How Much Gear to Bring on a Grand Canyon River Trip?

Note: This is the third in a series about Grand Canyon private trip planning contributed by our guest poster, friend, and trip leader David Harwood. (Check out the first post in this series, “Assembling Your Team for a Private Grand Canyon River Trip,” and the second, “Organizing Gear, Food, and People.”) We were on the river in April 2021, and this is part of our play-by-play of how we organized the trip and what we might have done differently—if anything—on our 16-person private Grand Canyon trip.

The initial planning of a river trip is about building the tools needed to execute a successful Grand Canyon trip—inviting participants, reaching out to excellent outfitters, and doing research on gear and food management tools.  

With these tools in hand, the challenges of trip planning get real.   

The next phase of trip planning involves making informed judgments about the quantities of food and gear that are required or a successful trip. This is something of a Goldilocks process: not having too much or too little, but just the right amount. Some of the calculations that need to be employed for a three-week excursion are objective and governed by simple formulas. Others are highly subjective and will be based on the interests and priorities of your particular group. What follows is background on calculations that can be used in a number of key areas.

How many rafts do you need for a Grand Canyon trip?

One of the first things to consider is how many boats you will want/need for the trip. This is one of the subjective calculations, governed in part by how many people are on the trip and how many of them want to or can row a large raft. More boats can carry more gear and more coolers, and you can spread the load across a larger volume of rubber. 

On the other hand, more boats can make things more costly and complicated. On our trip, we had a total of seven rafts for 16 people. Four people were in inflatable kayaks off and on, but most of the crew were in the oar boats. We brought plenty of gear (details below).

How many groovers (toilet systems) do you need for a Grand Canyon river trip?

Waste management is a crucial calculation for a Grand Canyon trip. Conserving weight and stowage on a long trip is an important consideration, but running up against the limits of groover space invites disaster. Most of the major toilet systems—from Riverbank to Jon-ny Partner to Eco-Safe and rocket boxes—are rated for 50 to 60 uses (check your system for the exact rating). A 20-day trip for 16 people needs groover space for at least 320 uses. It seems prudent to build in at least a 10 percent margin of error—and to plan for 350-360 uses. This would mean planning for 6 of the largest groovers (e.g., Jon-ny Partner); or 7 of the systems rated for 50 uses. It’s entirely reasonable to increase the margin and add one more can and increase confidence that you have sufficient groover space.

On our April 2021 trip, we used ammo cans supplied by our gear outfitter (we rented big boats, groovers, and other supplies but organized our own meals, including food shopping and food packing).

Toilet paper is also something you don’t want to run out of. I learned from experienced trip leaders that a group of 16 will use 1.5 rolls per day. And I’m aware of many boaters who swear by the maxim that every boat should carry an extra roll of TP and an extra pound of coffee.

How much food do you need for a Grand Canyon river trip?

Another post will go into the food pack in greater detail, but one of the key calculations relates to the broad question of what volume of food to plan for. Most recipes call out the number of servings accommodated. It’s important to remember, however, just how physically demanding a long river trip is for all participants—whether they are rowing, riding, fending off heat, cold or water, or hauling gear to and from boats. In short, people eat more on the river. 

We decided to plan for 1.5 servings per person, which we figured would balance out across different appetites. This is one of those subjective calculations, but the balance of wisdom is on the side of ensuring that plenty of food is available. As it turned out, we felt like we hit the right quantities: People seemed satisfied, and we didn’t have an alarming excess of food.

How many coolers do you need for a Grand Canyon river trip?

Refrigeration will keep you up at night. And there are a number of calculations that go into cooler considerations. At the outset, it’s important to note that experts recommend that for a multi-week trip your cooler be filled two-thirds full with ice, leaving only one-third of what might seem like a huge cooler available for your food.

