Rafting, Canoeing, & Boating Information

We especially enjoy whitewater rafting which takes us away from the constant frenzy of city life. We prefer extended raft trips of at least a week and usually manage to get away for 2-4 of these each year. Many of these are group trips which we organize with friends and acquaintances who we have met during our travels. Bob's first rafting trip through Grand Canyon was a motorized commercial trip in 1972.
We've lost accurate count of our rafting trips during the past couple of decades but we think Bob has organized 35+ Grand Canyon private oar-powered raft trips plus another 40-50 trips on river stretches like the Main Salmon, Middle Fork of the Salmon, Rogue, Yampa, Canyon of Lodore, Westwater Canyon, San Juan, Green River through Desolation & Gray Canyons, Cataract Canyon, and the Upper Salt. Susan has rowed most of her 25+ rafting trips through the Grand Canyon and organizes the food for most of our trips.

We own our rafting equipment: a brand new 16' oared NRS Expedition raft that we will use for lengthy trips like Grand Canyon and a 14.5' Achilles raft that can be rowed or paddle rafted on higher gradient rivers, both are self-bailing. For may years we owned an 18' Avon Spirit and a 16' Achilles, both were bucket boats that had to be bailed. After over a quarter century of rafting, and close to 100 lengthy trips on each, it was necessary to retire both. However we did find new families for each and they may still be out there on the river. Well maintained hypalon rafts last a long time.
We also enjoy flatwater trips and have organized several week long Canyonlands Canoe trips from Mineral Bottom to Spanish Bottom. We've also floated the Green River above Mineral Bottom with both rafts and canoes. Another favorite flatwater trip of ours is exploring fabulous Lake Powell on a 50' houseboat with a group of 8-12 friends.

Private Rafting Permit System Trips

Private rafters' requests for river access usually substantially far exceed the space allotted by the regulating agency. On most rivers launch dates are initially issued to applicants using a lottery or reassigned using a cancellation system. Lottery applications can exceed grants by 20:1 or more. If you want more information on a specific river you can contact the responsible agency using the following river information. For the cost of a few stamps, they will send you river information and any forms necessary to apply for your permit.