We did this rafting trip almost 5 years ago! We all lived - don't panic just because it's called The River of No Return.
Luckily we went in late summer when the rapids weren't as big as they could be. DDs were 13 & 11 (had her bday out there, everyone made a big deal of it which was cute). We had guides who brought all the food and did all the cooking, bedding/tents, knew what was going on, etc., so that was great! But I learned for sure on this trip I'm more an actual Glamping person, rather than a Groover person.
The hot spring we went to was amazing. I lost count of how many bald eagles we saw. We lived through a thunderstorm. We saw a wild mare and her mule (and they saw me on the groover
). We saw a hermit's cabin and all his preparations to deal with an invasion of the government (this was amazing, I am looking for his name. It's now like a rest stop on the river, I'm sure he's rolling in his grave). We looked across the river at another time zone, which I thought was crazy lol!
Sorry but we didn't do any exploring before/after, we went out quick to meet up with friends who were touring for the whole summer, then right back home.