NC Outdoor Adventures — Attraction in Bakersville

This company is rude and doesn't take care of its guests. I apologize in advance for this lengthy review. We were a private party who did our own kayaking trip who encountered this company at the end of our trip. Why this matters for you as a potential customer reading this is because they were not adequately prepared. So we had 7 kayaks and we pulled them off to the side. Yes we absolutely took up space. Its 7 kayaks. But we were off to the side and there was ample space for others to pull out. There was 10-12 feet of space to pull out. An old man with a pony tail watched us pull up and stack our kayaks and said nothing. Three people from our party went to go get our vehicle from the other lot with the kayak carts. Old pony tail guy watched them leave and said nothing The four people remaining with the kayaks were a pregnant woman, a senior disabled woman holding her infant granddaughter, a 9 year old, a young adult male, and a young adult woman.

This company had a man there with a pony tail waiting as his first party of 15+ people in kayaks pulled up. He couldn't catch all his people so the 9 year old and the young adult male from our party quickly jumped in to help. People from our private party were helping this company pull their people out of the water and helping them stack their kayaks on the shore off to the other side of the pullout.

Pony tail man, after pulling out ~8 kayaks and struggling to catch his customers says something to the effect of "can you people move your kayaks out of the way?!"

To which I was shocked and replied... "We're literally in the water helping you!"

And let me clear, it's not that he asked us to move them. Its how he asked. He was rude and the bottom line is if they had enough people to help, our party wouldn't be in the water helping them do their jobs.

To top it off, after he frustratedly snapped at a pregnant woman and an old woman holding a baby, when our people got back with the carts (after 20 min tops) - we took our stuff up.... Pony tail guy and another woman in the company were speaking rudely about us behind our backs! I guess he didn't realize the young male who was down there still , who was literally helping him while he struggled, was in our party.

The irony must be lost on him that they had 15+ kayaks sitting there taking up space for 15-20 minutes too while they toted them one by one up to the parking lot. Hypocritical and oblivious.

And I wish that was all. I wish it was just a rude interaction but , no, they also don't respect nature or South Carolina. This north Carolina company's multiple party kayaking tours ~30 people that we saw, left trash everywhere. So when pony tail went and sat down on a tree again... WE picked up the trash from this company.

I can't say I recommend a company that costs so much, is woefully unprepared, leaves trash, fails at customer service, and ineffectively/rudely communicates.

Edit to reply to pony tail man:

You're being dishonest. That "toddler" is 9 almost 10 and over 4 feet tall. The other person was a 24 year old man helping you You absolutely did not ask us politely and I didn't curse at you at all. My sick/senior mother was indeed upset when you yelled at her. She did curse to which I (and my pregnant sister) told her to stop repeatedly and it was unnecessary and rude on her part. My response was pretty much verbatim (after you yelled at us) absolute shock and I said "omg we're trying to help you." You admit you don't even know who our party was, which is evident since you were talking smack in front of our adult male party member. You're rude and you're a liar. Reviewers can read this drama and make their own conclusion... But potential customer beware. They will obviously come on here and lie and defend their bad...

Great experience and service from an adventure company who has many adventures (and lots of experience) to offer in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We went river tubing with NC Outdoor Adventures in late June 2025. Despite the carnage done to the region by Hurricane Helene, the river is still flowing well and free of debris. Our family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) enjoyed a very relaxing trip down the Toe River and went home with really nice summer tans =] We met the owner Christy and one of NCOA's rafting guides who ran us to the river-tubing drop point and picked us up afterwards. Very nice people and super helpful throughout the whole experience. All we had to do was bring water shoes or strapped sandals, sun tan lotion, some good tunes and enjoy the ride. (Btw, if you forget anything like water shoes, sun tan lotion or water bottles, NC Outdoor has those items to buy at their gift shop.) We'll definitely be back to visit Christy and company again -- hopefully to try some rafting next. We

We used Thrifty adventures while in North Carolina. They were great and accommodating. We called and spoke with them ahead of time about the large group we would be bringing. We paid for 6 in advance and told them we would be bringing 5 or 6 more when we got there. They said it was fine. When we arrived there must have been a miscommunication somewhere because they didn't know we had brought extra people. The quickly got more rafts situated for us and EVERYONE had a great time.

We even brought my mother in law who is 65 with a few health issues. Since their website said kids as young as 5 or 6 could do what we were doing I didn't think it would be a big deal. Turns out that our older person is not as coordinated as I thought ( nothing ever goes as planned). After about 5 minutes on the trip we saw that she was not gong to be comfortable with taking the trip. They immediately helped by putting her in the larger boat and having someone else take turns paddling her boat. She had the time of her life, as well as everyone else we brought with us. I wish I could remember their names but I don't think it matter because EVERYONE who works there was amazing. Thank you for helping my family...