• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 726 0

not only for its monster rapids, but also for the ever-changing beauty of canyon walls, and the solitude of sleeping under the stars in the inner-gorge wilderness.

* * *

* * *

TIME

7 – 14 days

DISTANCE

187 river miles

BEST TIME TO GO

May – Oct

START

Lees Ferry, AZ

END

Whitmore Wash, AZ

ALSO GOOD FOR

* * *

So you’ve scored a river permit, gathered your buddies, and hired an outfitter to supply your crew with cookstoves and ammo cans. Or maybe you’ve booked a week on a commercial trip and can leave the planning to a pro. Either way, you’re about to experience one of the most mind-blowing rivers you’ll ever have the privilege of running. All told, the layers of canyon geology through which you’ll travel represent at least two billion years, and if that doesn’t get your rocks off, the white water will. With so many notable rapids, beautiful side hikes, camping beaches and put-in and take-out points, this trip’s route should be viewed as a necessarily exclusive selection of highlights.

Slap on the sunscreen, keep your camera handy (but safely zipped into a plastic bag), and get ready to head down 87, 187 or maybe all 279 river miles of the mighty Colorado. You’re slashing your connection to the outside world for the duration of your trip.

Take a virgin dip into the frigid river at Lees Ferry and then put in. Take a look at the low-lying cliffs of the Moenkopi Formation atop darker red Kaibab Limestone rising around you, the top layers of Grand Canyon strata. Then glide onto the Colorado and muse on the depth – literal and figurative – of this venerable canyon you’re rafting. As you gently float away from Lees Ferry, you’ll enter Grand Canyon National Park after several miles of smooth water and riffles. But after some fun first-day rapids like Badger Creek and Soap Creek, you’ll get the hang of the Colorado River rating system, which classifies rapids from Class 1 to 10 (rather than the standard I to V).

After your first day on the river, you’ll also get into the groove of using those regulation ammo cans (wilderness toilets) within the privacy of tamarisk stands – giving guilty thanks for invasive flora – and sleeping on still beaches along the river. Waking on that first morning is magical, with the light slowly sliding down canyon walls and revealing the rich color of rock and river.

On your second day, stop at North Canyon for the hike through this side canyon leading to a small, seashell-like grotto. Depending on the weather, there may be a reflective pool here filled with tadpoles or a running tributary with little waterfalls to negotiate along the way. The curves, ridges and slabs of this side canyon give a tantalizing first taste of what you’ll explore on stops along the river. Once you return to the river, you’ll quickly bounce into the Roaring Twenties, a series of smallish but not insignificant rapids along mile markers 20 through 29.

Day three you’ll drift by the verdant cliffside oasis of Vasey’s Paradise, kept green by the water springing directly out of the wall, before rounding a bend and spying the wide mouth of Redwall Cavern. As you approach, the scale of this enormous cave will surprise you. The cool sand inside may bear the tracks of ravens, frogs or kangaroo mice, but you’ll want to add your own when you stop here for a snack and some Frisbee tossing. Camping isn’t allowed in the cavern, but if you happen to have brought your cello, the acoustics in here are fantastic.

Though the fourth day brings hours of drifting between a few good rapids, highlights include a hike up to ancient Puebloan granaries at Nankoweap, where ancient Native Americans stored corn for lean times. Hiking the steep trail to the granaries affords spectacular views of river and canyon from high above. Downriver, marvel at the intensely saturated purple, blue and green layers of Bright Angel Shale before stopping at the confluence of the incongruously warm, turquoise-hued Little Colorado River. This may be the only place you’ll ever ride mini-rapids with a