There are trips and then there are trips

There are over 30,000 people who do a trip on the  Colorado River through Grand Canyon each year and this is very heavily regulated to allow the maximum number of people to enjoy this wonderful resource with the minimum amount of damage to the fragile environment.  The boating season goes all year long. If you want to try for a private permit to run your own river trip there is a process that is detailed on the Grand Canyon National Park Website under the Weighted Lotteries section.  It is a lot of work to do a private trip.  As you are reading this you may think that you would love to do this but you don't want to do all the work.  There are several really good companies that can outfit for you everything that you will need to row your own trip, Moenkopi Riverworks, Canyon REO ( who I used to row for occasionally) PRO and others.  The vast majority of visitors who experience the trip of a lifetime talk to one or several of the licensed river companies and make their selection based on the trips offered that fit their own schedule. You do not have to build your own dory to do this trip ( Yes, I know, I am crazy- my friends love me anyway) A dory is the sports car of the river and Grand Canyon Dories in the OARS family of adventure travel is one of the best there is.I do my family San Juan trips with them every year so I get a chance to enjoy the trip as well and not work it from dawn to dusk.  They do regularly scheduled trips and you will probably have to book that trip a year in advance but it is oh so worth it to show up with your gear and let the guides do the packing and unpacking and the cooking and the rowing  and you just get to enjoy.  There are also companies that do all rowing trips in rafts and companies that do motorized trips of a shorter duration. There are companies that do split trips where you only do part of a trip and either hike in or hike out at certain points.A Grand Canyon River Trip is an amazing thing to do-  This is number 10 on the water  for me and I will keep doing them as long as I can afford them and can handle the rigors of such a trip.They are easier than hiking the Grand Canyon and I have more than 80 of those under my beoot.  Enjoy.