Our group. That's me in the pink hat on the far right.

“Was it scary?” my friend and co-blogger, Chrissy, asked me when I returned to the office on Monday after a weekend whitewater river rafting trip down the Class III/Class IV Upper Salt River.  “Nope. Not scary at all.  It was thrilling!”

Thrilling, exhilarating, heart-pounding; these are the words I use to describe my first-ever river rafting experience.  It’s fitting, then, that the adventure company with which I did this trip is called Exuberance Events.  Rafting on the Upper Salt River, about 45 minutes north of Globe, Arizona (about 2.5 hours east of Scottsdale) was not only a day filled with unrestrained joy, it left me with a hangover of happiness for the day or two following.

Thirteen Exuberance participants hopped in a van and drove from Tempe to the Upper Salt River around 6 am. Our Exuberance trip guide, owner Ann Mullins Bulka, had healthy, gourmet homemade breakfast treats laid out for us before we departed – a great touch and one of her signatures.  The van was abuzz with anticipation as we began our 2.5 hour drive in great spirits.

After a beautiful scenic drive up highway 60 past Globe, toward Showlow, we crossed a large bridge over the Salt River and arrived at our destination.  We met with our trip guides from Wilderness Aware Rafting, and our Trip Leader, AJ, led us through a thorough safety talk and the other guides got us fitted with life jackets and helmets.  Soon after, we headed down to the put-in spot and met with our individual guides. Our group took two boats, adeptly guided by Miles and Glenn, two of the country’s best and most accomplished river guides.

A quick paddling lesson and we were off! Photos: exuberanceevents.com

Under clear blue skies and bright sun, we got a few lessons in paddling “Forward 1! Forward 2!” and then we were off! The Upper Salt River Canyon meanders through over a dozen Class III rapids; our group’s favorites included Maytag Chute, Mother Rock, and the powerful waves of Exhibition Rapid and Mescal Rapid.

At midday, we pulled off to the side of the river to our lunch spot. A shaded ramada, hors d’ouevres and a hot lunch of delicious sizzling fajitas made for a tasty and satisfying reprieve. Our guide, Glenn, offered to take our group on a short hike to Travertine Falls, a beautiful shaded oasis tucked into the cliffs the preside over the Salt River. We all enjoyed this leg-stretching hike and were eager to return to the river.

The second half of our day on the river included thrilling rapids, some fancy maneuvering and heart-pounding “surfing” on an eddy in the midst of the powerful Mescal Rapid. All too soon, our day had come to an end and it was time to head back on the bus to our starting point. We climbed aboard the Wilderness Aware “vintage” bus ending our day that was, as described by the guides,  “a Class III river trip with a Class V ride home.”

I’m really looking forward to doing this trip again next year.  If you’re interested in this kind of trip or even this specific trip for Spring 2010, check out Exuberance Events for more information about their outdoor adventures, hikes and yoga events in the Phoenix area.

Bob and Ellie Haan, Lafayette, took a whitewater raft trip on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon Aug. 16 through 26.

ACCOMMODATIONS

A rafting trip through the Grand Canyon was something my wife and I had dreamed about for years. On two different occasions, I had hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back in the same day, but a rafting trip had to be booked a year in advance. Last summer we made reservations a year in advance for an 11-day trip through the canyon. We chose Colorado River and Trail Expeditions, a small family-owned rafting company. The guides were well-educated, polite, friendly, and added greatly to the enjoyment of the trip. The passengers helped set up camp each evening, doing such jobs as helping unload the rafts and setting up serving tables and lawn chairs.

FOOD

The guides did everything else, including providing hot meals for breakfast and dinner and laying out a make-your-own sandwich spread for lunch. Steaks, lasagna, salmon, French toast, bacon and eggs, cheesecake, and white cake were among the many items served. If you liked the hot oatmeal served at one breakfast, you would consider all of the meals delicious. Fortunately, they provided plenty of brown sugar for the oatmeal.

THE TRIP

For our trip, we started with seven guides and 13 passengers. At the halfway point at Phantom Ranch, four hiked out and six hiked in, so for the second half of our trip we had 15 passengers. Each oar boat had two or three passengers, and the paddleboat had six or seven passengers and one guide.

