Depending on the date and weather of your take out, you’ll end your trip at one of three locations. Launches after September 15th will hike out at Whitmore Wash and be transported to Bar 10 Ranch for the flight to Las Vegas, South Rim, Marble Canyon or Page.

Diamond Creek is a tributary of the Grand Canyon and converges with the Colorado River at river mile 226. The creek gains its name from a nearby diamond-shaped peak that towers over the river. This unique canyon is the only location within the Grand Canyon National Park that allows a vehicle to drive from the Rim to the River. The dirt and gravel road descends 4,600 feet and is primitive despite regular Hualapai maintenance. During monsoon seasons, flooding is common and dangerous for even the sturdiest of vehicles.

Separation Canyon marks the spot where three men in John Wesley Powell’s first exploration of the Colorado River separated from the expedition. Debates continue as to why they left the expedition. Their bodies were never found while the rest of the expedition finished the trip only two days after their departure. The three men left the expedition before the rapid, you’ll run the rapid before your departure!

Pearce Ferry is actually located within the upper end of Lake Mead National Recreation Area and not the Grand Canyon National Park. However, Pearce Ferry is synonymous with Lee’s Ferry in that it concludes one end of the Grand Canyon Colorado River experience. Pearce Ferry is named after one of its operators, Harrison Pearce, who ran a ferry in 1876.

A detailed history of the problems of silting from the Dam can be read on Durango Bill’s Grand Canyon 3-D Tour: About 1.25 miles North-Northeast of Pearce Ferry Near River Mile 280 in which he notes “The rapid will probably be submerged and disappear by the end of 2011 due to rising Lake Mead water levels and the resulting silt backup. Everything that occurred before 2012 (and everything that is recorded here) is about to become historical footnotes.”

As always, for details, download the most recent Trip Pack for your trip.

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Absolutely everyone loves a stop at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Little Colorado River. Rafts usually anchor to a slab of rock jutting out into the big river. Guests scramble up out of the raft and onto the slab for a beautiful view of the confluence. The clear blue water of the Little hits what is often muddy water of the Big. The clear blue is an optical illusion due to the white lime from sedimentary rock layers – the calcium carbonate has built up as a white lime coating on the bottom of the Little.

Before or after your hike up the Little to go for a swim, take a moment to look up at the hills. In 1956, TWA and United Airlines jets collided over the Grand Canyon. The TWA flight mainly hit on the northeast terrace of Temple Butte. United’s wreckage was strewn over the southern cliff face of Chuar Butte. On sunny days, wreckage can still be seen (look for glints of sun bouncing off metal).

Investigators suspect that both pilots veered off course to offer passengers a better look at the Grand Canyon. The tragic event helped spur Congress to create the Federal Aviation Act to update air safety. While not a happy story, it is one of the stories that makes up the Grand Canyon.

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