Let me start by saying we have used this company every year for past 10 years and always had a great time so I considered this was maybe a fluke and I waited weeks before deciding to write this review...but it's still bothering me. We did half day Numbers (me, my husband, 17 yo daughter and her 17 yo boyfriend). We had another Father and his adult son with us. The 17 yo's chose to sit up front and our guide (his name was "Dude") said that the people up front needed to be good paddlers. We got stuck on at least 2-3 rocks (one for almost 15 min) that we probably shouldn't have even hit. It felt like his steering/planning wasn't great. "Dude" pulled us over to yell at the kids and even cussed at them using the F word. I'm not offended by the F word in general but don't cuss at my kid using it. It was totally unprofessional. After the 2nd rock we were stuck on, I asked if we should maybe switch them out since CLEARLY he was pissed at them and he snapped at me with a "NO!" At this point everyone in the boat was uncomfortable. If you really want the stronger people in the front then why wouldn't we switch...and at that point the kids just wanted to get out and go home anyway. The other crappy thing about the "half" day was that we had to be there by 830a, didn't leave for the water until 915 and the numbers is so fast it was only 90 min at most on the water. Not their fault but don't bother with a half day...go for the full day. Also, at the end when we pulled over to get out, there was a Father and his 2 young sons fly fishing by the beach and our guide basically rammed into one of the kids trying to get to the beach without even asking them to move over or saying excuse me. That Dad was pissed. I will admit that my daughter's boyfriend had never rafted before and maybe got confused a few times early on but he's a 17 yo football player who is strong and figured it out quickly. If you're going to expect more from your paddler's then don't let them sit up front, and maybe increase the min age to 18. I guarantee my kids did better than any 14 yo's who are allowed on this trip but maybe they get cussed at too. We just all felt like he got us stuck on the rocks, then couldn't figure out how to get us UNstuck, and then got mad at us for it. The rest of the staff there were AWESOME and friendly and we've always had great guides before but we'll probably go with another company next time.
Response from Host
Jul 2021
Gina,
Thank you for the review. The Numbers section is for advanced paddlers and demands aggressive paddling. While your opinion is understandable from your perspective, the safety of your group and the others on the raft was paramount. The teenage paddlers were not following instructions and quit paddling several times which resulted in the incidents you mentioned. The guide navigated you and your family safely with no incidents other than getting stuck. We are sorry you didn't enjoy this trip and we do take pride in delivering a high quality product. We appreciate that you had been rafting with us before and hope you will give us another opportunity in the future.