We started at Lees Ferry at mile marker zero and floated to Whitmore Wash at mile marker 188 where we were picked up by helicopter, flown to Bar 10 Ranch, and then flown by chartered commuter airline to Las Vegas.

We always thought a trip through the Grand Canyon would be about whitewater rafting but that turned out not to be the case. It was about the canyon. There were plenty of rapids, an average of about one every three miles, but it was anything but boring in between. The scenery was breathtaking. There were no distractions from cell phones, television, radio, or traffic noise. There was nothing to do in the evenings but enjoy the companionship of the other passengers in delightful conversation. We would sit along the river and just relax.

It was hot in the canyon, but in the rafts you would always be wet from the rapids. If for some reason you were dry, you simply dipped your helmet in the river and put it back on. The water was 45 degrees where we started and warmed up to 55 degrees by the end of the trip. We bathed in the river but didn’t take long. At night we slept under the stars without tents.

THE SCENERY

As a person always on the go, I wasn’t sure I would be able to shut down for almost two weeks. Once in the Grand Canyon, I was totally relaxed.

Each day was different. On many days we hiked into a side canyon. Waterfalls were everywhere. Some were more than 100 feet high. In many, we stood in the middle and let the water cascade down over us. Some were in a series with waterfall after waterfall. At one especially inspiring place called Thunder River, the water came out of the side of the canyon into a pool.

On the ninth day, it rained. While rain could put a damper on most vacations, it was a thrill to experience rain in the Grand Canyon. In Indiana, the ground absorbs much of the rain, but it’s different in the canyon. Within minutes after the rain started, water came cascading down from the canyon rim. Some would fall hundreds of feet and seem to evaporate in a mist. Some combined to form larger streams that ended with a powerful waterfall into the Colorado River. During the heavier part of the rain, Zak, the head guide, found a rock outcropping where we found shelter and stood in awe of the sights around us.

DON’T MISS

For the first nine days of the trip, the guides kept talking about Lava Falls Rapids, the largest on the trip. People had rotated in and out of the paddle boat for the entire trip, and Ellie and I thought we would not be able to board for the Lava Falls trip. On the morning of the day we were to pass through Lava Falls Rapids, many chose to ride in the safer oar boats, so both Ellie and I were able to experience the full power of the Colorado River.

Everyone should experience the Grand Canyon from the Colorado River. Standing at the top is amazing, but traversing the entire canyon is beyond words. Ellie and I don’t know what our next adventure will be, but it will be hard to top this trip.

From the Lafayette, Indiana Journal & Courier Online

New lottery replaces the up-to-10-year waiting list for Colorado River trips

Grand Canyon National Park on Oct. 1 will start taking applications for self-guided rafting permits on the Colorado River, using a new lottery that replaces a 26-year-old wait-list system.

The lottery will allocate permits for private trips as opposed to those run by commercial outfitters. Private, or noncommercial, trip permits, which have attracted more than 1,000 applicants a year, are among the most coveted and hardest to obtain in the national parks.

Whether the lottery will make the permits easier to obtain is debatable. But it may, at least, open the process to newcomers. It may also require applicants to use new strategies to maximize their chances of “winning.”

Here’s how it works, according to Steve Sullivan, permits program manager for the park:

- Apply for a permit — choosing up to five dates for trips next year — from Oct. 1 to 21.

- Pay a $25 nonrefundable application fee.

- The lottery will be held Oct. 23, and winners will be notified “shortly thereafter,” Sullivan said.

- Winners will pay a trip deposit of $200 to $400, depending on the number of participants in their group. The deposit will be applied to permit fees of $100 per participant, with the balance due 90 days before the launch.

For details on the lottery, visit www.nps.gov/grca and select “River Permits” or call (800) 959-9164.

Under the old permit system, which began in 1980, applicants for self-guided river trips paid $100 to be put on a wait list that had grown to more than 8,200 people by 2003, when the list was frozen. Some waited 10 years or more to obtain a permit, Sullivan said, adding that the system generated complaints.

The new system permits 503 launches per year for self-guided trips, compared with an average of 253 per year. Also permit dates are more spread out during the year. (Because some permits were assigned to people on the old wait list, only 197 launches are in the 2007 lottery.)

