Broad River Outpost

Kayaking down Broad River was pretty fun! For a while, there was not a whole lot going on. Lots of slow moving water with some rocks here and there. The last hour and a half I found myself trying to avoid rocks. There was 2 «waterfalls», one was about a foot, and the other was about 3 – 4 feet.
The man that worked there was not very thorough. We did a lot of guessing. He definitely didn’t give us a whole lot of direction before the trip which i think could have been better.
We ended up stopping along one of the banks and having lunch in the shade which was really nice. Although the water was low, I would probably go again.

Amazing experience, great price and super staff. I recommend it to anyone. Saw tons of turtles too :)

Really fun activity to do, especially on a hot day. My friends and I (zero to little kayaking previous experience) chose to go down the stream with ‘rapids’. I would recommend this route. It was not rigorous, but very fun and exciting. The ‘rapids’ were just small downfalls with stronger currents. The water was extremely shallow, despite it raining the night before (we got stuck a few times between rocks /​sandbars). It’s great fun and the workers were extremely nice. Be sure to check out their website (a bit outdated), but you can get a free kayak rental if you bring 10 people.
The kayaks were set up for us and when we finished the route (took about 4 hours — we floated a bit, stopped and swam, and paddled hard), a bus drove us back to our car. You get a life jacket and kayak for $ 20. Also, BRO provides bag-​like coolers (we kept our beers in it), so leave the styrofoam coolers at home! The kayaks were clean — always a plus. We didn’t make a reservation and it was no problem. We had a large group and it was a Saturday around noon (April though). I will definitely be back!

If you’re type A, come prepared for a general lack of organization, lack of direction, and lack of sense of urgency. Though we had a reservation, I couldn’t tell that it served any purpose, as it was about an hour after our planned time that we actually dipped our paddles into the water. There’s lots of standing and waiting around while the staff figure out who is going where, driving the bus, loading boats on the trailers, trying to count, etc. Additionally, come with a basic knowledge of kayaking, because no instruction is provided at all, and be prepared to load your own boats into the water and drag them out of the river (both of which are really two man jobs, so bring a friend).
Beyond that, this was an absolutely stunning way to spend a couple of hours. The river current is just strong enough that you could just sit and float in your boat most of the way and still make pretty good time. Though BRO was hopping the day we were there, the groups space themselves out on the river, and there was rarely another group in ear or eye sight during our entire paddle. There are some sandbars which would be a nice place to stop and eat lunch or just hang out for a bit, and you can tie your cooler to your kayak or use one of their provided cooler bags. The solitude and the scenery combined were enough to take your breath away on their own, but add in the occasional group of turtles sunning themselves on tree branches and the beautiful blue heron that flew across the rive just feet away from us, and it was a pretty magical afternoon.
I was a touch nervous about the «rapids» that others mentioned, but they were really just some small patches of rocks in the river, and not what I picture when I hear the word. Granted, I still managed to capsize my kayak, but you’ll be totally fine, I promise!

«Maybe he did save my life going down in the kayak that way.» — Barcelona (1994)
High Five, BRO. Who knew you could have so much fun spending hours in the sun, working your arms off and sitting in a puddle of mucky river water? Okay, maybe me, but I wasn’t 100% convinced… But for $ 20 and some great friends, this was the perfect morning/​afternoon adventure.
Just outside of Athens, Broad River Outpost is not exactly as I was expecting (Stephie, I should have read your review first as it is spot on). But this place is run staffed with a bunch of college-​aged kids, but they get the job done. You show up and park and take as little with you as possible and they provide you with the rest of your necessities. They get you where you need to go and you spend the day on the river. ‘Nuff said.
There were small kids kayaking for themselves, there were some kids in kayaks with their parents, there were people in tandem kayaks — all of the above. So much fun! My group — we mostly rowed it — but we are active folks. You could spend the entire time floating and still get where you are going without fault. Too much fun!
So what do you need? The essentials:
Water
Beer (in cans), if so inclined
Sunscreen (apply before leaving and reapplication during the trip to avoid sunburn)
Water shoes of some kind
Change of clothes for afterwards (including a towel)
Hat/​visor (recommended, not required)
What do they provide?
Life vests
Kayak
Oar
Hook for your key (no keys go to the river — be prepared for this)
We opted to leave our cars at the Takeout and go up river and do the 3 mile «easy» rapids section. This allowed us to only do the light section in a couple of hours and return the kayaks at the start and leave as soon as we were done. Easy peasy. You have no concept of time while on the river — but who needs it. Next time I might consider a water proof time piece of some kind — as my navigation by sun seemed in conflict with the rest of my group.
Might be nice of BRO added some mile markers or something to give you some idea of distance traveled (mostly for the newbies).

