Pocono Whitewater Review

Amazing family trip. Their guides and staff are the fantastic. I can't wait to do it again.

Kids had s great ride. We biked along the bike trail ahead of them and watched them pass multiple times. Staff was friendly and helpful.

Experience was really exhaustive if you go with Family. I think, 8 Miles long rafting was cumbersome but thrilling. Not advisable with Family with small kid (under 8 age) and parents ( age 70+)

Best trip I ever had, kept me interested and there was no danger

My experience is similar to Chris Groff's in his review below. We went on dam release day, during a holiday weekend. Overall a fun experience with charismatic guides and good pick up and drop off arrangements. Lehigh River itself was beautiful and scenic, and the rapids (level 3-4) were exciting enough for beginners.

That being said, the operator was understaffed the weekend we went. We had over 15 boats, nearly 100 people, finishing with over 30 boats together after they decided to combine two groups. There were only four guides for our original group. Many had never rafted before - lots of people falling in and rafts getting stuck on rocks. We spent probably 2 of the 5 hours waiting for people to catch up. Like Chris, I'd suggest smaller groups with at least one guide for every two boats.

The understaffing also led to some safety issues. For example, the guides only discovered two people were missing after over an hour (they were in someone else's boat after falling out). My friends and I fell out a couple of times and none of the guides came over to see if we were ok or needed help. I saw others who had fallen out and no guides helped. The safety instructions in the beginning were also difficult to hear (no loud speaker or mic). There were also a few areas where the guides told us to go one by one. With over 30 inexperienced boats, it became an obstacle course with boats and rocks.

There is nothing special about it. The general river drifting is not too fast. The main point is that you can hit the water.

The rafting was fun and the hosts were nice. It was not too pricey.

Best place for adventure sports man I loved it so much that I will not forget my whole life the rafting was best that you will never forget the boat (idk what it's called the rubber boat) it's so tough man I literally was on rock in between of river and thought this is gonna blow up but it didn't so good so tough best place

Had a GREAT Time.. went with group of 10 and the staff handled us with expertise and professionalism.. Food is a bit on the pricey side.. ( Pack ahead ) but that's how the Bill's get paid.. Facilities were well kept and clean.. equipment was up to PAR and the buses where clean... Go with a couple of a large group and have FUN.. Highly Recommend !!

I recently just got home from completing the damn release trip today with friend and have to start off by first saying that our tour guides were amazing! However the amount of customers that are put through on an individual trip is outrageous, 128 with our group, I think they mentioned. Maybe restructuring would be a good thing to try. There was just to many people that I would say most of the time spent was waiting for other rafts to catch up. In terms of the rapids I would say they weren t anything crazy or to get hyped up about. If you are an adrenaline seeker or someone who is looking for a crazy white water rafting trip this may not be the company or trail for you. Overall had a great time with the staff but the way it is setup and the amount of people they push through with a group to me was unacceptable. I would say more groups with less people would be the way to go. Just to much stopping and waiting around on the side of the river. Wouldn t recommend this trip for the price. Was looking forward to trip and left disappointed with adventure itself.

Additional: I saw your response to this review but no mention or addressing the large group sizes.

Awesome experience on an amazing day. Really well oiled machine that starts out getting you geared up and ready to go on your rafting trip and then getting you there comfortably. The staff and guides were very knowledgeable and funny as well as approachable. The food was decent during lunch break and it was nice to stop at the swimming holes along the trip.

We did the four hour trip and I think it was perfect. Anymore would ve probably been too long and this was just the right amount of time to enjoy the Lehigh River and the outdoors. I would definitely use this group in the future

When i went, the water was brown and the river was high so the river was flowing rather than being white water

Everything was nicely coordinated and the process was smooth. We had a great time! The views were amazing as well.

Great staff and location and also awesome energy and fun for all

Awesome family place and we'll prepared for covid. We really need to get out of the house and this was perfect.

Cudos to our guide Joe and others who made a level 3 safe and fun. We had a great adventure and will be back.

Would have been a much better experience if there weren't so many boats crowded together, we got stuck a couple of times and missed rapids trying to avoid other boats.

They say the white water rafting - level 3 - does not need any experience / is for beginners. but it is NOT true. it is very difficult to control your raft in the rapids. they did help us in time when we fell out of the raft (twice), but it was a SCARY experience.

Great staff, good organization. We reached at the last minute and they still accomodated us. Overall great experience. Loved it.

We enjoyed the experience there. Our mother duck bill and instructor Rachel guided us well.

One thing many did not like to see 'BEEF+PORK mixed hot dogs' were served. When you set up a business and offer food, you should be able to consider people from different groups. Muslims do not eat pork and Indians Hindus do not eat beef and you mixed it together so no one can eat them. You look at you guests and you will find a large number of people are muslims and Indians. Hope you guys sort this out. Thanks

Always a great time! This was our first time doing the Upper Gorge trip and we enjoyed it immensely. Great scenery and guides. Top notch customer service

The staff did an amazing job and were very humorous. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

It was really fun experience. At least you should try once.

