Wahoo’s Whitewater Rafting & Canoeing Outfitters

Went white water rafting with my fiancé and another couple this past weekend. We had a blast the moment we stepped in to the school bus that took us to the river. Our guide Thomas was amazing and extremely knowledgeable about the river and local happenings. All of the guides were witty and funny which made the adventure even better. We had many laughs and splashes during our tour and would definitely recommend this company to our friends and family. So happy we chose Wahoo!

I have been using Wahoo’s since 2005. Every summer I, when my kids were little, we would tube the New with this company. The reason I keep coming back is simple… they are awesome!

My family and I had a great rafting trip down the Nolichucky for Father’s Day. We were split into two smaller boats of three plus a guide, which made our trip down the lowish river more fun. Patrick and Wiik were skilled guides and also knew how to make the trip fun. As advertised, the bus trips to the pull-​out and at pick-​up are quick. The first-​time rafters in our group were disappointed that the rapids weren’t more wild, but no one can fix the river, and it was a beautiful and fun float regardless of water level.
Due to some confusing conversations with office staff and the owner about prices and the best trip for our group, docked one star. Once we showed up, it was a blast!

The owner called us 4 times in less than 10 minutes and left horrible threatening messages. He said he read the bad review and said «remove your negative review or your card will be charged». Is that legal? We ignored his calls. He tried calling back on a «blocked ID» number in hopes we’d answer. Played the crazy message for the owner our hotel. He said he had already heard the guy is nuts and he wished he would’ve been able to warn us beforehand.

My experience at Wahoo’s Adventures on 8÷29÷2015 was very disappointing to say the least.
When we arrived there was no one at the front desk. Shortly later a lady by the name of Mrs. Lilly approaches the counter to greet us. We asked to speak to the lady that we spoke to on the phone and she had no clue as to what we were talking about. We then showed her the Groupon for River Girls and she directed us in the right location. We told her that River Girls were packed to capacity but they were going to do their best to get us in. She started to hand us what looked like an ad for their company just in case we decided to come back on another day to visit their establishment. After making a 2 hour drive from our location and after trying to call River Girls back but there was no signal we just decided to stay at Wahoo’s Adventure. So I then asked Mrs. Lilly if someone of my size would have any issues floating down the river? She said «Oh absolutely» and assured me and my family that I would be just fine. Fast forward, 20 minutes into our journey we were floating peacefully enjoying our time in the river until we all got stuck in the middle of the river on huge rocks. We were not moving at all! My brother-​in-​law, and sister had to get out of their tube to pull me because we assumed that we were just stuck on rocks but that did not seem to work because we were still stuck. We all started walking down the river for about 20 – 30 minutes and the water barely covered our feet. We were thinking, how in the world do they expect people to float with water levels being this low? After walking the river for a long period of time my sister and I decided to rest in the tube as her husband tried to still pull us off of the rocks and as we were resting a young lady who happened to drive by saw that we were stuck and in distress asked us if we were okay and if we would like her to go get help? We accepted her offer and thanked her for her kindness. About 15 – 20 minutes later one of Wahoo’s drivers by the name of Ken had arrived to assist us in finding an exist point from the river. Now keep in mind that we only got to enjoy 20 minutes of floating from the time that we were dropped off until we got stuck on the rocks due to the low water levels that we were NOT informed about before they took our money and about overall 30 – 40 minutes of walking the river. Ken was AMAZING and of great assistance to me and my family. Being overweight I had a extremely difficult time climbing up the hill to exist the river and not one time did he complain about assisting us to safety because it truly was a hard task at hand. Finally we are safe and back at Wahoo’s 2 hours later and we asked to speak to Mrs. Lilly about receiving a refund. She immediately was defensive and not open to giving us a refund. Then she offered us a refund for (One) person of $ 18 and a T-​shirt. We asked her why she was being rude and refusing to give us a full refund considering we were only able to float 20 minutes from the time that we were dropped off. The rest of the time was spent walking on the rocks and being rescued. She said that we were gone for 2 hours so we must have enjoyed ourselves. I asked her if this is how they treat all their customers because poor customer service can negatively impact your business. After her and my sister going back and forth for a good 30 – 35 minutes she then offers us a 50% refund. So I gave her my Visa card so she could give us an unfair 50% refund but before doing so she decided to make a phone call to Jeff Stanley which I assume is the owner of the place. During the phone call I overhead her tell the man on the other line the we were upset due to us not being able to enjoy ourselves while tubing because of the low water levels and having to walk the river for a long period of time. Mrs. Lilly then hands the phone over to my sister for (The Owner Jeff Stanley) to speak to her about what we had experienced. Thinking that he would be understanding of the situation I assumed that he would have handled this in a more professional manner than Mrs. Lilly but so much for assuming. He was a pompous, arrogant jerk who talked to my sister in a very demeaning way. I could not hear the first half of the conversation because my sister could not find the speaker phone on their cordless phone but we did capture some of the recording and how he talked to her on the phone. Overall, Jeff Stanley told Mrs. Lilly that he did not want us to receive a refund because we prevented ourselves from having a good time and we should be mad at Mother Nature not him. At this point my sister had had enough of this clown and we did NOT want a refund because he obviously needed the money and was willing to loss good business. Word of Mouth marketing can hurt ones business especially when you have connections. We just wanted to enjoy our day and that was spoiled by this establishment that does bad business and robs customers of their money.

