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Arizona

Exploring & Rafting the Western Grand Canyon With Your Family

Program No. 9878RJ
Explore the Western Grand Canyon with your family as you whitewater raft the Colorado River, learn about the life of a cowboy and ride a helicopter above it all!

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Prefer to enroll or inquire by phone? 800-454-5768
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Age 9 - 18
ROOMING OPTION PRICING
The figures below indicate the rooming options available.
DATES
Jun 11 - Jun 16, 2023
Per Adult
1,899
Per Child
1,549
Select
Jun 11 - Jun 16, 2023
1,899
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
1,899
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
2,149
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
Limited Space
Jun 27 - Jul 2, 2023
Per Adult
1,899
Per Child
1,549
Select
Jun 27 - Jul 2, 2023
1,899
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
1,899
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
2,149
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
Select Date
Jul 16 - Jul 21, 2023
Per Adult
1,899
Per Child
1,549
Select
Jul 16 - Jul 21, 2023
1,899
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
1,899
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
2,149
/ Adult
1,549
/ Child
Select Date
6 days
5 nights
14 meals
5B 4L 5D
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At a Glance

Share with your family the thrill of whitewater rafting on the Colorado River in the depths of the Grand Canyon. With experienced river runners, navigate exhilarating whitewater rapids. Take part in outdoor field trips on the water, on the ground and in the sky as you learn about the geology, natural history and native peoples of the Grand Canyon. Round out a rousing week with s'mores and stories by the campfire!
Activity Level
Outdoor: No Sweat
Walking up to one mile on uneven terrain. Must be able to get in, out of rafts. Elevations up to 7,000 feet.
Family Programs
Family Programs
Share your love of learning with your family. These programs are designed for any combination of generations: grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents and children.

Best of all, you’ll…

  • Raft 37 wild and scenic miles of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.
  • Take a spectacular flight by helicopter from the river to the rim of the Grand Canyon.
  • Drive the only road to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and picnic and play on a Colorado River beach, deep in the Canyon on the Hualapai Reservation.

General Notes

This is a Family program for participants, their adult children and grandchildren ages 9 and up. Children must be 9 years old for rafting/helicopter rides. For a comparable adventure for just grandparents and grandchildren, check out "Exploring & Rafting the Western Grand Canyon With Your Grandchild" (#2519)! Please note, helicopters cannot fly in excessively hot and/or windy conditions for safety reasons. Although this happens very infrequently, it remains a possibility. In that event, the raft trip will be extended to a location where ground transportation can reach the group.
Featured Expert
All Experts
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Karen Landis
Karen Landis' front door opened up onto Route 66 for 38 years, giving her status as a Route 66 legend in the Seligman stretch of the road. In 1984, a customer at her Route 66 convenience store mustered the gumption to ask her to marry him, and Karen and Mike Landis — a legend himself and known as Arizona's No. 1 cowboy — ranched together for 29 years. Under Mike's tutelage and her indomitable spirit, Karen became a 'cowboy' in her own right and the two of them became one of the best-known ranching couples in northwest Arizona. Karen's independent spirit and ropin' and ridin' skills have opened up new perspectives to countless Road Scholar participants.

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

Profile Image of Karen Landis
Karen Landis View biography
Karen Landis' front door opened up onto Route 66 for 38 years, giving her status as a Route 66 legend in the Seligman stretch of the road. In 1984, a customer at her Route 66 convenience store mustered the gumption to ask her to marry him, and Karen and Mike Landis — a legend himself and known as Arizona's No. 1 cowboy — ranched together for 29 years. Under Mike's tutelage and her indomitable spirit, Karen became a 'cowboy' in her own right and the two of them became one of the best-known ranching couples in northwest Arizona. Karen's independent spirit and ropin' and ridin' skills have opened up new perspectives to countless Road Scholar participants.
Profile Image of Carrie Calisay Cannon
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.
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.
Half Broke Horses
by Walls, Jeannette
Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, wrote this true life novel which unfolds across Northern Arizona from the 1920s to the 1960s. Its heroine, Lily Casey Smith, (Ms. Wall's grandmother) 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. Note: may not be appropriate for young readers.
Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest
by Steve Plog
The American Southwest is home to some of the most remarkable monuments of America's prehistoric past, such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. Stephen Plog, who has spent decades working in the region, provides the most readable and up-to-date account of the predecessors of the modern Hopi and Pueblo Indian cultures in this well-received account. Chaco Canyon became the center of a thriving Anasazi cultural tradition. It was the hub of a trading network extending over hundreds of miles, whose arteries were a series of extraordinary roads that are still being discovered and mapped. Interweaving the latest archaeological evidence with early first-person accounts, Professor Plog explains the rise and mysterious fall of Southwestern cultures. 224pp.
An Introduction to Grand Canyon Ecology
by Houk, Rose
56pp
Naturalist's Guide to Canyon Country
by Williams, David B. & Gloria Brown
Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated trailside reference to plants, animals, and geology of an area that includes nine national parks and monuments. 192 pp.
Field Guide to the Grand Canyon
by Whitney, Stephen R
This book describes and illustrates the area's plants and animals, and offers fascinating in-depth information on the natural history and geology of this dramatic region. 272pp
An Introduction to Grand Canyon Prehistory
by Coder, Christopher M.
People have inhabited Grand Canyon for the past twelve thousand years. Evidence of their lives exists throughout the canyon; but it is up to their ancestors and archaeologists to interpret those remains for us. This book provides a popular look at the architecture, art, and tools of prehistoric Puebloan peoples, as well as information about modern-day Native American tribes. With illustrations and color photographs.
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
Carving Grand Canyon: Evidence, Theories, and Mystery
by Ranney, Wayne
Ranney explains how rivers in general can physically carve canyons, looks chronologically at the numerous theories that have been presented by successive generations of geologists regarding the Grand Canyon's formation, and describes a plausible sequence of geologic events that could create such a landscape. Numerous color photographs, detailed illustrations, and maps are provided. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR 160pp; 2nd edition 2012.





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