April 2019
The V-Wave
Your connection to AzRA & the Colorado River!
About the V Wave
The V Wave (named after the legendary wave in Lava Falls rapid) keeps you connected with AzRA Grand Canyon, the river community, and the Canyon. If you have trouble viewing this email, please follow the link at the top of this message to view a web version.   

This spring edition features a rapids 101 article, a guide profile on Brad Dimock, a little blurb on where we buy salmon for our river adventures, and a river recipe of our BBQ Chicken and sides. Also, do you like writing blog articles? See below if you'd be interested in writing a guest blog (or two) for us!

Lastly, don't forget the links at the bottom of the newsletter. These Grand Canyon related sites were chosen just for you!
Grand Canyon Rapids 101

BIG, scary, huge, wild, wet and dangerous; these are just a few of the adjectives people often hear describing rapids on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Many videos and movies depict enormous rapids without end, resulting with rafts flipping all the time. For the novice rafter, this creates a misguided impression as to the true nature of the river and her rapids. The reality is that well over 95% of the river in Grand Canyon is flat, calm water. In fact, many of the named rapids on the Colorado River are not that huge and are quite easily navigated.

Read the rest of the article below to find out more details on how rapids in Grand Canyon are formed, and whether the Colorado River is considered a technical river, or a big water river.

Troller Point Fisheries-Our Salmon Supplier
Photo by Ed Ettel

On every one of our rafting adventures, the very first night’s dinner is delicious salmon, served with spinach salad and quinoa pilaf. We like to support as many environmentally conscious food providers as possible, and after our previous salmon vendor decided to slow his business down, we had to look into some other options.

That’s when we found Troller Point Fisheries! They provide really beautiful salmon to us, and they’re also a small family-owned sustainable business. Their salmon comes from southeast Alaska, and uses an environmentally friendly safe hook-and-line for all of their fishing.

BBQ Chicken, Grits, Squash and Mexican Caesar Salad
Photo by Jean Adams (used Pork Chops in pic, but now made with BBQ chicken)

Remember eating all that delicious food on your rafting adventure with us? Did you know that we have put together quite a few of the most popular meals into recipes on our blog? Check it out!

The newest addition to our River Recipes section on the blog features the popular BBQ chicken, southwest-inspired grits and squash, and the delicious Mexican Caesar Salad.

Take a moment to step back into river life and take a look at this recipe! Or better yet, try it at home!

Meet Brad Dimock
Photo by David Zickl

Some of you may know Brad, or have heard of him. He's been around Grand Canyon since 1973 after moving to Arizona to attend Prescott College. During a short stint of retirement in the late 90s, he wrote a few books on early mythic river runners, Buzz Holmstrom, Glen & Bessie Hyde and Bert Loper. He came back to guiding in the 2000s, which is when he started guiding at AzRA.

He's also a boat-builder and boat-fixer here in Flagstaff, Arizona, and travels to Maine to teach and work on boats at WoodenBoat School in Maine.

You'll find Brad rowing dories and oar rafts, mostly these days, and he hopes for a few years still in Grand Canyon, a place he centers his life around.

Want to raft with us in 2021?

We're hoping to have an opening day for 2021 reservations either end of this year, or early 2020. If you'd like to go on a Grand Canyon rafting adventure with us in 2021, click the button below to join our 2021 Opening Day email list. As soon as we set an official opening day date, we'll email everyone on the list with instructions on how to make your 2021 reservation.

If you're interested in putting a charter together, contact our office now to join our charter interest list.

Stay in the know and join now!

Write a blog article for us!

We are always looking for new blog content! You could write an article on anything from a unique or really great experience you had on the river, your favorite thing you learned, your favorite hike or rapid, your favorite boat type you've experienced in Grand Canyon, or something you know quite a bit about regarding Grand Canyon or the Colorado River! The choices are pretty endless. If you're interested, send an email to megan@azraft.com with your idea, and we'll get you started!