A 20-day trip with 6 boats will need to fit all of the refrigerated items for 3-4 days in each cooler. If you run a lunch and/or produce cooler, camp coolers might need to carry 5-6 days. To hedge against rapid loss of ice in camp coolers, some groups will carry an extra cooler filled exclusively with ice that can be used to supplement coolers with flagging refrigeration. These calculations are a reminder of the importance of careful cooler management—regular draining (or not if you are a non-believer), keeping coolers covered and out of the sun, properly sealing coolers for later in the trip, and limiting the time and time-of-day that coolers are opened.

How much coffee do you need for a Grand Canyon river trip?

For the die-hard coffee achievers, few things are as important as having enough java in the morning. We did a survey of our team to see how much coffee people consume and came up with a daily need for 280 ounces of coffee. Online, I learned that a pound of coffee yields 288 ounces. To avoid any caffeine withdrawal episodes, we budgeted for 1.25 pounds of coffee per day, which yielded 360 ounces of the black gold. And despite our assurances that we had enough coffee, many people had private stashes as insurance, so we were never in danger.

How much propane do you need for a Grand Canyon river trip?

Fuel is needed to get that coffee going in the morning and facilitate many meals. Propane will be the primary fuel for most trips. I’ve seen a number of different recommendations for calculating propane needs—2 pounds per day for a large group, or .25 pounds per person per day. Using the latter formula (which many believe is a good, conservative number), a 20-day trip for 16 people would require 320 pounds of propane—or 4 of the standard 20-pound propane tanks.

If you are doing any grilling or Dutch-oven cooking, you will need to calculate charcoal needs. This calculation is both objective (how many briquettes are needed for your DO meal) and subjective (how much extra do you feel is a needed hedge). With these considerations in mind, we are working on the basis of 70 briquettes per grill, 40 per single DO, and 60 per double DO. A standard 12-pound bag of charcoal contains 220 briquettes (we counted).  We calculated a need for 60 pounds (5 bags) for our upcoming trip, and decided to add an extra bag for safe measure.

What kitchen gear do you need for a Grand Canyon river trip?

The amount and type of kitchen gear is more of a subjective calculation based on the level of effort your meals require. Just remember that you don’t want to run into heavy competition for burner space between coffee and breakfast, for example.

I recommend an objective exercise for calculating kitchen/cooking requirements: Walk through the menu with your kitchen gear on the ground to take stock of every pot, pan, and burner you will need for any given meal. This walk-through will reveal whether you have sufficient and/or excess equipment in your kitchen box and prevent problems on the river.

How many rocket boxes do you need for a Grand Canyon river trip?

Rocket boxes—20mm military ammo cans or “rocket boxes”—are a staple of river running, and you will need to have or rent many of them for a Grand Canyon trip. They are heavy, but they are sturdy, watertight (usually), and portable. We followed a camp-based system in which the dry goods for each camp, or day, were contained in one rocket box. Once emptied, the ammo cans became trash cans. Using this approach, a trip will start off using 20 rockets for a 20-day trip. Our trip used another 20 rockets for other purposes—drinks, lunch, extras, staples, major first aid, etc.  

Calculating gear quantities for a Grand Canyon trip

There are countless other calculations that go into Grand Canyon trip planning related to gear and food. How much dry storage do you need and how will you meet those requirements—with dry boxes, additional ammo cans, barrels, gamma buckets, and/or dry bags? How many blocks of ice should you use per cooler? How much protein (meat or otherwise) should you ensure is available per person, per meal? At times, the issues can seem almost comical: How many dessert cookies to budget per person? But all these calculations will impact the experience and temperament of trip participants.   

At this stage of trip planning, many of the issues are about calculations and measurements. As in carpentry, it pays to measure twice and cut once. Ask someone you trust to double-check your thinking and give feedback on your calculations. If in doubt, test your hypothesis—for example, cook a Dutch oven meal and see how many briquettes are used and determine whether that meal is sufficient for 16 people.  

Trip planning involves anxious moments derived from the weight of responsibility for ensuring that your group has the food and equipment it needs to have an enjoyable, safe, and trouble-free outing.These concerns can be allayed through informed guidance from experts and the collective wisdom that exists among those who have done it before. Drop a comment if you have tips to share, questions, or even a difference of opinion.