Great experience, great staff, and tons of fun!!!!! Thank you to all the staff!!

Here is a list of things you'll need and a few tips: in a waterproof or water resistant bag but 1-2 bottles of water per person (freeze the night before), sunscreen, waterproof camera or waterproof phone, a snack if needed, and a credit card if you are doing the class 2-3 since lunch isn't provided. This bag won't get wet if you put it in a bucket and bring it with you on the boat. They provide buckets. Bring 2 on the boat, one for getting water out of the boat and one for the bag. Bring extra dry clothes and leave them in the car.

Don't forget to bring extra socks and shoes to change into.

What to wear: i wore boat shoes that were waterproof. They were nice for when you get in the river. Regular shoes would weigh you down. But if its all you have, make sure they're not your favorite shoes. THEY NEED TO HAVE A BACK. They won't let you wear shoes that don't have a back. You'll have to buy them there if you forget. If you don't wave water shoes you can buy them there for like $20 i think.
Wear clothes you can move in and make sure its not cotton. Think workout clothes. Wear your bathing suit under your clothes. I saw these tourists wear really nice clothes, jeans, etc. They were a mess and couldn't get in the river. Wear sunglasses! If you have expensive sunglasses, make sure you bring a strap ($1 at walmart).

I highly suggest you take your own pictures. They state they take them but its only ONE picture. Literally. You don't even have choices to pick from. The odds are that not everyone will look good in the picture because you're rafting, you don't know they're taking the picture, and to have all 4 to 6 people look good at the same time in one shot is extremely rare.

Don't wear jewelry you mind loosing.

DONT USE WAZE TO GET THERE. USE GOOGLE MAPS. Waze for some reason goes the longest way possible.

Yall are going to have a blast.

Our group did the dam release upper gorge rafting trip. We were looking for a little more excitement than last year when we did the family trip. The trip down the river was fun and exciting.

**** However, be aware
Pocono Whitewater doesn't tell you you're going to walk 1 mile with all your gear paddles, lifejacket and five gallon buckets of food and water. When you get to the end of the walk you're still not done...the large rubber raftes still need to be moved 300' down a small stream, over rocks and slid down two trees. With NO help from Pocono Whitewater staff, we get the boat in the water with only minor scrapes and bruises.

We were told the entirety and exit would be easy... not true!!!!!!

The Staff are Nice people helping you in the water. It was my first time doing rafting and I recomend this place. As family fun activity. You could bring your lunch or your drinks and put it in a bucket to carry over in your raft. They give you time to eat it half way of the river. The view is spectacular. Nature and more nature.

Excellent guides and great time with my good friends and my big bro.

Great rafting experience, and the guides are very informative. The scenery was fantastic

AWSOME time!!!!! Took my daughter out for our first whitewater trip and we LOVED it. Our guide, Adie, was VERY knowledgeable of the river and conditions and helped to keep the mood light (calmed my nerves as a newbie). FUN and family oriented. Went with "family" package which was 'just right' daughter BEGGING to go back!!!!!! We will.... Friendly... safe.... well run. Highly reccomended!!

Organized and professional. Its a well run family originated

Literally on the bus back to
our car right now. We just completed the 8 mile family fun fun trip. It was our first experience, and it won t be our last, either. The guides were incredible. The water was warm, I went w my 3 kids, as my husband had to work all weekend. Their ages are 10, 10 & 8. The guides were so helpful. My kids did great. Zero complaining. Very knowledgable staff, they showed us where the rocks were, told us to stay to the side, explained everything.
I was nervous but they eased my anxiety. The family fun trip includes lunch. Great job to this company!

Great experience!. 3 out of 3.
We went family rafting this week at Pocono whitewater rafting in Jim Thorpe off of 903.
We had earlier gone biking at one of their other facilities in Jim Thorpe.
The staff at both places is very friendly and offered tips on navigating the area including places to dine. We compared them to several other facilities in the area before settling on them. They were cheaper (they even offered a 5 $ discount per person for biking with them), friendlier and even offered a free mid-trip lunch buffet (not a cheap one but a decent meal with sandwiches, drinks, chips etc..).

Our rafting trip was scheduled for noon. We would recommend arriving there at least 30-45 mins ahead of time to fill out the waiver and see if you need to rent anything (like wetsuit, water shoes etc..). The staff - Dan, Nathan (or Ethan), Marco, Wendy is very friendly. They provide two bucket sizes (small and big) to put stuff you want to carry with you. The bigger buckets had tight water proof lids to keep your stuff dry. The smaller buckets were used by most rafters to splash water around.

Being first timers and with two elementary schoolers we lagged behind the rest yet the staff was very courteous. At one point the staff even jumped on board to give us a hand and some lessons on paddling. We stopped midway for lunch. The rapids were fun. I can only imagine how fun it would be to do this on a dam release day.

The only thing I would change is that they let everyone (and not just the folks out in front) know clearly when it is safe to jump into the water.

Nevertheless I would strongly recommend them and am looking forward to going back for a rafting and biking trip.

