Grand Canyon by Raft with Jack Dykinga and Justin Black

Applying our experience of numerous Grand Canyon raft trips, and in collaboration with our hand-picked crews from Arizona Raft Adventures (AZRA), we've developed an itinerary that takes advantage of favorable spring conditions and sets us up for the best landings for photo excursions and camps along the river. This detailed planning and the expert skill of experienced boat crews we've worked with before are critical, because there's no going back upstream on the Colorado River.

This trip is scheduled for May, when water and wildflowers are in greater abundance, and daytime temperatures are a bit cooler than the rest of the river guiding season. Our itinerary starts in Flagstaff, Arizona, at the Radisson Woodlands hotel. The afternoon before our departure for the river, we will convene to get to know each other (and catch up with returning friends), and Jack will make an introductory presentation to get your creative juices flowing. This will be followed by an orientation by AZRA staff to go over the game plan, safety, answer questions, and distribute dry bags for packing your personal gear. We'll set off early the following morning for Lee's Ferry, where our raft and crew will be waiting for us at our launch point.

A little about the raft: We will use a 32-foot-long raft built around a strong aluminum frame with a below-deck cargo hold for important items that tolerate getting wet, like camp chairs and cans of beer. Personal gear and camera bags will be stored in drybags strapped to lockers on deck above the waterline. Two expert AZRA guides will crew our raft, which is equipped with a small, quiet four-stroke Honda motor for steering purposes. The motor is shut off as we drift with the current down the river in stretches of calm water. We will be running a great deal of whitewater, and where you sit in the raft will determine whether you get soaked or stay dry (or dryish). Getting soaked by a big splash is a great way to cool off, as is floating a rapid in your life vest, which the guides offer as an option on occasion and as safety conditions permit.

Once on the Colorado River, we quickly enter Marble Canyon and from there the canyon rim towers higher and higher as we pass through ever more ancient rock strata. From the raft, we'll take in the stunning mesas and rock formations all around us, watch bighorn sheep just a few meters away at the water's edge, marvel at condors soaring overhead, and watch the light and shade play across the water and reflect in hues of gold and red on the canyon walls. Each afternoon, we'll pull into riverside beaches, which will serve as our camps. These are selected in advance for group comfort and excellent photo opportunities close to camp in the evening, and to position us strategically to target the next morning's photography location.

As we arrive in camp each afternoon, we'll form a "bag line" as a team to unload personal gear and camp equipment from the raft to the beach. This group bonding experience is not to be underestimated. After that, we each locate our personal piece of Colorado River beach to put down our tarp, sleeping pad, pillow, sheet, and sleeping bag (all provided, as are tents, though no one seems to bother with them after a night or two). Then, while the boat crew prepares a fabulous and well-deserved dinner, Jack and Justin will lead photo sessions in the evening light. Otherwise, choices of camp activities are up to you. We'll gather the camp chairs in a circle to chat over a beer or glass of wine, have a rinse in the river as conditions permit, or just relax and enjoy the peace, solitude, and crystal clear night skies.

When our time on the river comes to an end, it will be too soon. We will have been away from computers, cell phones, and traffic for ten days. AZRA will pick us up at Diamond Creek for the trip back to the Radisson in Flagstaff, stopping off on old Route 66 at Delgadillos Snow Cap in Seligman for an obligatory milkshake (or two). After a proper shower and calls to loved ones to confirm that we've reemerged into civilization, we'll meet for a final group dinner with our boat crew. After breakfast the next morning, we'll meet to edit and project images for review and critique. Wrapping up by mid-afternoon, we'll say "until we meet again," and our merry band will part company with hard drives full of amazing images, heads full of incredible memories, spirits uplifted by the experience, and hearts just a little heavy that it's all over.

We hope you'll join us for this trip of a lifetime, especially if it's for the second time!

* NOTE: The raft-trip component of this package is operated through Arizona Raft Adventures, a National Park concessionaire. National Park Service rules require that we disclose and distinguish our  cost for the AZRA ten-day raft trip itself, which is $2840 per participant. The fee for the photographic workshop, the days prior to and following the AZRA raft trip, is $3,155. This includes instruction, critique, meals (beginning with dinner the night before the raft trip and ending with lunch the day after the raft trip), lodging in Flagstaff the night before and the night after the trip, as well as all taxes and gratuities. The total combined cost for the raft trip and workshop is $5,995 per person.