Wilderness River Adventures (WRA) began running river trips in Glen Canyon again last week with a fleet of rafts that have many obvious upgrades over the rafts Colorado River Discovery (CRD) used during their eleven years as the river concessionaire.

The main changes to the rafts were implemented with increased fuel efficiency in mind. When transporting passengers downriver the rafts will use a 25 horsepower Lehr propane motor, which will be sufficient as they’re going with the flow of the river.

When they make the return trip upriver, and against the current, they’ll lower a 150HP gas-powered motor into the river and use it. The 25HP propane motors haven’t been installed yet, but will be later during the course of the season.

The second adaptation made to the rafts to increase the fuel efficiency of the fleet is that they’re quite a bit longer than the rafts used by CRD. WRA’s news rafts feature 32 foot long pontooons supporting a 24 foot frame.

The longer rafts can seat 32 passengers, whereas the old rafts had a maximum passenger occupancy of 22. Two of the new rafts will be able to transport the same amount of passengers as three of the old rafts, which will produce less pollution overall, and be a big money saver for WRA’s bottom operation costs.

Another big change to the rafts is that several of them will comply to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Several of the rafts will have a wheelchair accessible ramp that can be lowered to accommodate their passengers in wheelchairs.

While the Park Service doesn’t release details why one bid was chosen over the others, it’s believed that WRA’s more fuel-efficient fleet, and ADA compliant ramps put WRA’s bid at the top.

WRA currently has six of their cliff-colored rafts on the river. Their full fleet will consist of 15 rafts. From this point forward a new raft will be entered into the fleet every week, said Terrol Stayne-Clouse, Glen Canyon Operations Manager for WRA.

The National Park Service awards the contract for a period of ten years. Park Service awarded the contract to Colorado River Discovery in 2006, and they began operations in 2007. Park Service gave them a one year extension on their contract because they (the Park Service) was too busy to review bids in 2016.  WRA held the Glen Canyon rafting contract prior to CRD for decades.

The facility also included a spacious interpretive  center for waiting clients. River passengers will be transported from there to the bottom of the Glen Canyon Dam, where they’ll board a raft and take a three hour tour that ends at Lee’s Ferry.

The tour will include a stop at an Anasazi petroglyph panel. Lunch is available for purchase as well.

WRA is owned by Aramark Management Services. They’re corporate offices are in Philadelphia. Aramark also operates hotel, boat rental, marina, restaurant and tours concessions on Lake Powell, as well as the Page golf course.