RIVER PERMITS:

Colorado River, Cataract Canyon

Canyonlands National Park
Cataract Canyon Permits 
2282 South Resource Blvd.
Moab, UT 84532-8000
(435) 259-4351 Phone
(435) 259-4351 Fax
Email for questions: canres@nps.gov
Permit: required, applications accepted starting January 1
Fee: $30
Web: http://www.canyonlands.national-park.com/camping.htm#permit

Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Mailing Address for US Postal Service:
River Permits Office
Grand Canyon National Park
Box 129
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Mailing Address for Other Carriers:
River Permits Office
Ranger Ops., #1 Center Road
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023

Fee: $25 to play the lottery, and more if a launch is awarded
Online Registration: No Charge
Permit: Required year round
Lottery: Once a year in the spring for the following season, and repeating into the summer until all launches are awarded

Phone (928) 638-7843
Fax (928) 638-7844
Automated (800) 959-9164 Grand Canyon River Trip Information Center

For the on-line lottery registration and application:
Registration and Lottery

And here are the regs for noncommercial trips:
GCNPark Regs for Noncommercial River Trips

For regular emails about the flows in the Colorado and more, send an email to:
Riverwire

Getting a Noncommercial River Permit to float through Grand Canyon is worth jumping through a zillion hoops. The launch point is Lee's Ferry, and 226 miles of river delivers you to Diamond Creek, where there is a road out of the canyon before the river dies in Lake Mead. This distance is covered in 10-25 days, depending on flows, time of year, and motors. The maximum number of days permitted in the summer is 16, and the maximum number of people (including boatmen) on a private trip is 16.

The Colorado River Management Plan was revised and has been in effect since autumn 2007. The Waiting List system was eliminated and launches are now allocated using a weighted online lottery. Trip length maximums have changed. Please read your park rules carefully, as we are all learning them again!

If you play the lottery, you must be prepared to GO on the trip, because the park will charge a chunk of the fees to your credit card as soon as you are awarded a launch date. The first online lottery was in October 2006, and several lotteries will be offered each year, starting in May and repeating until all available launch dates are awarded. Permits are awarded shortly after each lottery closes. There used to be about 1,100 new applicants each year for the Waiting List, and the number of people playing the lottery has already been several times greater.

1. Contact Grand Canyon National Park on-line at http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/weightedlottery.htm to register. Registration is free and collects trip leader information.
2. Once registered you can submit an online lottery application for $25. You can choose up to five dates from the online calendar. There is a new category of "small trip" permits allowing eight or fewer participants. All of the 48 "small" trips are during the summer motor season. If you play the lottery more than once you get an additional chance in the lottery for each year that you play it, up to five. This is the "weighted" part.
3. If you win the lottery and are awarded one of the launch dates you requested, the park will immediately charge your credit card and you will be committed to that date. No refunds if you cancel.
4. Your launch fees and permit application paperwork are due 90 days prior to the launch date . It's better not to wait until the last minute to do this paperwork. It is a long application form.
5. When the park approves your final permit application they will send your permit. You MUST have your permit at the put-in, and on the river.
6. If you want to add more people after the 90 day mark, and before 30 days prior to your trip, it will cost $200 instead of $100 per person.
7. Exactly WHO you bring to the launch doesn't matter, as long as everybody has a photo ID at the put in, and the permitholder is present. You complete the final trip roster and boat list at Lee's Ferry.

!! Alert: Pearce Ferry (the first takeout on Lake Mead) has been closed since May 2002 (due to extremely low water in the reservoir). The first takeout access is South Cove, and tow services have limited ability to go upstream past Pearce.

!!Alert:  The Hualapai Tribal fees for use of the Diamond Creek access have been increasing by $5 per year.   In 2007 the fee was $50, plus the 7% tribal "tax".  One fee must be paid for each person (including drivers and river runners) and another fee for each vehicle that travels the Diamond Creek Road.

