Adventures on the Gorge

I loved the white water rafting and the food but my guide, Tri was really rude to my friend which I did not appreciate. I went a time before and it was amazing. Overall this place is great I just didn’t like tri

Amazing experience! First time rafting in the eastern U.S.- and it offered the perfect balance of challenge and fun. The guides we had made us feel very safe– but also gave us some great adventure. Did the lower Gauley the first day and the upper Gauley the second day. Next time we will opt for a marathon trip or a camping rafting trip– and we are definitely booking with adventures on the gorge again!

Was an amazing trip even after being thrown out of the boat. Ethan our guide was professional and knowledgeable of the river and all aspects of our trip. We did the Upper Gauley in Oct. Water was high and fast from dam release. I’d do this again in a heartbeat. Couldn’t beat seeing the fall color’s and this wild beautiful river. It’s a must do if you like outdoors adventure. We also did the Gravity zip line tour. Awesome as the fog was thick to start and we couldn’t see more then halfway across the line. It ends with AdrenaLine, the longest zip line on the East Coast. AdrenaLine is 3,150 feet long and reaches speeds of 60 miles an hour for a heart-​stopping finish to the tour. All in all fantastic time.

Went white water rafting for the first time yesterday and had a blast! Our tour guide was knowledgable and definitely made the experience even better. (Thanks Jobo!) Since it was our first time, we did the express rafting trip from 1 PM to 5 PM. It was a great choice, and had many rapids and a few challenges!
The scenery was beautiful and there were several small structures our guide pointed out to us. You go right under North America’s largest arch bridge; seeing it from a different perspective was thrilling. One tip: expect to get wet! It sounds obvious, but there are opportunities to swim and you’ll probably get soaked on the first rapid alone. We will be back for sure, ready for more!

If you want to have a great time on your next vacation then this is the place you need to go! We had an awesome time on the gravity zip line! My first time ever! It was amazing! Our instructors, Perry, Hollywood, and A-​train were entertaining and awesome! Will definitely go again!

This review is all about the food and accommodations. I run this river a few times a year and the rafting staff is completely awesome. I’ve come up to visit the area several times, but this is the first time I’ve stayed on the property and we won’t be staying there again. I coordinated a small group to go rafting over the weekend and every one was very disappointed about the service. To start we arrived on Friday to camp. The sites are very close together which is fine. A group from the royal British Marines was at the resort that weekend and despite quite hours being posted they were extreme loud and annoying, keeping us up until 2am on the first. They were only drown out by a rain shower that quieted the evening. The next day we hit the river, half the group went to Bufflers bbq and the other half went to Smokeys. My groups breakfast experience at Smokeys the first day was great, plenty of food and the staff was great. The other half of my groups experience at buffers was bad, they had run out of a lot of stuff at 730 in the morning. We hoped on the river and did the Lower New. Our guide Hannah was very professional and ensured that my two young daughters stayed in the boat. Again AOG has this part down! That evening we made reservation at Smokeys for 7pm. We arrived on time and were promptly seated. We went to get in line for the buffet and they were out of plates along with most of the food they were supposed to be serving. Sorry that’s unacceptable for a $ 30.00 buffet menu. I was able to scrape an small salad together and after about 30 min I asked a staff member if we could go to one of the other places to eat. After looking at the menu at Chetts we decided to go into town after AOG honored our request to move our prepaid meal to breakfast the following morning. Sat evening we enjoyed some music and retired to our camp site at 10pm to relax and enjoy a fire. At 0439 I woke up to loud music coming from the Bloody British Marines!!! I’m sorry banging on a drum singing off key didn’t impress me or anyone in my party. After speaking to the rest of the people in my party they told me that it started right after the bar closed… I’m not sure if Brits can’t read but quite hours are posted as you go back to the cabin and cabin areas. At 0440 in the morning I was looking for a number to call at the front desk but was unable to fine one. I ended up calling in a noise complaint via 911. Yes not the preferred method, but I didn’t have much of a choice at that point. The Brits finally gave up there drunk-​in stuper at 0500. We woke up complete exhausted after two nights of no sleep and went to breakfast at Smokeys at 940. As we arrived their was another party was in front of us. Now up to this point of our trip and previous breakfast experiences at Smokeys were all great, but once again AOG let us down. We again had to wait on food and plates. They let everything run out on the customers. I realize that they close at 10am, but when you have folks show up you need to respond to there needs in a timely manner. The bacon and cooked apples are great when available. Needless to say we felt bad for the wait staff, they did all they could to keep people happy. We cleared our site and I stopped by the front desk on my way out and I spoke with a woman at the counter. She proceeded to tell me that the Brits come once a year and they can be rowdy, and that security had issues keeping them in check… Well sorry you need new security folks then. That kind of conduct is completely unacceptable for an establishment that hosts and supposedly caters to families. Looks like I’ll be sleeping and eating at other establishments when I come back to raft… Very disappointed.

