We chose this company because of relatively lower charges and the good rating in Tripadviser. Our experience did not come up to the same rating as other reviewers. We are a family of four and were allowed to occupy one boat ourselves which was a good thing comparing to other boats taking 5 – 8 people. Our guide was Jake who was cool to start but was relatively quiet during the downstream journey. We were required to listen to his instruction as to when to paddle and when to stop. But most of the time he told us to stop and he paddled. Other guides relatively involved and engaged their guests but not our guide. We also see other guides allowing their guests to swim in the calm water before the small rapid bringing them to the base. When we asked Jake if we could swim, he was reluctant and said he needed to park the boat first. While we thought that he would park the boat on one side of the calm water, he simply paddled back to the base. We did not know why this happened but just followed what he has required us to do. Shortly settled the boat and as soon as I collected my car key from the office, Jake cycled away apparently he was in his hurry to go off. Not much fun for us.
The experience with an unprofessional guide may be an exception rather than common, as we see other guides had given substantial efforts to keep their guests amused and enjoyed. However, one thing is definitely relevant to the company : the advertisement was that the trip would be 2-hour long but this was largely misleading. The boat trip itself was no more than one hour including considerable idle time. If they involve guests more to do paddling which should be good fun, the boat trip would be definitely shorter. We registered in the office at about 3 pm, then changed, waited to be called, getting our gears, briefing conducted, bus journey, complete the rafting, and get changed, it was 4:55 pm. Do not get me wrong, the rafting in the Upper Pigeon River is worthy to do but we would try another operator next time.