Colorado River, Westwater Canyon

Westwater River Permits
Bureau of Land Management
Grand Resource Area
82 E. Dogwood #G
Moab, UT 84532-2968
(435)259-7012    8 am-12 noon

http://www.blm.gov/utah/moab/ww-info.html
Flows: National Weather Service River Forecast Center (801) 539-1311

Lottery applications are only accepted during the month of January, though there are often adequate flows outside the permit season, when you can call in for a first-come, first served permit. The cost is $7 per person.

Dolores River

Information: (970) 565-7562
Information: (970) 385-1354
Flow Predictions: Dolores Water Conservancy District (970) 565-7562
or http://www.doloreswater.com
Current flow: BOR (800) 276-4828
Or call BLM (970) 385-1354 or visit their web page for links to flows.

The spring snowmelt in this corner of the Rockies is typically early and short, and in some years sufficient flows for boating do not occur.  Releases from McPhee Reservoir at Cortez are controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation, and only occur when the reservoir is full and the inflow is substantial, most commonly in late April or early May, with the flow period ranging from 2 weeks to 2 months.  The Dolores Water Conservancy District may offer information on reservoir levels and predicted inflows.

The Dolores offers 174 runnable miles from Cahone to the confluence with the Colorado, and you can continue 32 miles on the Colorado to Moab.  The runs start at 6,400 feet in the remote Alpine terrain of the San Juan Mountains, and carve down into a red-rock desert plateau.  Trip lengths vary from overnight to two weeks, and there is highway access about every 50 miles.  The last 80 miles to the confluence with the Colorado is rarely run.

The river is mostly class II and III punctuated by one class IV named Snaggletooth.  The lower section has long stretches of placid water.  A few side hikes come highly recommended, including Coyote Wash, Beaver, Fisher, Maverick and Red Canyons.

In Colorado no permits are required, but groups must self-register at the launch point and obey the usual requirement intended to promote the Leave No Trace land ethic; limit group size, carry a fire pan, groover, etc.  In Utah permits are required, and can be obtained from the same BLM office that permits Westwater Canyon, at (435) 259-7012 from 8 am to noon.

Green & Yampa Rivers, Canyon of Lodore

Yampa: From Deer Lodge Park to Split Mountain Campground is 70 miles of scenic river, joining with the Green downstream from Lodore in Echo Park.

It costs $15 to apply for a permits, and the odds of getting a peak season launch are about 5% (worse than the Selway!). A multi-day permit costs $125. If you apply for more than one river and one launch date, your lottery application will be destroyed. You application must arrive in their office by January 31st (and after December 1).

Green River, Desolation Canyon

Lottery applications are available in December, and accepted in January by snail mail only.   The fee season is March 1 through October 31, and you may draw a launch in the lottery if you have your application in their office prior to February 1. The launches that are not allocated in the lottery will be listed on the web site, and if you have a permit application on file you may pick up a launch by telephone. For the non-fee season a permit is still required.

Launches that are not allocated in the lottery will be listed on the web site, and if you have a permit application on file you may pick up a launch by telephone.  Sixty percent of the launches awarded by the lottery are cancelled, and most cancellations occur 30 days prior to the launch date when the applicant fails to make payment.  For the non-fee season a permit is still required.  The cost during fee season is $18 per person, and you pay at the time that you get the launch date.

Rio Chama

For more information on the river get a Guide to the Wild & Scenic Rio Chama from the Public Land Interpretive Association at (505) 438-7542.

Lottery pplications are accepted between December 1 and January 31, for the permitted dates which include May 1 through June 8, and weekends from mid-July through the end of August. A charge of $5 per person is payable to the BLM.

Rio Grande - Lower Taos Box Canyon

Rio Grande - Big Bend Canyons

Here you will find a wealth of beautiful desert canyons, and the permits are still free! Get your permit from any ranger or at the park visitor center. Regs are available on the web site. You can also obtain your permit for the Lower Canyons (which are outside the park boundaries) from Big Bend National Park personnel.