Have you seen the giant bridge? Everyone in the area seems to love their bridge. Oh, about the rafting…
Everything on site was new, the rafts and equipment were in great shape and it was very professionally run. It was a far cry from the equipment I’ve seen on some other river trips, I was pleasantly surprised.
The guides for the New River trip were fantastic, engaging, funny and competent. They told several stories involving the bridge. The river itself was about as expected, exciting, but not intimidating. The highlight of the day was surfing the big hole just before takeout.
The pictures and video were ready shortly afterward and the nice girls running the photo counter had some exciting stories about the bridge.
The restaurants on the grounds are about what you’d expect for this sort of place, decent and filling. The beer menu was good and the waitress may have mentioned a bridge.
The second day we took duckies on the Gauley river. Being Spring, with minimal water released from the damn everything was pretty low and the ride was actually very tame. On the way there the guides said about 12 of the 19 of us would tip, I think it turned out to be only two people who went swimming. All in all it was a nice day, but not nearly as fun as the New river. I’d wait and do this during the damn release. On the plus side, there was plenty of time to talk about the bridge.
We’ll certainly come back, maybe get catapulted off the bridge (go ahead and ask, they’ll tell you).

a-​ma-​zing! My friend and I booked a trip with them for my birthday and I had the best birthday of my adult life. Our guide was down right awesome! Thanks Alisa! ;-)

GRAVITY ZIP LINE IS A MUST DO! Every fun outdoor adventure begins on a rickety bus ride to the launch site, & this trip had that too! Guides OC & Ryan were laid back but knowledgeable. 6 zips & bus shuttles– trip was just under 3 hours, $ 109 per person & was Incomparable :)
Before departure we drove through the camp/​cabin sites on our own– it’s a great layout & facilities– we plan to return for a rafting/​zip/​camping retreat this summer, and definitely will stay with Adventures on the Gorge.

Gauley Overnighter was the best with great staff, raised camping platforms, gourmet food, hot shower!, hot tub! Overnighter was the highlight of our visit but also really enjoyed their cabin and Treetops Canopy Tour — Fall 2014.

Rafting on the New River was an extremely thrilling ride while being surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in North America. It was so exhilarating, the scenery and the rapids themselves really kept me on my toes! I recommend the trip to all adrenaline junkies out there looking for a day full of fun and excitement. We had an awesome family vacation!
I’m glad we did the package, I feel like we got a great value. It was also nice not having to worries about meals and schedule, the people who work for this company was so helpful and awesome! We loved our guide, he had a great personality and was hilarious! Really fun all-​inclusive destination, our family spent 3 days and 2 nights here. Campsites and shower houses were clean and the food they served in the mess hall was hearty and delicious! The buffet meals are very good and there are multiple choices for picky eaters like me. We had an awesome family vacation!

Rafting
Safe, and nice guide.
He had been to pretty much every river — including Himalayas (the most challanging white waters). Very friendly — we had drinks with this guy and he managed us some discount, which was the only reason why we did more sports activities: P
Zip lining — awesome guide! The fastest zip lines in US (and my first experience ever). We raced on dual zip lines and duh, yeah, i won
The best one was rock climbing — where i performed quite disappointing. And thanks to the guide, I managed to climb to top, in toughest rock climbing (on natural, vertical tower cliff). My advise — if you have experienced or too much adventures friends — try to skip the tower — start with something easier.
Accomodation s*ked though. We had a cabin with bench, which seems like a nice idea, but, amenities were bad — we had asked for bench, which they didn’t deliver until 2 days. Even after we checked out. It was just miserable and killed our fun.

