What a great couple that runs this place. We couldn't canoe because the river is well above safe…read morelevels. But they were awesome local guides for us! And they have great prices on really good firewood. Not the junky stuff you get at the hardware store. We will definitely be back to canoe when the river levels drop.

Company shut down early on day of reservation, leaving our party with one too-few canoesread more

We had a group of us do the Quad Cities Kayak with Carlos on Saturday, August 3rd. I had never…read moredone it before and can't swim, so I was very nervous. Carlos was great and making me feel comfortable and teaching me everything I needed to be successful. Had a great time and would recommend this company to everyone. Good people.

From the owner: 2022 !! Kayak Guided River Tours…read more New for 2022 Coming in to town with your own kayak ? Full shuttle service for you, your friends and your kayaks. Have your own group and like to make it a little bit easier to do river paddles. Let us do the shuttling for you. We now offer shuttles for you and your kayaks on the Mississippi and Rock Rivers in the Quad Cities area. Call or message us for details. "Quad Cities Kayak River Adventures" offers guided tours on the Rock and Mississippi Rivers. Don't just rent a kayak, Start your New Adventure and Create Memories never to be forgotten!! Tired of the same old boring tours of the cement jungle building after building ? Now is your chance to find the adventurous side of you, and the Wild Side of the Quad Cities. At QC Kayak River Adventures you are able to take a tour of some hidden and amazing backwaters that you will never see just renting a kayak on your own. See the real beauty the Quad Cities Rivers has to offer. Take this amazing guided tour through the wooded wilderness where it will seem like you are a thousands miles away even though you're right here in the middle of the Quad Cities. This fun, amazing and majestic river adventure will take you far away from the Crazy Side of the Quad Cities Book your Kayak River Tour Today !! "Quad Cities Kayak River Adventures" Offering shuttles and kayak tours on the Rock and Mississippi Rivers. Group Tours available. Open May Thru September Call us today. (309) 850-1306 .

TLDR: The loaded too few tubes on the shuttle but would not give us a refund…read more We paid for 12 people to go tubing. The lady in the office picked up her walky talky and said, party of 12. Then realized we had 3 more and paid for them. The lady in the office picked up her radio and said, 3 more for that big party. We loaded up and they shuttled us to the start. There were 13 tubes! (Not sure why 13 instead of 12.) The driver said I never got any message about 3 more people (which was not true). He said our kids would have to ride in the cooler tubes (even though the coolers were there) and we could talk to the office at the end. Now the first mistake, the wrong number of tubes, it's fine, mistakes happen. The second mistake, refusing to fix it was annoying. We tubed. It was less than ideal for the kids, but ok. Finished and went to the office. It was closed and locked. Rang bell, waited, rang bell, waited, etc. No answer. (Third mistake) Called next day. Asked for a refund for the tubes we paid for and did not get. The person on the phone kind of scolded me for not dealing with it right away, which felt ridiculous. (Fourth mistake). She said she would check with her boss and call back. Couple days pass, she did not call back. (Fifth mistake). Emailed. No response. (Final mistake). Overall, tubing was ok. Customer service was bad.

Please note that this is for my review of tubing experience. I did not camp. I went once last year…read moreas well as today. The recommendation would be to arrive around 10 am. as it does get crowded. Staff working are very friendly. Fill out the waiver and pay for tubes. At the time of review, the cash price for tubes is $20, and cooler tubes are $10. I believe there was a service charge for paying with credit card. Come with a group and tie your tubes together for a great time! The staff drive you and your tubes to the drop off point. It is about 3 to 4 hours to experience the tubing. Tips 1. Wear water shoes as some areas are rocky. 2. Don't dehydrate! Bring water. Alcohol is allowed in cans. Glass bottles are not allowed. They provide you with garbage bags. Don't be a jerk. Pick up all of your trash. At the end of the route, there are garbage cans for your garbage. 3. Reapply your sunscreen. 4. Our group likes to hit Subway before hitting the campground. Something about a sandwhich in the water hits the spot. 5. Bring a change of clothes, towels, shoes (leave in your car). They have shower areas which are very nice for a campground.

Lots of fun with beautiful scenery. We will be going back next year again for sure! Everyone was…read morevery nice and it was easy to set up the reservation.

We were here on a girls trip and decided to float down the river. We had a wonderful experience. It…read morewas about a 2 1/2 hour float. The flow of the water was perfect with a few tiny rapids. I recommend having someone in your group in a kayak. That way they can paddle you out of obstacles. They can also have room for your cooler. We saw bald eagle and and an owl. We all highly recommend this experience!

This is a really neat park on the Sugar River. It starts at the "head gates" for the once brodhead…read moremill and hydro project. The park is a trail along the raceway, or mill race. This is essentially a man made canal that provides water to the mill pond in Brodhead. It is a lovely walk, very scenic with numerous wetlands, woodland, farmland, ending with a lovely stroll along the canal into the village of Brodhead. Here, along one side of the canal are numerous fun homes reminiscent of the canals in Amsterdam. If you choose to walk or kayak, once in Brodhead, stroll downtown to a local cafe or restaurant. Hint: This is a GREAT trip for a fun outdoor date! Even if the date doesn't go well, the scenery is lovely and you can enjoy the walk back alone. It's a 4+ mile roundtrip. Easy hike with gravel two lane path. Hint: Hint: oooh...you discovered the super double secret hint! This is a great place to bring your dog. Lots of room to run big! Fetch, swimming, ducks, and the water is clean so, your dog can enjoy itself! Hint: Hint: Hint: A super triple secret hint? Say it isn't so! Kayakers - pay attention! Here is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for kayaking that requires no shuttling! Put your boat in here, paddle up river a short distance (no current here) to the decatur tap, portage the dam, paddle down the Sugar River to where the race rejoins the Sugar River. Then paddle up the race to Brodhead dam. Portage the dam and bing bang boom, you're back on the race! Now it's an easy paddle up the race back to the head gates where your car is parked, waiting for you, with a cooler of beer in trunk! Cheers, you earned it! Hint 4X: A quadruple hint-o-rama....be still my palpating heart....If you want to get into kayaking and kayak this in a group, check out the Mad City Paddlers website for group kayaking and canoe trips! Or, send me an email, I kayak this at least once a year :)

