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Hi,
Need a little advice, We`d like to experience a 3 day rafting/boating trip on the colorado river in the grand Canyon in the summer of 2010. We are a family of 5 (3 teenagers). Need help to figure out the best providers of such a trip at the least cost. Any suggestions?

fmpden

If you are asking about actually being in the grand canyon. I thought you had only a couple choices - 7 day or 21. The opportunity to get out of the canyon is extremely limited. Once in there was only one good take out point near the 7 day time. I know that trips are very limited and tightly control by the park service.

enzian

Any 3-day trip( and more likely 4) in the Grand Canyon will involve hiking out from Phantom Ranch---a climb of some 4400 feet. If you are prepared to face that, consult the offerings of the authorized outfitters at

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisi...cessioners.htm

Bill_H

There are short trips that begin at river mile 188 (Whitmore Wash). You are flown in to the Bar 10 Ranch and then take a helicopter to the river to meet the rafts which are disgorging passengers who started at Lee's Ferry (river mile 0) and are ending their trips here. You then are on the river for 2 or 3 nights, depending on the operator, and generally take out at the head of Lake Mead.

This trip misses all the major rapids and most all the major side canyon attractions, but it is a good short intro to the canyon. I think you hit five mid-sized rapids so there is a little bit of white water.

This is probably the best short trip available.

Bill_H

Here's a link to a typical 3 day trip on the lower part of the Canyon. This is almost 100 miles downstream from Phantom Ranch and there's no hiking involved, just rides on a small plane to the ranch, and then a chopper ride to the river.

http://www.westernriver.com/trips/grand3day/

Several other companies offer similar itineraries. Check around for the best price.

spirobulldog

We did the very trip that Bill H is in reference to. We did it with arizona river runners. Very good for a starting experience on the Grand Canyon. I haven't done the longer trips, but I imagine they are bettter.

Day 1 you meet and are shuttled to North Vegas Airport or
sometimes they depart from McCarn. you fly to Bar 10 Ranch which is 4 or 5 miles from the rim of the canyon. It is still a working Cattle Ranch. The staff there is very very nice younger people. You land on a crooked dirt runway. If it happens to be foggy, they can't land. That afternoon you play volleyball, skeet shoot, and for a fee they ride 4 wheelers to the rim around sunset. They feed you a sandwich that afternoon and then roast, potatoes, gravy, salad in the evening. They make this every single day(they have it down, it is very good). You will be with a group of about 30 people. It is possible that nother group from a different tour company will be there at the same time you are. You have your choice of sleeping in bunkrooms(men and women seperate) or you can sleep outside in a covered wagon. They provide some cheesy entertainment in the evening and served us watermelong. They found out that someone in the group was having a 50th birthday, so they made a cake that we all shared. This place has no electricity, they run on solar generator throughout the day. It is pitch black @ 9:30 as they turn everything off. We stayed in the covered wagon, ou daughter made friends with another girl and they slept in the wagon next to us. It is a 2 minute walk to the bathroom/showers. The stars are incredible. You want believe it until you see it.

Day 2- The good stuff. eat breakfast at the ranch, then our shuttled via a spectacular helicopter ride to the bottom. It is a short 10 minute ride, but swooping into the canyon and landing on the bottom is something.
about 9:00 you load everything on to the rafts and take off. The rafts are big and you really don't get that wet if you are in the back. We had 2 rafts with our 25 people and then 5 guides(2 drivers, 2 guides, 1 special indian guide), the indian guide would be on each boat for a few hours then switch to the other boat. Mid-day you stop for a gourmet sandwich, cookies, etc. They had your standard fair, but also had a chicken salad that they made fresh. My only complaint about the entire trip is that they drag the drinks along in the water, so they are just kinda cool. They encourage you to drink drink drink. They prefer you drink lemonade or water over soft drinks. We made a couple of short hiking stops to look at Indian ruins, jump from a cliff into the colorado river, and look at a couple of nice waterfalls. Short, but very good hikes and interesting places. Very very sceenic. That evening we had spaghetti, salad, french bread, cherry cobler. You wash your dishes in the river. They offer tents, but everyone just slept in the sleeping bags out in the open. Again, incredible stars.

