Colorado River

The Colorado through the Grand Canyon is the benchmark of North American river expeditions, carving 277 miles of desert whitewater between towering walls of ancient rock. Most trips launch at Lees Ferry and run to Diamond Creek or Lake Mead, a wilderness journey of one to three weeks with no road access in between.

The rapids are rated on the canyon's own 1–10 scale rather than the standard I–VI system, but the biggest drops equate to solid Class IV–V. Lava Falls, Hance, Crystal and Hermit are the famous names, huge pool-drop rapids fed by rock fans where side canyons flushed boulders into the current. Between them lie long, calm reaches for reading the geology.

Craft range from oar-rigged rafts and paddle boats to dories, the graceful hard-hulled boats that ride the waves rather than punch them. Flows are controlled by releases from Glen Canyon Dam, so the river runs cold and clear year-round, typically 8,000 to 20,000 cubic feet per second. The water hovers near a chilly 8 to 12 degrees Celsius year-round, so wetsuits are standard even in high summer; motor-rig trips compress the journey to under a week, while oar and dory trips savor the full canyon at a slower pace.

Season and logistics center on April through October, with permits for private trips allocated by a competitive lottery run by the National Park Service; most visitors travel with licensed outfitters. Summer brings scorching heat on the exposed water and side-canyon hikes to waterfalls and Ancestral Puebloan sites. Nights are spent camping on sandbars beneath a sky unbroken by light, and the sheer scale of the walls, rising a vertical mile above the water, gives the trip its enduring reputation as the finest multi-day float on the continent.