Clear Creek Rafting Co.

Reviews 4

KA

Kalee Bachrodt

We had an awful experience on the "intermediate" trip. When I called and asked if we should do beginner or intermediate the person said, "Can you swim?" My group is 7 semi-athletic women, all who can swim, so they instructed us to do intermediate so we would not be bored. As soon as we met our instructor I knew the day would not be going the way we imagined. We practiced paddling on the shore and were highly critiqued for not using the proper form. We were finally allowed in the water and the first moment we could tell this was not going to be a "fun adventure" like we had imagined. We were not allowed to talk, we were yelled at, and we were definitely not allowed to laugh. Within seconds of being on the boat our instructor dropped his paddle. He immediately took mine so I was left with nothing until we could get another. He steered us directly into a tree and while branched were smacking us in the face we were yelled at to get our paddling and not to duck. We got stuck and at this point our guide got out of the boat and broke our emergency rope (the rope around the boat to help pull yourself in if you fall out). Once we were finally out of the tree - he steered us right into another tree. Once again yelling and barking orders and telling us not to speak. Meanwhile all the other rafts are making this look easy and having a good time. Once we start going down the rapids our guide falls out for the FIRST time. He used a passenger on our boat to pull himself back in by pulling on her life jacket. Luckily, she is very strong or else she would have fallen in too. Once he was safely back in we hit another rock and almost everyone in our boat INCLUDING OUR GUIDE falls out. One of us was pulled to shore by a rope that was thrown to her. Another was picked up by a separate boat. The rest of us somehow made it back onto our boat. It would have been nice to have the rope around the boat that he broke earlier on the trip. We all had bumps, bruises, etc , but we had to continue down the river. After speaking with two of our passengers who ended up on other boats we did not have a normal experience with Marcos. The other boats were having a good time while the guide did most of the work. I do not blame the company as much, but more so our guide. If you go I would not use Marcos. They did give us a cd with pictures and it is clear in every picture that our guide was not in our boat. It is hard to go down rapids with no guide.

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A

A Private User

We went earlier this summer and will not be back. If you are thinking about going I encourage you to call and not only ask how long the trip is, which is what I did, but ask how long you are on the WATER for. Again, I asked how long the trip would be and was told 2-2.5 hours but come to find out they included the instructional period into this time frame. The amount spent on the water is an hour for the half-day trip (at least for the advanced Clear Creek trip). We were in the lobby at 12:30P and back at Colorado and 6th in Denver at 2:30P on the dot having lunch. Its a good 30-45 minute drive back to that part of Denver so you do the math there.......very deceptive on their part but like they say shame on me. I wish I was on rafting time at work so when I billed my clients "half-days" I would be able to charge them the full rate but only work an hour or two. What standard of time are we following? How is this acceptable? Maybe on a parallel universe it is.....which is where I feel our tour guide "Weazy" came from...... Our tour guide, "Weazy" (what a joke of a name), was condescending and arrogant during the trip then to top it off the ride back included an awkward one minute pitch to "help your karma for your next trip" aka tip. I have no problem tipping, but the huge signs in the bus and in the lobby of the building before the trip are enough to get the hint across rather than someone placing a voodoo curse on you. And an issue that catches my eye is that out of the 4 people that have reviewed this place on this site, the 2 that actually took time to WRITE a thoughtful review gave the company a 1-star rating while the other 2 who took no time to actually review the place gave it 5 stars. Suspicious......

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DI

Diana Oppy

I have rafted with Clear Creek rafting company 5 or 6 times now and done both the Clear Creek (out of Idaho Springs) and the Arkansas River (Royal Gorge out of Canon City) and can say tell you there is a reason Ive gone back to them every time! The views are amazing, the service is excellent and safety is very important to them. They provide you with EVERYTHING you need to have an excellent time, wet suits, jackets, footwear and safety instruction. As for some of the other reviews, I can say that Ive personally rafted with Weise, not "Weazy", twice (in fact requested him the second time) and he is an EXCELLENT guide. Weise did such a good job teaching us the ropes that this year when my group of 4 girlfriends went to the Royal Gorge with Allen we "blew him out of the water" with our amazing paddle strokes! Thanks guys! I do have a personal disclaimer about rafting. I dont think its a sport for everyone. Maybe your 80 year old aunt or 300 lb brother shouldnt be in a raft. It is a SPORT, which requires a bit of physical activity that you should probably be prepared for to have a good time. It shouldnt just be up to the guide to get you down a river through raging rapids safely so that you can say you had a great time. Be aware of what youre getting yourselves into. That being said, white water rafting is one of my favorite summer time activities and I chose and TRUST Clear Creek Rafting with all of my trips! Prices are great and they even let you keep a FREE CD of the photos they take of you on the trip!

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A Private User

We went as a 4 person group on a "Beginners" trip & I requested my Mom & aunt to sit in the back as my Mom is 78 & is not strong. I wanted to sit next to them in the middle with my 84 yr old Dad, but 2 others had already requested the middle & were not open to giving them up, so my Dad & I ended up in the front. My Dad & I could not hear some of the guides instructions (backward, forward, etc) due to the water noise of the rapids and after I told the guide, he did not talk any louder. Then on the next big rapid the side of the raft that my Mom & I were on dipped way down and I fell backwards half way out of the boat. My Dad grabbed my arm & pulled me back in. I was very close to going overboard. Then I found out that my Mom almost fell in the water at the same time. Our guide, David, blamed me for paddling in the wrong direction...which is possible, considering we couldnt HEAR the instructions. I could hear the guide in the other raft when we were close, better than I could hear David. Our guide was not very friendly and did not even ask anyone their names. I think we should have been able to sit together, as we paid as a group, so we could have helped each other & would have had a safer & more enjoyable experience. Also, I wish we would have had a different guide! L. Rockhold

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