Ridgefield Kayak

The kayaks were nice and the wildlife sightings were great. My less than suburb rating is largely related to finding the place and parking. We circled the area countless times, not sure where even the kayak rental was located. We did finally see a sign that said rentals were at «Dock A», but where is that? After more circling, we finally spotted a kayak place that had been out of our view, below the normal sight line. We parked and walked down, only to find out we were parked in the wrong lot. We got some sketchy advice as to where to park and were tipped off by a customer that we might have to pay to park (we saw nothing indicating that). We were unsure if we could park where the vehicles with trailers were and finally parked way off from the rental, only to find we probably didn’t need to pay to park there. Because of all this confusion that we feel could have been cleared up with better signage or more specific directions on the kayak rental website, we were 20 – 30 minutes late getting started on kayaking.

We had a good time with our kids.
The kayaks were in good shape, and good for beginners.
The slough was beautiful. We saw a racoon, some beautiful birds, and had a nice relaxing trip.
Do it, you will not regret it.

Ridgefield Kayak is a great place to go if you live in the Portland area but don’t want to kayak the Willamette or Columbia rivers. Enjoy a good-​quality kayak (with or without steering pedals) while you navigate down a slough that parallels the Columbia River. The slough is bordered by a bird sanctuary on one side, and woods and train tracks on the other side. The scenery is beautiful, and is even good for some bird watching. When we went in late May, the current wasn’t strong at all which made for easy paddling.
The staff working at Ridgefield Kayak was helpful, took our reservation over the phone the day prior, and helped us find kayaks that were best suited to our skill level. The price was exactly what we were quoted and was very affordable.
The only reason I didn’t bump this up to a 5-​star review because of the lack of diversity of scenery. Other than paddling by a few house boats on your way out, the scenery remains pretty much the same throughout.

Very impolite, not a good greeting from inside the garage when this older lady talking on the phone, saw me come down the top of the ramp, kept on the phone, I wondered around the deck for 15min before I left, I’m an experienced kayaker, wanting to know about prices, and lengths of kayaks, nothing answered, I won’t be coming back with my kids to rent here, TV riverkeepers have same kayaks cheaper and longer rentals.

My wife and I have always wanted to go kayaking while we are traveling but never felt comfortable just renting a kayak and taking off. So we contacted Ridgefield Kayak to schedule a lesson and were informed that their Basic Skills Class 101 from 3 – 6:00pm was full but would create an early 11 – 2:00pm class if interested. When we arrived on Saturday that class was filled as well with another family.
Gail and James were great at teaching basic skill and strokes but most of all safety. After giving us safety instructions on land along with some ideas of what to expect on the water it was time to get into the kayaks. The water of Lake River (Oxymoron I know) was very calm and easy to maneuver on as wells as enjoying the wildlife. We learned different strokes and after awhile felt comfortable paddling. We plan to return and rent some kayaks to practice what we learned that day as well as take one of their guided tours, so when we do travel and see that sign «kayaks for rent» we can now go with confidants.

This place is awesome! A total hidden gem if you are in the PDX area and looking for some outside adventure. We called Saturday afternoon looking to go out on the water on Sunday (during labor day weekend) and got right in. No one else had a reservation so we had a guide all to ourselves.
Dave (our tour guide) was perfect. We asked to be paired with somebody fun and they did a great job. He was young, nice, helpful and full of great stories and history on the local area.
Our group did the 5 hour guided paddle around Bachelor island, Dave knew the ins and outs of the trip, knew exactly where to paddle so that we wouldn’t have to walk out boats across shallow parts.
Only complaint here was the river was pretty crowded by motor boats at some spots. So the noise was a bit annoying and you had to really watch out so not paddle into the path of a roaring engine towing a screaming child.
Other than that, it was tranquil, fun and exciting. We say bald eagles and other wildlife.
Can’t wait till its 90 degrees in these parts again so that I can pay another visit and kayak the Columbia again.

Ridgefield Kayak was a great place to introduce my son and grandson to kayaking. The folks there were completely patient and careful to give us all the time we needed to get safely into life preservers, the boats and paddling into the estuary. They forgave our late return, although we were fully prepared to pay for the extra time.
I look forward to returning for more paddling.
The previous reviewer pointed out that there were no instructions for the bilge pump and some other gear stowed on each boat. This omission, and the bit high price keeps me from posting a 5 star rating. Also, they don’t make it clear on their web page that 3-​year olds are too young. This info is there, but only if you read the policies page.

I had recently taken Kayak lessons and was excited to get out on the water again.
Ridgefield Kayak’s website was clear and informative, they appeared to provide appropriate equipment, and the prices were reasonable. I did enquire as to whether they provided dry suits but was told that as of October 1 they would no longer provide them which I did find odd given the ambient temperature. We opted to reserve two, single person kayaks and with directions from the staff were easily able to find their office in the marina.
Their «office» was clean and neat, maps on counter where the staff could clearly give us directions which they did so quite clearly and thoroughly after asking about our kayaking experience. After previously having had to get into a kayak for the first time off of the dock I was happy to be able to get into Ridgefield Kayak’s boat by holding on to a bar that crossed between their two covered docks! It definitely made it much easier to get into the boat (though wasn’t able to help me back out, later). On the other hand Gene (I believe was her name) gave excellent instructions about how to get out of the boat.
The only drawbacks that I found to Ridgefield Kayak was the lack of instruction on the equipment that the boat came with (bilge pump and other devices I thankfully didn’t need), items that were listed on the website as being provided, but were not, the lack of dry suit availability, and I felt that the boat was a bit sluggish (though my experience with kayaks is extremely limited).
If you’ve already learned to kayak I would recommend the self-​guided tours at Ridgefield Kayak. I, personally, wouldn’t want to go out on the river without having learned paddling techniques first.