Niangua River Oasis is one of the closer float trip options for anyone living in Kansas City. It's a little bit of a drive to get to, but this is a place where I've had a lot of fun. Beware of the turn off from MO 64 and the gravel road you have to take to get to it as traffic can be fast and people drive crazy. It's pretty well signed so you won't have much trouble finding it. Also there is a VERY STEEP hill that you have to go down to get to the office and the riverfront. Very Important Note: GLASS is BANNED by Missouri State Law on the River. (Not the capmground though.) Plan Accordingly. Float Trips: NRO has several options of canoes / rafts to choose from. Classic Aluminum Grumman / Osagian canoes, 4 and 6 person rafts, kayaks (which are a blast), and yes they offer private shuttles if you have your own canoe or kayak. NRO used to offer 3 different float lengths but they have stopped offering the float that puts in above Bennett Springs. They now offer just two floats, NRO to Rendezvous Point which takes about 4 hours, and NRO to Oldham's Riverview which is pretty much an all day float. The longer float has less rapids and more deep pool areas if you want to spend a little more time just letting the current carry you. The NRO to Rendezvous Point float has rapids, deep pools, and is not the same from year to year as the river changes it's course in some spots. Pickup after your float is usually prompt, and you ride back in big yellow former school buses that will make some of you glad you're not in school anymore! Camping: Yes they offer nice but expensive cabins. I've tried them, it's not for me. The fun is in the campgrounds. A CAUTION for parents: The campgrounds especially on the weekend often turns into a big party atmosphere. It can be a problem if you want the kids to sleep. If you want a quiet camping experience especially on weekends you might want to look elsewhere. Showers: The showers aren't bad, the hot water keeps up with demand. The problem is they don't always have enough shower stalls to meet the demand so sometimes you have to wait. Camp Store / Office: They have basics, a few odds and end fishing and expensive camping supplies, ice, and firewood. Service can range from friendly to surly. Don't be an idiot, you won't get treated like one. Law Enforcement: The Dallas County Sheriff, MO Highway Patrol and MO Water Patrol, along with Conservation Agents patrol NRO's campgrounds. They have set up checkpoints on the water to look for underage drinking or other indulgences. They operate "waterjet boats", give them 2 inches of water and they can travel upstream without fuss. For the most part they won't give you trouble, but there have been occasions where they have a seriously bad attitude. If you encounter this make sure and contact the appropriate agency and complain when you get home. Summary: $40 will get you a wonderful day on the water that you will enjoy. Don't forget the sunscreen, that Ozarks sun will sneak up on you after spending 4 hours on the water. A sunburn while riding in a bouncy school bus heading back to camp is no fun!. read more

We had a great time at NRO. We saw hummingbirds on the porch by check-in. We liked that we got two nights free primitive camping with purchase of a float. We stayed Saturday and Sunday night over Memorial Day weekend. We had great weather. We also were able to bring our dog and he did great floating. Our two year old loved it, as well. Our raft was great. We liked that we could purchase fire wood at the shop. I gave four stars rather than five because there could be room for improvement. The campsite picnic table was a little old and flimsy, so basically we used it to set things on but sat on our lawn chairs instead. Not the campsite's fault but there was a very noisy motorcycle that drove through the campsite at 4am waking everybody up. Also, we knew ahead of time it was party central in campground A so we knew what to expect and stayed away. We found a nice spot away from the partying. Just be prepared to see a little craziness floating. Overall, we had a good experience. My son liked riding the busses to and from floating! read more

It is beautiful river especially in the winter when the party goers are not there. However when the weather warms up, there are large volumes of people and party goers. Don't expect to be able to fish during summer months, there are to many canoes on the river to even drop a line. I agree it is not very kid friendly because of the ridiculousness, but its honestly a shame. I believe something needs to be done about controlling the party and topless people. It really should be a family friendly river,as every river should be. Its very disappointing we have a cabin 5 minutes from the river and we cant even take our kids there anymore. But in the colder months this river gets 5 stars! read more