Next summer, commercial launches are expected to outnumber self-guided trips by more than 2 to 1. That’s a smaller ratio than in the past, but it’s still a sore point with four nonprofit environmental groups that sued the park service over the Colorado River Management Plan, which generated the lottery. The suit is pending.

The plan “continues the … commercialization of a proposed wilderness area,” said Tom Martin, co-director for one of the plaintiffs, River Runners for Wilderness in Boulder, Colo.

Defending the plan, Sullivan said, “We added launches whenever we could for noncommercial users while trying not to hurt commercial users. It was a balancing act.”

But Martin said the likelihood of obtaining a permit under the new lottery is “as good as being hit by lightning.”

Sullivan said the chances were unknown “because we’ve never done this before.” Applicants may have a better chance under the lottery because they will compete for specific dates, not for the whole year, as they did under the old system, he said.

For applicants, here’s a tip: Spread your dates out, and consider less popular times, such as fall or winter, when fewer people are likely to apply.

Jane Engle, Los Angeles Times, Saturday, September 30, 2006

Question: My husband and I would like to take a whitewater rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. Any advice on short hikes and travel, including a scenic flight to/from Las Vegas?

Arizona Travel says: When it comes to raft trips down the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River, ask yourself whether you want to go by arm or engine? “There are two ways to experience the Grand Canyon,” says Steve Markle, the marketing director of OARS (800-346-6277, www.oars.com), which organizes canyon trips, “by motored raft or oar-powered raft.”

Consider not only your fitness level but also your expectations. For the motorized trips, travelers spend six to eight days in a 34- or 38-foot pontoon boat and ride the rapids along the entire 280-mile canyon route, from Lees Ferry to Whitmore Wash or Lake Mead. The boats fit eight to 16 people and carry camping and cooking gear. Because of the long distance, though, most of the trip is spent on the water, with fewer hiking opportunities.

By comparison, an oar-powered 17-foot dory or 18-foot inflatable raft goes much slower, taking two weeks or more to complete the river run. However, companies offer shorter excursions, such as a six-day trip from Lees Ferry to Phantom Ranch. These trips include treks into areas inaccessible from the more crowded rims, with visits to waterfalls, swimming holes, and the like. “You can’t see the whole canyon,” says Markle, “but your canyon experience is much more in-depth.” In addition, some expeditions pair the rafting with a nine-mile hike into the canyon and a helicopter ride out.

As for air tours, physical ability level is usually unrestricted. Take a helicpoter or airplane tour originating from Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Williams, Phoenix/Scottsdale or Sedona. Seeing the Grand Canyon by air will truly take your breath away. The views are spectacular…beyond compare. You can even enjoy an exhilarating Grand Canyon helicopter tour that lands deep in the Canyon. Whether by Grand Canyon helicopter or airplane, be sure to see the Grand Canyon by air…and let your dreams take flight.

The park caps the number of rafting trips allowed a year, and many companies sell out a year in advance. Markle recommends placing your name on a wait list, since people often cancel at the last minute and spaces open up. He adds that September and October are more readily available on short notice. Air tours can be booked about a month out, with some companies offering last-minute bookings. For more information on seeing the Grand Canyon by river, by air or by land, check out thecanyon.com.

More people will be able to raft the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon each year under a new management plan adopted by the U.S. National Park Service.More rafters will be shifted to fall, winter and spring months while the number of daily summertime launches of both motorized and non-motorized commercial rafts will decrease.

While rafters will be spread out over more of the year, they will travel in smaller groups. The net result will be more tourists overall.

The new plan also eliminates the existing waiting list for those who want to raft the river in non-commercial boats, replacing it with a lottery system.

The lower Colorado River, from Diamond Creek to Lake Mead, will see pontoon boat tours go up, allowing up to 480 passengers per day, up from between 130 and 188 passengers, depending on the time of year.

The plan bans jet boat tours entirely, but commercial operators that use the craft to meet rafts above Lake Mead would still be allowed.

The plan is being criticized by Living Rivers, a river restoration group, which feels motorized boats should have been banned entirely.

© The Edmonton Journal 2006
The Edmonton Journal, Published: Saturday, April 15, 2006