Rolling Thunder River Company Nantahala River Rafting Center

My Son and his Fiancé planned this Labor Day weekend for her parents and us and his 78 year old Grandmother.
We shared a really Great mountain cabin in Bryson City.
Our Son was the only one of us that had been white water rafting before and he had also been on this river before with Rolling Thunder River Co.
We chose to have a guide; Crystal.
Cons:
The wait between check in time and actual departure, (Boarding the Buses) seemed to long.
No other complaints.
The water is COLD!!!
Be prepared.
Everyone of us had a Blast!
They made the bus ride fun. (Old School Buses, but no big deal. Kinda fun!)
Thank goodness it was short on the way back as we were Cold and tired!
Crystal did a great job of guiding us and getting us through the hard parts!
None of us became Swimmers and none of us got «Summer Teeth».
(You’ll have to go there to find out what I mean!)
We WILL GO AGAIN and all of us had a Great time thanks to the Whole Staff.
(Oh and the Front Desk people were as good as the guides.)
Great FUN!

Great company. Had a great time on the river. They make everything easy including taking photos of your excursion.

PROS:
* friendly staff
* accommodating guides
* lots of bathrooms
* food/​water sold on site
* large selection of merchandise
* sells photos of the trip
* family friendly business
CONS:
* bus is outdated (however this adds to their vibe, so never mind this con)
Let me get straight to the point – my dad is big on white water rafting…
Therefore, my family and I have been multiple times, each experience seemingly different from one another.
Put simply, we have always gone with Rolling Thunder and will continue to unless said otherwise. They have great guides who really know what they’re doing. Not to mention they’re quite funny.
We arrived at the place, signed waivers, waited a little bit, grabbed our life jackets and paddles, got a run down on what to do, got on the bus, they loaded the rafts, then we were off.
The bus driver was a mysterious man that the rafting guides dubbed «Santa». Santa wore a pointy hat filled to the brim with whimsical pins and a pinwheel! He was quite the guy. The guides told us jokes and gave us pointers on the way to the river. Don’t know many of their names but I remember one was named Wizzler/​Whissler/​Wissler. Not sure how it was spelled. When we got to our destination, the guides checked everyone’s life jackets and adjusted them. They then handed us our rafts and we were free to head off. My family chose to not get a guide as we have been down this river before/​these rapids weren’t too advanced.
We then made our way down the river. It’s freezing, by the way, so try to not fall out.
Make sure to watch out for rocks! We got stuck once or twice on some jagged ones.
Those from the company snapped photos of us as we came towards the end of the rapids. These photos were on display at the shop and could be bought for roughly $ 20.
(You can also buy shirts, hats, magnets, and other items. The prices are a little bit high but they’re a small company so it’s understandable.)
I feel the need to add that the guides made sure that everyone was there and safe before allowing everyone to board the bus. About three guides went out and rescued a guy who had fallen in the water and got stranded on a rock. I know that they technically have to go and help them out but I still found it very nice.
We will definitely be returning.

Totally recommend this company and the adventure! Our family has three children ages 10 and under and there were no problems with them whatsoever. It was safe and fun for the kids too. We had a blast! The guides were knowledgable, friendly and very funny. You will miss out if you don’t have this experience! Thanks to Rolling Thunder River Company.

My family and I went on a rafting trip with this company. Everything flowed very smoothly from the prep/​educational process to transferring us to the water sight. This was a great ride for beginners or families with younger children. We truly enjoyed ourselves and there were no glitches with the ride.
However, we were super excited to get a photo of our ride down the rapids but when we went to pick up our family photo, we were told that our group’s photo was not processed as the camera had broken and there was no back up. We were so disappointed because this was a lost opportunity to have our trip documented. Let’s face it, when you are actively flowing down the river, you can’t exactly take your own pictures. This really dampened our good time. I still regret it to this day.
Despite this, I would still recommend this company because they delivered in every other aspect, professional and efficient.

Thunderous Round of Applause!
Seven of us braved the 48 degree waters of the Nantahala River under the expert guidance of our «captain» Nick. He showed us all the wonders of rafting, never missing the opportunity to plunge us into the biggest rapids and bounce us (expertly) off the many rocks and bumps along the 4+ mile tour. We had the Best Time! Highly, highly recommended. Will definitely return.

Excellent experience on the Nantahala river with this company. Great customer service, very well organized with reasonable prices. The tour guide was excellent and very personable. One of the reasons we chose this company was because they allow for individuals to pay for their part of the group online. Very convenient. Will definitely be back to experience more that they have to offer.

Excellent experience. Have done their competitors before over the last 2 years and must say the mood, attitude and exuberance of Nick, Jackson, Jillian and the rest were awesome. Rapids are rapids and the Nan is an awesome river, but these guys are the best and make for a very enjoyable experience. Heck we even scheduled for another run in 2 days.

Our family went on an afternoon rafting expedition. Our guide was Hannah and she did a fantastic job! For all three of us, the price was fair. They provided us with Personal Floatation Devices and made sure that they were adjusted correctly. The PFDs were all in excellent condition and they had plenty of all different sizes. Everyone also got a paddle that suited their height. Then we all loaded onto an old bluebird school bus with four rafts tied to the roof and an old mountain man named Paul drove us about 5 miles up the river.
Along the way, Sparrow, one of the guides, gave us the safety training about how to and not to hold the paddles. Because you don’t want to give your friend summer teeth. you know. Where she has summer teeth in her pocket and summer in her mouth.
Once we got to the place where were to put in, our guides unloaded the rafts quickly and efficiently and we were gouped together into our four rafts. After another quick how-​to session, we were on our way!
Altogether, we were on the river for about two hours over mostly class 2 rapids. Our guide was very informative about the things that we passed, pointing out landmarks along the way. For example, we passed a haunted and abandoned library. We saw deer and other wildlife and we got into a splashing competition with another raft. Thoroughly thrilling and entertaining! I highly recommend this particular rafting company.
As a bonus, they had a camera set up very near the end to take pictures of us as we went down the one and only class 3 rapids. Backwards! For an additional $ 20, we got a CD of our pictures with no copyright — ours to do with as we pleased. And a free granola bar. My one and only regret is that I didn’t buy the t-​shirt that said, «Paddle faster, I hear banjo music!»