Hillbilly Hell/Heaven (depending on your disposition) The river: - This is where the hillbillies really show their true colors. What happens when you get a bunch of REALLY drunk rednecks together in one spot, take off half their cloths, and put them in an isolated area? They show each other their titties, they let their racist tongues fly, they throw things at each other, etc. - Another reviewer said it best, the river is a "liquidy conveyor belt of debauchery " - All along the river are rope swings, big rocks to jump off (be careful!), trunks to climb up and jump into the water... a lot of fun, honestly - The current is really nice, you don't need a paddle most of the time. If you loose yours, you can usually find one floating that someone else has lost. - Don't get a canoe!! they're too easy to tip, then all your gear goes in the water (which should be in a dry pack). Get a raft. - Don't bring pot on the river. I can personally attest to the rumor (truth!) that forest rangers will hide in the trees and come out and surprise you with a search. Fortunately we didn't have any on us. I had fishing gear (didn't catch anything) and no fishing license, but they didn't care they just wanted to bust people for weed. - The river was absolutely beautiful! So amazing The camp ground: - On a Friday or Saturday in the summer, it's pretty much a party. - It's loud and crude. The people that come here are hillbillies, drunks, wet college kids, bros, burnouts, meth-heads and red-necks. Already drunk from being on the river, the party continues into the wee hours of the morning. - and if you're into that then it can be a lot of fun! If you're not, then it's not a lot of fun! - That being said, there was no one fighting, the rangers made people turn off their radios sometime after midnight and they broke up the biggest and loudest groups. I was able to sleep nicely, but maybe I was just drunk enough to not hear the noise. We didn't have any trouble finding a place to camp and it wasn't so crowded you couldn't fit a popup tent, so maybe I was there on a less crowded weekend then other reviewers. - Everyone that I ran across was really friendly Other: - My #1 gripe was the bus ride back. Not because the bus was crap, but because the idiots ON the bus were so completely obnoxious. They were shouting really loud and being extremely rude to the bus driver in particular. I hope that's not a common occurrence. - the little restaurant isn't fine dining but it's very welcome hot food in the morning and well priced - the little store there is pretty great, I loved their pizza at 2am, also reasonably priced for a tourist trap - if you have a little car you will have trouble. My Acura Legend was dragged along rocks. - theres a very steep hill to get in and out of the campsite. If you car/truck does not do well with hills, then maybe park at the top of it. If you have a jeep with 4-Low then you'll be fine. My v6 car made it back up the hill but I had to drag race it at the bottom first. I had A LOT OF FUN!! One of the highlights of my year. I'm a city guy, not normally the kind of redneck that a place like the attracts, but I kept an open mind. Being on that river was just so much fun! Just make sure you bring enough beer, if you have extra you can trade it for some topless action ;) read more

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I think one's opinion about this place would really depend on their expectations of the trip. Let me explain: Even though I'm still in my 20's, I can't party until 4 am anymore. I have to go to bed at a reasonable time (11-midnight) if I'm expected to get up at 7 to go floating. I think maybe our friends who planned the trip thought the "party crowd" would only be right along the river. Nope! It definitely extended across the entire lower campground. Even after I went to bed there were people still showing up and setting up their tents RIGHT NEXT to ours and then talking loud until after 3 am. There were definitely people partying until 6. There's a sign that says music has to be off by 11pm ("no exceptions!") but no one abided by or enforced that rule. As you can imagine, even with earplugs in I got very little sleep. So if you are planning on camping here and want to sleep, you need to set up camp by the entrance and NOT by the river. We rented a canoe for our trip and the rest of our group used rafts. The staff managing our rentals was made up of a few boys who couldn't have been older than 16 and basically rushed through the rules he barely remembered and told us to pick up our life vests and oars. One of the rafts had a slow leak and required our friends to bail water out. Our canoe definitely had several leaks that required us to pull over a few times and dump the water out. We tries repairing one of the major leaks with melted plastic and seal wax, and surprisingly it worked! But why are we having to do this in the first place? We decided when we hit the first take out we would ask if we could switch out our canoe. When we asked the employee said "Uh, well..." and looked to other employees for an answer. One nodded, but no one helped us locate another canoe. My boyfriend found another one and pointed to it, and an employee said "uh, probably not that one," which suggested to me that this one also had issues. We finally found one that worked and took it and luckily did not have any more leakage issues on the trip. The bus ride back to the camp was a living nightmare. The bus driver said he couldn't take anymore people because of the weak transmission of the bus, but then let more people on anyway. We hit tree branches on the way back that broke the top vent of the bus. Along the way, our bus's side hit the side of another one of their busses but we just kept going. No one was injured or anything, but it was a little upsetting at the very least. That all said, I have to say that you get what you pay for. Also, most of the staff was super friendly and helpful, so I cannot complain about that. The bathrooms were clean. I didn't stay long enough to shower so I cannot comment on those. Overall I had an enjoyable time on my float. read more

