So you’ve booked a Grand Canyon Rafting trip. You’ve likely dropped $1,500 to $6,000+ for a 3 to 18 day trip on the Colorado River. And now you have to buy a bunch of gear on top of this. Well, I’m happy to tell you there’s not a need to break the bank. The following post contains some of the Grand Canyon Rafting Gear I bought for my trip and I can recommend. Note: This post is for people who have booked professionally guided and outfitted trips to the Grand Canyon. Doing a self-guided trip to the Grand Canyon has its own unique needs for gear and outfitting. This post contains affiliate links. This website earns a small commission for items purchased through these links with no additional cost to you.
Must Have Grand Canyon Rafting Gear: Rain Gear. YOU WILL GET WET ON THIS RIDE! Some people on my trip had rain pants and coats that cost hundreds of dollars each. I found this inexpensive set of Coleman Rain Gear that worked pretty good at a fraction of the price (although if I did it again I would super glue the “pockets” closed to have less leakage on my hips). An advantage of this set is that it’s mostly tan, so it was comfortable to wear in the sun without baking like black or navy blue sets would do.
Must Have Grand Canyon Rafting Gear: Water Shoes that are appropriate for hiking. While flip flops are handy for wearing around the sandy campsites, they are not recommended for wearing on the boat and while hiking in the side canyons. I spent quite a bit of time searching for the best shoes for my Grand Canyon Trip, considering things like Keen or Teva Sandals, but ultimately, I decided on these inexpensive Water Shoes. The advantages of these shoes:
- Inexpensive
- Covered my feet so I didn’t get stubbed toes or weird tan lines on my feet
- Fantastic traction for hiking (although they didn’t do great on the shiny, vertical marble like rock).
- Didn’t take on much sand while walking on the beach
Must Have Grand Canyon Rafting Gear: soft-sided luggage/duffel bag. I was lucky to find a sweet, good as new duffel bag at my favorite Thrift Store in Tucson. But if you’re not so lucky, I had this waterproof duffel bag in my amazon cart at one point:
Optional Grand Canyon Rafting Gear : Waterproof Book of the Grand Canyon. I loved this book! It was fun to follow along the maps as we went and loved the geological and historical info. I also used it to mark where we camped, hiked, and had lunch each day.
Optional Grand Canyon Rafting Gear: Waterproof video camera. If you have a GoPro, take it! It was fun to film shooting the rapids! If you don’t have a camera, you can get some inexpensive versions here.
Optional Grand Canyon Rafting Gear : Pre-reading material:
“THE EMERALD MILE” the story about the fastest, and illegal, river run through the Grand Canyon.
“THE EXPLORATION OF THE COLORADO RIVER AND ITS CANYONS” a story of the first Grand Canyon river run by John Wesley Powell.
Do you have any other suggestions for essential gear (that isn’t normally provided)? Please leave your suggestions below.
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