RRFW Riverwire – Grand Canyon 2026 Lottery Still Open
February 21, 2025
Grand Canyon National Park opened the 2026 river season lottery for 450 self-guided river trips through Grand Canyon on February 1, 2025. The lottery will remain open through noon Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.
An NPS email was sent February 1, 2025 to everyone who created a profile in the Park’s lottery website during past lotteries. That email incorrectly stated lottery winners must pay a nonrefundable deposit by noon Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.
Park staff acknowledged the error. Once lottery hopefuls log into the Lottery page, a notice states if your lottery application wins a launch date you will have to pay a trip deposit by Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 12pm MST. Deposit for a standard trip is $400, for a small trip it is $200. If you fail to pay the required amount by noon, Tuesday March 11, you will lose your launch date.
Last year, the 2024 Main lottery for 2025 self-guided river trips had 8,043 applications for 482 launches. On the evening of February 21, 2025, the lottery already has 5,045 applications.
Applications for the do-it-yourself river trip lottery are being accepted on the Grand Canyon National Park’s lottery website at https://grcariverpermits.nps.gov/index.cfm and all applicants must have a Login.gov account for added security.
New for this lottery is a change River Runners For Wilderness has been asking for 15 years. In 2006 a regulation was implemented without any public comment that blocked anyone listed as a Potential Alternate Trip Leader from joining the lottery themselves. For 2026, the person added as an Alternate Trip Leader can now apply for their own permit as well. The point reduction is still in place if the Alternate added has less points than the applicant. In these cases, the applicants permit will only have the same points as the listed Alternate.
Of the 450 permits offered this year in the 2026 lottery, 216 full sized trips of up to 16 people are in the winter season, October through March.
In the summer, there are 77 do-it-yourself trips with group sizes of eight or less and 158 trips of up to 16 people.
This is in comparison to the park’s river concessionaires who have 600 summer launches of up to 38 people each trip. The private tour companies operating as concessioners only offer 12 river trips during the entire six-month winter season. Those 12 trips are all in October.
The worst lottery statistic for 2024 occurred in a follow-up lottery where 3,031 applications competed for 41 launch opportunities. One launch date, September 12, 2025, had 1,440 applications.
River runners who purchase access to the river through private tour companies face no parallel lottery obstacles and are free to purchase a trip on a date certain year after year. That guaranteed access comes at a price. A two-night river trip in the western Grand Canyon now costs $2,000 per person not including “taxes and fees.”
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