2026 Grand Canyon river trip lottery applications now open

PHOENIX — Grand Canyon National Park is now accepting lottery applications for noncommercial river trip permits for 2026.

Applications to raft the Colorado River opened Saturday and will be available until noon on Feb. 25.

A total of 450 permits for the calendar year will be issued for 12 to 25-day trips.

After initially implementing a lottery system in 2006, the park service holds the lottery every February and typically hosts follow-up lotteries to reassign canceled or leftover trips.

After creating a river use account, individuals can also opt-in for email notifications and subscribe to the river RSS feed to be among the first to learn when a lottery has opened.

Who can apply for a Grand Canyon river trip permit?

Individuals are required to be 18 or older to apply and can only participate in one river trip — commercial or noncommercial — per year.

In addition, those who go on a trip must have technical whitewater experience and the excursions must be self-guided.

There’s a $25 fee each year to apply for a permit.

Winners must make a $200 deposit for a small trip (1-8 people) and $400 deposit on a standard trip (up to 16 people). Other costs include $20 entrance fees and $90 river permits per participant. Participants added after a river permit has been issued will incur an additional $100 late charge per participant.

More information can be found on the Grand Canyon website.

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