trapper john's canoe livery

We had a group consisting of 12 adults in our 30's. We arrived at 10:30 to do the full day trip, but much to our disappointment, when we tried to check in, they told us they weren't running the full day trip because they were too busy to take us up to the drop off point. Mind you, on the website it says they run this trip before 11:00 and we called ahead the day before to confirm when we needed to be there and they said by 10:30. As you can imagine, we were a little disappointed but decided to stay and do the smaller trip they were offering instead. The girls working the check-in area we extremely rude for no reason and constantly giving attitude to the patrons- not friendly or welcoming AT ALL. When we were waiting in line to check in, the owner stood up on a chair and started yelling at everyone "WE ARE VERY BUSY TODAY!! THIS IS A FAMILY FACILITY!! YOU CAN ONLY TAKE 1 SMALL COOLER WITH A COUPLE COLD BEVERAGES!!" he yelled this over and over and you could tell everyone was a little taken back. To top it off, the owner rudely scolded 2 of our friends for the size of their cooler and said they couldn't bring it. They had no problem downsizing and quickly went to their car to do so. As they were walking back to their canoe (with a smaller cooler) to get in the river, the owner came running down yelling at them again saying they had been "nothing but trouble the whole time". Side note: WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE OWNER WAS TALKING ABOUT! My friends apologized for any miscommunication and said they thought there was a misunderstanding- they tried to shake the owners hand and the owner just hastily stomped off. Based on some of the other reviews I've read, these rude run-ins are a common occurrence at Trapper Johns. The only reason I even gave 2 stars was because once we were on the creek, we had a fun time. But our experience was tainted because of the way we were treated. Our group was full of married, responsible adults and there was no reason why we should have been yelled at and treated like incompetent children. We will take our $ and time to other canoe livery's in the future and I suggest you do the same.

After calling to confirm conditions on the water, our little group of four (husband, nephew - 10, niece - 12, and me) rented a couple of canoes, strapped on our life vests and put in for the "Upper Trip". What an adventure! But, before I describe our day, I will say that the staff was pleasant and professional. Neither of our two young charges had ever been canoeing before, so they were a bit timid, especially my nephew who'd had a scary water experience a couple of weeks before. The weather was PERFECT and we didn't see another soul on the entire trip. It was just nature and us! The water had a few more rapids than the last few times my husband and I had been there which explains why we capsized BOTH canoes - once each. Those two incidents were a little scary - mainly because I was worried about my niece and nephew, but afterwards they added thrills to our reminiscing. We stopped midway through the trip to rest and teach the kids how to skip stones. We were able to recover everything that got washed out of the canoes except for one flipflop (for which we are very thankful since we did not buy the insurance offered at the beginning of the trip - only $2). The only casualty of the trip was my iPhone - a pretty significant casualty, actually. I had put it in a ziplock bag, but the bag got torn when the canoe tipped over and the phone is now a paperweight. We highly recommend Trapper John's for a fun family outing on a nice, sunny day.

We have been coming to Trapper John's for many years and it is always a great experience. We always take a little snack in a small cooler so that we can get out of the canoe mid-way through the trip and sit on the bank somewhere and eat. It makes the experience that much nicer. We went there on Father's Day with our daughter, son-in-law and our two grandchildren We had two canoes. The kids love it; they actually get out of the canoe and play in the water a bit and that is fun also. The service is good and the staff is helpful and it's always a delightful experience.

My wife and I spent the afternoon going down the Big Darby Creek with our neighbors. It was a blast. It wasn't difficult to get our vessels and get on the water. This is only my second time ever kayaking and I did fine. There are some rough spots where it can get a bit crazy, but I don't ever remember an area where the water was more than a few feet deep. We saw numerous families with kids doing it, but personally, when we go back with our 7 year old she will ride with one of us.Overall it was a great time. I don't know how they compare to other like business, but for us it was great.

I have come to Trapper John's several times now and have always had the best (laid back!) service, and lovely trip. My 12 year old loves it too. Kayaking down the Darby is our favorite summer time activity. I haven't tried the tubes yet. Maybe next summer! Highly recommend!

Fun day, easy for a beginner or more difficult paths for advanced canoeists to choose. Also kayaks are available. Great for groups or for families

