Saco Canoe Rentals Company

Vanessa Moody

They were super unhelpful with describing how their experience of tubing down the river would work. I was explicitly lied to about taking a shuttle! I didn't want to take a shuttle because of covid, asked if it was part of the experience, was told no, and then after I paid (a very high charge of $50) and drove to what I was told was the boat launch location it was revealed we had to take a shuttle. It also took much longer than they told me -- plan for a minimum of a two hour trip.

Mark Alfson

Folks were nice, pleasant, and helpful. Doing all the form signing, etc. electronically before arriving is very much recommended. And be there at least 30-minutes early as the line to check in for tubing can be long and a bit slow. This part based upon our 3-4 hour tubing excursion. River itself is great. Plenty of places shallow enough to walk/stand. Recommend float for cooler etc. even if you don’t have cooler. Good for holding all sorts of stuff. Also recommend at least one paddle per couple. They aren’t real paddles, but they help immeasurably when trying to do a little course correcting or pushing off rocks. If river is low, and it was for us, the final section before and up to the covered bridge (exit is about 100-yards after covered bridge and on right side of river) is rocky and more difficult to maneuver. You can get through it without getting out of your tube, but you will have to work for it, but to be honest it was the most fun part of the trip. Working your way around the rocks and setting up for the next space reminded me of white water rafting, but in extreme slow motion. Our only complaint regarding the trip is how slowly the river moves. Seriously. It was rated 167-something that day and I’m we knew this was slow. But there were a number of times where the wind pushed us upriver because it was stronger than the currents. At other times we just stopped moving altogether. And we could read the river well enough to know we were in the best position on the river at that point. So be prepared to potentially move at a glacial pace. But if you can relax and not worry about the slack pace it’s a very relaxing tubing experience.

Teedle Dee

We were running late for our 7.8 mile trip as a result of an accident, called and informed them. They said no problem, come anyway we'll put you on a later shuttle. Arrived 22 min late and were informed that we would be on the 5 miles trip, not the 7.8 mile we paid for. Nothing like this was said on the phone. The owner or manager explained how it was our fault, and when I informed him I would mention it in a review he replied "we will respond to it" with a smug smile. Kayaks are old, the seats were flat and both of our seat backs were broken. Shuttle to bring you to river was not air conditioned and over 100 degrees. We were dropped about 500 yards from the river with no help to bring the boats to the launch. Weekends cost more, yet the river was jam packed with people. No beach space, and hard to get through the masses of people.. At least 1 mile of the river was walking the boats as the water level was so low. Lots of trees submerged in the water are incredibly dangerous.

LL

PLEASE READ FOR 1-MILE TUBING RIVER TRIP! This is a long review, so here's a summary: (1) the staff was great, (2) there was a lack of signage for the 1-mile tubing exit, (3) if you are taking the 1-mile tubing trip, when you see three small white signs straight ahead, start navigating your tubes to the left so you won't miss the exit, (4) if you are tubing earlier on in the season (or with low water levels), get a paddle, and (5) if you miss the tubing exit, do not panic - there is another exit a little downriver! For the pros, I cannot commend the staff enough - everyone that we interacted with was incredibly friendly and helpful. They were able to answer all of our questions, and since it is still very early in the season, we got to take a shuttle with just us. And even though it was only ~70F, it was warm enough to tube. Now for the cons...Our major complaint is with signage at the exit. Before boarding the shuttle, a staff member informed us that we would see the Eastern Slope Camping Area before the exit, which is labeled with 4 signs (with the company's logo on it). The staff member also pointed towards where the exit was, and told know that we can climb the steps and drop the tubes and life jackets in the designated area. Sounds easy enough. Towards the end of the trip, we passed by what seemed to be a camping area (it was not labeled so we weren't sure). We kept drifting, and eventually saw 3 small white signs (one larger one and two smaller ones). We couldn't make out what they said at a distance. Eventually, about 20-30 ft away, I could see the Saco Canoe Rentals Company's logo (for reference, I have 20/20 eyesight). We figured this may be the exit, and tried to steer ourselves toward it. Once we got closer, we could read something on the lines of "Caution: water may be as deep as 6 feet at exit." Once we got very close (10-15 ft away), we saw the designated area for the tubes and some cars, so we knew only then that this was the exit. We kept trying to steer ourselves there, but were carried away by the current (the exit is located at the curve of a bend, which leads to the Redstone Rapids). We began panicking, so one of our members jumped out of the tubes to try and pull everyone toward the exit. This was hard, as the water got deep and the rocks were slippery (we were also told afterwards that there was a snapping turtle in the area, so in retrospect this was not a great idea...). Swimming was also unsuccessful. We eventually got the attention of a family on kayaks, who went to the exit and got the attention of staff after some difficulty. The family had originally attempted to exit at that ramp, but it was apparently the wrong exit for kayaks (they also complained about lack of signage). The staff they alerted let them know that there was another exit further down that we could float to. The family on kayaks pulled us over to that exit, where staff helped us out. The staff members who helped us told us that they usually install a floating dock at the first exit, but did not do so as they were understaffed...We also saw another pair of tubers behind us, who had also missed the first exit and were being pushed downriver. We informed the staff once exiting, so I hope that they were able to get out safely. If any of the owners are reading this, PLEASE make better signage at the exit! It would've been helpful to have some arrows prior to the exit indicating direction/distance and if the 3 small white signs at the tubing exit were made larger saying something to the effect of "Tubing Exit" or "Stop Here", rather than just warning about the water depth, although that was helpful too. We went into this with the understanding that this was a natural river and comes with risks, but this was genuinely a scary experience for us due to the (preventable) lack of signage and difficulty steering. We hope that future visitors have a better time and that the owners make some changes.