Day 3 French toast for breakfast. 3 or 4 hours on the raft, then you transfer to a jetboat that is a rather boring 2 hour ride to the Lake. At the lake you get on a bus, go across Hoover Dam on the return to Vegas.

Excellent trip. Oh- the toilets- look like an ice chest with a toilet seat on it. They place it behind a tree and they have a system where you are not disturbed. It is interesting to sit down out in the open in the Grand Canyon with the river flowing by, to go to the bathroom. They generally stop the boat every 2 or 3 hours in case someoone needs to go. The men all pee in the river, and the women go behind a bush. They only get the toilet out if you really "need to go". They leave it out at night and when they stop for an hour at lunch.

I believe that Bill H has done numerous raft trips, he has good advice. I don't think he has ever done a short trip. This is more of an introduction or for people with not much time, or if your just not sure you want to spend a week on the river. It is my understanding that the smaller boats and more upstream offer better rapids. It would be unlikely you would fall out of the boat on the trip we took.

sorry if this was to long, but i thought I would give you a complete lowdown of the trip. certainly something we will always remember. You get a mix group on the trip. There were two Japanese one our trip that spoke very limited English. Two from Britian, a single lady from austalia, 4 or 5 kids ages 8-15

spirobulldog

If I made it sound like we didn't have any rapids, make no mistake you will hit several pretty good sized rapids. Our boatman made a mistake and got us turned around backwards in one. Our boatman was a female guide who had runs the river 7 or 8 times every summer. Our guide does the same and he hs worked for 3 different companies over a 20 year period. He has been the river 75 times or so, on all different kind of trips. He told us that all of the companies are very similar and all of them were good. They will certainly help each other out if they can see someone is having trouble. They do carry a satellite phone in the event of an extreme emergency.

spirobulldog

enzian, who offers 3 or 4 day trips with a hike out of Phantom, I looked into that and couldn't find anything??? that sounds like something I would love to do.

laurieb_nyny

I think there is also one where you hike TO Phantom Ranch, overnight, raft for a few days, & then get bussed out of Grand Canyon West (Diamond Creek Road?) on the Native American land.

Bill_H

who offers 3 or 4 day trips with a hike out of Phantom, I looked into that and couldn't find anything???

Bulldog, the oar/paddle boats typically take 5-7 days to raft from Lee's Ferry to Phantom, where you can hike out. This is a great trip, I did it once when I only had a week's vacation, but you must hike out with all your gear, which causes problems for some.

The motor rafts (like you took) generally hit Phantom on day 3 or 4 but for the most part they don't like to split the trip up, preferring that all the guests remain until Whitmore or Diamond Creek or Lake Mead. If you can find one of the companies that does do split trips to/from Phantom then it would be a 3-4 day trip.

I think there is also one where you hike TO Phantom Ranch, overnight, raft for a few days, & then get bussed out of Grand Canyon West (Diamond Creek Road?) on the Native American land

Yes, almost every company that runs oar and/or paddle boat trips offers this option. Usually it takes 8 days to reach Diamond Creek (Phantom Ranch is at mile 88, Diamond Creek at mile 226). You ride out of the canyon on a bus on Hualapai land. This trip hits the five meanest rapids on the river and there are many great side canyons to hike in, like Havasu, Deer Creek, Matkatkimba, etc.

enzian

spirobuldog, it's a motorized trip, 4 days 3 nights. Here's one:

http://www.diamondriver.com/htm/3uppertrip.htm

Or try Rivers and Oceans; they work with lots of outfitters:

http://www.rivers-oceans.com/3-4%20d...r/overview.htm

for for someone who has a bit more time, this one is an "oar" trip and includes a night at Phantom Ranch:

http://www.oars.com/grandcanyon/raft...ntomranch.html

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Thanks for all the good advice, will keep you posted on our final distination.