Rio Grande - Lower Canyons - 7 Days

When you reserve your adventure with Dvorak Rafting & Kayak Expeditions, you will be taken care of from the time you meet us until we send you on your way at the end. We will schedule pre trip meetings to check our lists and finalize last minute details before you fly, shuttle or walk to the river launch sites. We will fit you out with your personal floatation device (PFD), issue your waterproof bag for personal gear to transfer your river gear into, confirm your camping equipment is there (tents/sleeping bags/pads/rain gear/wetsuit/boots etc.) and gather everyone to the circle for introductions and a river safety talk. Once we are a river family, we will designate the rafters and kayakers to their crafts and we will be on our way. “We are now officially on “River Time” 

A week, two days, three days, or more, Dvorak Rafting & Kayak Expeditions cater to all tastes. Right from the start, our staff does the tough stuff – the glory of adventure, without the worry! Based on your input, our consultants will help you choose a personally – suited expedition, a getaway, vacation, challenge or another river feather in your hat! From this point, we will takeover and do all the planning, make the lists and check them twice, the cooking, and the loading and detailing. Kick back and soak it all in. However, if you desire to recall the rugged, rough and tumble routes of “roughing it”, we can go there, too.

Some like it wet and wild. Others like it quaint and calm. Just like our selection of nine rivers in the southwest Dvoraks offer you choices; sleep under the stars in your skivvies, tent on a sandy riverbank, cozy up in a bed & breakfast or luxury base camp with us on the Arkansas River Center in walled tents with the hot showers right next door! Great granite fireplace and pavilion for families, corporate groups and afternoon Bar B.Q. after a day of rafting.

Dawn is accompanied by the sweet morning chorus of the river birds singing, rustling tents opening, and nature stretching its wings and the call of “Cawfeee” hot and rich to your senses. As you make your way to the kitchen, the smell of fresh bacon, pancakes and nibbles of fresh fruit and juices entice your appetite to begin the day. Your crew leisurely shuffles about, while breaking down camp and packing up the rafts in preparation for the days adventures ahead. By the time, the sun moves into camp over the canyon walls you will have packed your dry bag and will have taken the fleece off to ready for the days rapids and hikes to come. 

Now that you’re wet and wild, you have explored a side canyon or perhaps walked back in time to the ancient one’s ruins or stopped for a snack on the water’s edge on a sunny beach - your tank of adrenaline has come and gone and guess what ? There is still half the day left. Your guides will set up a banquet of lunch delicacies for your delight and relax as you take in the grand view of this wilderness canyon as you sip a cool drink on the river’s edge. After lunch we’ll pack up for a afternoon run of whitewater and not so river wild water where you can swim or play till we reach our river camp this late afternoon. 

First timers will rest assured that when we arrive to camp for the night your guides will set up camp and help you or show you how to set up tents. The camp shuffle-dance will begin as the dinner crew prepare the evening meal and sets out your appetizers and cold drinks and wine for after all that fresh air - “fuel for the fires of appetite” will have taken over. Dvoraks is famous for always making sure they are dinners are plentiful, delicious and to die for! Meanwhile the rest of the day is yours to relax, read, and play river games with the crew or visit with your family and new river friends. The setting will have by now doubled your distance from jobs, freeways, telephones and workday responsibility. You will have sharpened your senses to those around you and will inhabit the delights of this natural world around you. 

(Make sure we know when there’s a birthday or anniversary because there will be one in the works from the kitchen crew)

Sleeping well is an essential luxury of any vacation. Our guests bed down in roomy four season tents with floors and flys, warm sleeping bags, atop self-inflating pads. Our bed & breakfast guests snooze like royalty in four-star comfortable choices; (Western, Tudor, Victorian, Eclectic, Country styles). You will find them just downright incredible. As you move away from the open fire after the recounting the day’s escapades and post dinner drinks, hot cocoa, tea or cool water you will never remember your head hitting your river pillow. Just before you close your eyes one last time - look up and see STARS like you have never seen before!

You can count on each day of your trip having some new twists and turns and a wild ride or two along with some quiet gentle moments on the river. Water will be a big part of each day as the full days run is from about 9:00 a.m. thru until 3-4:30 p.m. Some days have more hiking - others are more rafting. One thing for sure is your trip will be like no other and the friends, laughter and experiences will be a good time – every time! Please feel free to call our adventure consultants for more details and do look over the float notes for those special and unique qualities our rivers will offer you. Remember the memories never go away and it is up to all of us to protect these resources for our children and their children beyond our time. The whitewater thrills will fade but the tall tales just get taller every year! 

“River Magic” Dvorak style!