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.
Approach
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.
River Sections
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.
-
Upper San Juan
Sand Island to Mexican Hat. Mild whitewater, ruins on the canyon walls, deep cultural depth for the older crew.
-
Gray Canyon
Green River below Desolation. Shorter, easier, accessible — a good step-up from flatwater.
Overland & Hiking
Beginner overland and kid hikes
Routes and trails that work for first-timers and family crews.
Systems & Pacing
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.
Best camps — Desolation
Sandy, shaded, kid-tolerant camps for the easiest stretch of Deso.
River camp kitchen setup
A kitchen kids can help with — and one that doesn't kill the trip leader.
Master river trip checklist
The prep list, with notes on what to add for kid-aboard trips.
Best river tent for sand
The tent everyone's hiding in at 11am when it gets hot.