dear adventure traveler,
It’s simple, really. To effect change, find a release, experience renewal, you have to do things differently. Holiday is different. I figured that out thirty-five years ago on my first trip. The guides were all approachable and the equipment custom made with comfort and safety in mind. They took great care to protect the special places we visited and actively shared their knowledge of these treasures in the hope that we would feel the same way. Holiday’s approach to wilderness adventures freed you from the frenetic pace of your everyday life. They used small rafts with oars or paddles, because it was clear that in the wilderness, you wouldn’t find change or renewal on a noisy, 20-passenger, motorized raft. The smaller rafts put you close enough to the experience to become a part of it, and rowing put you in sync with the river’s life force.
Years later and countless nights spent on the left bank of the middle of nowhere, it’s clear the profound change that first Holiday trip made in my life. Those early ideals have become the foundation of our mission. At Holiday we are passionate about creating active wilderness vacations while acting as stewards of the natural world. Whether it’s rafting, biking, or hiking, you can count on spectacular landscapes, impeccable service, delicious meals, and no cell phones, board meetings, or traffic jams allowed. I hope you will share your next adventure with us.
Go With the Flow,
john wood President
For fifty years Holiday River Expeditions’ founder, Dee Holladay navigated the currents of change. From cut-offs to quick dry shorts, boatman to professional guide, bail buckets to satellite phones; he was right in the thick of it always on the lookout for a better way (‘the dee-way’). On the first day of summer, the longest day of the year in 2015 Dee spun his boat and picked a clean line on a new river leaving behind his legacy for all of us to carry on. Dee’s Holiday River family while deeply impacted by his passing will continue in the tradition and practice that has become a part of us. We look forward to sharing the river with anyone curious enough to seek their own truths hidden in the deep canyon walls. Like Dee, we know the river’s enduring currents reveal the interconnection of all things.
the crew
Our expeditions take you to the most spectacular landscapes on earth, but it will be the guides that touch your heart. Do they care about, and connect with other people is the first thing we look for in a guide; if that is in their hard wiring, then Holiday’s Guide Training program will take care of the rest. All are exciting individuals, experts in everything from rowing a rapid to sharing a good story. They’ll show you their favorite places, a short walk to a private waterfall, or a sunset view from the canyon rim. They are purveyors of knowledge, comfort, safety and friendship. Remember this…nothing impacts your experience more than the number, and quality of the guides. That’s one reason we never cut costs by using larger boats and fewer guides.
your well-being
With 50 plus years of experience we understand that safety is the most important aspectof any wilderness vacation. You won’t find the safety and comfort of our boatsanywhere else. We design the rafts and manufacture the rigging ourselves withyour well-being as our first priority. Our guides are the best in the business, eachtrained professionally in river safety and first aid. All of which means from thestart of the trip to the end, you’ll enjoy the security of knowing you are travelingwith the safest operation in the business.
camping “holiday style”
We believe the best way to enjoy the outdoors is to be there in comfort. We’re not talking about fine linens and satellite dishes, rather camp chairs, chilled drinks, and umbrellas. Just the right amenities to take the edge off roughing it, without getting in the way of your wilderness experience. In camp your guides quickly transform to gourmet chefs. The food is fresh. Natural. Delicious. We handle most camp chores leaving you time to relax with your favorite book, take an evening dip, or wander up a side canyon to watch the setting sun. Isn’t it time you slept out under the stars again?
AGE: Minimum
Lodore Canyon
Main Salmon River
Yampa River
Westwater Canyon
Cataract Canyon - low water
AGE: Minimum
Desolation Canyon
San Juan River
Fisher Towers
family trips
The outdoors are a natural playground when viewed from the eyes of your child. They are the best at finding the simple treasures along the river. A sandy beach is really an enchanted land in waiting. A misting waterfall, a portal to another world. Hidden canyons must be explored, and inflatable kayaks paddled with playful energy. Experienced guides are your allies, they understand safety, kid-friendly meals, and how to turn two oars and some rope into a volleyball game. What better place to be with your family than on the river, unplugged from social media, television, and life’s many distractions, where you can naturally connect with one another.
group getaways
Our expeditions are ideal settings to celebrate or strategize. We’ve organized trips for milestone birthdays, family reunions, cancer survivors and corporate retreats. Chartering a trip gives you the flexibility of planning to your group’s needs and expectations. We also offer professional facilitation for businesses or personal discovery. Grab your group and come explore the possibilities!