I’ll start by saying that we had an AWESOME tubing trip down the New River. We laughed and squealed and just had a blast. The water was chilly but, not uncomfortable.
Now, the reason why I gave it a 3 instead of a 5. When we arrived we were shocked to find a line wrapped out the door and around the building. Once we got inside the door to checkin, we saw the problem… there was ONE person checking everyone in. Because of this we spent an HOUR standing in line waiting to check in. I cannot even begin to fathom why no one was helping the ONE woman behind the desk. It was absolutely ridiculous.
Another small but irritating issue was the bathroom situation. There were two toilets in the checkin building (which we saw people having to come out and ask for toilet paper for), and there were two of the most disgusting Porto John’s that I have ever seen in my life. I have been to many BMW motorcycle rallies with thousands of attendees and never in my life have I seen any Porto John’s in such a disgraceful state.
Once we were handed. Off to our van driver, the day was GREAT! She was super friendly and drove us to our starting point on the river. The guy who helped us get our tubes was also very nice. Overall we felt like they really needed more staff.
While we had an awesome day, I’m not sure if we would use Wahoo’s again…

I wasn’t quiet sure what to expect since this was my first white water rafting trip. I went in a little stressed & left with the most awesome experience and wanting to raft again. I will definitely use Wahoos again. Patrick & Tomas were the main tour guides. Very informative, funny and through in instructions. Big Kudos on lunch time. Perfect lunch & perfect area to eat. The scenery was beautiful the entire trip. The entire staff was awesome!!!

We just spent the day tubing on the new river with wahoo’s and it was wonderful. From the time we called and booked our reservations to today going tubing everyone was so nice and helpful. Our guide who drove us to the launch spot both times was super sweet. We will definitely be back for many years to come.

Rude phone conversation and less then acceptable service. I don’t give money to rude people. Customer service ⁰⁄₁₀

We had a very pleasant time doing the full day white water rafting trip. There was 6 of us; my dad, sister, my boyfriend, his nephew, and his mom. Our guide was Wick and he was amazing! Most of us had been WWR before up in Colorado and PA, so when we got down to the mostly twos, it got a little boring, he made it a lot of fun by putting the boat through areas you think it wouldn’t fit. He was informative about the Rapids. The sad part was the area that looked like a lot of fun was too low for a boat to run through with more than one person, so we took a small hike.
Thank you for a great day on the river with family!

Just went rafting yesterday with my wife and 2 daughters. It was my 7 year old daughters first time and I was a little bit uneasy to say the least. Our guide was Bert and he was fantastic! He interacted with her and really made the trip awesome! I highly recommend him and the company.

They answer the phone with «How can we make you wet? «. Not very classy, in my humble opinion. We were deeply disappointed that the Watauga River had such low water levels, that it really could be called a creek, yet no one informed us of that before setting us loose. Everyone, except the small children, got stuck on the rocks constantly that we had to get up and carry our tube to keep up with the kids. After falling several times on the wet rocks and then being struck by a kayak, I climbed out and walked back. The greeting should have been enough to deter us from going, but lesson is learned.

My family and I went on the Nolachucky River rafting tour. Patrick was our tour guide and he was incredible. The entire staff was great, entertaining, and knowledgable about safety and the rapids. The staff made our group feel like a family. The lunch was good and we made lots of memories. I would definitely go white water rafting with this company again!

Rented two kayaks to explore the New River on the 4^th of July. Everyone at the place said it was going to be super busy and sure enough they had about 3 times as many people as on a normal day. We did what we could to make our trip go smoothly — went to the main office to sign our papers the night before, showed up 10 minutes before our 9am reservation.
Unfortunately, even before the place got crowded, the workers’ disorganization led to delays. The manager was out dropping off other guests and it wasn’t until he got back did he start to ride herd on everyone and get things going. So, despite our efforts, we didn’t leave the place until 9:30a.
We were hoping to take a 2 hour trip but the river was high so one of the options was out. We decided to have them take us up river for a 4 hour trip. The manager was happy to do it. After we dropped off some tubers, he drove us the rest of the way, talking about the history of the New River and his life and family. It was entertaining. He went out of his way to help us put into the river — which wasn’t easy having to go down a steep, muddy bank.
Once we put in we had a very nice, long ride down the river. We did not see a single other person in the water the whole time. It was very beautiful and pleasant. The only challenge was a number of places on the river where the water was very shallow and we were basically on the ground having to push our way through with our paddles.
Most people on the river this day were doing tubes on the 1 hour trip, so we actually got out when we came upon this crowd and took a van back to the home base.
In the end, I wasn’t totally happy with everything, but I would definitely go back. If I go back I will be sure to check the kayacks before they load them, though. One of ours had a small hole in the hull so I had to bail water along the way, one of them had a broken back rest and so I had to shove my life jacket behind me for support, and the other only had one of two foot rests which made it uncomfortable and sometimes difficult to balance.

