laurel highlands river tours

Our Boy Scout Troop visits here every other year to go white water rafting and Laurel Highlands River Tours does a great job every time. We had some last minute trip changes this year and they were very accommodating. The guides are knowledgeable and fun and the boys had another great time on the river this year. We will be back again.

It is a blast when you find an outfitter that clearly emphasizes customer service, has very experienced guides and the guides have great PEOPLE SKILLS!Garth, Andy and Charles showed us a great time. And, they shared a lot of their knowledge about the area with us. I would like to run the Upper Yough a few more times. And, I will add a Cheat Canyon trip to my schedule the Spring.Great Trip, Thanks.

My 5 year old daughter wanted to white water raft....so Laurel Highlands was to logical choice due to their Family-Friendly rafting schedule. We had 4 adults and two children in the raft - which could have been a mess since only my husband and I had any rafting experience. First, we got lost and we arrived 24 minutes late - not a great start. We were sure that we had traveled so far for a cancelled rafting trip. We were incorrect! Not only had they arranged for us to raft with another scheduled group, they were not even angry with us upon check-in! Whew!!!! The guides were informative, they thankfully skipped the "you could die" speech that usually is given on the bus ride to the launch spot for the kids' sake. The rafting was great and the MANY guides that accompanied the large group were seen helping rafts off of rocks, giving paddling directions, helping people back in their rafts and professionally guiding everyone down the river. Lunch was nice and the guides were very concerned with cleanliness and allergies - which was nice. Also wonderful, they gave rafters enough space to find their groove without over-directing. Our family had a fantastic rafting trip and we all talked about how we worked so well as a team. I really think this trip served as a great bonding experience for us.

I went specifically to go on the zip lines and was completely disappointed. for almost 50 dollars a person you could basically play on a children's jungle gym. the zip line itself was about as long as my house and the height of it as well. who would pay that kind of money? not me! and neither did anyone else I went with. everything else we tried to do completely failed because all other attractions were closed by 4 or 5 pm. On a SATURDAY! what a waste!

We had a High School senior trip and went with Laurel Highlands River Tours. Our students and staff had a great time on the white water portion and on the zip-line adventure part. The staff in charge was top notch. I had a great time talking to Brett and he was extremely flexible as he did whatever he could to make sure our group had a memorable experience. I would recommend this to anyone looking for some adventure on their trip. We our going to do our best to make a return visit soon!!!Mark H

What a great adventure! I did this as a teen, but didn't remember how much fun it was (now as a 30something adult). The guides were wonderful (esp our main guide Andy) and so encouraging and helpful. They were constantly checking on the groups, making sure we understood what was needed for each rapid and were always cheering us on! These guides were so well trained and knew these rapids so well, they were able to guide everyone so naturally! Our fleet had people ranging from older people, to college students to young kids and we were able to all work so well together. I had just a great experience and will def be back to do this again next year! I have already shown everyone I know my pictures and have been very vocal about how great it was. Can't wait to do it all over again!

Looking for a great rafting trip and get away out in Ohioyple? Look no further then Laurel Highlands. I Came out and did the Upper yough twice and lower yough last weekend(aug 16-18). The guides are top notch and are always looking out for everyone. Garth was my trip leader for all three days. If you are looking for a amazing guide look no further. Funny and energetic and much more. The food after the upper yough trip is also great. Plus beer of your choice at the end. If you want adventure on the lower yough def go with the aire force duckie option. The reservation staff and store staff have been very helpful thru all this as well. So if you get a chance come on over here. They will treat you great!!!!

If you're trying to entertain some tweens for an hour, this zip-line course could work just fine for your group. My group consisted of four adults. For us, it wasn't worth the money.The course is very small -- if I had to guess, I'd estimate that it's on a half-acre lot. It's in the town, and doesn't take you over any treetops. The zipline itself is the smallest part of the course. Most of the time, you're balancing on a log, rope bridge, etc. The only physically challenging part was a cut-off boogie board suspended on a track, and it had a degree of difficulty only because the staff offered no tips or instruction on the best way to position your feet or distribute your weight.The course itself was safe and well-maintained.As our hour was beginning, a child got a panic attack and refused to unhook her arms from the pole she was hugging. They had no way to get her down or move her along, so everybody waiting for their turns had to stay on the ground for 20 minutes while a family member climbed up and coaxed her down. Because of the late start, some in our group only got through the course one time before the staff warned them to hurry because the hour was almost up.Would return only with a group of 11-year-olds; I'm the wrong demographic to get $44 worth of enjoyment out of this experience.

