recommends not going barefoot because of the possibility of stepping on sharp rocks or sticks, I did a few times and other times I just worn the neoprene booties.

I took lots of sunblock and insect repellent and was very concerned about getting burned. It turned out that I wore rain pants and a rain jacket (THE most important things to take) every time I was on the river, so I was pretty protected. 

Pretty covered up the whole time

I got slightly red on the tops of my knees (I unzipped the rain pants when we were in flat water a few times), I also got a pretty bad burn on my hands because they were constantly wet and because ARR requires lots of additional hand-washing to prevent the spread of any germs or illnesses. That’s why the neoprene gloves were so useful. As for the insects, I saw very few. I was bitten by a biting fly on the last night, but that was about it.

I took aloe and a small container of what turned out to be substandard skin lotion. The climate is very rough on skin. If you go, take some really good healing lotion.

Before the trip, ARR provide a webpage where participants could enter information so that we could get to know each other in advance. I filled mine out and posted a picture, as did Scott and a few more people. But, generally, it wasn't very useful because most people did not post information. However, after the trip, we were encouraged to upload photos and videos. The website was a great way to do that.

One thing I failed to buy in advance – because I missed the mention of it in the pre-trip materials – was Belknap’s Waterproof Grand Canyon River Guide. Fortunately, I found one in the Marble Canyon lodge gift shop. 

I am so glad I bought it. 

The Guide provides a mile-by-mile map of all the features in Marble Canyon and the entire Grand Canyon, including all the rapids, beaches and campsites. It includes the rapids ratings (1-10 scale), plus it has interesting articles on history, geology, natural features and wildlife.

I carried it in my day pack and consulted it frequently throughout the trip. I SHOULD have made notes in it during the trip. My memory of small details was not as good as I thought it would be.

So, as we were planning to go on our trip, we decided to take two days to drive there instead of one. Marble Canyon is about 10 hours from our house, so a day to drive is reasonable. But, since we had time, we decided to stop in Mesa Verde on the way. I’ll talk about our trip to Marble Canyon in the next post.

Marble Canyon

Trip date (rafting): May 15-20, 2018