Kayaking on the Broad River was SO MUCH FUN! I highly recommend this fun and relaxing day trip. The outfitter is about an hour and half from Atlanta and it took about 2.5 hours to get down the upper part of the river so it is easily done in a day but they also have on site camping and another section of river for the more adventurous. The section of the river that we did is very calm. You really didn’t have to paddle at all, if you didn’t want to. The other section has Class 2 rapids so it is still relatively tame and something that we all wanted to try next time.
The equipment was in really good condition, it was easy to make a reservation over the phone, and the girl running the shop was very friendly and knowledgeable. I deducted a star only because we had a 10:30 reservation and we didn’t get on the water until closer to noon because the shuttles kept breaking down and also because our shuttle drivers unloaded us with the boats, told us to get out at the second bridge and were gone before we could ask any questions or get any help getting in the water. It’s $ 20 per person though so you really can’t complain.
Here are some things that I wish we had known going into this:
1.) There are two, large sandbars on the way down the river that are perfect for picnicking. If you bring a small cooler and bungee cords, you can easily strap it to your kayak.
2.) The water is really shallow but the current is really fast– much faster than it looks. It could be a little dangerous for kids who are not strong swimmers.
3.) The exit point is incredibly steep and there is no one there to help you exit the water. Small children or people with an injury will have a hard time getting their boats out of the water without assistance. Luckily, BRO rents tandem kayaks so that’s another option, as well.
Overall, this was a great time and we will definitely use this outfitter again the next time we kayak the Broad River.

Perfect. Simple and rustic. Courteous service. Reasonable prices for everything. DELICIOUS beef curry hamburgers at Wildcat «diner». Best hamburger I have ever had, and I’ve eaten at many great places. Fun fun family time or great couple outing.

LOVE IT. This place is wonderful! Gorgeous river, super relaxing on the non-​rapids part and really fun/​relaxing on the rapids part (you pick — there are 2 different options). I went with family — stupendous activity with siblings, parents, friends, etc. If you take your time, you’ll spend 3 to 4 hours. With moderate paddling, it’ll be around 2 hours. Staff is incredible (and incredibly funny). And it’s only $ 20.
This is an absolute MUST if you’re in Athens for more than 4 hours.

