O.A.R.S. Grand Canyon Rafting

thank you to Katrina, John, Lars, Jimmy, Cory, Derrick, Kate, Katie and Ryan for a fun, safe, adventure down the Colorado from Phantom Ranch to Lava Falls. Great job! and thank you for working so hard for us.

My sons and I had a great time rafting/​hiking the Grand Canyon with OARS. We left from Lees Ferry and hiked out 7 days later from Phantom Ranch in late August. I can’t say enough about the quality of the trip — the OARS team was extremely professional, knowledgable, fun, and accommodating. The food was terrific — hot breakfasts every day, yummy lunches, terrific dinners.
So here’s a few tips and info that I wish I had more info on before we left:
— Camping is on the beach — super comfortable, tents and equipment are plentiful
— The bathroom set-​up in camp is terrific, no issues, much better than I expected. Always a great view
— Lots of hiking — yes its rafting but its also hiking which I enjoyed
Enjoy

I did the CO River through the Grand Canyon from Lee’s Ferry to Diamond Creek. I was with a group of friends who had booked about 2 years ago. We put in on Sept. 30, 2013 (the day BEFORE the US government shutdown — whew!). The entire crew — boatmen and guides — were exemplary. They were professional, courteous, funny and very caring. They dealt with the unusual circumstance of an underpopulated river — and closed Grand Canyon — and made special arrangements for a subset of our group to hike out (as planned) at Phantom Ranch; O.A.R.S. assured their safe departure to everyone’s satisfaction.
I felt safety was always top priority, and everyone did an outstanding job to be sure we were comfortable, (very!) well fed, and happy. Each river guide had their own area of expertise — and would tell stories for amusement, serenade us, offer appropriate readings, and teach us about the geology, archeology and history of the canyon. The river and rapid running, side canyon hikes and camping were all fantastic. I rate this as one of the best trips of my life!

We had the pleasure of doing a dory boat trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon from Phantom Ranch almost to Lee’s Ferry. Any boat trip down the Grand Canyon is truly the trip of a lifetime but the dory boats run by OARS are the only way to go. I insisted on the dory boats and several of my friends on the trip had reservations but all were grateful they went on the dories. Only the most experienced guides can be on the dory since any significant encounter with a rock will likely damage the boat. Their knowledge and love of the canyon enhanced the trip greatly. I also requested some hikes not normally taken by commercial trips (particularly Thunder River) and they happily accommodated my wishes. Even the exit from the canyon by helicopter was exceptional.

My husband and I took this trip to celebrate my 50^th birthday — what a celebration! It would be impossible for me to come up with a way that this trip could have been changed for the better. The guides, the food, the knowledge, the scenery — perfect!
We went Lee’s Ferry to Phantom Canyon Ranch and hiked out from there. Might have missed the most challenging rapids, but still had a perfect trip. (btw, spent lots of time training for the hike out — was glad we had. Also, don’t worry about the toilet facilities. As a female, there may be times when you need give over the modesty, but the rest of the trip more than makes up for it. It is what it is. Don’t worry about it. Go on the trip!)

