We had an amazing 5 day, 4 night trip down Desolation Canyon. The river was running high (27000 CFS!), and there were still plenty of rapids. Day 1 had the flight up to the put-in, which was an incredible experience in and of itself. Day 1 rafting was fairly calm with minimal rapids.
But, Days 2 – 5 were when the rapids really ramped up. Our crew was fantastic. They took great care of us on the river, making sure everyone was safe and having fun through the rapids while providing us lots of information about the canyon and its history. They did a great job preparing a good variety of meals, all of which were well prepared and delicious (much better than one would expect while camping!) and helping with any issues that came up setting up camp.
We had some issues with blisters on feet (wet footware can chafe!) and they were well prepared to help us through them and also tended to others on the trip who were struggling with other ailments. The guides did a great job making sure we practiced good hygiene and ensuring everyone’s hands were always clean.
They also did a great job engaging with the kids on the trip. We also really enjoyed getting to know the other families, couples, and individuals on our trip! Mild2Wild has a great camping system and the guides are well trained in it. Camp gets setup in a hurry, and before you know it, your new home for the afternoon/evening and next morning is ready.
At each site, the guides seemed to know the trails to petroglyphs or other noteworthy sites. At the end of the day, they hung out with us at the campfire and we all got to know each other better. They do a great job taking care of nature and practicing the leave no trace principles.
We were able to bookend the trip with visits to Dead Horse Point and Arches, both of which were well worth the visit. It would be good to know about reservation requirements at these parks in advance, although we didn’t have any problems getting them at the last minute.
Loved the trip, and would recommend it to anyone up for an adventure. I would recommend to anyone renting a tent that they go ahead and set it up, make sure everything needed is there, and test out the zippers and so forth before throwing it in their bag – we had some minor tent issues to work around that the guides helped us with.