Pro’s:
+ Great Camping Areas
+ Best facilities layout I’ve seen yet in WV
+ Thorough/​detailed Map
+ Friendly/​Hospitable Staff
+ Phenomenal Food
Con’s:
+ A bit unorganized
+ Little Expensive
+ Dish TV
+ Bar Service Upstairs
Grabbed up a livingsocial deal, which we couldn’t beat, and trekked our way to WV for a weekend of whitewater rafting. I’ve been to a couple of these wwrafting resorts (ACE, River Expeditions, etc) but none of those facilities have even come close to touching Adventures on the Gorge. This was by far the most amenities I’ve seen at a woodsy retreat. There is so much to do but it doesn’t feel so touristy. The camping areas were well maintained and well spread out. Plus there were legitimate trees for some privacy. which is hard to find. Also, the front desk is very organized and provides you will all check-​in information if you arrive after check-​in time expires and a thorough map, which makes it easier to navigate your way through the facilities in the dark.
Now… the food was pretty fantastic. We stopped into the BBQ place in the evening after rafting and they had a BBQ buffet. This food was, no lie, nothing short of phenomenal. Ribs, chicken, pulled pork, corn on the cob, rice, beans, salad bar, desserts. you name it, it was on the menu! Also I want to give a shoutout to the staff member who was off the clock and came over to the bar to get the TV working, because the TV Dish was acting funny and we couldn’t get the O’s game on. Long story short, the WV game was on and the bar above the outfitters store refused to change one of their TV’s to the Orioles ALCS game (Which is a pretty big deal). I noticed a few other patrons leaving the bar because they were upset they wouldn’t turn on the O’s game but moving on. Went to the BBQ place and the dish was down for TBS, which is the station the O’s were being streamed on. For 6 full innings of the game, these staff members worked together, on their own time, to fix this TV so that we could watch the game! That is the best customer service I ever experienced and it truly made my night that they could do that for us!
I guess my biggest con was the rafting, which was probably the most important part of the entire trip. We got a late trip (10:10am), not a big deal… or so I thought. Unfortunately, everyone else who had went out earlier had already taken the majority of the wetsuits, so we were given the dinged up, holes galore, with broken zipper wetsuits. Not ideal, but they did the best they could. Also, because we went so late there were only 18 of us, but a guide canceled last minute so 18 indivduals had to fit into 2 rafts. Thus meaning, some individuals just had to sit and enjoy the ride and couldnt even paddle. Plus, my raft got stuck with some newbies who didn’t feel the need to paddle… so we weren’t moving and our guide skipped a lot of the good/​fun/​unique rapids because he thought we couldnt get through them with the individuals taking up the flank. Essentially, the wwrafting portion was a bust because we missed out on a lot, for those who couldn’t paddle and it made for a very long and drawn out day.
All that being said, because the staff was so hospitable… it is for that alone, that I would most definitely to return to Adventures on the Gorge!

This is our third time rafting with AOTG and it was as wonderful as always. The Upper Gauley is an intense run and it’s good to have a rafting guide who you can trust. All the raft guides with AOTG are professional but fun. They love to tell stories of their time on the water, but still manage to get you through the bigger rapids (especially pillow rock and sweet falls). We have had 3 different Scotts (out of the 5 that work there) and they were all great in their own way. They do serve a nice hot lunch in the middle of the run, and also have lots of beer for the bus ride after. If you call ahead, they will usually throw in a wet suit and other perks. We are definitely looking forward to our 4^th time next Gauley season.

I love this place. Here is a link to a video of the longest zipline…
I will also upload some great photos I took during my trip there.

We chose an all inclusive adventure for a day. We did gravity zip line in the morning which was totally a must do adventure and rapid run with Rivermen in the afternoon.
Our raft master TJ was the best! He was truly experienced, funny and awesome! He managed to made even a scared kid in our raft to feel comfortable and enjoy the experience. He told several informative things bout the river and funny encounters too. It’s the guy at the back of your raft (which was TJ) that will make this experience truly incredible! We will come back to do Gauley river raft in fall.
The kayak with rock climb combination was awesome too. Did some cliff jumps and boy oh boy that was addicting!
Very tricky to get to this place though so read the map carefully! But overall this place is super awesome!

Great Place for easy adventure for the family.
They offer alot of different activities. We stopped here for pizza. It was good pizza with outdoor seating near the high ropes course. I was fun to watch people try to make it through the course while you eat. A really good dinner and a show.
Clean Bathrooms and Showered come in handy after you are done being extreme for the day.
On the gorge side of the Road, they have a upscale restrauant and bar, but we didnt get the chance to check it out.

