5 Cool Things About Grand Canyon Guided Rafting

5 Cool Things About Grand Canyon Guided Rafting

Whether you hiked there, rafted with a private group, or booked a trip with a rafting company, there’s nothing like standing at the Colorado River and looking up at the towering walls of Grand Canyon. Guided rafting through this backcountry setting has its own particular set of benefits and offers easier accessibility for those not already in the river rafting lifestyle.

Here are 5 things we love about Grand Canyon guided rafting:

5 – The Stories

Many of the guides in Grand Canyon have spent years—sometimes decades—traveling down this river over and over again (especially those that work for Hatch!). In all that time, they’ve accrued a lot of knowledge, a wealth of experience, and SO MANY stories. 

The stories your guides tell on a river trip aren’t just interesting facts about the river or Grand Canyon—although there are plenty of those! They can also include stories about personal experiences and stories they’ve heard about other people’s adventures (and sometimes misadventures) in the canyon. Some of these tales have been passed down through generations of guides. This informal river history is as much fun to hear about as the legendary tales of Grand Canyon’s early explorers.

4 – The Insider Knowledge

While guidebooks can tell you a lot, there are limitations to what can be explained in print and how often it can be updated. When you sign up for a guided rafting trip, you benefit not only from the knowledge of your own guides, but of the entire network of guides working in the area.

Rafting guides spend their days in the canyon, learning its ins and outs. They know what different places are like at different times of day, what it feels like to sleep at one campsite versus another, and how well suited different stops are to different kinds of groups. They also talk to each other about how the canyon changes. If a rapid, campsite, or hike has changed, chances are good that the information will be passed along in conversation among guides, which benefits you, their passengers.

Collage of photos by Erin Haid from her rafting adventure in 2024.

3 – The Camaraderie You Develop

You may sign up for one of our Grand Canyon guided rafting trips as a stranger to your traveling companions, but by the end you’ll have a new community. Getting to know total strangers while experiencing the thrills and challenges of a backcountry adventure is unlike anything else you’ve ever done. In Grand Canyon, you and everyone around you will be out of their element and out of communication with their lives back home. This creates opportunities for a different kind of connection with the people around you. Sometimes it even fosters friendships that can last a lifetime.

2 – The Food!

A rafting trip in Grand Canyon may ultimately be a camping trip, but we’d wager the food is better than any other camping food you’ve ever had. Breakfasts on Hatch trips consist of eggs made to order, breakfast meats, starchy sides, and fruit. Lunches are sandwich spreads with a variety of meats, cheeses, condiments, toppings, and sides. (Those sandwiches after a hike will taste like some of the best you’ve ever had!) Dinners are 3 course affairs that start with serve-yourself appetizer spreads; followed by well-balanced meals that taste like the best home cooking you’ve ever had; and finish with delicious Dutch oven desserts.

Most importantly, you don’t have to lift a finger—the guides prepare these delicious feasts for you!

1 – It’s Easy and Accessible!

After a little advanced planning to make sure you are getting to and from the right places before and after your trip, you’re done. Once you depart on the river with Hatch, you don’t have to worry about how to operate a boat, where you’ll stop, where you’ll camp, what you’ll eat, or even what time it is. We have that all taken care of for you! 

You do have to be an active participant with an adventure attitude—after all, this is a backcountry whitewater rafting vacation! That means taking good care of yourself, being aware of your surroundings, pitching in to help with things like camp set up, and being ready to encounter a few unexpected changes or challenges. But if you’re ready to do backcountry travel, this is definitely the best way to do it.

Book a Grand Canyon guided rafting trip with Hatch today!