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Arizona

Grand Canyon Odyssey: River Journeys and Canyon Vistas

Program No. 2805RJ

Within the Grand Canyon’s mile-high walls lies a wealth of natural history and culture. Explore the Canyon's 277-mile length and rim via the Colorado River raft trips.

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8 days

7 nights

19 meals

7B 6L 6D

Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner

Flagstaff, AZ

Museum of Northern Arizona, Cameron Trading Post, Page AZ

Page, AZ

Horseshoe Bend Hike, Glen Canyon Smooth Water Rafting

Page, AZ

To Grand Canyon, Desert View Watchtower, Mather Point

Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim)

Grand Canyon Village, Free Time

Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim)

Grand Canyon South Rim, Peach Springs, AZ

Peach Springs, AZ

Grand Canyon Whitewater Rafting

Peach Springs, AZ

Program Concludes, Return to Flagstaff

Flagstaff, AZ

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At a Glance

Experience the depth and majesty of Grand Canyon from both rim and river. Take not one but two different yet equally spectacular raft trips on the Colorado River, book-ending the incomparable Grand Canyon. Enjoy a smooth water float beneath the towering cliffs of Glen Canyon, alighting where the Canyon officially begins at Lee’s Ferry. Then explore the Canyon from the heights of Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim with its sweeping panoramas and historic village. The adventure culminates with a thrilling white water raft trip in mile-deep canyon (or flat water on select dates) through remote western Grand Canyon.

Activity Level

Keep the Pace

Daily walking of up to a mile, primary flat and on well maintained trails, longer excursions available during independent time. 37-mile whitewater adventure is on motorized pontoon raft (you will get wet!), and requires strength and balance to get on and off the raft. Elevations up to 7,000 feet.

Best of all, you’ll…

Enjoy two rafting adventures on the mighty Colorado River.
Gain a deeper understanding of the local geology while spending two nights inside the Grand Canyon's South Rim.
Experience Southwestern landscapes and Native American lifeways along the vast Navajo and Hualapai Reservations.

Featured Expert

All trip experts

Karlyn Bunting

Karlyn Bunting grew up in Page, Arizona, after the construction of Glen Canyon Dam – at the heart of what is commonly called the Grand Circle. He loves to hike and explore the many natural wonders of the region, and is deeply interested those who traveled this region prior to our modern day — from the Ancestral Puebloans to the Mormon migrations. Karlyn is also an avid photographer and storyteller, and enjoys sharing his unique and multi-faceted perspective of the Colorado Plateau.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Karlyn Bunting View biography

Carrie Calisay Cannon View biography

Carrie Calisay Cannon is a member of the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma and also is of Oglala Lakota descent. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and an M.S. in Resource Management. She is currently employed as an Ethnobotanist for the Hualapai Department of Cultural Resources. She administers a number of department projects and programs which promote the intergenerational teaching of Hualapai ethnobotanical knowledge. She works towards ensuring tribal ethnobotanical knowledge persists as a living practice and tradition.

Slim Woodruff View biography

Marjorie “Slim” Woodruff is a graduate of Northern Arizona University. She has worked in outdoor recreation and education for most of her adult life. Slim is a board member and outings chair for the Grand Canyon Historical Society. She is a senior instructor with the Grand Canyon Conservancy Field Institute. Living on the South Rim, her usual hangouts are inside the canyon. Her writings can be found in High Country News Writers on the Range and The Outdoor Journal.

Rocky Sullivan View biography

Rocky Sullivan, a Kansas native, has been living in the southwest working on ranches among other things for the better part of three decades. During the last few years, he has brought his poetry into the limelight, gaining respect and praise from peers and audiences. Rocky won in his division of the 2015 National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in Abilene, Kansas, and again in 2017. He has been asked to perform at numerous venues since.

Suggested Reading List (6 books)

Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop

You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.

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Grand Canyon Odyssey: River Journeys and Canyon Vistas

Program Number: 2805

Half Broke Horses

by Walls, Jeannette

This true life novel unfolds across Northern Arizona from the 1920s to the 1960s. Its heroine, Lily Casey Smith, battled the elements, prejudices, economic conditions and politics of remote frontier Arizona. Many of the locations described - Peach Springs, Seligman, Flagstaff, the Navajo Reservation, the Arizona Strip - are sites visited by NAU Road Scholar programs. Readers of this selection will feel the sense of heritage from this tale of life in our distant corner of America.

Living at the Edge: Explorers, Exploiters, and Settlers of the Grand Canyon Region

by Anderson, Michael F

A comprehensive look at the pioneer history of the Grand Canyon Region, from its earliest residents to the creation of the national park at the end of the pioneer era (circa 1920). Included are close to two hundred historic photographs, many never published before, and 12 custom maps of the region. 184pp

Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis

by Glennon, Robert

In the middle of the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas casinos use billions of gallons of water for fountains, pirate lagoons, wave machines, and indoor canals. Meanwhile, the town of Orme, Tennessee, must truck in water from Alabama because it has literally run out. Robert Glennon captures the irony—and tragedy—of America’s water crisis in a book that is both frightening and wickedly comical. Unquenchable reveals the heady extravagances and everyday inefficiencies that are sucking the nation dry.

The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons

by Powell, John Wesley

Full text of Powell's 1,000-mile expedition down the fabled Colorado in 1869. Superb account of terrain, geology, vegetation, Indians, famine, mutiny, treacherous rapids, mighty canyons. 240 illustrations. 432pp

Breaking Into the Current: Boatwomen of the Grand Canyon

by Teal, Louise

This book profiles eleven of the first full-season Grand Canyon boatwomen, weaving together their various experiences in their own words. Breaking Into the Current is a story of romance between women and a place. Each woman tells a part of every Canyon boatwoman's story: when Marilyn Sayre talks about leaving the Canyon, when Ellen Tibbets speaks of crew camaraderie, or when Martha Clark recalls the thrill of white water, each tells how all were involved in the same romance. All the boatwomen have stories to tell of how they first came to the Canyon and why they stayed. As river guides in love with the Canyon and their work, these women have followed their hearts. 178pp

Introduction to Grand Canyon Geology

by Price, L Greer

This overview of Grand Canyon geology is perfect for the first-time visitor or the seasoned Grand Canyon traveler. Chapters cover the basic priciples of geology, the history of geological exploration at Grand Canyon, the canyon's structural features, and the Colorado River. Includes over 70 photos and illustrations, an index, and glossary. 63pp

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Grand Canyon Odyssey: River Journeys and Canyon Vistas

Enroll with Confidence

Protecting the Environment

At a Glance

Best of all, you’ll…

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