The Broad River Outpost is my outdoors Home-​away-​from-​home. I love coming to the Broad River to enjoy an afternoon of kayaking. Because of its distance from the Atlanta city center, plan on spending most of an entire day for this little adventure. However, $ 20 is all you need to enjoy yourself for an entire day!
Located in Danielsville, GA (about 20 minutes North of Athens, GA /​University of Georgia), Broad River Outpost is a glorified shack with a bunch of 20-​somethings running things. They’re laid back folks who seem to enjoy their jobs and who generally make the experience pleasant. Once you arrive, just find a parking spot in the gravel/​dirt lot and head down the hill to the office. Pay your $ 20 (they accept Cash or MasterCard and Visa only, no American Express!) and include an optional $ 2.00 donation for the River Upkeep fund… it’s up to you. Next, grab a paddle (get one with the little rubber rings on each end or else you’ll get dripped on with each paddle stroke you make) and a life vest (they have various sizes available). If you’ve brought along a cooler with drinks (alcohol is allowed on the river in non-​glass containers only), grab one of their floating trash bags to take along. Don’t be that guy who throws their trash into the river. Just don’t.
Next, one of the employees will get you a kayak (they have the ‘sit in’ or ‘sit on top’ kayaks available. I personally prefer the sit-​on-​top version, as their seem easier to deal with if you’re not a super serious kayaker. Slide your kayak down the ‘ramp’ and then proceed to the river and put in!
The river is fairly lazy and will take you 2 – 4 hours to get down it — depending on whether you stop a lot. Take out is about six miles down the river. It’s clearly marked. Get out of the river and wait for the bus to load up your kayak and take you back to the starting point.
You can’t beat this kind of fun in nature for $ 20! I highly recommend it!

$ 15-​$ 20 for a good long canoe trip? Now, that’s not bad!
The key word here is ”Broad” and that goes seeing without really saying! The post itself is small, and has that classic ”laid back country setting” that takes you back to the good ol’ days of the countryside/​camping days of youth.
The driver at the front is courteous to answer all questions one may have, and you are quickly escorted on a nice little drive up the river in a little bus with your canoe and promised at LEAST a two-​hour trip on the ”beginner’s course”.
My husband and I had a great time, drifting down the river and seeing the gorgeous sites such as beautiful skies over the cranes that nested nearby and gentle but lightly challenging rocks to climb over that do not leave you feeling terrified to tip over!
The price is FANTASTIC for such a memorable activity that is sure to bring back fond smiles again and again, especially if you bring the friends and the family!
The inside of the post provides you with basic needs such as sunblock, a restroom, drinks, snack bars, and canoes/​kayaks for sale in the back.
The place was very easy to find on our TomTom GPS, so no worries too much on that.
I’m sure that we will be back, even for a two-​hour drive trip from where we are, it’s well worth it just because of this great time that we had! My husband and I will never forget and are already hoping to bring friends back.

I love BRO! $ 20 for a kayak and hours of fun.
They have 3 routes– Two, the easy rides, start upstream from BRO and you exit at the main BRO landing. 1, the «rapids», starts at the main BRO location and drifts downstream 6.5 miles. We picked the rapids section. They gave us 2 choices of options. We could leave our car downstream, they would follow us in their bus, and bring us back to the entrance point, or we could leave our car in the main BRO parking, and once we arrived downstream we would have to wait for the bus to pick us up and bring us back to our car. We opted to leave our car downstream so that when we finished kayaking we could leave our kayaks there and immediately get back on the road.
The keowees we rented are open kayaks, so make sure and wear sunscreen on those pasty white legs. Like Lauren said, you can bring a cooler and attach it to the back of your keowee. There is even a cup holder for your water or beer. The river is pretty easy to manage. You might be slightly nervous about the rapids, but once you make it over the first set, your nerves go away. It isn’t difficult to get through the rapids. The one shitty thing about the Broad is that it can get pretty low, which means you will get stuck constantly on rocks and sand bars, which tests your scooting and arm muscle ability to the max. That was probably my biggest complaint, but has nothing to do with BRO. I just came at the wrong time for water levels. I think the beginning of summer sees much higher levels.
Tips:
*They open at 9 am during the summer months
*Make sure your bring something to drink; you’ll get hot with all the paddling and pushing yourself off of rocks.
*Make sure you bring clothes to change into after wards. No one wants to get a yeast infection from sitting in a wet bathing suit. No one I know, that is.
*Leave your car at the take out spot. Its much better than having to wait for the bus at the end.
*Bring deodorant.
*Commerce, home to a very large outlet mall, is 25 minutes away from BRO and is on the way from BRO to the ATL.
It takes about 1 ½ hours to get to BRO from midtown Atlanta.