Belknap's Waterproof Grand Canyon River Guide All New Edition

This book is, or should be, required reading before and during a trip through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. It is absolutely chock full of information, pictures, and tips on making the trip incredible. It should be read before the trip, in the morning to review the day's planned river section, in the evening to recap the day's trip, and as a daily log (with a waterproof marker) for a keepsake. This book is outstanding, and almost as important as dry clothes in making the trip pleasurable.

On the second day of our rafting trip through the lower Grand Canyon we got to far to the left on rapid 231 and our raft overturned dumping eight of us in the water along with our gear. I had Belknap's Waterproof Grand Canyon River Guide in my day pack which I though was secured, but the strap securing it broke and the pack went through the rapids, along with most of us, and was later fished out by one of the other boats. When I got it and checked it out it was fine other than the water causing the pages to stick together somewhat. But, it was in very good shape and proved to be a very useful guide throughout the four day trip. I highly recommend this book if you are planning a trip down the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon. Besides being an excellent guide to the entire canyon experience and the rapids encountered, it also gives interesting historical information and many pictures of things you'll want to see for yourself. It's not a book for river guides, but is great for the rest of us.

If you are taking a commercial raft trip down the Grand Canyon, buy this book before you go. It will become your Bible, your diary, your reference book, your constant companion. Many people on our trip were keeping journals and this book is indispensable for keeping daily information accurate; we marked where we camped each night and referred to it for mileage information, names of rapids--I can't stress enough that you MUST have this book. The few people who hadn't bought it borrowed copies constantly from others so they knew where we were as we traveled and could view what was coming up the next day. Its small size and waterproof pages make it ideal. Even our river guides had a copy.

It sounds to good to be true, but this is the best book out there and has been ever since it was first published. And as it is revised has only become better. It is a must have for anyone who has taken or plans to take a white-water rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. It leases nothing out and calls your attention to many things you might miss since there is so much to see. I have taken three trips and counting and this guide has been indepensable! And the fact that it is waterproof, yet you can still write on the pages is awesome. Truly a guide/book you cannot do without!

Don't let the cover fool you. This is an absolutely fantastic book. We just returned from a 7 day raft trip in the Grand Canyon. This book was recommended by our rafting company. It's easy to read and has lots of interesting and useful information on the canyon geology, plants and animals, and a graphical mile by mile guide to the river. It includes interesting historical notes and shows every rapid and side trip of interest. We made the mistake of not buying it before the trip. Another guest on the raft had this book and used it constantly. We were so impressed with the book that we purchased it upon our return. A must buy before a rafting trip in the canyon.