This applies to GCW guests on Upper or Lower Canyon trips from April 2015 through July 2015:

The National Park Service is performing maintenance work on a pipeline that supplies water to resthouses below the rim of Grand Canyon. Until the maintenance is completed, the park has shut off the water supply at most of these resthouses. This means, instead of having three water refilling stations on your hike, you will have just one opportunity to refill your water bottles. The only place on Bright Angel Trail that will have water is Indian Garden, which is about midway between the South Rim and the Colorado River. (You will have unlimited access to water at the South Rim and on our boats.)

Please make sure you completely refill your water supply at Indian Garden and please make sure your water container has the capacity to carry about 2 liters of water. If you are taking small drinks regularly throughout your hike, you should be ready for a full refill by the time you reach Indian Garden.

You should not have to ration water on your hike, but you also need to make sure you aren’t drinking so much water that you flush all the electrolytes (salt) out of your body. It is important for you to eat salty foods throughout your hike to replace what is lost in your sweat. A good rule of thumb is to take a bite of food with every drink of water.

Please let Grand Canyon Whitewater know if you have any questions about any of this.