Family Trips
Lower-risk routes, gentler pacing, kid-friendly camps, and the systems that keep mixed-experience trips fun. The desert rewards trips kids actually want to do twice.
Pick the trip the kids will remember
Family trips are not lesser trips — they're different ones. Shorter days, larger margins, more shade, more swimming, fewer hard rapids. Plan around the youngest member, build in real downtime at camp, and bias toward sections where a bad weather day still yields a good story.
Family-appropriate river sections
Lower whitewater rating, easy camps, accessible put-ins. None of these are zero-risk — cold water and heat still apply — but each one has been run successfully with kids in our crews.
-
Ruby / Horsethief
Flatwater Colorado through red-rock country. Sandy beaches, easy permits, low whitewater — the classic first multi-day.
-
Labyrinth Canyon
Green River wilderness float. No rapids, big walls, long lazy miles — almost unfair how good a first trip this is.
-
Moab Daily
Day-trip Colorado above Moab. Splash-and-giggle, easy logistics, great first whitewater for older kids.
-
Gray Canyon
Green River below Desolation. Shorter, easier, accessible — a good step-up from flatwater.
Beginner overland and kid hikes
Routes and trails that work for first-timers and family crews.
-
Desert river trips overview
How to think about which section fits which crew.
What changes when kids are on the boat
Camps, kitchens, and packing systems that hold up across a 6-year-old, a 16-year-old, and a grandparent at the same time.
The library is being rebuilt one field-checked article at a time. More are coming back soon.