Grand Canyon Rafting: First Trip Mistakes, Second Trip Changes

After pulling a permit for a Grand Canyon rafting trip down the Colorado River a few years ago, I faced a daunting prospect: plan a month-long rafting trip for 16 people in the middle of winter with zero rafting or rafting trip experience.

Being the Trip Leader (TL) for a Grand Canyon rafting trip affords a permit holder a lot of power to shape their trip, but it comes with incredible responsibility and stress. Planning my previous rafting trip was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done – made worse because most people on the trip had never been rafting before. I felt personally responsible for ensuring everyone’s safety and preparedness.

A lot can be accomplished by choosing the right crew for your trip. Honestly, that’s probably one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your group if you’re planning a Grand Canyon rafting trip: make sure you’re bringing people who won’t shy away from doing work, who won’t try to skate by on the back of others, who won’t flinch at the prospect of things being cold, difficult, or uncomfortable. Having a solid crew is the equivalent of being properly trained for a race; it can help you overcome unforeseen challenges and push through the tough times.

Deli Lunch Every Day

One of the things that was decided early on during my first Grand Canyon rafting trip? Lunch should be a deli-style lunch – every day. That means sandwiches or wraps for lunch. Now, this may apply more to winter trips than summer trips (both the trips I’ve been the TL for are winter trips) because, in the winter, your daylight hours on the river are precious. Taking the time to stop and set up a table, put out a spread, and then have everyone make their lunches in the middle of the day is a waste of time. The smarter and more efficient move is to have everyone prepare their lunch sandwiches or wraps at breakfast before everything gets packed and put away on the boats. Put your lunch in your Tupperware and enjoy it at your convenience while on the river. This will not only save time – and the pain of having to pull over at a sometimes non-existent sunny beach – but it will also avoid any temper tantrums by hungry man babies.

 

Setting up lunch in the middle of the day so that everyone can descend upon it like a pack of wild dogs? No, thank you.

 

Upgrade Your Plastic Bottles

There’s a rule on the river: no glass. Glass is not good for rafting. It can break, and shards can puncture – not to mention the nightmare of cleaning up shattered glass on an inflatable raft (or inside a kayak or dory, I imagine). This time, I’m bringing a Parkside Flask and a Firelight Flask from High Camp Flasks. Last time, I repurposed plastic water bottles and Nalgenes for my liquor and wine on the river. But the plastic taste and the risk of leakage made for a subpar experience. Pouring nice bottles of whiskey and wine into plastic bottles felt as bad as the whole thing made each of them taste. High Camp Flasks each come with two built-in tumblers/glasses (so you don’t have to take pulls straight out of some crappy plastic bottle). As a bonus, I can leave these loose in my bag, and I won’t have to worry about them coming open if someone steps on my gear while it’s packed up on the boat.

 

Parkside Flasks for wine

Firelight Flasks for liquor

 

Decide Groups and Make Assignments in Advance

How the work on a Grand Canyon rafting trip gets divided can differ dramatically. With a long, 16-person trip, I decided last time (and am deciding again this time) to have four groups of four that rotate each day as far as chore duties go. One group will have the “big chores” (e.g., cooking and cleaning), and another group will have the “small chores” (e.g., setting up the groover and wood-burning stove). One mistake I made last time, and something I will not repeat, was not sorting out the groups beforehand. Unilaterally making the groups in advance is a much better move than trying to figure it all out at Lee’s Ferry the night before your trip launches. Along these same lines, I’ve also decided who will be rowing which boat ahead of time, and I’ve decided which boat will be carrying each piece of communal gear (e.g., the power station or the boot bag – I suggest having a communal dry bag for everyone’s boots).