Grand Canyon Lottery

The yearly lottery for self guided permits to float the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon requires two steps. First you must set up a User Profile to be eligible to register for the lottery. That part is free. The second step can only be taken when the NPS is actually conducting an On-Line Lottery. Only at that time can you then submit your application along with a $25 fee. Up to five dates may be specified and you will need to have decided ahead of time on the size of your group. You can do either a one to eight person or nine to sixteen person river trip. Start the process today by signing up for the free RRFW Riverwire. Send an e-mail and say "add to Riverwire". We’ll post an announcement when the next Lottery is to be held. You can also visit http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm. Most importantly, see the PDF below for a step by step review of the actual NPS Profile and Lottery web pages.

Lottery Primer (Detailed information with copies of actual NPS web pages about the 2011 lottery application process (2.7MB PDF)).

Lottery Timeline
Date
Action
February 1, 2010
Lottery applications start for the calendar year 2011
noon, February 24, 2010
Lottery applications close
February 27, 2010
3726 applications competed for 274 launch opportunities. The most popular dates are just after the end of motor season in September, chances to win 680 to 1. Many winter trips go unclaimed.  

 

Follow-up Cancelation Lotteries

Grand Canyon National Park will run multiple follow-up lotteries throughout the year. In order to participate in these lotteries, you will need to have set up a profile, and clicked the box to be notified about these cancelation lotteries. See the Lottery Primer for info on how to do this.

RRFW Riverwires on the lottery