Some time ago me and my former companion were on a three week roadtrip through Arizona (I might post the full itinerary in a seperate post one day). We had a lot of fun and got to see and do some amazing things. One of those things was rafting the Colorado River in Page. We booked our trip in advance and then showed up at the rafting headquarters in Page about half an hour before our trip was due. We were informed that only clear plastic bags were allowed on the raft so we did a bit of re-packing and left stuff at the car. Then a bus brought us and the rest of our group to the Glen Canyon Dam.
The dam itself was very impressive, soaring about 700 ft. (213 m) above us. It’s a masterpiece of construction if you think about how much water it holds on its other side. We had to wear helmets on our way from the bus down to the river and the pontoons; my companion looked like a little Doozer from that kids’ show “The Fraggles” 🙂 We then boarded the pontoons, about ten or twelve people were in our group. It’s not rafting per se, meaning it’s not rafting as in one of those adventurous tours where you get wet and have to paddle or jump out of the raft. No, this was the very relaxed version of it. We were floating down the river in a more or less lazy way, but it was still very interesting.
(c) Shoot The Moon Photography
Our tourguide was enthusiastic and knew a lot about the canyon, its history and how it was formed thousand of years ago. He showed us stone formations that looked like a monk, like animals or cars, told us intriguing stories about it and pointed out some animals. My companion was very into it and it was lovely to see how much he enjoyed the whole trip. By the time we did the tour I had already seen my fair share of stones so I just basked in the sun when we got to a sunny patch, was happy to be there with him and to see him so… bubbly. We stopped once to view ancient petroglyphs left by Ancestral Puebloan peoples as well.
The whole trip took us about half a day and we got down as far as the Horseshoe Bend, a place we stopped by a year before during our roadtrip I before we headed back to the Glen Canyon Dam. I had a lovely time and do recommend taking the trip. Maybe bring some snacks and a warm sweater because even though we were there during a hot September day it did get kinda chilly down there.
More information:
Colorado River Discovery
130 6th Avenue
Page, Arizona 86040
Rates are 86 USD + 6 USD river use fee for adults and 77 USD + 6 USD river use fee for kids from 4 to 12 years.
