Hot-weather rafting trips through desert canyons can mean days of 100-degree temperatures, intense sun, and little natural shade. After years of rafting hot Western rivers such as the Green and Colorado through Desolation, Labyrinth, and Ruby-Horsethief canyons, we’ve put together a game plan for staying safe and comfortable on hot-weather river trips. Here are our tips for avoiding heat-related illness by providing plenty of hydration, shade, sun protection, and regular opportunities to cool down.
Table of Contents
- 1. Bring plenty of water for hot-weather rafting
- 2. Stay hydrated throughout the river day
- 3. Stay hydrated with watery fruit
- 4. Create shade on your raft and in camp
- 5. Sleep cool
- 6. Cool off safely in the river
- 7. Take rafting breaks to avoid the sun during the hottest hours
- 8. Wear UPF clothing for hot-weather rafting trips
- 9. Bring plenty of sunscreen, lip balm, and sunburn relief remedies
- 10. Bring extra hats and sunglasses
- 11. Plan hikes to avoid the hottest part of the day
- 12. Go light and cool on food
- 13. Cut down on alcohol
- 14. Know the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke
- More gear tips
1. Bring plenty of water for hot-weather rafting
Many of the permitted rivers in the western U.S. have heavy sediment, so it’s not practical to filter as much water as you’ll need for a typical scenario—for example, 16 people on a 5-day trip. When headed to a silty river in hot temps, bring drinkable water in jugs, and bring a filter as a backup. Plan on bringing about a gallon of water per person per day. (For more details on this topic, check out our post on choosing water containers and water filters.)
2. Stay hydrated throughout the river day
You would expect everyone to drink lots of water when it’s hot. But that doesn’t always happen. Unless you’ve brought massive quantities of canned or bottled water and have it on ice (impractical and not eco-friendly), everyone will need to embrace plain old water, which will likely be lukewarm at best.
You can make it more palatable—especially for kids—by adding Nuun or some other hydration powder, which will also deliver some welcome electrolytes. On the river, make sure everyone has easy access to a water bottle (bring extras as someone will always forget theirs).
Water bottles with straws like this HydroFlask are easier to use on the river as there are no lids to fumble and they’re less likely to spill. Keep a water jug accessible on one of the rafts, so when you stop for scouts or for lunch, you can easily pull out that jug and everyone can fill their bottles.
3. Stay hydrated with watery fruit
On hot river trips, we bring plenty of water-packed fruit, such as watermelon, grapefruit, and oranges. Fruit with heavy rinds hold up better on river trips than fragile fruits like berries. Hot tip: Cut the fruit and pass it around—don’t ask people if they want it. If you cut the fruit and hand it to them, they will eat it and they will be more hydrated. (Especially kids, but this works with adults, too. For a comprehensive guide to keeping kids well fed and hydrated on river trips, check out Essential Guide to Rafting with Kids.)
4. Create shade on your raft and in camp
At some point during your trip, you’ll want a way to create some shade with a simple tarp suspended by oars or a purpose-built sun shelter. Consider investing in a Bimini shade for rafts, especially the boats that the kids are in. In sun-blasted camps, sun shelters such as the REI Westward Camp Tarp are game-changers for providing instant relief. But a simple tarp suspended by cam straps works fine, too.
5. Sleep cool
On most western river trips, the temperature drops dramatically after the sun goes down. But if it’s too hot to sleep, you have some options:
- Bring a cotton sheet to throw on your sleeping bag and sleep on top of it to create some separation between you and that sticky-feeling sleeping bag fabric. Natural-fiber sleeping bag liners can also do the trick: Check out Sea to Summit’s Silk Blend liner and the Cocoon Organic Cotton MummyLiner, which you can use on top of your sleeping bag or pad.
- Ditch your tent completely, throw your sleeping pad on the sand, and sleep out under the stars.
- Rig up your sleeping pad across one of the raft thwarts and sleep on the boat, availing yourself of the cool river breeze. (Don’t put yourself in a position where you could accidentally roll off the boat into the water, and skip this idea if there’s any chance of flash floods.)