A member of my family nearly drowned when we went on a kayaking trip on the New River with these bozos. If you place any value on safety & honesty, take your business elsewhere. It’s remarkable that this outfit has not been shut down. You have been warned — stay away! Don’t recommend it to your worst enemies.

They switched the river on us last minute to a much less interesting one. The food advertised was ‘gourmet’ but turned out to be cold cuts. When asked for a refund the owner offered us to go down the uneventful same river a second time. He was very defensive and told us he wasn’t a liar. We won’t be back — ever. I feel bad for the college students who are employed with Wahoo’s.

When my honey & I snagged a groupon for River Tubing, I was even more excited for our Blowing Rock vacay. Wahoo’s definitely didn’t disappoint. We arrived at their headquarters in the morning, and although they made it seem like we should have made a reservation, they didn’t hesitate to hand us a map and go through the turn by turn directions to their river site. Although we still ended up getting lost, we finally made it there. Seems like the may have a lot of college kids working there as summer staff. Although not the most professional company, they seemed to really enjoy what they do. We were driven out the the drop off point in a van that has holes in the floor, but that sketch factor didn’t stop me from oohing and ahhing at the beautiful day and mountain views around us.
They dropped us off without much ado and a few instructions. The best part was definitely the beautiful day, the amazing views of mountains and the lazy pace we floated on the river. We got an extra tube for a cooler and brought some sandwiches to dine on as we floated along. The tubing lasts around an hour to an hour and a half and they’ll let you take the shuttle back to the drop off point as many times as you’d like. So much fun and totally worth your money for the groupon deal. We’ll definitely come back to Wahoo’s again – maybe next time for a kayak trip or waterfall hike!

I never experienced the «experience» of WWR with these guys, but the customer service is kind of inconsistant.
My family wanted to book a WWR tour with them, we went, but my father was getting sick-​and we told them ahead of time-​he may not be able to go, and we couldn’t leave him in the cabin by himself. They told us they have a 24 hour cancellation policy, but because of him being sick, they would make an exception. We booked the event, because we all-​including him wanted to go. Later that evening (around 7pm or so) we called them to tell them we unfortunately wouldn’t be able to make it because he was feeling worse. I spoke to a different person than who we spoke to in person, and they said there is absolutely no exceptions for the cancellation policy and they would still charge our card. It was annoying as 4 hours prior they told us it wouldn’t be a problem. He pretty much said the lady was wrong to say that «IF» she said that. I remembered the female’s name at the time and told him she said it wouldn’t be a problem, he said they have a policy they stick to and they’d have to call back. Well, she did call back about 20 minutes later saying it was cancelled and not to worry about being charged.
I understand if they have a policy they have to adhere by, but if they are going to make exceptions for X or Y reason, make sure the employee s know about it, or notate the customers file.

I was sitting in the car before our canoe trip and was set on giving Wahoo’s one star. Why were we sitting in our car? We were waiting for the someone to show up and unlock the gate. The trip started off bad. We were told to meet them at their headquarters. We got a call an hour prior to our trip that we would have to meet them at the river. We were given lengthy (but good) directions which were hard to follow since we were in a rental car and had no pen and paper. Once at that spot, the guide did not arrive until 15 minutes after our designated time slot. We placed several calls to the number on the website who insured us that he would arrive shortly. I was ready to demand a refund and find another canoe company.
Now for the second star. The guide was so nice. He was the only one running the business and the person who did the scheduling had told him to show up to the headquarters where we had originally been. He was there early, but then was told we were at the river and had to drive all the way over to the river. He was very nice and told us about the best spots in the river. He quickly got us a canoe, life jackets, paddles and let us on our way. On the ride back he was very fun to talk with.
The canoe trip was relaxing and the scenery were beautiful. Between that and the nice guide, it redeemed Wahoo’s a bit in my mind. The manager or scheduler just need to get organized and work on their communication skills.

We did the tubing experience, overall I felt wahoo’s tubes were just fine — but much of it consisted of doing things yourself (i.e tying all tubes/​coolers together). If you ask they are nice enough to help you, but when I tubed in the past the guides were much more hands-​on.