What’s Camping with Hatch Like?

A big part of every Hatch trip is camping beside the Colorado River every night. But if you’ve never been on a trip before, you may be wondering what exactly that camping looks like. After all, there are a lot of styles of rafting trips all over the world. So where exactly does camping with Hatch fall on the spectrum of “roughing it” to “luxury?” 

Hatch camping is not as high end as glamping, but not as DIY as backpacking. Our guests are active participants with responsibilities for the trip’s success. BUT our guides are there to help and to do a lot of the leg work. That means:

• Guests help load and unload the boats each morning and evening, but the guides do the more challenging job of getting the boat down river and through all those rapids.
• Guests set up their own camp areas (tents, cots, etc.), but guides take care of communal areas like the kitchens and bathrooms. 
• Guests wash their own dishes after they eat, but the guides are the ones who prepare the delicious meals!

We also fall somewhere in the middle in terms of amenities. Here’s what we mean:

• On a glamping-style trip, you might have luxury tents and gourmet meals.
• On a backpacking-style trip you might not have a tent at all and be eating mostly rehydrated meals in a bag.
• On a Hatch camping trip, you will have plenty of gear to be comfortable, but it’s not very fancy; and you’ll eat full, balanced, delicious meals with appetizers and desserts that aren’t gourmet, but are on par with truly excellent home cooking. Plus, we have plenty of room for you to bring your own favorite drinks.

Constantly on the Move

Another thing you’ll want to be prepared for when camping with Hatch is the way you pick up and move camp every day. These trips are about exploring as much of the canyon as possible and getting you down the river. That means, you have to get comfortable with being a nomad for a little while. It takes a few days to get into the rhythm of camp set up and take down, but by the end of the trip, you’ll feel like a pro! Some things to keep in mind about a moving camp:

• You’ll need to get to know a new space every evening. That means finding yourself a new sleeping spot and learning where the new kitchen, bathroom, and hangout spaces will be every day. You’ll also decide every evening whether you’ll use a tent or just sleep in the open air on your cot or sleeping pad.
• Most campsites are sandy beaches, but every location is different—some have a lot of vegetation allowing guests to camp in the little nooks in between, some are wide open beaches, some have rock overhangs, and others have rock ledge floors. These differences can affect things like the amount of privacy you have, how hot or sunny it is, or how far you have to walk to the bathroom.

How We Arrange Our Camps

Even though we’re moving every day, there are some things that we keep pretty consistent no matter what camp we’re using. Kitchens are always set up near the boats so the guides have easy access to everything they need. Toilets are set up at the edges of camp in a secluded area—they are the last thing taken down in the morning before departing. 

Everywhere else is a possible sleeping area. Keep these tips in mind to choose one that will suit you:

• The nearer you are to the rock walls, the more exposure you’ll have to radiant heat at night.
• The nearer you are to the river, the more exposure you’ll have to evaporative cooling as the wind cools the spray off the water.
• Watch for ants! During the day red harvester ants roam many of Grand Canyon’s beaches. At night, they quiet down, but you don’t want to find yourself camped on an ant hill when they become active in the morning
• Keep your gear closed up until you go to sleep. Bark scorpions are a nocturnal inhabitant of the Grand Canyon. They are shy of humans, but may be drawn to the dark of an unattended sleeping bag. If you wait to put out your bedding until you’re getting in it, you should avoid any unwanted encounters.

Timeline of Camp Happenings

We can’t put exact times on when you arrive in camp or what happens once you get there. Too many variables make predicting such things impossible. How long are the days during the time of year you’re traveling? Did you spend extra time at an exciting stop or try to push extra far down the river to get a premium campsite? Do the members of your group tend to get right to work or drag their feet?

In general, we try to pull into camp with plenty of daylight left for the evening’s activities, to get up and moving soon after dawn, and to get back out on the river as early as we can. We recommend not stressing too much about what time the clock reads and letting yourself run on vacation time instead. We promise it’s a lot more fun!

• Arrival and Unloading: When you arrive in camp, your first responsibility is to create a duffel line (like a fire line for duffel bags) and help unload the boats. 
• Finding Your Campsite: After unloading, you are free to scope out a good campsite and get settled. 
• Relax Before Dinner: As you get yourself set up in camp, the guides will typically take a well-deserved break before getting started on dinner. This is a great time for you to bathe, read, enjoy a drink with friends, or play a game in camp.
• Dinner Time: The guides will prepare an appetizer spread, dinner, and dessert. And everyone is welcome to eat as much as they like. 
• After Dinner: You’ll wash your own dishes, then you’re free to relax. Most folks settle down for bed once the sun goes down. For those awake late, we ask that you use the red light setting on your headlamp to provide less disturbance to others (you’ll also draw in fewer bugs!). 
• Coffee Call: Right around dawn, your guides will wake you with a coffee call as they work on preparing a delicious breakfast. 
• Getting Ready: The morning is a flurry of eating breakfast (and washing up afterwards), getting dressed and ready for the day, and packing up your camp area. 
• Loading and Departing: Once everyone is ready to go and everything is cleaned up, you’ll help load the boats (again via duffel line) and be off on the day’s adventures. 

If you still have questions about camping with Hatch, we want to make sure they get answered! You can read our FAQ page, peruse our blog, or call our office and chat with our staff. We’re happy to talk all about what to expect on a Hatch river trip.