FROM SEVENTY TO 70 MILLION
Marking a milestone birthday with a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon Written by Bridget Williams / Photography by Tony Bailey
“Don’t think, just do,” river guide Mackay said to me in a Yodalike fashion as I peered over the edge of a crag above the Colorado River in the belly of the Grand Canyon. It wasn’t so much the height that prompted my hesitation, rather a genuine fear that the shock of hitting the 50-ish-degree water and the subsequent swim to shore would induce a heart attack. Among the fellow travelers who’d gathered on an adjacent rock to watch the spectacle was my father, camera at the ready to capture his eldest daughter in action. I’d planned a trip to the 70 million-year-old natural wonder to mark his seventieth birthday, and not wanting ever to deny dear old Dad a photo opportunity, I swallowed deep and launched myself into the air. Seconds later, emerging from the depths of the blue-green water, I felt a rush of relief and fully alive from the invigorating polar plunge. The jump was part of my second Grand Canyon rafting trip with Western River Adventures, this time a three-day float encompassing the lower 100 miles of the Canyon. While celebrating a milestone birthday was the impetus, I was also enticed by the fact that at the trip’s end, I could say I had rafted the entirety of the Grand Canyon, from Mile 0 at Lee’s Ferry to mile 277 at Pearce Ferry. Western River Expeditions is a leader in top-notch rafting vacations, having pioneered the concept more than five decades 48 slmag.net
ago. Based on my last experience, I didn’t even consider another rafting outfitter when planning this trip. While short in duration, the three-day holiday offered a packed itinerary and the Western River version of “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” namely planes, helicopters, and rafts. Following a crack-of-dawn charter bus ride from our hotel in Las Vegas to the airport, a scenic small craft flight over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam took us to a remote dirt landing strip at Bar 10 Ranch, located on the North Rim of the Canyon. From there, we boarded a helicopter for a dramatic flight into the Canyon, landing at Mile 188, just below the infamous Lava Falls rapid and the spot where my trip five years earlier had ended. A pair of J-Rig boats dubbed the “Cadillacs of the Colorado,” were “parked” at the river’s edge. Weighing 10,000 pounds without passengers, Western River Expedition’s patented boats are capable of supporting 66,000 pounds. Four long tubes in the front provide a bucking-bronco-type ride through the rapids for up to 12 guests. Just behind, elevated seating atop the food coolers offers a less wild ride, with the area near the boat captain and drybag storage that keeps passengers’ gear secure and dry at the rear of the craft is the place to be for kicking back and just soaking in the scenery.