t rafting rTip ratings
Each trip is rated as easiest, intermediate, or advanced. These are subjective ratings that portray the physical demand and technical challenge for each trip. An easiest trip is ideal for tentative first timers or families with young children. Intermediate trips are appropriate for adventurous first timers or families with older children. Advanced trips are for those who are extremely fit and have had previous experience. River trips also have a class rating according to the difficulty of their toughest rapid. Class II trips consist of flatwater and gentle waves. Trips rated Class III include moderate waves and obstructions (rocks, gravel bars etc.) in the river. Class IV is bigger and faster than class III. Trips rated Class V are the most difficult with large waves, powerful currents, and unpredictable hazards.
paddle rafts
Paddle rafts are offered on many trips subject to water conditions and group interest. Powered by the guide and each of the guests using paddles these boats are for the guest looking for a hands-on experience. On long multi-day trips participants must be in great physical condition, adventurous, and willing to get WET! Because you are paddling in the rapid sections the chances of going overboard are higher.
oar rafts
Oar rafts offer effortless conveyance into otherwise unapproachable wilderness and are regularly scheduled on all Holiday trips. The guide navigates the rapids and propels the boat through calm sections using a set of wooden oars. This leaves you free to hold on in the whitewater, and relax or enjoy the canyon during the calm sections. The oar boats are designed to be the most comfortable and provide the greatest security. We recommend this option for most people.
inflatable kayaks
Inflatable kayaks are small one person boats which with minimal instruction will allow you to play the river on your own. They add action and excitement on small to moderate sized rapids. On most trips we can bring a few along for guests to share on appropriate sections of river.
paddle boards
Stand Up Paddle Boards are ideal for calm water sections. They offer a chance for some exercise and personal time. If paddling doesn’t take your breath away standing on water surrounded by surreal grand canyon landscapes will! Based on interest we can take one along on trips with plenty of calm water.
Colorado River 5 and 6 Days
This legendary gorge is buried in the heart of Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. Our rafts offer effortless conveyance to side canyon grottos, waterfalls and ancestral Puebloan structures that are otherwise inaccessible. On this trip we see the most vivid contrast between complete tranquility and all-out adventure. In the first part of the trip the current slides us quietly past brilliantly colored cliffs and towering table-top mesas. Here the river restores both body and soul, giving you time to prepare yourself for the behemoth rapids that await below the confluence of the Green and Colorado. Nowhere on its entire course does the Colorado River descend more precipitously than through Cataract. On river night three, the Colorado will not rest. The roar of the cataracts will lull you to sleep, dance in your dreams, then wake you the next morning with a new bearing. Time to batten down the hatches and hold on. Twenty-three BIG ONES, among them Mile Long, The North Sea and the grand-daddy of them all, The Big Drops, a succession of three big-hitters that will take you laughing and cheering, 30 feet closer to sea level in less than a mile.
Colorado River 2 and 3 Days
Often called a miniature Grand Canyon, this segment of the Colorado River is the answer for the person who is short on time but wants it all…a wilderness canyon so stunningly beautiful you’ll have no choice but to leave the world behind. Depending upon water level and trip length, you will see from eighteen to fifty miles of the Colorado’s finest beaches, side canyons, and campsites. World-class whitewater shows up on the last day of each trip. On selected dates we combine our Westwater river trip with two days of Moab’s world famous mountain biking (page 16-17). The three-day trip offers more time to leave the world behind and the opportunity to go one-onone with the Colorado River in an inflatable kayak. Westwater: the ultimate two or three-day getaway.
Green River 4 Days
Lodore was the first major canyon encountered by John Wesley Powell and his men on their 1869 expedition. Powell’s adventures live on in the rapids he named: Disaster Falls, Triplet Falls and Hells Half Mile. Set aside as an American treasure in 1938 this National Monument is a sanctuary for bighorn sheep, deer and river otters. Your 44-mile trip begins at the “Gates of Lodore,” two 800 foot buttresses that mark the entry into the High Desert. Our most popular trip offers the best of two worlds. This is where redrock canyon meets the alpine forest. Side canyon walks will expose this diversity: waterfalls, blue-ribbon trout stream, Indigenous pictographs, and slickrock grottos. The whitewater is technical, and that means your guide will be busy making quick cuts to keep the oar raft headed for the clear chutes and clean waves. If you’re up to the challenge this is an ideal river to try out a guided paddle raft. In the 1870’s Pat Lynch, a hermit who lived in Echo Park, used to visit his neighbors by floating downstream with a log. Today in Echo Park we’ll inflate a kayak just in case you want to leave your neighbors on the raft for some personal, paddling time.
