So who likes to float "the river"?

[yh125d]

Went on the Illinois Sunday SE of Tulsa, did a 6 mile with 3 rafts and 10 people.

I've gone about 5 times now, usually doing a 12 mile float in canoes. Last summer we did the 12 in rafts and it was a horrible idea. We got a late start, rafts are slower than canoes, so they were pulling people in early at the halfway point before it got dark. We didn't spend hardly any time in the water so it pretty well sucked. I was skeptical of trying the rafts again, and disappointed when my friends booked the 6 mile instead


But it was pretty much perfect. With an earlier start (we put in about 930), a shorter run and a larger group it was awesome. We were never pressed for time so we never felt like we had to get moving. We spent probably half the time in the water, and had perfect weather (~86, partly cloudy, light breeze). We were out until 4 and we all wish we had milked it another hour or two. Rafts are a bit more comfortable, and you never have to worry about losing your beer (river priority #1)

I should float more often. Pretty cheap fun, and even a fat lazy guy like me can do it and feel active. My uncle told me to try the Elk River, between Joplin and Fayetteville, supposedly a lot cleaner than the Illinois (can get kinda grubby)

In related news, neck koozies and the metal bottles with screw caps are a very good idea

If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

 

[stormkroe]

Haven't done a float trip for 10 years, but canoes are THE way to go. To me, the longer the better but sometimes it's hard to have that much free-time I suppose. I've always wanted to do an over-nighter with a campfire on the rocks.
Black river in southern Missouri used to be an awesome float when I was a teenager.

I also highly recommend it.

 

[AustinInDallas]

its a right of passage in texas. sadly some cities have passed can bans(and obviously bottles are banned)

 

[Sluggo]

Last time I floated the Illinois River up there, I got the most sunburned that I have ever gotten in my life.

God it was horrible.

 

[zokudu]

How does one find a float trip. This has piqued my interest.

 

[stormkroe]

How does one find a float trip. This has piqued my interest.

Find a place that offers them, decide how long you want to go, pay them, they give you a ride up the river to the respective launch area, you get in the boat and float back to your car. They're usually from 4hrs to 2 days long, there are lots of beautiful places you'll never see from a car. You can stop to swim, fish, camp, etc along the way. It would be a different kind of experience to go by yourself, but with friends along picture like this: Chilling around a camp fire at the lake with your buddies = finding an extra toy in your happy meal. Float tripping with your friends = wiping the wagyu steak from your mouth with winning powerball tickets.

Edit: Saw you were in New Jersey and googled this link to further pique you.
http://lifeofmegden.blogspot.ca/2009/06/one-sick-puppy.html

 

[SirStev0]

In WV we get innertubes and air mattresses with as much beer as can float, and we get good and loaded.

 

[yh125d]

How does one find a float trip. This has piqued my interest.

I imagine there's good rivers to float about anywhere, most people do a class 1 float (not difficult at all) so they can just relax and get drunk. At least around here it's usually in a pretty small river, with plenty of gravel bars and good places to swim/bluffs to jump off of. Nothing too deep or fast. I've never floated a very big river so I don't know how much fun that would be

It's good cheap fun. Usually runs $20-30/person, plus beer of course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRtS_0U5qVQ

 

[ra1nman]

Yeah we float on tubes here too, on occasion you'll see a few canoes on the Wolf river. Good cheap fun as mentioned before until you get burned on your armpits.

 

[mizzou]

I love it. Only had a few bad experiences. One was a sort of barricade in the river of guys with video cameras trying to coax girls (your girlfriend) to take their tops off.

The other was a drunk hoosier yelling at me for no apparent reason.

The remainder of each trip was still relaxing and peaceful.

 

[skyking]

We did it almost daily in July when I was a lad. We did not pay anyone, just got some tubes and cars and trucks and went for it. Leave 1 car at the takeout and take the rest to the launch.
Now I'd have to get $35 annual use passes to park the cars/trucks.
Students and current alumni members can rent rafts at CWU. I did that with some friends a couple of years ago.
http://www.cwu.edu/opr/faq-0

 

[Humpy]

WTF? So apparently there are four rivers in the country named Illinois River. I grew up by the one that, logically, is in Illinois. Until today it never occurred to me that there could be imposters out there.

 

[DrPizza]

I imagine there's good rivers to float about anywhere, most people do a class 1 float (not difficult at all) so they can just relax and get drunk. At least around here it's usually in a pretty small river, with plenty of gravel bars and good places to swim/bluffs to jump off of. Nothing too deep or fast. I've never floated a very big river so I don't know how much fun that would be

It's good cheap fun. Usually runs $20-30/person, plus beer of course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRtS_0U5qVQ

$30 per person?? I've done floats dozens upon dozens of times. It's free around here. Didn't know that you have to pay for river access in some areas of the country.

 

[IronWing]

Apple and Kickapoo in Wisconsin are pretty good. The Wisconsin is good but better in a canoe and only if you're a good swimmer.

 

[biostud]

Did truckee river today, my first rafting trip. Very nice

 

[skyking]

Truckee flows through some beautiful country, glad you got to see it.

 

[mizzou]

WTF? So apparently there are four rivers in the country named Illinois River. I grew up by the one that, logically, is in Illinois. Until today it never occurred to me that there could be imposters out there.

yeah floating down the Illinois- Illinois river would not be a fun trip!

 

[mizzou]

:hmm:

 

[kushy26]

I too like rafting but didn't went for it till now.

 

[yh125d]

$30 per person?? I've done floats dozens upon dozens of times. It's free around here. Didn't know that you have to pay for river access in some areas of the country.

The access is free, but you have to pay to rent the equipment and get the ride upstream to float back to your car

 

[KidNiki1]

have done a few in the past with work friends when i lived in indiana, they are a blast.

 

[Legios]

Done numerous "float" trips. Here in Central VA we do inner tubes of all sizes that we can lash together to make flotillas. We also secure several coolers with all the good stuff (beer and jungle juice) to some tubes and proceed to toe the Darwin line.

 

[Jeffg010]

http://www.boatlocal.com/pittsburgh/photos/tags/Kiski-Float-Trip
This is how they do it in Pittsburgh. One thing to remember is you can do this on your own just grab a tube and jump in but you better do a little research before you try it. You can't just jump in any old river and hope to be a safe trip. I would never do a trip on the beaver/ohio/allegheny river. The under currents in those rivers are nasty and plenty of people have died because of it.

I done some when I was younger in smaller streams and always had a good time with friends.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I've been thinking abotu doing this when we go camping in 2 weeks (North West CT on Housatonic river)

There is a tube rental place not too far away from the campsite too.....

 

[Josh123]

its a right of passage in texas. sadly some cities have passed can bans(and obviously bottles are banned)

Yup, it's pretty lame.