How do you host a week-long party for up to 28 guests through 277 miles of Grand Canyon, miles from civilization on a massive inflatable raft? Western River Expeditions presents: "The Day Before"
5:09 am - The day before guests arrive - wash and roll 100+ sleeping bags
Fill the ice cube trays!
6:13 am - Get out the custom built coolers, fill with 125 blocks of ice per boat, prepare a boat load of fresh fruits, 2 boat loads of bacon
8:37 am - Outboard motors tuned and prepped
9:05 am - Load boxes and equipment into the semi-truck trailer
11:26 am - Fix a flat tire on the semi truck trailer, drive to Lee's Ferry, Arizona
1:06 pm - Unload the semi truck. Meanwhile, back at the warehouse...
2:19 pm - First boat is put on the water, ready to load.
3:27 pm - Both boats are loaded, semi-trailer is empty - time to strap everything down on each boat. Bring a sparkling sense of pride as you prepare for guests the next day.
5:21 pm - Guides stay with the boats overnight at Lee's Ferry
7:32 am - Guests arrive by plane from Las Vegas
We're ready for adventure, pack your duffle bag, we'll meet you at the river!
Our hats go off to the guides and warehouse staff that work with so much passion to make sure these Grand Canyon trips are the trip of a lifetime for our guests!
Factoids:
Up to 8 J-Rigs launch per week in Grand Canyon, 134 J-Rigs launch per year, 16,750 blocks of ice are made per year, Western hosts an average of 4,000 guests in Grand Canyon per year.
Since 1961 we estimate having traveled the length of Grand Canyon 6,700 times, or 1,855,900 miles (about 4 times to the Moon and back)!
From our Packing List:
14 bunches of bananas per trip, 1,500 lbs. of ice per boat, 128 lbs. of charcoal briquettes, 24 lbs. of bacon per trip, 65 oranges, 70 apples, 360 eggs, 30 kiwi, and one large jicama.
