Nachand Canoe & Kayak — Local services in Louisville

I had a really wonderful day with my friends. The price was fair, the waterway where you get to canoe/kayak is really pretty and it's really fun. Some of the staff were really great in the beginning of the day. However, the day was kind of ruined when I came back in with my friends. I was pulling up my kayak and this man yelled at me to let him do it, so I stopped trying to be helpful, went to grab my backpack from the back of the kayak and before I had a chance to get my belongings he was already picking the kayak up out of the water. ALL of my things fell into the water, including my $1,000+ iPhone! After spending 4 hours out on the water and being careful to make sure all of my things remained in the kayak with me, now I get back into the dock area and everything falls in. And even worse he wouldn't apologize, he just kept saying he didn't do it. Then who did? A ghost? He was the only person with hands on the boat. And I realize that accidents happen, just apologize though! And then he didn't even attempt to help me get any of my things out of the water. This included my iPhone, my clothing (I was wearing a bathing suit), my entire backpack full of food and water, my wallet which had cash and my ID in it, a portable speaker and my headphones. I had everything together and safe the entire day, and then this grumpy guy who clearly had been having a bad day just tosses all of my things into the dirty Ohio River. I was furious. Everything had to go into rice. My phone's speaker is still not working correctly. Not okay. I will say that the woman there who has the dog named Butch was very nice and was attempting to apologize for the man. So lame that he could never apologize and never helped me to get my things out of the water. I literally had to spend several minutes just feeling on the bottom of the river to find my phone and he just stood there saying it wasn't his fault the entire time. And even at the beginning of the day, he was joking that he didn't need to wash down the kayaks because "a little bit of covid won't kill you" - actually it will?! Just wash the kayak down, not a big deal. Additionally, he forgot to give one of my friends her life jacket and was joking that she didn't need it. I grabbed one for her and tossed it to her. Very unprofessional and unfortunately those experiences will prevent me from visiting this place ever again and I will not be recommending to any of my friends. Which is a shame because the kayaking experience and being out with my friends on the water all day like that was...

Nice still water creek for short paddle. Good for kids or someone without experience to safely give it a try. This is a put in, paddle as far as you would like, paddle back experience. You are not taken upstream to put in. We opted for full day but feel this is not really a great place for a full day excursion. We came back early enough we should have just paid for half day. There are no banks like when you do a river excursion. There is NOwHeRE for a female to get out and relieve their bladder without stepping off into knee deep mud. So also no place to stop for an out of boat picnic or swim. Be prepared to be in the boats the entirety of the trip. Place is each to find and access, parking is limited but wasn’t a problem on our weekday visit. All equipment was in good shape. The lady who checked us in wasn’t particularly personable but got the job done. We wanted to paddle to a waterfall and were told about 2.5 hour paddle. I know conditions can change daily but was really bummed to find that after about 2.5 hours of paddling we came to an impassable area due to downed trees (kayaks could get over but not the loaded canoe.) so no waterfall. There is no current here and it was work to get that far in only to realize we weren’t going to be able to make it to the falls anyway. Probably would have taken more leisurely paddle if we had known the waterfall wasn’t reachable at the time. This is where we had hopped to be able to get out, empty bladders, and picnic. Prices are quite high relative to other places and particularly for an excursion into a basic creek that again doesn’t even allow for getting out to pee or picnic. Paid about what I usually pay for a two day or excursion for a one day and then only able to enjoy it for a half day due to nowhere to stop and get out to pee. If your not wanting to drive far from Louisville and just want to spend a few hours paddling then it is an okay option but I doubt we will go back and instead drive a bit further to access an area that allows for more than in and out paddling has safe places to stop...

Mixed experience…

I couldn’t schedule online but called and they graciously accommodated my group (we had 5 but the site only allowed 4 for the various times we were available). This was 5 stars.

The email to sign the waivers online had a link that on Friday didn’t work for anyone in my group. Tried phone and iPad on both Safari and Chrome with zero luck. :(. Then to make it worse when we showed up the only option was the scan the QR code to complete the same form and they were not terrible but not really nice about it. I had also emailed the company twice to let them know and heard back from them zero times. This was 0 stars.

The kayaks are ok. As is often the case they are really some of the cheapest options money can buy so really not very comfortable. This was 2-3 stars.

The actual river…. Well this isn’t their fault but still is absolutely part of the experience. So, while I don’t know how it normally is this weekend it was very still. So, yes you could paddle in either direction and then still paddle back to the starting point. It is nice that this allows for deeper water and thus use of the river at most times not just when the water level from recent rains is between the correct levels. But, it makes it a lot more like paddling on a lake then a river as the there is not any current to clean the water or pull the boat down stream. And, the no current to clean the water part. Ewww. It was pretty disgusting. I put this at a 1 - 2 star assuming other places have the right water level and I guess a 3 - 4 star is not since at least one can still get out on the water.

So…. I am going with an overall 3 star rating. Better boats and a nicer waiver process would go a long ways to raising this rating...