We rafted down the lower Yough and had a great time. The weather wasn't great but the guides made it fun and knew the river well. We ended up swimming in a rapid (that we didn't WANT to swim in!) and although we were a bit scared, the guides knew right what to do to get us safely back in our boat. That's important, especially when there are kids in the group.

Everything was highly organized and very pleasant. The guide in our raft was very helpful and we enjoyed it tremendously! It was a beautiful day and we learned a lot of history along the way! We will be back next heart, It was awesome!

A group of 4 of us went rafting with Laurel Highlands recently. Overall, the trip was great. It wasn’t our first time rafting but I thought the company did a very good job explaining everything and I even learned a few new tips/pointers. The guides we had were all very nice and encouraging. We rafted the lower yough and it was a good level for us. We had our own boat which was nice. They had boats for parties of 4 and 6. The only suggestion is to have more food at lunch. I think there was about 80 people on the tour and there wasn’t nearly enough deli meat. By the time lunch comes around you are very hungry from working so hard. They expected you to only take one slice of meat which isn’t very much and our group also had a high school football team. They made them go last thinking they would demolish the food but the poor kids barely had anything to eat. Better thought should go into food portions. Next time, I may even pack some snacks. It was a fun day all around. Highly recommend!

My daughter and I went on their middle river tour which had 17 class 3 rapids. We did not have a guide in our boat, although suggested for families with kids under 18, and we did fine. The guides were conscientious about safety, especially on some of the more technical rapids. There were two places to stop for a dip in the river and a nice boulder jump for some water fun. My arms were pretty smoked by the end but we only had 4 people in our raft. The lunch had vegetarian friendly options and the guides pointed out local attractions in the state park for additional fun and adventure. All around, a worthwhile trip.

We had a wonderful time on our Lower Yough river tour! Our day on the river is an experience to be remembered, and most certainly repeated! We are enjoying our photos and sharing them with others, to whom I will (and have) highly recommend a rafting tour with Laurel Highlands. The staff is very helpful and professional from the initial phone contact, right through the drop off at the end of the day. Most of our guides were terrific. Dan, in particular, was an outstanding guide - extremely knowledgeable and professional, very personable and entertaining, making everyone feel comfortable throughout the day. He was thorough and provided concise, straightforward instruction, and a lot of additional information as well, local history, and other interesting facts.With tremendous respect for the water, and an understanding of the inherent dangers present during this type of activity, we felt very safe and never doubted we were in the hands of professionals. The equipment was top notch, as was the leadership. It was great to be free to thoroughly enjoy the river and the company last Friday. We will definitely travel the river with Laurel Highlands again, hopefully soon!Thank you for a wonderful river experience. And oh yes, thank you also for a delicious lunch!

This year for our son's 8th birthday we decided to take him on his first white water experience. He is an experienced kayaker but not an experienced white water kayaker so we decided to take the float trip. Because we also took our older kids (20 and 18) we rented duckies rather than a raft. That allowed us each enough freedom to enjoy the day. My husband took my youngest in a double. We thought the trip was very well organized and liked that the guides were laid back enough with the experienced kayakers so allow us a little more freedom. Still, we liked knowing they were there should their be any problems. Each guide was more than helpful. They were courteous and added a level of fun to the day. We have also done the lower Yough in the past and loved that as well.

We were on a trip on Friday morning, July 18, 2014 at 0930. There were four people in our group and we had an experienced guide named Bill. There were three other boats that left at the same time with less experienced guides. A great deal of time was spent by our guide helping the other boats that were getting stuck on rocks in quite a few places. Apparently the dam that controls the amount of water in the river had not been releasing as much water resulting in lower than normal river levels. Our guide was able to guide our boat through the low water areas proficiently but the other guides repeatedly became lodged and our guide had to at times intentionally put our boat up on a rock to help the others get off theirs. This meant we spent more time than we would have liked to sitting and waiting than we would have expected. Some of this was unavoidable due to the low water conditions but some of it was due to the inexperience of the other guides. Had I been in one of their boats I would have been even less satisfied then I was.