We had a great time. Adrianne and the other guides were super nice and informative. Can't wait to go again!

We were a group of athletic young adults and all felt the family package was very kid oriented. We wished we did a different package we were more into the actual rafting and felt as though we were being held back the whole time waiting for the 10 other boats in our time slot. Maggie was our favorite guide, she was very calm and kind, also very knowledable about the different options for more skilled rafters. She recommended we try the Dam release package next time, which we definitely will.

Awesome rafting trips, good river guides. One of the older male personnel was a bit nasty during loading when we were trying to stay with our group. Maybe just having a bad day, I hope.

121 people rafting in a group? Not fun, ruins the point of going out and white water rafting. Had to constantly stop and wait for everyone. Wasnt able to enjoy the outdoors. One of the guides was also unfriendly and completely full of himself and his rafting skills.

Love this place. A well run operation and fun for the whole family.

The bus ride to the river was full capacity. There should be fewer people on the bus to the river during this pandemic. One guide was extremely rude and threatened at the top of his lungs to have us removed from the river because we were stuck on a rock and couldn't follow his instructions at the time. When I told him he shouldn't have approached us like that his answer was "you try doing this all-day" the one guide tried very hard to help us and make up for his lack of professionalism but by then our trip was ruined. It is hard to get back to having fun after that. One rotten apple ruined the entire trip.

Second time coming to this place and it's a blast every time. Guides are super friendly and very thorough to ensure maximum safety.

Our guides were awesome. Marco made the trip
Memorable. And would want him as our guide again

Makayla and Paul they are amazing also. Saved us from lots of rocks

Thank you guys

Awesome time

Tom & Dina. And 16 others.
08-22-2020.

One of the best places to go whitewater rafting in the Northeast! Excellent service and an overall great experience! I'll be looking forward to my next visit!

Nice place and people, good place for rafting and good vibe

This was our family's first time ever white water rafting. The Guides were amazing and we all had a great experience.

The staff was very rude.. did not even care for rafters safety. Please change the staff.

Thank you

We went for the Whitewater Dam Release, it was a fun time and pretty exhausting. The only problem we had is we went with one of the guide named Pete and he was very impatient with our group. Most of our group have English as second language and Pete was yelling at us like a boot camp seargant when we're trying to take a seat on the raft, we couldn't comprehend exactly what he want from us since most of us don't speak English very well and all he did was yelled at us in front of everyone. thankfully our tour guide Spag (I think that's his name) definitely made it up with his great personality. Overall a fun experience, if you're going for the rafting try avoiding Pete!

Our experience was terrifying to say the least. The guides were so understaffed that they couldn't provide proper help to their customers. There were too many rafts on the water for it to be safe. It was just so unorganized on the water. Unfortunately, a man died the day we went. It was numbing to listen to the family scream out for their relative.

The most inconsiderate guides I have seen on this river.

This place is perfect for whitewater rafting with family and friends. It's nice 4 hr long rafting experience with lunch included. (I recommend bringing your snacks and PB&J sandwiches). No previous experience required, still good to have at least one person in your group who has done this before .

I ve been using these guys since 2007, usually twice a year. I have never had a bad experience. The staff is super helpful, informative, and polite.

I ve had to cancel trips, reschedule, and add people. They re extremely accommodating and have fair and upfront policies when it comes to credit and money back.

We highly recommend them for rafting, paintball, biking, the big day out and anything else you re thinking about doing with them.

We drove 2.5 hours to make it to the 7:30 am white river rafting and we weren't disappointed! Our main guide, Marc, was awesome! He explained how the day was going to unfold and what precautions to take on the river, on the way to the drop-off point. It took a while to actually get to that point, but you need to grab a life-jacket... and get to the river.

We had a lot of fun on the raft! There was always a guide in sight and they were all friendly. There was one stop in the middle for lunch and some throughout to take a quick dip. A great day, I'd definitely go back!

Remember to apply lots of sunscreen to avoid massive sunburns!!!

very nice rafting place. really clean and organized. at the night, there is a fire for smores and stuff. there are two courses, 1 & 2 and 2 & 3. 1 & 2 are begginers while 2 & 3 are a bit harder. very clean water.

Great guides. Perfect family outing no experience necessary

Though we discovered a rip in our raft at the lunch area, the captain/leader of our big group handled it well and the whole day ended up being very fun. I recommend coming here.

Very cool. We took the "family style" this time. Maybe next time we'd like to try the "dam release" one, which is more exciting.

Loved the place. Very well organized and team is well trained. We had good time.

Did the family style with 132 other random people. We had to wait the whole time for everyone to catch up so it was a very uneventful experience. If you want to pay $60 to float down a river and wait for others then this is the place for you. They take way too many people making it very unorganized and frustrating. The employees were nice but that was the only good thing about the trip. Also the people who take your picture suck! They just get the back or side of your group.

Today we had a Level 3 rapids. I did the 12 mile rafting and will do it again.

We all had blast!!! Good clean and professional place well organized. Beautiful scenery best of PA