[debruins22]

I’ll reiterate what people have said. I was a trip leader this summer for an 8 person crew. We had 2 ceiba 18’, 1 personal 16’ and one personal 13’. Also had one safety kayaker and one ducky.
If you’ve done other overnight trips you’ll be fine. We were all first Grand Canyon boaters with lots of experience other places. I wouldn’t be afraid to row the 14’ raft if you know how to read water. The most important thing with an 8 person group is that everyone pitches in without being asked. Good campers that know how to camp and problem solve and jump up from their seat to help when they see something that needs to be done are more important than good rowers. Also you have time to have people learn to row so take a rowing class with your crew from canyon river instruction if you’re in Colorado and nervous. Or just practice a bunch this summer with whatever good campers you choose to add to your trip.

 

[MT4Runner]

Congrats on your permit!


Read this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Boating-Grand-Canyon-Private-Boaters-ebook/dp/B07PPY1C83
98% of your questions will be answered there, as well as several questions you didn't think to ask.

 

[DidNotWinLottery]

Thanks for the great advice everyone! Getting excited, only a year to wait, LOL. I have another experienced boater with 2 kids who has run the Grand with out her kids going and we probably have an 8th person lined up one way or another. And we get to do the Main Salmon this year as a group to test everything out and plan for the big one. Info has been awesome so far!

 

[MT4Runner]

I’d be a little leery of an 8-person trip if 4 of them are kids. I’d think you’d want 2:1 adults to kids.

If you have 3 oarsmen, they need to focus on their boats. I would then want an adult for each kid for safety.

 

[MatthewJ]

I am also leading a small group trip this July for the first time. For those of you who have done a small group before, I'm curious how you had your chore rotations setup? I have several different ideas but am curious to hear other's experience, pros and cons, etc... Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[MNichols]

I am also leading a small group trip this July for the first time. For those of you who have done a small group before, I'm curious how you had your chore rotations setup? I have several different ideas but am curious to hear other's experience, pros and cons, etc... Thanks in advance for your time.

With a small group, things just seem to get done. Never did a "rotation" as such. The one caveat to this, is everyone ends up getting stuck in one job eventually, it takes a little thought when on the river, think "Gosh, Sam has done the last 3 meals, perhaps i'll take tonight's meal and give him a break. Done a lot of trips like this, it always happens, but if you're aware, the jobs get done, and the rotation happens on it's own. Everyone will have something to do every day in a small group, so meting out the tasks in a list form, well sorta overkill. I like the laid back aspect to it on a small trip. Doesn't work at all on a large trip, but.. Enjoy..

 

[DidNotWinLottery]

My trip was at the end of May last year. We did do a rotation except for the trip leader. As the trip leader I did the Groover and wash stations every single day. This allowed me to then focus on helping where needed and planning. Then we had 2 person teams that divided up the trip, we actually let everyone sign up on our Google Docs for meal assignments for an even amount of days. Everyone started with Dinner and finished with lunch. The 2 person team cooked and cleaned with others throwing in to help at times. EVERYONE sets up the kitchen when you arrive and does not start setting up personal stuff until kitchen is completely set up. Designate a boatsman to rifle through coolers each night for what the kitchen needs rather then several people running back and forth to open coolers. Typically the boatsman with the primary cooler in use. Assuming you are renting ask for the food lay out ahead of time for your planning meetings. ( big fail for me here) Otherwise finding stuff at first is confusing. If you have someone who is a big time cook have them back up new cooks and help get things rolling the first 2 days. Also at changes between cooks have the prior cooks fill in the new crew on what they did with say...the left over butter. Another thing we did was assign 1-2 passengers for each boat. Their gear stayed on those boats and THEY rigged the boat every single day while the boat captain passed gear. They got very good at rigging ( except for my non-tied in bag that flew out in Crystal, LOL) After rigging they could swap boats for the day for riding. Finally, plan lunches at breakfast, premake things if needed and get it all together so you can set lunch up quickly.

 

[MNichols]

Didnotwin brought up a good point. If you're doing a food pack, they SHOULD give you a list of what refrigerated stuff is where. Being classified as a commercial kitchen, the outfitters have to do a food safety oriented pack, so meat will be in one cooler, dairy in another etc. Can get confusing really fast. Ceiba is the best at this, I wasn't impressed with the others.

All else he wrote, is good advice.

Have fun

 

[DidNotWinLottery]

Truthfully, even though I have only done one trip, I could not imagine doing it with out CEIBA. There is soooo much to organize and plan for a 3 week trip of this magnitude, and having that experienced organization and help is so helpful. Some equipment item not up to snuff at the put in? They have a spare stored near by. Wash station set up? Water filtration? done. They have it all figured out and train you at the put in. Its not just the ice chest lay out that is important. Where is the spice box? Where are the snacks? Deserts? Gluten free stuff? (we found that the last 2 days and he lived)

 

[MNichols]

(we found that the last 2 days and he lived)

LOL.. indeed.. But what you write is spot on. There are SO few opportunities for this trip available, and at one trip a year, even less. Having an experienced person on board is ideal, but if you can't pull that off, Ceiba is VERY good at what they do..

 

[MatthewJ]

We are going with Moenkopi - I have a basic layout of the food but will get a more detailed packing list closer to the launch. I'm thinking of having the boatman who is doing the pre-menu planning be the Kitchen/Cooler Manager and having two person teams rotate through cooking, groover, and then general setup rotation. Good tip on the food layout mtg - thanks for the info!