Looking for Grand Canyon rafting but only have a day and DONT want whitewater rapids? Try a float tour. This article turns the spotlight on these trips...

1. 1 Day Grand Canyon
Water Rafting Tours
By Julie Rainier
© 2012
http://www.grandcanyonwaterrafting.com/1-day-grand-canyon-rafting

2. Float Tours - Take Your Pick
I usually assumed that if I needed to go rafting the Grand Canyon
that I'd have to sign up for a two-week mega-tour. Well, that's
simply not the case. There are many 1-day trips available and
honestly they're very satisfying and incredibly fun.
The most well liked one-day rafting tours are at the South Rim in
the National Park. These are all-day trips and they are accessible
to all including kids four years of age and older. Options include
going on a plane or bus ride to Page, AZ, where you can board
your pontoon raft at the base of magnificent Glen Canyon Dam.

3. Float Tours - Bus & Raft
The bus variation of this tour is less expensive than the plane one.
Both start off from Grand Canyon Village or from Grand Canyon
Airport. The route to Page is quite interesting. You go along the
South Rim to the East Rim just before heading north past the
Navajo Indian Reservation and the Painted Desert.
The coach package goes straight to the Colorado River. The plane
trip incorporates a Jeep side-trip to Antelope Canyon, a
remarkable landscape of unique, pastel-colored rock structures.
To go to the banks of the river, you will need to drive through a
two-mile access tunnel.

4. Float Tours - Pontoon Rafts
These pontoon rafts are massive and can seat up to 19 people.
They are loaded with an outboard motor and can pretty much
handle any sort of water conditions. That said, this is a smooth-
water float tour, which means there won't be any rapids.

5. Float Tours - The Route
The first major landmark is Horseshoe Bend, a gorgeous curve in
the Colorado River that is distinguished by bright orange
sandstone and turquoise blue waters. This area has been
photographed extensively and is known around the world for its
natural contrasts.
This 1 day float tour includes pulling out on a beach and taking
an easy stroll to a cliff wall that has been imprinted with
petroglyphs, an indication that ancient peoples settled and thrived
in this region millennia ago. Many visits stop here for lunch.

6. Float Tours - The Route
The entire smooth-water float trip is 15 miles and ends at Lee's
Ferry. Only an old fort and an abandoned trading post remain.
There's a load of activity here, however, as it's here where all the
big, commercial whitewater rafting trips commence.

7. Float Tours - The Return
You'll get on a climate-controlled luxury motor coach for the ride
back to your accommodations on the South Rim. Look out on the
return as you will be treated to an amazing canyon sunset, which,
in my view, is the ideal bookend to this extraordinary journey.

8. Float Tours - Summary
There are many things to do at the Grand Canyon. But I think one
of the best day trips is the 1-day smooth-water rafting tour,
particularly when you bundle it with an airplane ride to the Glen
Canyon Dam. The sense of having accomplished something
special pervades you when you finish this experience. And it
should. You've literally seen the canyon from top to bottom, and
that is something few individuals can claim.
More infomation at: http://www.grandcanyonwaterrafting.
com/