# Propane for Grand Canyon trip



## briandburns (Jan 12, 2010)

Need your opinion on how much propane to bring on a Jan/Feb Grand Canyon trip, 23 days, 13 people.
Thanks very much for your input.


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## Peev (Oct 24, 2003)

We took four on a January trip for 6 people, 25 days. We had a bit left over as we were pretty conservative with it, at least as much as you can be in the winter. If room allows I'd take 2 more than what you're planning on.


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## Badazws6 (Mar 4, 2007)

We just got off Sat. 8 people 23 days and I think we used about 50 pounds and took about 80 pounds. We had easy meals and easy clean up though, half the time we didn't heat wash water. I did take a Mr Heater that I think I used about 10 pounds with. I don't want to recommend how much you take besides take enough your sure you will not run out, just sharing how we did.


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Kind of depends on what your taking for stoves and such.


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## briandburns (Jan 12, 2010)

caverdan said:


> Kind of depends on what your taking for stoves and such.


Partner and Coleman propane stoves and lantern.....no Blasters or heaters.


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## The Mogur (Mar 1, 2010)

briandburns said:


> Need your opinion on how much propane to bring on a Jan/Feb Grand Canyon trip, 23 days, 13 people.
> Thanks very much for your input.


The formula that I use (and have never run short) is 0.33 lbs/person/day.
For you, that's 99 lbs. (23 gal.). We cook on a 4-burner Partner stove, plus we have a crab cooker for boiling a big tub of water for dishes at every meal.


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## The Mogur (Mar 1, 2010)

briandburns said:


> Partner and Coleman propane stoves and lantern.....no Blasters or heaters.


You should consider taking a blaster. If the river is running muddy (and there's always a good chance that it will be), the chances of bacterial contamination are high. You'll need to strain out the silt and then boil the water, to be safe. See: http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f15/dealing-with-silt-33796.html


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Mogur has some good advice. I'd take 4 20lb bottles and my 10lb as a back up. That give you 5 days per bottle. Good luck and have fun. I like putting a life jacket around each bottle for padding and to help them float if they get away from you.


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## Peev (Oct 24, 2003)

Gotta agree with Mogur, a blaster is highly recommended especially for a January/Febuary trip. You're going to need to heat up a lot of water!


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## dgosn (Sep 8, 2006)

I used 6 out of 8 in 32 days dec/jan, it was also colder than usual during our trip. We did little to conserve, ran the blaster every morning & every night. Had we been just a little more careful we could have done it with 4. We also had a tank that developed a leak on the regulator, and lost most of the gas, so that's a reason to take an couple extras....

I'd be more concerned with bourbon rationing.........


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## David L (Feb 13, 2004)

Propane is one of those things that you absolutely don't want to be without. Try to bring at least one tank per boat. Think about having a couple of tanks for a propane campfire, too, in addition to tanks for the stove & blaster.

Who cares if that's way too much propane? Man, just imagine how screwed you will be if you didn't have enough, even for the last 2 or 3 days. You never know if you might lose an entire tank or two to a flip, leaky valve, whatever.

Bring as many tanks as you can reasonably fit onto your boats.



briandburns said:


> Need your opinion on how much propane to bring on a Jan/Feb Grand Canyon trip, 23 days, 13 people.
> Thanks very much for your input.


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## sealion (Oct 13, 2008)

Bring it all- all the booze, all the chocolate, all the propane, all the cheese, all the beer you can possibly imagine!!! Any thing you think you can't do without, bring extra. 

I hope you have no more than one passenger per boat, but you can squeeze in one extra person for every three boats. I can't believe how much crap we bring on our winter trips.

As for propane, 5x 20#s really should be enough. You can also go 5 days on each and then switch to the next so you know you have a little reserve left in the last one you used. Towards the end of the trip you can go back the earlier ones and drain 'em if you want to make it easier to fill 'em when you get off.

Dave


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## briandburns (Jan 12, 2010)

Thanks to all who responded to my GC propane question. 
Just got back from the Canyon.

We ended up going 25 days with 14 people launching Jan. 25th.
Used just about exactly 4 of our 5 propane canisters (5-gal. size).

So, our formula came out to about 0.23 gal. per person per day.

I'd take the same amount next winter trip, as it's nice to have a spare just in case.

Thanks again for the advice.

Brian


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## David L (Feb 13, 2004)

You used only 20 pounds of propane? That's not much at all, way below average for 25 days. How did you do that?


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## lmaciag (Oct 10, 2003)

I think you are confusing your units of measure, gallons vs pounds. Drives me batty as propane is generally referred to in weight not volume as volume fluctuates greatly with temp.

However, 5 gal is 20# in the propane world. Therefore 20 gal = 80#, or 4 standard backyard bbq size tanks.


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## lmaciag (Oct 10, 2003)

The math wasn't working out in my head, so I grabbed a calculator. In case someone is using the formula above, it really is .23 pounds (not gallons) per day or .057 gallons based on the data provided above.


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## briandburns (Jan 12, 2010)

lmaciag said:


> In case someone is using the formula above, it really is .23 pounds (not gallons) per day...


Right you are, thanks for the proofread. 
We needed 4 of the regular BBQ size propane bombs. We weren't necessarily trying to conserve, and the weather was typical GC winter weather.


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## David L (Feb 13, 2004)

I should have realized he was saying that they used 4 20 pound propane tanks. That makes more sense. Oops, sorry about that.


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## Colorado Ice (Jul 7, 2009)

*Need your opinion on how much propane to bring on a Jan/Feb Grand Canyon trip, 23 day*

So, how much propane for a May trip---16 days, 16 people. Looks to me like 0.3 lbs per person per day would be more than enough. Does that seem reasonable.

Bob


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## The Mogur (Mar 1, 2010)

Colorado Ice said:


> How much propane for a May trip---16 days, 16 people. Looks to me like 0.3 lbs per person per day would be more than enough. Does that seem reasonable.


0.3 lbs per person per day should do it. On my commercial trips, I always allowed 0.33 because I couldn't take a chance on running out. I never did. For you, that'll be four tanks (5 gallon size).


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## sealion (Oct 13, 2008)

Just got back, 7 peeps, 2 cook groups, 1 20# (5 gal) and one not yet empty 10# (2.5 gal). Using a 4 burner partner stove- they are pretty efficient.


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## brandob9 (Jun 13, 2010)

I also just got back. 7 people, 20 days. We used 2,5 bombs, or about 50lbs. I'm at 0.36 lb/person/day running a partner 4 burner and a blaster.


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