Dinosaur Nat’l Monument 4 and 5 Days
The Yampa is WILD. The last undammed river in the Colorado River system. Through the years the Yampa has defied many attempts to dam its free flow, several by congress, and the most formidable in 1965 by Mother Nature. Just after dinner on June 10th, a flash flood carried tons of rock down Warm Springs draw blocking the river channel. Within twenty-four hours the Yampa took aim and breached the dam, leaving in its wake Warm Springs Rapid, rated among the 10 biggest drops in the country. Every May and June this river rises to the occasion and CRANKS with plenty of full-bodied waves from the first day to the last. Like many wild things the Yampa also has a serene side…miles of white tiger-striped walls that drop 2000 feet sheer to the water, side canyon falls, Indigenous rock art, and whispering caves. You will spend 46 miles of this 71-mile trip on the Yampa and then merge with the Green River at Echo Park for the balance through Whirlpool Canyon and Split Mountain Gorge. If you feel the need for something rare, something wild and free…the Yampa is waiting.
Green River 5 and 6 Days Rafting
Deeper than the Grand Canyon at the Bright Angel trail, Desolation Canyon plunges 5,000 feet down into the Tavaputs Plateau to cradle the Green River. Surrounded by more than a million acres of wilderness, Desolation is isolated, but hardly desolate. The canyon bottom teems with shady cottonwood trees, white sandy beaches, shimmering side streams, and abundant wildlife. Butch Cassidy used these remote canyons one hundred years ago to escape the law. Today, we go just to escape. Off river, abandoned homesteads are the clues of frontiersman’s dreams, and Indigenous petroglyphs are remnants of millenia old civilization. Great discovery hikes, beach playtime and individual rides in an inflatable kayak make this canyon with more than 60 easy-rolling rapids, a friendly place for kids of all ages.
B ears Ears Nat'l Monument 3, 4 and 5 Days
This country is a mecca for the lover of slickrock and frolicking rapids. Your guide will lead you through side canyons to desert oasis swimming pools, or to the canyon rim for an endless vista of Monument Valley, an iconic symbol of the Southwest. Flowing faster than any other river we run, the San Juan’s 83 miles and scores of small rapids are perfect for children and inflatable kayaking. The 3 and 5 day trips include a visit to River House, and a glimpse back in time.
Colorado
River 2 Days
The Fisher Towers rise just outside of Moab, and beneath the green slopes of the La Sal Mountains, the Colorado River flows through the desert red rock scenery many people will recognize from Hollywood movies. The picturesque Castle Valley spires, bluffs, and giant sandstone monoliths frame the 14-mile stretch of gentle class I and II rapids. This river stretch serves as a great setting for young children, families, friends, and anyone else looking for any introduction to river rafting. Conveniently near Arches and Canyonlands National Park, and close to all the amenities of Moab, this river trip is a perfect compliment to any Southeastern Utah exploration.
River Of No Return 5 and 6 Days
Trips are run by former guide James Ellsworth and Middle Fork River Expeditions. There is a green hole in the middle of Idaho. A spot refreshingly empty on your highway map. A place where pavement never was…and wild rivers still are… wild country, 20,000 square miles of it, and right through the middle runs the Main Salmon - The River of No Return. Cutting the second deepest canyon in North America, the Salmon is a clear mountain river with pine forests and white sandy beaches. The canyon is full of pioneer homesteads and, of special interest to river travelers, natural hot springs: aah… feels good. Deer, bighorn sheep, moose, eagles, elk, bear and the frolicking river otter call this refuge home. The Salmon’s emerald waters form over forty rapids offering first class whitewater on each day of the trip. Around July the hands-on types can request inflatable kayaks or stand-up paddleboards and meet the River of No Return on their own terms.
Idaho Wilderness 6 Days
Run by our affiliate Middle Fork River Expeditions this timeless adventure will leave you far away from the world we left behind. This section of the famed Salmon River cuts a crystal clear vein through 100 miles of roadless wilderness in a gorge deeper than the Grand Canyon. The Middle Fork earns its notoriety with over 100 lively whitewater rapids, blue ribbon fly-fishing and a handful of hot-springs nestled into the banks in some of the most pristine wilderness in the lower 48 states. In June we find rip-roaring rapids while the later summer gives way to tumbling and playful whitewater. Starting the trip at 6,000 feet above sea level means each day we travel down through new scenery, from lush forests of spruces and firs to shear walls ascending 3,000 feet.
few days with the high desert breeze whistling past your ears, and the vision of the Colorado River Plateau over your handle bars. Then on the left bank, in the middle of nowhere, jump onto a raft and ride the force that carved 2000 foot canyons. The bike routes are suitable for the athletic-beginner to the experienced rider. The rafting adventures combined with these bike trips follow the same itinerary as the respective raft-only trips described in this catalog.
