You haven’t experienced life until you’ve experienced canyon life. You just have to get our here and try it. It’s been a great five days. I’m sorry it has to end.

At first I was quite scared because I’d never done it before but I was also a bit excited. And the moment we hit those rapids it was like a roller coaster. It was really, really fun! The guides were so nice and they were so friendly to everybody. I really liked everything about this trip really.

When you are with your family on the beach and you watch that sunset and the canyon walls just light up, and you see the stars at night when you’re laying on your cots together it's magic. It’s precious memories. This experience really bonds you together, you really grow together. It’s an amazing trip for families.

Desolation Canyon is my favorite canyon. Being here is like no other experience. There is so much history in this canyon; from John Wesley Powell who came through and explored and mapped everything to the outlaws who were here. You can feel it, you go to some of these places like Rock Creek, Mcpherson Ranch and the Moonshiner's Cabin and you can feel these people that were here, you can feel the history and the experiences that happened here.

It’s amazing to come out here and know that your group and yourself, you’re the only ones out here. Desolation Canyon, I think, is one of the most beautiful canyons that we actually offer as a trip at Western River Expeditions. You see the red sandstone rocks, you see the vegetation, and we’ve seen so much animal life out here and it’s absolutely gorgeous.

In Desolation Canyon we have a choice of a couple different boats. The first boat is an Oar Boat, you kind of just get to sit back and relax on the boat while your guide do on the work. We also offer an inflatable kayak, which we also call them duckies. They can hold two passengers, it’s a great experience. They make the rapids seem a lot bigger and you’re guaranteed to get wet on a duckie.

I love Desolation Canyon because it is magical, it is surreal, and it’s peaceful. There is something about it that helps you find your inner self. Rivers have a calming effect and it’s undeniable and unavoidable. And that is the magic of Desolation Canyon.

I met a family of four: Jay, Heather, Bosley, and Bear. On the last night Jay went to put his kids to bed he got up to go get a drink. He came over where we were setting up our cots and he started crying. He said just being out here has changed everything for my family, we’ve learned to play, we’ve learned to work together as a team and we’ve learned to laugh. And he said, “I think so often we get caught up on thing in life that don’t really matter and out here you realize your family is the only thing you take with you.” They came back from the trip saying if we could come every week for the rest of our lives we’d be out here.

Being overnight on a river has to be one of the most incredible things. The Milky Way is right above you and you can see billions and billions of stars. They’re the most incredible stars that i’ve ever seen. Being overnight on the river is a fantastic experience.

For someone who has never been rafting before Desolation Canyon is the perfect trip to go on. That’s because you get the experience of camping and being out in the wilderness and being on an oar boat. You’ll get a few really fun rapids that will give you kind of a thrill but most of it is fun and splashy and a good time.

You come down here and it’s just you, the river, the open sky and fresh air - and that’s all you need. For those five days that you’re on the river, that’s all you have to think about is just enjoying your time out here and being one with nature. It’s very healing.