Four of my family went down the Canyon this past September 23 to Oct 8, 2012. We went with OARS’ Grand Canyon Dories group. The price seemed a little high when I was shopping, but my friends who had been on OARS trips unanimously told me to go with OARS, period. So I did. Result: our experience was off-​the-​scale GOOD! Undoubtedly the best river trip I have ever taken and I have taken a few. As a young man, I had been an avid whitewater kayaker and floated my share of multi-​day river trips. So I knew what to expect, but the OARS folks redefined a good river trip. The dories were exciting, being closer to the water as they are, but most important the guides were encyclopedic in their Canyon lore and knowledge (one was even a PhD in Colorado Plateau geology), entertaining in their camp activities and play, safe in their leadership and effective in their group psychology: they were pros! Additionally, the food was excellent (even adapted to help me maintain my gluten-​free diet). We mades many side trips and hikes which I could both educational and scenic. In summary, I won’t do another river without OARS, thats how good our experience was!
Mark Schmidt (
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I just spent 19 days rafting down the Grand Canyon. It was an amazing time and an experience that I will not soon forget. Although the trip I was on was not a commercial trip and I wasn’t a customer of the Oars, I am still writing to express my thanks and my admiration for your company and your Boatmen. If I ever go on a commercial trip I will go with Oars and whenever I recommend a company to any one, it will be Oars.
I was lucky enough to be a Boatman on a 16 person private trip from Lee’s ferry to Pearce Ferry from June 18– through July 9 of 2012. I have been waiting for a permit and or an opportunity for a trip to open up. My good friend Matt ended up getting a permit and inviting me to row my meager 14′ Maravia down the river with him and 14 of my closest friends. We started our preparations a full year in advance. We meticulously planned everything out about or trip. Where we would like to camp, the days we would row the big rapids like Granite, Hermit, and even the dreaded Lava Falls. About half of the way through our planning my then Girlfriend and I decided that we would get married about ½ of the way through the trip around day 10. We were very excited and we started planning our river wedding.
Now as large as the Grand Canyon is I found out quickly how small of a community the people who are running the canyon make up. Word spread among all the trips we encountered that we were getting married. All types of trips would hear about us and stop to say congratulations and to offer us the best advice on our pending nuptials. The Oars group of Boatmen was fantastic. Their trip paralleled our trip and almost every day that they encountered us they would look up from their work and yell to us «Congratulations», «How was your run through Granite?» We quickly considered them to be our river friends.
The day after our ceremony as we were rowing past their camp late one afternoon, they called us over and wanted nothing more then to congratulate us on our marriage and say some friendly words. My wife and I eddied out and chatted for a few short minutes like we were catching up with old friends. Talked about my friends flip in Granite and even chatted shortly about the dreaded and upcoming Lava Falls. We learned that a Boatman was from Canada and my wife and she exchanged the secret handshake that all Canadians know. As we were leaving another Boatman exclaimed that he liked the hat that my wife was wearing, she said thanks we were on our way.
The next day we ran into the Oars group at the opening of Havasu. We tied up our boats and said our hellos. But when my wife saw the boatman from the day before, she gave him the hat that he fell in love with. I can’t blame him; it had a picture of some baby chicks and a magnet on it (Chick Magnet). She had felt that the boatmen were so nice and welcoming to us that she was compelled to give him the hat as a small token of thanks.
We didn’t see the Oars group for another couple of days and like a Knight in shining armor they were there exactly when we needed them to be there. My wife and I flipped in Lava Falls. I ran left and was a little too close to the ledge hole. A lateral wave just crushed my Boat. I saw my wife get flung out of the boat on the second wave of the largest rapid in North America. I soon followed her and went for a swim that I won’t soon forget. A long swim. I surfaced and swam just fine but she tumbled to the bottom, the river took her pants of, and unzipped her PFD. She hit her head and was sucked under the boat a few times getting stuck in the rowing compartment. When I did finally swim to her, she was giving up. I could see it in her eyes. I yelled at her «Grab the Boat!!!» she did, but with a vacant stare I watched her hand relax and her slip away from the boat and watched her go under again. Her head reappears and I scream «GRAB A HOLD OF THE BOAT!!» She does. Just as a rescue line flies over her shoulder. She grabs the line and gets pulled into a boat. I let go and swim for another boat. We both get rescued. I look from the safety of a boat to see my newly wedded wife naked from the waist down puking off the side of the rescue boat. That’s when I see the oars boats just downstream of us and our flipped raft. They had watched our runs and jumped into their boats to help with the rescue. Our new found friends were there and I watched two of their boats nudging our flipped over raft to the shore so that we could flip it back over. These people who were strangers the week before are now helping to rescue my wife and me. We didn’t get a chance to say thanks that day. After they saw that we were safe, they just rowed off.
The OARS boatmen are fantastic and you would be lucky to take a trip with them.

On Jan 30 I sent OARS a $ 3,000 deposit for a July 4 Grand Canyon Trip for myself and my family. A month and a week later on March 5 I requested a refund, as I would need to cancel after my daughter’s 3 emergency surgeries on her knee (Feb 10, 18 and Mar 5) as a result of a freak accident and subsequent infection. This is the response I got from Joy Parades from their office,
«Hi Stewart,
I’m sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope she has a quick recovery.
At this point you are in the cancellation period of 179 – 90 days prior to departure which incurs a $ 750/​person cancellation fee. This means you would forfeit the $ 3000. As far as I can see you did not purchase travel insurance unless you did so with a different company.
An option that I can offer you is a $ 50/​person transfer fee which would give you a credit of $ 2800 to be used on a trip by the end of 2013.
Let me know if you would like to take advantage of the credit option.
Regards,
Joy
Why would anyone want to do business with these vultures?

This is our first of at least two reviews of OARS. Some weeks ago we were notified that there was a cancellation on an 18-​day Dory trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon beginning in October 2010. We jumped at the opportunity but with no prior experience with white water trips I had many a question. The process, help, and courtesy extended us in making this pricey decision has been exceptional to date. After sending in our deposit we received an information packet loaded with about everything one needs to know about embarking on an 18-​day adventure of camping and rafting through the Grand Canyon. I hope to return late next year with a review and many a photo of how our trip with Grand Canyon Dories and the OARS company went.