Kings River Outfitters — Hotel in Berryville

I have camped or used Ernie's service for over 13 years. I decided to take my 4 year old son to float and camp about a month ago. The float was great. Back at the camp site they were hosting a "corporate" event. They were loud drinking and using the F word with every sentence. They hooked up a loud generator and pulled out large speakers that went on tripods and started jamming. Why do people come to the woods to do things they can do at home?? The music was loud to start with and I notice Ernie come down. They immediately turned the music until he left. My intuition told me that this was going to be a rough night so I asked my son if he just wanted to go home. He did not. After dinner and obviously more drinking they got louder as well as the music. There was one young man who was letting everyone know his name was “Tyler”. He was SCREAMING the rest of the night. He also made a comment about getting out his pistol and shooting the coyotes that were howling. They group played Baggo and beer pong most of the night expect when another of the group member pulls out a guitar and starts jamming.

This was not my first time and will not be my last time camping with loud neighbors, but it was my last at Ernie’s. I put in my ear plugs and my son and I fell asleep pretty easy during the jam session. I was awoken at around 10:30 from Tyler screaming the F word after his Baggo attempt. Someone in the group told him he was too loud. His response was its only 10:30. At this point I’m pretty angry ,but I didn’t think walking over there is going to diffuse the situation. Logic and drunks don’t mix. We are camping in the back of my truck with a tarp over the top so there is not easy just drive back up the Ernie’s house and talk to him about it (he could no doubt hear the music from his house), there is no cell service to call the number on the front of his house that’s basically states call the sheriff about disturbances because we don’t control our camp grounds. We were in a pickle, but my son was still asleep so I let it be, I fell back to sleep. At 2:43 am we were both awaken AGAIN by Tyler. They had moved on the beer pong and rap music. The group that was still awake had joined Tyler’s drunken state. They were all yelling and cursing. At this point my 4 year old son was upset, tired and confused. I was ready to choke Tyler. I started to walk over there ,but then turned around when I remember his “pistol’ Comment. I decided it was time to go home. We packed up and left the camp side at around 3:30am. At around 10am when I woke up at home I attempted to call Ernie. Busy signal. 10:30 Busy signal. 11 Busy signal. About 11:30 I finally got through. Ernie was not available. . The woman I talked to apologized when I told her that we got ran out of the camp ground at 3am. When I started to explain to her the situation she did not have time to listen. The office was busy obviously being noon on a Saturday, but she couldn’t even give me 3mins of her attention and kept talking to someone else while I was talking. She asked if she could call me back because it was too busy to talk. I was DONE. They already had my money who cares. We will...

I just returned from an eight mile float and I have nothing but praise for both Kings River Outfitters and the Kings River. First the outfitter. These folks give customer service a new name-awesome. They will, if necessary, go out of their way to make sure that you have a successful float. I was a PITA customer, so don’t be like me. I arrived solo, with a thirteen foot, ninety five pound kayak and a kart in the bed of my truck. I have had a couple of bad experiences hauling this behemoth up steep banks, and moderate distances, so I asked the owner about these issues. He calmly assured me that there would be no problems. He was right. The gentleman that shuttled me to the put in put us right at waters edge, then helped unload the boat-easy. These folks know this river as well. The shuttle man has paddled the entire Kings from the Boston Mountains to Shell Knob MO in an extended camping trip. Impressive. Nice guy too. The take out went just as well. After getting the boat up a short steep bank with the help of a couple of fellow paddlers, (not as young as I used to be) I initially couldn’t find my truck. I asked one of the younger employees where it might be so he took off to find it. Next thing I know, he brought my truck to me and his partner helped me load it. These guys were very pleasant as well. To me, all this extra help was above and beyond. They probably should have charged me extra. The shuttle fee was very reasonable. They also have a lot of rentals if you don’t have a boat. Now, the river. I have driven across the Kings numerous times on Hwy 62, and thought it to be a nice little river flowing through the farmland, but not super interesting. But up in the mountains it is different. It was clear, with a lot of variety. At the time of my float, there were a number of small rapids- short, fun, not extreme, a few stretches of fast water, a number of deep pools, but mostly just a nice steady peaceful flow. There were some downed trees to avoid, which was interesting. All in all it was a nearly spiritual experience. Very “Zen”-OK that might be a little silly, but it was. I had heard the Kings described as a small version of the Buffalo and I think that is a good description. I would ad that, at least during the week, it is a small version of the Buffalo without a lot of hubbub. Peaceful. Wait for a good rain if you can and get out there. You...

We took our family for a weekend getaway & we were told the day before that the river was good & that there would be transportation as our son-in-law has to use a cane. When we got there the 7 mile river trip was unfloatable because the water was too low so they cut us down to 5 miles. Transportation consisted of us driving OUR cars down to the lake, dropping off everyone and everything then following someone again in OUR cars to what would be the end on a "road" that should only be traveled on by a truck. Then we were shuttled back to the drop off point. From the river to our cars was still quite a hike so we were concerned for our son-in-law. We got on the river & ended up carrying our canoe about as much as we floated in it. When we got to the end there was was no help for our family member. Thankfully a fellow floater offered to bring him up to the cars. After much thought we decided to call and yes, complain, as we feel we were lied to. On the 1st call they told my husband that they were their competitor so they wouldn't have to deal with it. My husband called back & we were told that it wasn't their fault that we didn't know how to "read the river" and that we apparently were apparently amateurs. If that's the case then EVERYONE on the river that day were amateurs because we were all battling! No mention of the shuttle service that we were promised. I do no recommend this place... Go...