duuuuuuuump. I second all the folks who say that this is a shit show. drunk idiots run rampant and are unavoidable. if you want some free beads for showing your boobs, go here! if you want to spend your "float trip" weaving between drunk people on 8-raft islands clogging up the river, go here! there was no point during our 7-mile float when we weren't surrounded by at least 100 hammered people listening to loud music and yelling at us. there's a reason it's so cheap. this is probably the easiest way to get sexually harassed in the shortest amount of time. we had plenty to drink while on the river but it wasn't enough to make this tolerable. also the river is really shallow and you're not really going anywhere. the people who worked there were nice, but that doesn't exactly make up for the clientele. they said they were expected about 3000 people this weekend. gross. our campsite up top wasn't bad, and I was glad we were up top in the "family section" where it was a little less crazy, but we still had plenty of loud people that didn't understand camping etiquette. the bathrooms weren't bad for a campground. I felt bad for the people who brought kids here. they were all pretty horrified. on that note, if you read this review and then take kids here, I am judging you. read more

never again. there were a million people there. we had no idea how tight the so called "campground" was so we brought our pop up. Do not bring a pop up here!!! it would not fit. we ended up leaving and headed back to Kansas City. it was like a needle in a hay stack trying to find our group which we never did. and got stuck once and had to unhook the pop up and by hand turn it around. not going to lie, not having to stay there with all those loud drunk ridiculous people didn't hurt my feelings. I don't ever write bad reviews... but had to on this one. read more

I have made reservations with this outfitter twice in the past. The first time they were rude/unorganized as the river was incredibly shallow to the point we had to get out and pull our raft, but nothing that phased me too much. The second time, their was a significant amount of rain the week before and I heard of large flooding in the rivers but received no phone call about cancelations. Finally the night before we left I called to confirm that we were still on to float. Apparently the river was unsafe to float and we would not be allowed to. THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP. We had people driving from 3 hours out and they couldn't even inform us we wouldn't be allowed on the river. I told her that we wanted to reschedule and asked if we could tentatively reserve a different weekend. No problem. The week before the second date I called to inform her that since I had so many out of town guests, it was hard to coordinate on short notice and if we could instead use my credit for next season. Not only was that not an option, apparently I had violated their cancelation policy and could no longer reschedule for any weekend or get a refund. I was NEVER informed of a cancelation policy. When I explained this to the rather rude woman on the phone so told me their cancelation policy was on their website and I was expected to know it. GUESS WHAT LADY, I BOOKED MY RESERVATION OVER THE PHONE NOT ONLINE. SO NO. I CANT BE EXPECTED TO KNOW YOUR CANCELATION POLICY IF YOU NEVER TELL ME. Totally rude and unhelpful. Will never go back read more

We went camping and canoeing at NRO campgrounds last weekend (Memorial Day) It was my first time and my boyfriend has been there many times over the years. After reading the reviews on Yelp, I was ready to back out and go to Perry. My boyfriend convinced me it would be fine, so we marched forward. Upon arriving at the campsite after checking in, I was a bit apprehensive. All the tents were side by side and it was like a big college block party. I thought oh lord, I do not want to be that close to anyone while sleeping in a tent. We pushed further into the campsite and got past all the party goers towards the back of the site. Ahh much better. Seemed this was where the couples and families were. We could still hear the party goers and their music, but overall it was tolerable. We didn't have many neighbors on Friday night and it was a peaceful night (with background music) by the campfire. Saturday night was much calmer. Think the party goers were still sleeping or drank too much the night before and went home. Probably the only complaint I have is people who bring their dogs camping and the the dog barks all the time. We were woke up to this on Sunday morning. Don't get me wrong, I have 3 dogs of my own, so I am not a dog hater. No nudity to report on the river. Probably most blinding thing I saw over the weekend was 3 guys in speedos who should not have been wearing. lol Overall the canoe trip and camping experience was a fun time and we will plan to go back again in the future. read more

THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL!! Worst and most expensive experience we have ever had. There was no trained professionals. Just a bunch of rude teenagers who were very cold and unwelcoming to me and my kids. They acted like we were a complete inconvenience and they didn't want to be bothered. There was no class as promised on the phone. I was told on the phone it would take a total of about 2 hours but they were back in 45 minutes. It was nothing but a few poles and wires. Nothing like what the picture shows. Even my 10 year old said it was "lame" While me and my 6 year old waited, we were treated rudely and very hostile from the main office/store and weren't even allowed to use a bathroom. So all in all we paid $85 for 45 minutes to be bored and treated badly and lied to. Even when my daughter tried to say thank you to the 16 year old she was strapped to he waved her off as he was on the phone with his girlfriend. read more