Have had two great experiences with Drift Away on the Yahara River! Both were for groups and the…read moreowner Clark led guided paddles. Beautiful scenery, very relaxing, quality equipment and great customer service.

From the owner: Call or text 608 295-4348. Same day reservation available read more

Some friends and I were in the Rockford area looking to rent skiis. Unfortunately, we arrived too…read morelate in the day to rent. I appreciated that the staff was honest with us instead of taking the sale and having us be unhappy. It also helped that they had the most adorable dog in the world. Stop by!

If you are in the Rockford area and looking to buy or rent some adventure gear, this is the best…read moreplace around! Some friends and I recently took a trip to stay at a cabin in the Rockford area. We had planned to go cross country skiing and found that Rocktown Adventures rents xc skis in the winter. What we had not planned on was how slow we would be at finally leaving the cabin to go pick up the skis. Since they unfortunately don't do reservations for the skis, we called ahead to make sure they had some before heading over. By the time we got there it was already around 3 pm and unbeknownst to us, they close at 5 pm on the weekends. We got started with the rental process only to realize we would have very little time to ski before sundown. After explaining a couple options we had for still getting out on the skis, the staff member ultimately told us it probably wouldn't be worth our money given our time constraints. Instead of staying quiet, taking our money, and letting us have a very short ski trip, the staff member suggested the option that was best for us! He then told us that if we were ever back in town to just give them a call and if they had skis available he'd have them ready for us when we arrived. Not only is the staff knowledgeable and caring but they have an incredible selection of gear. We didn't end up spending any money there, and that is exactly why this was a five star experience!

If you've never been kayaking and want to try it, check this place out. $45 a person per kayak, or…read moreyou can rent a canoe for less. The owner will take you to the drop off site at Epensheids park and away you go. Life jackets are provided. The trip can take 4-8 hours depending on what you do along the way. You can bring a soft sided cooler that can mount on the boat. Wear shoes as there are some rocky stopping spots. My friend and I had a blast on a gorgeous day on the Kish river.

CAMPING: I camped with a private group at Larsen's Landing…read moreas part of a weekend canoe package. We had the campground pretty much to ourselves. Pros: This camp site is off the beaten path. Literally. The road is not paved. There's no city noise and it really feels like you're in the wilderness even though you're just a short drive to civilization. Cons: You're in the wilderness. This is rustic camping. Forget about electric hookups. No water spigot. Not even a pit toilet. They did provide a port-a-potty. CANOEING: The canoe portion of our trip was no fuss. They drove our group by bus up-river and dropped us off - each with a sack lunch and a canoe - with instructions to just follow the river back to the landing. This was very well organized and they made sure everyone was set before taking off. I wouldn't change a thing. TIPS: If you're camping, bring your own water and a roll of TP. Invest in a dry box. Your canoe *WILL* tip when you least expect it. The sack lunch is worth it.

We haven't been canoeing in years, we decided on a whim to go and we brought our dogs and kids, 10…read moreand 14. The outfitters are very nice and friendly it seemed like they really cared about your experience. The setting is beautiful and there is a farmers market, live music and tap house right there that you can enjoy. It's very popular and there were lines to get in. It was also very dog friendly. Overall a great experience, we are glad we did it and the kids had fun too!

Unbelievable experience all around…read more The owner/operator is an incredibly nice and accommodating guy. We had a group of 10, I accidentally booked 5 kayaks instead of canoes. Day of, the owner doesn't flinch at my mistake. He quickly corrected where I dropped the ball and it didn't seem to interrupt his operation. The Sugar river is a blast. Smaller and more technical than the nearby Wisconsin River. PLUS! There's some killer breweries, tacos, cocktail bars, & a live music venue to welcome you back once you're off the river. 100% would recommend and will most certainly use Sugar River Outfitters again.

We had a family reunion here on one of the hottest, stickiest days of the summer. It was one of…read morethose days when an afternoon picnic outside doesn't sound the most appealing and you ask yourself what your family would think of you if you show up in a swimming suit, carrying a bucket of ice water. The shelter we reserved is on the northeast side of the lake (though I question how this qualifies as a lake - more like a pond in my mind) and with a hillside just to the east of it, the shelter was as good as air-conditioned! Hallelujah! There was a cool breeze thanks to the lake and since the shelter was shaded for half of the day, it wasn't until 3pm when the space finally started feeling too warm. The proximity of the shelter was also great as the Monticello Public Pool is right across the road and the kids were able to go enjoy a pool day once they were finished chasing toads around the pond (sorry Freddie the Toady Toad. Also, sorry the kids couldn't decide on a better name).