Went tubing down the Tallapoosa River yesterday with Lazy River Rentals. I've been hitting up new…read more(to me) tubing spots this summer and trying to avoid the crowds in Helen and on the Chattahoochee. This is your spot if you want a true lazy river float.
Before we headed out we called to make sure they were operating, tubes were available, and the water was moving. All were a go, and they even put in floats and kayaks up to 4pm on weekends! We arrived at 3:30pm, parked, and hopped on their very cool shuttle bus. It's really hard to miss their brightly colored, tie-dye, open-top shuttle bus. It was a quick ride down to the drop off spot.
The staff gave some great tips and advice for the River, even if we decided to not go with them next time (which we'd definitely do this again). We would be a lot more savvy about parking our vehicle at the drop-in point after hearing about a lot of break-ins. It's worth it to me to be in a secured lot on the rental property than to chance it on the side of a road. The staff is very helpful with getting down to the water and for instructions on where to return. The return is always the most stressful part, to me, especially if I don't know where to get out at. We were told to look for the spot on the right side that had part of a fiberglass pool stairs installed into the side of the river bank.
We had a double float with mesh bottoms and cup holders. The float was clean and well inflated, and roomy enough for both of us.. We placed our life jackets in the bottom of our mesh seats to help in case we ran across rocks, which we did. Once we got to our entrance point it was smooth, lazy floating.
The water was rather low so there were points we had to lift up so we wouldn't drag. I don't think is typical though because we heard a lot of people (from the shuttle driver to other kayakers/tubers) talking about how high and fast the water was just a week or two ago when multiple storms rolled in day after day. It took us a little over 3.5 hrs to do the float but supposedly this other week it was only taking about an hour. That's a big difference!
If you have younger kids this float is great when the water is lower because it's similar to Helen then. You won't need to worry about your kids on the tubes, with their life jackets on.
There's a place about 1/3-1/2 way through the float where there's a small sandbar beach and a rope swing. People were having a lot of fun but we wanted to make it off the river well before dark so we didn't really stop, just observed and kept floating.
The river was not overcrowded but it was a lot narrower than the Etowah, which I tubed Memorial Day weekend. However, I felt like the narrow river allowed for more shade and I didn't feel myself roasting in the sun quite as much.
I brought with me my sunglasses, water shoes which were crucial for getting in/out of the water, a large water bottle, sunscreen, a snack, and my waterproof case for my phone. They do not have a place to store your keys so remember either a dry bag or somewhere safe to stash them.
We will definitely be back to tube here, and maybe even kayak too! We were told the kayaks sell out quicker than the tubes so keep that in mind. They said Saturday they completely ran out of kayaks and cleaned out an extra warehouse of kayaks as well.
Like I mentioned, we pretty much didn't see anyone for the last hour or so. Oh, and you'll know when to get out (if you're traveling all the way back to the facility) by the sign on the right side of the river.
I would definitely recommend using Lazy River Rentals. The staff was nice and helpful. Go tube or kayak the Tallapoosa!
