Western Section Grand Canyon Rafting

There is a 3-4 day motorized rafting trip in the Western section of the Grand Canyon. In addition, there are a few oar trips for this section; however, because there are only seven oar trips that launch per season in this section, which means they are often booked over a year in advance. Most trips in the Western section include a night at the Bar-ten Ranch a working family dude ranch in the remote Arizona strip area of Arizona, near the rim of the canyon. This section has frisky, wet rapids and the scenery is gorgeous, however, it is sometimes called the “Introductory section” of the canyon, as the more famous rapids are upstream, as well as longer hikes up spectacular side canyons. All these trips conveniently begin and end in Las Vegas and include a helicopter ride into the canyon. Prices range from $967 -$1459 for the motorized trips and there are several trips discounted this season! This video is a nice overview of the trip done by a person who did the trip.

River Trip Safety in The Grand Canyon

Often people wonder about how safe a Grand Canyon River trip is, they talk about maybe even taking out a life insurance policy for the their trip. Often these same people have been bowling or played golf, but they never consider taking out a life insurance policy for these activities. Maybe they should, because the rate of injury and death, for one five year study period, for all Grand Canyon river trips, found that it was slightly more dangerous than bowling, but safer than golf!

For a brief overview of the study and information by Dr. Tom Meyers, one of the researchers for the study, see his interesting article or read the book on the study Fateful Journey: Injury and Death on Col0rado River Trips, by Thomas Meyers, Lawrence Stevens, and Christopher Becker

Things You Might Do On Your River Trip

Two days to Mulege! A nice walk on the beach yesterday afternoon revealed a huge ensemble of colorful shells, dark silca based sand and a varied assortment of petrochemical based products.

Break Down on Diamond Creek Road

What to do when you have a drive shaft break on Diamond Creek road after a 15 day river trip. Call in the big truck and drink a beer.