Arizona·United States
Photo: Nick Fewings · Unsplash
The full run of the Colorado, from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek, is the great river journey of the world: around three weeks and some 360 kilometres, nearly a month with no road, no phone signal and no way out but the water. You camp on sand beaches deep in the gorge, hike side canyons reachable only from the river, and run rapids graded on the canyon's own scale up to a roaring class 10.
Most people only ever see the Grand Canyon from the rim. From the bottom it is a wholly different place — a mile-deep world of layered rock and shifting light, revealed slowly at river pace over eighteen days rather than glimpsed from a viewpoint.
Private trips are allocated by a weighted lottery drawn about a year ahead, and commercial trips sell out just as early. Either way this is a journey you plan far in advance — re-check the current permit rules and dates, and treat the logistics as seriously as the whitewater.
In season: Apr–Oct
The great river journey of the world: around three weeks and 360 kilometres down the Colorado from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek, nearly a month with no road, no phone signal and no way out but the water.
You camp on sand beaches deep in the gorge, hike side canyons reachable only from the river, and run rapids graded on the canyon's own scale up to a roaring class 10.
Most people only ever see the Grand Canyon from the rim; from the bottom it is a wholly different place — a mile-deep world of layered rock and shifting light, revealed slowly at river pace over eighteen days rather than glimpsed from a viewpoint.
Plan far in advance, because access is the hard part. Private trips are allocated by a weighted lottery drawn about a year ahead; commercial trips, where guides handle the rowing and logistics, sell out just as early.
Decide which suits you — a private trip needs experienced boaters and full self-support, a commercial one needs only that you show up — then re-check the current permit rules and dates, which change. The season runs April to October.
There is no resupply for the full run, so treat the logistics as seriously as the whitewater, and come prepared for weeks of self-contained camping.
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