Lower New River Whitewater Rafting Trip

If you are looking for a very touristy commercial operation, this business is very well run. Guides were great and camping facilities were well maintained and clean. I personally was looking for a more natural experience. I did not want to hear a heavy metal band banging thru the trees and campground until 11:30 pm or have my raft run into other rafts with 48 other people in the river closely bunched up. It was a real party atmosphere so if that is your thing, it is a perfect place. It is not a place to commune with nature like you think camping near a national park would be.

Ended up in inflatable Kayaks instead of the advertised rafts. Owing to night before rainstorms river was running at high volume. 8 of 9 Kayaks capsized in single swollen rapid. Guides did not adapt trip to river conditions and were cavalier about safety and risk during the trip. As this trip was advertised as a mild challenge suitable for children and beginners guides should have adjusted to river flow conditions and implemented one or more of the following. 1) canceled trip owing to increased flows from storm 2) Placed participants in more stable rafts as opposed to inflatable Kayaks. 3) Increased guide to participant ratio in order to have quicker response to multiple kayaks capsizing simultaneously. Overall the supervision of the rafting guides was poor placing participants at risk owing to the outfitters failure to adapt to unusual river conditions for late August. Would not recommend this outfitter. If you do use them exercise your independent judgement regarding river flows on the day of the excursion and whether to float the New River on an inflatable kayak or a large raft containing a guide familiar with river navigation. Not sure if other guided rafting services are more responsible, however I recommend you try another outfitter based on the experience of my group.

This was a very safe and well-run rafting trip. The training and tips they provided allowed us to have a wonderful adventure on a day when the water was running very fast and high! They are also very customer focused, even to the point of calling us when we had not arrived (we had a different time on our ticket) and waited for us. Our guide Derek was not only a great guide on the water, but he also provided us with much of the history of the area as we passed through. He was very knowledgeable about the early days when coal mining was done along the river and what and who was involved over the years - so it also was a history lesson. A nice lunch was provided midway - no fuss but very good. I would highly recommend this adventure in this beautiful and virtually untouched area. Apparently AOG has various lodging options, restaurants and many other adventures you can engage in. We were unaware of this but it is something to consider.