6. Cool off safely in the river
One of the most effective ways to avoid heat-related illness is to cool off in the water. In flat water, encourage everyone to jump in the water and swim around, including the people rowing rafts. Try to time lunch breaks near waterfalls or tributaries with cooler water so everyone can get a good dunking.Â
7. Take rafting breaks to avoid the sun during the hottest hours
Sun-soaked rivers in canyon country offer few opportunities for shade. On brutally hot days, try to launch early and get a few miles in before noon. Take a long break during midday, rig a shelter, and give everyone a break for an hour or two. Then bag a few more miles in the late afternoon when shadows are getting longer.
8. Wear UPF clothing for hot-weather rafting trips
Full-on sun-protection apparel should be the first line of defense against sun exposure, with sunscreen as a backup. The more skin you cover with light UPF clothes, the less sunscreen you’ll need and the cooler you’ll feel. Check out Best Sun-Protection Clothing for River Trips for our UV-protection clothing recommendations.
9. Bring plenty of sunscreen, lip balm, and sunburn relief remedies
For river trips, mineral sunscreens are most effective, and a face stick like Blue Lizard Sunscreen Stick is easy to apply frequently even if you’re paddling a kayak. Bring several tubes of lip balm with sunscreen (I like Sun Bum Sunscreen Lip Balm). For the inevitable cases of sunburn, bring aloe gel or another sunburn remedy.
10. Bring extra hats and sunglasses
Hats blow off, and sunglasses get broken or left behind. Encourage hats with chin straps. This Sunday Afternoons hat is a great choice for kids as it includes some neck protection. This REI Trailmade Cap hat is a variation on that theme, and includes a snap in front to keep your neck protected even on windy hats.
But any sort of hat is better than nothing, so I throw in several extra baseball hats for those who might need them. Same with sunglasses: Round up a few pairs of grocery-store sunglasses (make sure they have full UV protection) or pick up some inexpensive but good shades like the Goodr OG sunglasses. And throw in a few Chums as well to keep your sunglasses on your neck.
11. Plan hikes to avoid the hottest part of the day
Try to time side hikes early in the morning or late in the day. If you roll up at high noon to the petroglyphs that everyone has been dying to see, take care to keep the crew from overheating. Make sure everyone has water bottles available, even if you’re only going a half-mile. Encourage a round of sunscreen. If you’re headed to a cave, bring some snacks and enjoy the shade.Â
12. Go light and cool on food
Extreme heat tends to sap appetites. Keep energy up with frequent breaks for light snacks: Pass around the melon, oranges, grape tomatoes, carrots, hummus, and nuts. For dinner, think about cold soups like gazpacho as an appetizer, and a cold grain salad (try our Colorado Tabbouleh) or a smoked salmon salad as the entree. (For more river meal tips, check out Time-Tested Guidelines for Raft Trip Meal Planning.)Â Â
13. Cut down on alcohol
As we all know, alcohol dehydrates. Consider chasing every alcoholic beverage with a swig of water, and think long and hard about drinking wine or hard liquor on hot desert trips. The explosion in availability of non-alcoholic beer, wine, and cocktails makes it easier for everyone to pace themselves.Â
14. Know the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke
Despite your crew’s best efforts, someone might fall prey to heat stroke, heat exhaustion, sunburn, or other heat-related maladies during your river trip. Common signs of heat exhaustion include dizziness, headache, tiredness, nausea, and fainting.
The Centers for Disease Control specify heat stroke as a medical emergency. The signs include fever, confusion, and a fast/strong pulse in addition to the aforementioned symptoms of heat exhaustion. Remedies include moving the victim to a cooler place: Find shade, rig a shelter, or get them into the water to cool off.
Also take into consideration factors that increase the risk of heat-related illness. According to the National Park Service, these elevated risk factors include high humidity, high elevation, strenuous activities, and individual conditions such as age and obesity.
If you don’t regularly bring an emergency messaging system on river trips, consider using one on hot-weather trips. We’ve brought the Garmin InReach on every river trip for the past few years, but now any iPhone version 14 or later has satellite messaging available.
Late-summer river trips can be blissfully simple because you can get by with less gear: No need for fleece layers at night or extensive splash gear during the day. But as the average summer temperatures keep getting hotter, especially on some of the most popular western U.S. river sections, it’s smart to thoroughly prepare your river trip crew for searing temps.