I was terrified about this since I’m not a great swimmer and this was my first experience with whitewater rafting. But by the end of my trip down the Upper Gauley, I was sad that I had to leave and loosely entertained thoughts on what my life would be like if I had tried this earlier and decided to become a rafting guide as a career.
My experience here was part of a huge school-​related group trip, so we got a great group discount and our monster group was split into 7 boats. The guide for our boat was Popcorn, and before we started paddling, I told him about my inexperience with swimming and how scared I was, so he was great about reassuring me. Our boat flipped twice and he was great about making sure that I and everyone else on our team was okay.
The lunch was delicious — a cookout with hamburgers, chicken breast, sausages, beans, mac ‘n cheese, fruit, brownies, among other things. And all the scary class V rapids were before lunch, so when we returned to the boat, we pretty much chilled down the river for the rest of the ride back.
Absolutely everything about this trip was reasonably priced, clean, well-​organized, and well-​executed. I didn’t expect to have as much fun as I did. I’m going to take up some swimming lessons so that I’m stronger and will be less scared of falling out, and I will definitely go rafting again in the future.

I had a great time rafting the lower Gauley with them two days ago. The check-​in and wetsuit rental process can be a bit confusing, and can definitely be more streamlined. The place was also a bit hard to find initially, and it took us a short while to figure out where it actually was.
Due to rain the previous day instead of upper we had to raft the lower Gauley, but it was still a lot of fun albeit less challenging. We took a bus from the site to the river, and met our guide, Zach, there. He was knowledgable and had a relaxed persona that calmed my nerves. During the trip quite a few people from the other boats flipped over, but no one in ours did. A few times when we came very close to hitting a rock Zach steered us away from it — along with our own hard paddling.
The mid-​trip lunch cookout was impressive. They set up grills, and served burger, hot dogs, chicken, mashed potatoes, rice and beans, corn, chips and salsa, crackers and cheese, granola bars, and even brownies with whipped cream. We were able to get as much as we wanted to eat. On the bus back they also gave out beers, soda, and water.
The one thing that I was tremendously grateful for was the clean bathroom facilities. Gross public bathrooms and changing rooms always irk me, but the facilities onsite were kept in really good conditions, dry and clean. I took a shower after the trip in the spacious changing area that even had a few stalls with curtains just for changing. No more awkward moments when you have to stare at other people’s naked bodies in a cramped space or when their naked butts stick in your face.
The company also does a variety of other things besides rafting, and I’ll definitely consider coming back next time we plan a trip to West Virginia.

They do a very good job at what they do. There are many many options at their base camp: rafting, zip line, tree courses, ATV, mountain biking, paint ball, etc. They have a camp grounds, restaurants and cabins to rent. Clearly, they are trying to capture every outdoor vacation dollar in WV.
Their rafting is first rate: I rafted with them many times in the early and mid 90’s when they were just the Rivermen. Since that time, there has been a massive consolidation in rafting companies, with a bunch of of the big outfits being brought together under one company: Adventures on the Gorge.
The camp has beautiful log buildings, nice changing and bathroom facilities and a large indoor gathering area where you check in, gather for trips and then return to after the trip where they try and sell you a video of your adventure.
I did not stay at the camp: it was $ 99 to stay in a cabin with no bathroom, and 10 minutes away you can get a basic hotel room for the same money. If you are with a big group it might be fun to do the whole outdoors thing in their lodging.
The food in their restaurants, according to Unilocalers and my limited tasting is you can do better in downtown Fayetteville: The Secret Sandwich Society is simply outstanding.
Their raft guides are first rate. They tend to hype up the danger to make it more exciting, but they really deliver the action in that they know the rivers so well that they steer (by having your paddle) to the best action. They are also very funny, with a stable of West Virginia, hillbilly, and rafting jokes they bring out all through the trip. They deserve your tips.
I rafted the upper and lower New River one day, and the lower the next. The full day trip puts in far up river and is slow the first part of the day. After you practice and get used to things you have a lunch. Next comes the lower section, and that is where the action happens. Depending on the water level, the rafting can be fast, intense and even toss you out of the boat fun.
Make no mistake, you are working with the others to drive the boat to the safe and action packed water.
If you want just the action, you can do the ½ day lower river. The problem is if you are there for the rest of the day there is not much else to do, other than more outdoor action, like zip lines.
Which brings me to the other issue: none of this is inexpensive. For all they offer, this is a place where you can give your Visa card a ride. They do offer discounts once you are there: we got 20% off our second day when we booked it after our first ride.
So, bring your wallet and come ready for action.