Georgie White became acquainted with the Colorado River during the second half of her life, and became the most famous commercial river runner of all time. White was introduced to the canyon country of Utah and Arizona by Harry Aleson during the mid 1940s. Aleson and White hiked numerous miles together in the western canyon, on top of the Shivwits Plateau, and across the Arizona Strip.
In 1945 the duo jumped into the river near the mouth of Diamond Creek, wearing only bathing suits, life jackets, and tennis shoes. Over the following days they swam all the way to Lake Mead on roaring floodwaters. In 1946, after hiking 80 miles from St. George, Aleson and White inflated a small raft and navigated nearly 100 miles of river from the mouth of Parashant Wash to Aleson’s temporary residence at Quartermaster Canyon. In 1952, White accompanied by Elgin Pierce, took another small inflatable -and minus a few rapid portages- she rowed the entire canyon from Lee’s Ferry to Lake Mead. Additionally, White made history on the trip becoming the first woman to row a boat through Grand Canyon, she was 41 years old at the time. Shortly thereafter, White began configuring war surplus rubber pontoons into different types of inflatable crafts. Georgie’s gigantic “G-Rig” and much smaller “Thrill Rig”, were used to take paying passengers through Grand Canyon beginning in the 1950s.
White passed away in the spring of 1992 due to cancer. During the river season in 1991, she ran her G-Rig through the canyon on several trips, as she had done every season during the four decades prior.
The lower Grand Canyon, as traveled by Western's 3 or 4 day expedition begins at Whitmore Wash (mile 188) and finishes at Lake Mead (mile 277).
This comprehensive PDF guides include river maps, overview, full itineraries, camping and weather information, details on physical requirements, packing lists and more.