As a result of 9-11 all informal border crossings are closed and patrolled, and even river runners are not permitted to visit towns on the Mexican side, on penalty of fines up to $5,000 or worse. River trips are permitted to cross the international border, which is the center of the river. River runners must complete a US Customs declaration form upon completing the trip.

• Colorado Canyon - Rancherias Canyon to Lajitas is 19 miles of class II-III whitewater. Colorado Canyon is upstream from the National Park, and located in Big Bend Ranch State Park. (Permits are obtainable for $10 at Warnock Cenger in Lajita, TX)
• Santa Elena Canyon - Lajitas to Cottonwood is 18 miles of class I-II water except for the class III Rockslide Rapid.
• Mariscal Canyon - Talley to Solis is 10 miles of exquisite canyon, class I-II.
• San Vicente Canyon - A minor canyon.
• Hot Springs Canyon - Another minor canyon, except that there are springs on both the US and Mexican sides, just above the Mexican town of Boquillas.
• Boquillas Canyon - Rio Grande Village to LaLinda is 23 miles of easy, class I-II water in a beautiful canyon. An excellent intro to Big Bend river running.
• Lower Canyons - Designated Wild and Scenic, this section begins at LaLinda and travels 84 miles through rugged Chihuahuan Desert terrain to Ten-Eyck Crossing. The whitewater is mostly mild but sometimes class III, and many people make this trip in canoes. This canyon is downstream from the National Park, but still permitted by the park.
  

Rogue River

Salmon River, Lower

Permits are required for all overnight boating trips, year round, and all day trips from July 1 through Labor Day. Self-issue permits are available at major launch sites of Hammer Creek Recreatin Site and Graves Creek at Pine Bar, as well at the BLM office in Cottonwood.

Salt River, Upper

Normally a 4 day trip, the controlled wilderness section begins 20 miles downstream from the launch point. Apply for your wilderness permit accordingly one or two days later than you plan to launch. A Wilderness permit is required from March 1st to May 15th. Your application must arrive in the Tonto National Forest office between December 1st and January 15th. Group size is limited to 15.

The White Mountain Apache Tribe requires day permits for camping and river use from the bridge to the Wilderness section. Apache permits are available at the Salt River Canyon Store only during the day when the store is open, and cost $15/person/day.

In 2002 the largest fires in the history of Arizona burned much of the Salt headwaters in the White Mountains, filling the river with black charcoal and increasing sediment runoff.

San Juan River

Lottery applications are only accepted during the month of January.

Selway, Snake, Middle Fork and Main Salmon Rivers

Selway - The Selway at higher flows is one of the most difficult and remote extended whitewater raft trips in the United States. Launch at Paradise Guard Station and run to Selway Falls. The gradient averages 28 feet per mile. There are miles of Class III and IV rapids which at higher flows become continuous. At low flows the Selway is super-technical. Launches are regulated May 15 to July 31.

Snake-Hells Canyon - Hell's Canyon is North America's deepest river canyon, but that's not obvious from the bottom. The 67-1/2 miles of Wild & Scenic River corridor has several Class IV rapids with booming holes. Launches in the Wild River segment are regulated with reservations required from the Friday before Memorial Day through September 15. Self issue permits are required year long for all other boating.

Salmon, Main Fork - Punctuated occasionally by a major class III or IV rapid, the Main Salmon flows 100 miles through the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. Lottery applications accepted December 1st through January 31st.

Salmon, Middle Fork - This run is 100 miles from alpine firs to open forested hills, and is designated Wild & Scenic. There are hot springs to visit nearly every day, though you are only allowed to camp at one hot springs in your trip. Lottery applications are accepted December 1st through January 31st.

Smith River

Lottery applications must be received by February 15. Dates may be available, first come after the lottery, starting on Mary 20. The rules are posted at Camp Baker, and you can get a copy by calling (406) 454-5840.

Tuolumne River