The good...This facility has the extreme advantage of being on a beautiful little river with many places to stop and play, relax, skip rocks, have a snack (if it fits in your tiny cooler.) The mature trees along the banks provide shade a lot of the way, especially mid- to late-afternoon. The equipment we rented was in good condition although the life jackets were dirty and dripping wet. Free parking.Our overall group of about 30 people was only able to be together as this large group for this event, so we wanted plenty of time to spend doing it (which requires plenty of cool beverages and snacks on a hot afternoon.) I've indicated this was a family visit, but our group had relatives, friends, all ages, some people who hadn't met previously. Some people were not interested in more strenuous activity than the short trip, but for those that were, it was easy to paddle upstream and back down at will in the gentle current. Pleasing for all ages, levels of energy, machismo...I am torn about the 2-star rating I'm giving because it's in regard to the service, not the actual canoeing experience we had from this facility. THAT part was at least 4 stars, and any factors keeping it from being 5-stars are not within control of the facility. We just prefer to canoe where there are white, sandy beaches vs. rocky ones. This is the highest rating possible for any canoeing in OH, according to our standards.The "needs improvement"...Like other reviewers, we also did not appreciate being treated like children. Not that having a child along for a ride is necessary to ensure someone stays completely sober to be the designated driver, but my 8-year-old son was with us. So it shouldn't be assumed that the level of responsibility of the cooler-sharing portion of our group was such that we need to be monitored for the amount of alcohol we feel is necessary for the amount of time we had determined we would spend canoeing. The trip may take 1-2 hours of actual moving down the river, but it was our intention to spend the afternoon doing it, stopping often to play and chat. We had 5 adults and the child sharing one cooler, one that had a capacity of about 24 beverages, but some space was taken by snacks, and many of the beverages were non-alcoholic. It was insisted that we shift things to two smaller coolers (which also required one of our kayakers to have a cooler in their kayak.) The cooler we had brought is a very lightweight plastic one we have taken on all of our canoe trips over the past few years. Regardless, the situation was broached by yelling at us across the parking lot. After I've just paid to experience an attraction, I expect to NOT be yelled at. Rude and uncivilized. The general vibe of the people working here is that they're doing you a favor. I much prefer to be thanked for my patronage and treated like a guest, not a nuisance. When someone is smiling and calling you "sir," it's absolutely not necessary to NOT be friendly, which makes handling issues like this much smoother and doesn't create a situation that requires your patrons to defend themselves. When this happened, we were compelled to either yell back or be the ones to walk over to have a more civilized discussion. The only way for this to have been less professional would have been to include insults in the yelling.But please don't forget - we had a GREAT TIME! So if you are like us, and a possible unpleasant employee encounter won't ruin your day, maybe you'll even enjoy the novelty of it as well. Like the mean soup guy from Seinfeld, these seem to be the mean canoe people, but that doesn't affect the actual canoeing. When we said my son wanted a kayak, the girl said, "he's too little" and it really hurt his feelings. Very unprofessional mannerism and phrasing. I would prefer to try one of the many others in the area should the occasion arise to go canoeing in OH again. Where we often go canoeing in FL, the price is about the same for a MUCH longer trip and friendlier service. There are many other places to go canoeing in central OH, so it's surprising that it's not necessary for all to be more competitive regarding service and atmosphere, things that do not cause added expense to the business. Friendly is free, folks!

Decided to go out on the water with my sister and meet up with some friends on the creek. I have my own kayaks so we were just going to launch from there. Upon arriving I told the parking attendant exactly what I was doing. He said ok and told me where to go and what to do. All seemed well until I pull out and get on the road. All of the sudden a guy who I’m pretty sure was the owner comes out running and yelling at the top of his lungs "Where are you going?" I politely pull in and tell him the same thing I told the parking attendant. After he created a big scene, all seemed well again. I drive 4 miles out and park my truck and come back to John's to launch. After getting out on the water, I don’t make it even 10 ft and he the same guy comes running down hill making a scene. He says that now he needs to charge a launching fee since I’ll be walking across his property. I asked him why he didn’t say anything to me when we first talked. I said that I realize that he is a small business and needs to make money but I wasn’t using anything of his and would even go launch across the street at the park so I wouldn’t use one of his parking spots. His reply was that since I walked across his land he has to charge me. I even told him how I’ve been there before without any issues and how I’ve brought friends and family there in the past which they've rented from him. He was insistent in collecting the "access fee". Instead of arguing with him creating an even bigger scene I went up and paid the trolls toll. What bothers me is the unprofessionalism and scene he demonstrated in front of everyone. Nowhere on his website is there listed an "access fee" and after I told him what I was doing, he sent me on my way and then comes at with a fee for walking onto his property. This is not how you do business. I’ve rented from him twice last year where money came out of my bank account. Every August we get together with 6-10 people in which we rent 4-8 kayaks, needless to say I will make sure that doesn’t happen. 4-8 kayaks at $20 a pop is $80-$160 that he will be missing this year. I guessing he is hard up for money and I hope the access fee was worth all the money he would have made in years to come. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.

What a beautiful day! Sun shining, just canoeing through the nature preserve! The staff was super friendly! Have been going here for years and it never disappoints!

i agree with the first review, they are very rude, treat you like kids, i m un my thirties too. The man in charge, i think the owner, yell at you all the time. I think as long as you are not a family they will treat you as college kid. Not responsible and alcoholic. And yes they don t hesitate to search your bags and cooler. Besides that the river is not awesome but pleasant. there is a bunch of beach you can stop at which is nice. But just because of this person I will never come back

Living not to far from here I come at least once or twice a year. I love it. Very relaxing, everything in good order. Will continue to come back

first of all i called a day in advance, spoke to an employee about what trip we wanted to take. we wanted to do the lower trip which is 2-4 hours long. she told me that was fine, they just werent running the all day trip due to low water. once we arrived we were told we could only do the sampler (1-2 hour trip), over half our group traveled an hour or more just to get there. i also read on the website (according to their rules) there is no alcohol permitted on the upper trip. once we agreed for the short trip, we were carrying our coolers to the canoes and an employee tells us to put our coolers down because hes checking for alcohol. before i can even tell him what is in my cooler he just starts digging through my cooler. he did the same for everybody else and basically yelled at us like we were ten years old. we are all in our thirties. its one thing to tell you "hey, we're not allowing alcohol today due to extreme heat" but it wasnt like that. the WORST experience ive by far had at a canoeing place. Extremely rude people. Go somewhere else!!!!!!!!!!