River & Trail Outfitters - Harpers Ferry Location — Attraction in Charles Town

We had used River & Trail several times before, and they had been top notch. While we had a blast tubing down Antietam Creek, there were some frustrations that, with more attentive management and concern for safety, could have been prevented.

The Good: Our tour guide was friendly and entertaining. The conditions were perfect, and the lunch midway through the excursion was well executed. By placing staff on canoes in front, midway and at the end of the line of tubes going down the creek, they were well set up to address any safety concerns. Case in point, a physically challenged rider lost control of their tube, but a staff member was on the scene and happily gave the rider a canoe ride.

The Bad - Part 1: Our excursion got off to a ridiculously late start because one group of 4 or 5 people were running really late. While I am all for giving a little grace time, there were literally 50 or so people waiting in the middle of a field for one group of lollygaggers. This is unacceptable, and it is a training issue that should be addressed.

The Bad - Part 2: When we returned to the field (not the main hub ON Valley Rd - just a field with a desk and a few port-a-pots), there was a long line to access the 2 (yes, just 2) pop-up changing stations. Are you kidding me? There were literally hundreds of customers there that day for various excursions, and just 2 individual (capacity: 1) changing tents? Not very respectful to the customers.

The Bad - Part 3: No customer service survey afterwards, just promos to use River & Trail again. This is why I am making this review public - there is no verifiable way to provide feedback, other than the generic "Contact Us" email address on the website.

The Ugly: Serious safety concerns. First, upon exiting the creek, we were directed up a steep, muddy hillside to a large retaining wall, then walked a quarter mile to the busses. While this was not an issue for myself or my family, there was no warning about this prior to the trip. I feel bad for the physically challenged folks on the adventure, but River & Trail is just flat out lucky that nothing more serious happened. Second, someone fell while boarding one of the busses to return to the field and requested medical assistance. People yelled out the window in an attempt to flag down one of the River & Trail employees. When those of us still outside alerted one of the drivers, he rolled his eyes, groaned and walked toward the main road in an effort to get a signal on his cell phone, which means there was NO WAY TO CALL FOR AN AMBULANCE DURING A MEDICAL EMERGENCY!!! Really, River & Trail? You won't invest in reliable communications for the safety of your customers? Does your insurance company know about this? Fortunately, the customer dropped their request for assistance, and we were able to board the busses and go back to the field (after another long wait).

OVERALL: River & Trail has a great overall business and some great people, but they won't be in business very long if they don't start taking customer service and customer safety...

My family and I took a float trip down the Shenandoah with River and Trail in July. There were about 30 of us all together. The sign in was smooth sailing for us because we made sure the entire group had signed the waivers before hand. You are literally on the banks of the river. There is no building, no desks etc for a group of people to sign... If you are taking a group, sign all waivers prior to your visit!

We got signed in, fit with our floatation devices had our tubes and were on the water within 30 minutes.

Here's one negative... The put in spot isn't very safe. It's a hill down to the water with rocks and tree roots sticking out. When that gets wet... Ohhh boy. Two people in our party actually fell down that slope. Thankfully no one was hurt but very slick... Hold on tight to kids and anyone with any limited mobility!

The float was nice. The water level was pretty low when we went so we bumped rocks along the way. Nothing River and Trail could have done about it. It was a minor annoyance.

We floated back to our cars and stopped for a picnic. There are several picnic tables there which was nice. They comfortably accommodated our whole group. Again you are on the banks of the river. Be prepared for spot-a-pots and no running water. Welcome to nature! :) There are changing rooms which are really just tents. It beats sitting in a wet suit on the drive home if you're done for the day.

After our picnic it got interesting... Half of our group took first bus back to put in spot while the rest stayed back and waited for the second run. That's when the storm hit. The staff were lost. It's like there was no training at all about what to do. Staff were calling other staff asking what to do. Some staff were telling us we couldn't go to the top while others were saying we were leaving in a few. One staff member told our family who were at the top we didn't want to come while we were being told we couldn't go. The staff definitely need more training on how to handle a weather event. It was all very chaotic.

So put in spot not safe... - 1/2 star Staff not trained on weather procedures... -1/2 star. Here's the other reason for only 3*... The spot where you get out is worse than the put in spot. I'm not sure if it is just bcause the water level was low and you couldn't float anywhere near the shore, but it's nothing but huge rocks, boulders under water that you can't see. You have to kinda feel your way, one small step at a time... Very small step very slowly... You could easily twist an ankle. My husband banged his knee hard enough that it still bothers him 2 months later. At one step you could be at knee level water and your next step your out of the water then the next step back down to being knee deep.

All in all it was a good day. We all enjoyed ourselves and most said they would do it again. It was very easy to put the excursion together. River and trail made it so easy to adjust the reservation when we had some people who couldn't make it and others who decided at the last minute to come. The booking process...

The trip departed from a campground that couldn't be found by GPS, but they gave very clear directions. One thing they didn't mention was that the train tracks that we needed to cross to get to the campground were very busy. In fact, the train might block the street required to access the campground for up to an hour. Fortunately, we did not get blocked by a train.

We checked in at the camp store and were told that our trip would be about 3 hours, and we should lock up our stuff in our car and leave our keys at the store. All good so far. The store clerk said we could wait "over there", pointing toward the water.

We were a little early so we wondered down to the water where we saw the kayaks. Around 5 minutes before the trip should start we started to wonder what was up and headed back to the store. We saw a group of likely participants waiting by a shed with paddles and rafting gear. We confirmed they were there to kayak and joined the fray.

Annette announced herself as our guide. She was sweet and enthusiastic and pretty cool. She told us all about the train, and how long it could sit. Then, sadly, she told us there was a group that was stuck behind the train, and we would wait for them. Hallelujah the train moved and we left only about 15 minutes late.

The kayaking was wonderful. Annette wasn't much of a guide - she didn't point out anything unique about the geology, history, or anything pertaining to the river - but she was conersational and a very sweet young lady.

We completed the trip in about 2 hours and 10 minutes, so we arrived at the destination parking lot a bit earlier than expected. Understandably, the bus was not there waiting for us. Annette called someone and told us the driver was on the way. It was about a 20 minute trip from the campground.

An HOUR later I asked what was up and she said that he had just left the parking lot when we arrived, so he had to go back to the campground, unload all the kayaks, and come back for us. His ETA was 15 minutes. Sooooo one hour and 15 mintutes after we arrived, the bus arrived. We loaded, and they began to load the kayaks. Loading the kayaks took another 30 minutes or so. So our stay in the parking lot was nearly as long as the kayak trip. We were extremely hungry at this point.

When we got back to the campground we asked how we should redeem our beer and pizza at the brewery. The clerk said just let the bartenders know we were with River & Trail. OK.

When we arrived at the brewery, they were super nice but a bit unprepared. They're supposed to get a call prior to our arrival so that they can start getting pizzas ready, but they didn't get a call. So the pizzas were going to be a while. But kudos to them, they were nice and did the best they could. Great brewery (even though Annette told us it was kinda divey).

All in all it was a good trip. The equipment was new and clean and the river was beautiful and fun. The whole things was a bit disorganized and took a lot longer than...