Going on float trips is such a wonderful way to get out and explore nature! Float trips are sometimes referred to as “floating”, “tubing”, “river floating” or any other number of local names for enjoying some time on the river.
A float trip is when you float or paddle down a river in either a Kayak, Canoe, Inflatable Tube, Raft, SUP Board, or anything else that doesn’t have a motor. The point is to float at a relatively slow pace and enjoy the scenery around you.
On most float trips you’ll float anywhere from 1 – 10 miles down the river, and it will take you 2 to 6 hours to complete. But for anyone looking for a bit more adventure, there are overnight float trips that involve camping on the banks of the river for the night.
Depending on the river conditions, float trips can be a great option for adults as well as kids. For most of the popular rivers to float around the United States, you’ll find everything from families with young kids to bachelor parties and even the occasional family union.
If you’ve never been on a float trip before, or even just never floated a particular river before then planning your trip can be a little difficult. Information on the best areas of the river to float, when’s the best time of year to go, or even just what to expect from a particular river is often hard to get a straight answer on.
Outfitters are the number one resource and many of them have been providing float trip services for their particular river for years and so it would be hard to find someone who knew the river better than them.
But Outfitter websites are often not very good and don’t have very much information. Calling them is another option, but most Outfitters are closed in the offseason and have a tendency to not answer the phone even when they are open.
Over the years we’ve been on dozens of float trips all around the United States and so we’ve written about many of the rivers we’ve floated on to help you plan your trip!
In our detailed guides you’ll find information on not only the best area to float for each river, but also who the Outfitters are, where to camp, the best time of the year to go and so much more.
