Half-Day Lower Salt River Rafting Tour

Overview

Float down the Lower Salt River on a guided flatwater rafting trip and discover a scenic and relaxing desert oasis just outside Phoenix and Scottsdale. Swim, play, or just relax on the river and soak in the scenery. This is a family-friendly activity with options to please everyone. A little paddling is required, but your guide will steer the boat and provide fascinating information about the surrounding Sonoran Desert. A reliable source of water, the Salt River attracts a variety of wildlife, making it common for us to enjoy close encounters with animals in their natural habitat

Tours take about four hours including the drive to/from the river and the duration of the tour. Bottled water and snacks, raft/paddles, a life jacket, dry bags, round-trip transportation and National Forest entry fees are included in this trip. Tour is limited to a maximum of 12 travelers.

City: Phoenix

Wed 06 Nov

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $170.00

Make a reservation

Wed 06 Nov

Starting at $170.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

Roundtrip Transportation from Meeting Location (Canal/Hawes PNR: 3055 N Power Rd. Mesa, AZ 85215)

PFD (life jacket), dry bags

Professional guide

Bottled water

Snacks

Fuel surcharge

Raft & paddles

Additional Info

Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Children must be accompanied by an adult
A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
A minimum weight of 35 lbs is required
We require solo-travelers to pay the minimum of the 2-person price. If you are a solo traveler and would like to be added on to a pre-formed group for this tour, please mention this upon booking.

What To Expect

Salt River

Raft down a beginner‐friendly river with REI Co-op Experience's guided raft tours on the Lower Salt River just outside Phoenix and Scottsdale. This class I river (the easiest rating on the international river difficulty scale) provides some of the best opportunities for viewing wildlife and bird watching in the Southwest. We often see wild horses and bald eagles during our tour! Your guides are available to teach you the natural history of the area and give you expert paddling instruction. We select our launch locations based on the current water flow to provide you with the best experience so our start and end points vary throughout the year. Water temperatures may range from approx. 60 degrees F in the winter to low 80 degrees in the summer months. Swimming is possible year‐round but it can be a bit bracing in January!

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (31)

Boris_N

Jul 2021

While I would rate our guides (Ben and Zach) five stars, as they were great, the overall tour left much to be desired (especially given the ridiculously high price). So Tour is 1 star and guides were 5 stars, which is how I ended up with 2 stars total. The Viator description says this is a 4-hour tour and I took that information into serious consideration when booking - it is also called a "half-day tour". However, we were done start to finish in under 2.5 hours and the actual float down the river was about 1.5 hours - so nowhere near the 4-hours or half-day (how is 2.5 hours half a day???). When booking this, I expected to be on the river for much longer than 1.5 hours and both the description and the title suggested that would be the case. Also, the picture shows 4 people on the raft with a guide and that is what I was hoping for. However, there was another family of 4 and our raft was packed - people floating by actually made fun of how packed our raft was. Considering the time on the water and the packed raft, and the ridiculous $450 price tag for a family of 4, I would not recommend this tour to others.

Judy_N

Jun 2021

Who knew there’d be wild horses in the area! It’s always an experience to see wildlife in its natural habitat; one horse was wading across the river - neck deep! This was a low key rafting experience. Excellent guide who did most of the work; we paddled a bit but mostly floated the way down the river encountering a few “surging” areas. For my 15- and 17-year olds, this was not an adventure they’d do again. BUT seeing the wild horses made up the lack of “fun”. For us parents (in our 40s) this was a nice easy morning in the 100+ degree heat of June. Tour provided water and snacks. Guide was informative and fun to talk to.

Charlene_P

Jun 2021

Noel was knowledgeable and engaged. Kendall provided excellent customer care as well. this was our first experience in rafting and it felt safe and we were informed and supported.