Sparrowhawk Camp — Hotel in Tahlequah

Who else had an AWFUL experience at Sparrowhalk Camp yesterday? I just felt we should warn others.

We made reservations (they are hard to get ahold of, this should have been our first sign) at Sparrowhalk two weeks ago to camp and kayak as a group. 5 adults with 3 kids. We called twice this week to verify said reservations. We arrived on 7/12 to check in. We had 3 tents and 3 vehicles. We were told it would cost us $320 dollars to camp for TWO nights. Kayak rentals not included in that price.

Insane and NOT what we were quoted OR what their website states.

We kept our kayak reservations (made sure and checked) and went elsewhere to camp.

Fast forward to Saturday the 13th. We arrive at Sparrowhalk to check in for our kayaks at 10AM and are informed they are sold out. What is the point of a reservation if they rent them anyway? They make multiple phone calls and tell us they found them, and we proceed to check in. They were completely rude and had absolutely NO idea what was going on.

Once checked in we end up waiting over an hour to shuttle down to the drop point. We get to the drop point and wait ON shore with over a HUNDRED other people (some of which had been there over 4 hours) for over two additional hours for our kayaks. We are told refunds are not available.. wait or float Sunday. We didn't reserve weeks in advance to float a different day. 🙄

The Sparrowhalk staff (again completely clueless) proceed to tell people to take off without life vests, at one point loading 9 people in a raft that could clearly NOT hold them even though they paid for two rafts. When asked what to tell the GRDA, we are told to say that the life vests were lost while on the river.

Finally, around 2 p.m., we get our kayaks and could finally start our trip after a 4 hour wait. Never again.

PS: The bathrooms at Sparrowhalk were horrible. Just disgusting.

PSS: We have camped at the river for years at most of the well-known places. We have NEVER had an issue like this, and I would happily give my money to ANY other company on the river before EVER having to experience...

I have been using this campground for years with my family and sadly we won’t be back after the way they treated us on Tuesday. I show up at the office to pay to camp it’s $20 bucks to stay overnight until 2 pm the next day wich is already way to expensive. They have already left for the evening it’s 8pm so I call the number on the door a drunk lady answered and is arguing with a drunk male. She said to me just go ahead and go camp we will send someone out and we will colect the money later. I asked if she was sure she said yes. I continue down to my camp site and a truck starts to follow us driving aggressively after a while we pull over to see what they want. It’s a drunk older male who started shouting at us that we were supposed to wait at the office I explained to him what the lady told me and he started shouting some more. I told him calmly I’m just trying to camp can I pay you now? He had us follow him to the office where he was too drunk to use the card reader. All I had was $10 cash. He wouldn’t accept that and couldn’t figure out how to use their machine. We drive into town and get cash. We come back and there’s no one at the office so I called the number and told them I have cash I would still like to camp the drunk lady starts shouting at me didn’t you just call? So I explained the situation to her and she said oh he didn’t take the card reader with him…. Wich he did in fact have the card reader he was just too drunk to function let alone use the machine. The next day about 10 am I got to the store and they have the gate all blocked off so I can’t leave and then proceeded to tell me aggressively that check out time is at 2. I told them I know that I’m just running to the store. They were very rude and I...

Only booked with them because we waited so late to get in somewhere else, and we still regretted it. Called days in advance, asked about camping and floating and was quoted $120 for 4 people to float, but they didn't take reservations until the day of so to wait until we got there. Called again the day before leaving, to be sure our camp site and float was a for sure deal, and got confirmation. Arrived and paid for our campsite which was probably the best interaction we had the entire time, with the younger girl who works the office during the evening hours. The next morning we get up early to get our float paid and taken care of, only to be told by the owners that it was now $200/raft. We said that's not what we were quoted on the phone just a few days ago, and they both got quiet and started exchanging looks back and forth and then said "okay then it'll be $150 because there's a 5 person minimum and you're paying the $30 extra for the invisible floater". With it being the day of and everywhere else being booked, we went ahead and took the loss on the extra $30 we paid. Everything was very unorganized, the office/check in and bus area is so messy and looks tacky to visitors. Their "motion sensored" gate is also not up to par, as you'll be sitting outside of it waiting for it to open for 5+ minutes and a line of cars behind you waiting. Don't bother calling the office for help either, they tell you to try to keypad which also doesn't work. The one positive take away we have from this weekend is the riverside camp spot, which even still had a broken table that was falling over. I would not recommend anyone waste their time or money dealing with these people. They do bad business and don't deserve your hard...