For some, one adventure per vacation just doesn’t cut it…so why settle for just one? Spend a few days with the high desert breeze whistling past your ears, and the vision of the Colorado River Plateau over your handle bars. Then on the left bank, in the middle of nowhere, jump onto a raft and ride the force that carved 2000 foot canyons. The bike routes are suitable for the athletic-beginner to the experienced rider. The rafting adventures combined with these bike trips follow the same itinerary as the respective raft-only trips described in this catalog.
La Sal Mountains 4 Days/Biking 2-Rafting 2
La Sal Mountains 4 Days/Biking 2-Rafting 2
Moab is the premier destination for mountain bikers from around the world. Our La Sal Mountain loop embodies the heart-thumping style of wilderness riding that has propelled this region to fame. Giant ponderosa pines stand as sentinels along the 25 mile ride to the overlook of Fisher Valley. Day two of the trip stuns the senses as you descend 4,000 feet, from alpine forest to red rock desert at Onion Creek. Throw in another two days of the finest the Colorado River has to offer, as Westwater Canyon is our next stop. Known for its punchy whitewater rapids and sleek, black, canyon walls. Whitewater rafting is a great reward for two days of pedaling. We’ll spend our last night together on the riverbank, resting up for Westwater Canyon’s thrumming whitewater. Big Hummer, Funnel Falls, and Skull Rapid are the perfect finish to a four-day Moab-Westwater combination trip.
Canyonlands National Park 7 Days / Biking 3-Rafting 4
If you’re not afraid of a sore muscle or two why ride to the river in a van… when you could be flying along the White Rim Trail on a bike? Sixty-five miles from mesa top to river bottom will show you the ride that is the standard against which all others are judged. After three days of tracking the meandering course of the Green and Colorado Rivers, the white sandstone bench descends to the river, and your whitewater journey begins. Cataract Canyon is the heart of Canyonlands National Park. It’s remote, rugged, and best known for powerful raids and dramatic scenery. Holiday’s oarpowered trips (no motors!) allow you to go at the pace of the river and create a rare connection with nature. The White Rim Trail and Cataract Canyon bike-raft combo is a human-powered adventure you’ll never forget.
The Colorado Plateau… original birth place to whitewater rafting has now become the mecca for mountain biking enthusiasts from around the globe. Undeveloped dirt roads take you from canyon rim to river bottom, through a landscape that defines “GRAND SCALE”. The perfect vacation for the life is short… play hard human, who is not interested in merely spectating. Outfitting includes guides, meals, and vehicle support for gear and food (bicycle rental available). The bike routes are suitable for the athletic-beginner to the experienced rider.
Canyonlands National Park 4 Days/75 Miles
The untamed country in Canyonlands provides bikers the complete experience… solitude, unparalleled beauty, clean air, and some of the most challenging bike terrain anywhere. Sheer vertical uplifts, and plunging gorges are part of a landscape that once seen, can never be forgotten. Four days of biking and exploring will leave you in awe of this world, so far removed from the weight of modern society.
Canyonlands National Park 3 and 4 Days/90 Miles
A must in any mountain biker’s rites of passage. Riding on a sandstone bench through a land called “Island in the Sky” you will pass Mussleman Arch, Monument Basin, Turks Head, and White Crack, a perch 1000 feet above the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers. This point marks the center of Canyonlands, the beating heart of the greater Colorado Plateau. If you only had time for one mountain bike trip in your life, this should be it. Come on we'll do the work you go out and play.
National Recreation Area 4 Days/102 Miles
Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches, Natural Bridges, Dinosaur, Capital Reef, Grand Staircase… in a state brimming with national parks, it’s easy to overlook another national treasure. Utah locals call it ‘THE SWELL’ a three thousand-foot fold of sandstone and shale on the edge of the Colorado Plateau. You will ride back in time past abandoned mining camps, turn of the century ranches, and petrified dinosaur prints. As the ride ends at the Wedge Overlook, we will soak up the VIEW. A thousand feet below, the San Rafael River counts another day in the eons… from above we count ourselves fortunate that such a place exists at all.
