September 2023
Packing in a Carry On: Camping and Rafting Trip along the Colorado River – The Grand Canyon
This was certainly I trip I did not see coming but WOW. I will start by saying I have never camped before so this was such a challenge to pack for – I had no clue what I needed to survive in the outdoors. The company we traveled with provides all the food and camping gear and then gave us a list of things we needed to pack, most of which were clothing items. I did a bunch of research to curate my packing list for our camping and rafting trip along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.
The Pack
Despite all the outdoors and hiking trips we have taken, we have never purchased a legit hiking backpack. And now that we have one, we cannot believe we did such long, intense trails without them. This will be a staple for all our outdoors trips moving forward. After a bunch of research, we ended up with the REI Traverse 32L. The feature I liked most about this pack? The water bottle sleeve is behind the pack itself so the space of the water bottle does not encroach on the space of the inside of the bag. While it was a bit snug for all the items we packed on this trip, we did not want to purchase something too big to limit its utility in the future. This size will be a perfect day bag for hiking and worked well for this trip.
In addition, I also packed my Walker Family Goods Sling Bag, a packable day backpack, this packable bag for miscellaneous use and laundry, and a small waterproof bag along with waterproof cases for the cell phones.
Clothes
We had to pack extremely light and for two different situations – hot and wet / cold and dry. My logic was packing two items of these items would ensure that if the first set was wet / dirty, I had a second ready to go and would have time to wash it in the river and let it dry.
- UV shirts (2)
- Shorts (2) – one athletic, one compression
- Bathing suits (2)
- Rain jacket
- Fleece jacket
- Leggings (1)
- Merino wool tops – one 150 base layer for the day and on 250 base layer for at night
- Merino wool socks
- Shoes included the Xero hiking shoes and Xero sandals
- What I wore on the plane:
Toiletries
Not too much variation from my typical toiletry bag – what you need to take care of yourself is the same regardless of where you are.
Walker Family Goods Toiletry Bag
- Medications (Ibupofen, Tums)
- Deodorant
- Bar of solid soap
- Contacts
- Solid sunscreen
- Lush solid shampoo
- Toothbrush with sanitizer pod / floss
- Hair Brush
- Razor /Spare razor head
- Band-Aids/first-aid and Q-tips, and sports tape for blisters
- Hair accessory bag (headband, hair ties, hair clips)
- Lip balm
- Travel detergent
- Reusable bag
- Tooth paste
- Travel size body lotion
- Travel size conditioner
- Travel size face wash
- Face moisturizer in repurposed container
- Steroids/Aquaphor (for my terribly dry skin)
- Hand sanitizer
- Contact solution
Electronics
How to charge devices when spending five days at the bottom of the Grand canyon? A question I posed to many but laughed on why I would need such things when there will be no service. Well, I need to photograph and video this entire experience! I welcome the disconnection – reminds me a lot of storm chasing actually – but while my phone sits on airplane mode, I need it to have a charge to use as my camera. I went back and forth on bringing my “nice’ camera and ultimately decided against it and instead, packed the Go-Pro.
- Solar powered bank
- Phone power bank charger
- Gopro 5 and accessories
- Tripod
- Kindle
- Head lamp
- And since I was not bringing my computer, I packed a notebook to document the details of the trip
Camp Stuff
This was an area that could certainly go overboard on Amazon but we wanted to minimize the number of new things for this trip or one-time use only items and hopefully have some utility for any items we did purchase. I actually only had to make a few purchases such as giving in to finally buying a wide brim hat which I have been avoiding for many years, a thicker towel since it would be essential for happiness, and a water bladder which I have wanted to get anyway.
- Stuff sack for pillow
- Towel
- Gallon and ziplock bags
- Carabiners
- Water proof wide rim hat
- Sunglasses and straps
- Hand sanitizer
- Buffs
- Water bladder
Pack it Up
So how did this go? Well let’s just say, I over packed quite a bit. Now that I have gone on this trip, I can confidently give the ultimate packing list for white water rafting and camping through the Grand Canyon.