WOWWWW I've never met a more rude company. Also, they do not have any set or coherent cancellation policy yet will cancel when you show up. So we booked paddleboards online from 4-6 PM. We made the mistake of thinking that our reservation was 5-7 PM. We showed up at 5. They close at 6. It would seem we still have 1 hour of our reservation left either way, no? Well, no. When we got there they rudely told us we were an hour late and they "put away" our paddleboards. If we had come at 4 we would've been out until 6 anyways...I truly don't see a difference. They don't cite a cancellation policy online. Anyways, the entire interaction was incredibly rude and they were very condescending and acted like they couldn't believe we could've gotten the time wrong. Innocent mistake, not very kind or understanding company. read more

We had a blast with four of our grandchildren, some of whom got to go tubing for their first time. From initial booking to docking our Bayliner at the end of our morning, every person that we dealt with was terrific. HIghly recommend High Country Marine for those unfamiliar! We have been a repeat customer for over 20 years! read more

We made a reservation to rent a boat which was a Bayliner. We had 5 adults which was the max the boat could hold. We arrived and signed in. Then we went to the boat to do a check of it with a worker from High Country. The boat was old and run down. The seats were dirty, there were rips in the awning, the drivers seat was boosted up on a crate, the throttle/shifter had to be shaken a few times to get the boat started along with turning the key which the instructor told us it would. We stopped to swim a few times and each time we had trouble starting the boat. We wasted so much time and NO ONE did anything to compensate us for that. After we were done the instructor went over the entire boat and noticed the prop was dented. They made us pay another 149.00 for the prop but did nothing to compensate us for the crappy throttle/shifter. We will never ever use these people again!!! We were unable to cancel due to their policy. read more

High Country Marine - Boating Near Me - Wilmington, Vermont

We've gone to other places in the area to rent paddleboards, kayaks, etc., and folks charge an arm and a leg (I'm looking at y'all, places in Dover). High County Marine definitely has the best prices, from my experience. The reservation system is pretty straight forward, although make sure if you're renting more than one of the same type of equipment, each item should have a different number (kayak 1, kayak 2, etc). Also, you should make sure you bring anyone using the equipment up to sign a waiver and get fitted for life jackets. And the people there are really great. You can tell that they enjoy their jobs. And they are really understanding when you want to make changes and they explain things thoroughly, especially the woman who seems to run the show (probably because people don't listen well or don't take care of the equipment). If you want solid equipment, at a fair price, with easy access to the reservoir, definitely go with High Country Marine. read more

I have rented pontoon boats and jet skis from High Country Marine in the past and this is a beautiful lake for boating and swimming. They have always been professional and we have always had a great time. There are areas of the lake to be avoided but they give you a detailed description of where those hazards are. This July after a lot of rain and really high water there was a problem with my rented jet ski due to leaves or debris clogging it. Although disappointing it was not their fault and they made it up to us and I would highly recommend High Country Marine. read more

Unfortunately the place that my mom and I used to go to last summer wasn't open for her birthday this year. They were only open on weekends right now, and we wanted to go during the week. I wanted to take her kayaking for her birthday, so we came across this place. Looked okay on the website. It was only an hour away from us instead of 2 hours, which was nice. But when we got there it seemed sort of sketchy. Tons of motorcycles, loud music, and an old dog there that could barely breath. Plus one of the men working there was trying to paddle the dog scaring him away (animal abuse much??). No one explained to us what to do, the river we were paddling on, or offered any help. They were very unaccommodating and didn't seem to care about us at all. This is more of a "do it yourself" kind of place. If you're into loud music and a punk rock frat party outside that feels like chaos, and don't care about being helped, then this is the place for you. I will definitely not be coming back. read more

I found a gift certificate for High Country tours in my portfolio. It is from 2009. I called to see if they honored it and initially they said they did, but later reneged on the offer. It is unscrupulous companies like these that will sell you $340.40 gift certificate but then for whatever reason do not honor the funds after a period of time that sour me on gift certs. We are not talking a "discounted promotion" that has an expiration date but a gift certificate hand written on 2/16/2009 for $342.40. I have learned to give people a gift card with $ on it instead of a gift certificate from any business that can decide not to honor a certificate that they issue themselves. Please do yourself and your loved ones a favor and do not purchase any GIFT CERTIFICATES from any business especially from High CON-ARTIST Snowmobile and Boat tours!! Buyers STAY AWAY!!!! read more

High Country Marine - Gift certificate that they will not honor!! - Boating Near Me - Wilmington, Vermont

We had a great experience renting with High Country Marine. They were very friendly. We had no probelms securing a rental for the day we needed. we showed up early and they had a boat ready. it was a great time on the water. very beautiful area. We cant wait to go again. The boat was in great working order and clean. read more

Literally terrible. Rude, liars, telling us they are the only ones in the area renting boats, which is just untrue. They cancelled my trip less than 24 hours before going, rebooked it to someone else, and then did not return any emails about why. Spoke to the rudest man in my life, condescending and laughed in my face. Would not recommend to ANYONE. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY read more

Great time. Clearly these guys know what they are doing which is nice for folks like me who do not Fun family day.. 3 in fact. Obviously I highly recommend it, especially in a VT heat wave. read more

See all

We were spending a awesome afternoon on the lake when our boat broke down, it was just about 4pm when we determined we needed help. Contacted High Country Marine. We were told they would have to launch a boat to tow us back to the ramp and it would take a little time. They were there to help within 1/2 hour, they first tried to see what was wrong with our engine and ended up towing us back for a very reasonable price. Both of the men on the boat were highly professional. Based on our experience, I would highly recommend High Country. Gerry M. read more

Wow this place is a refreshing change from a typical marina. The atmosphere is low key, relaxed and fun the staff here does a great job with customer attention. They took the time to explain the lake layout (dangers) and even helped launch my boat for me. I will certainly use them again. Thanks Mark read more

High Country Marine - View from the boat at Harriman lake - Boating Near Me - Wilmington, Vermont

I've been snowmobiling in different states and different ski areas. So, I know I was lucky when I was the only person in the group. Just me and the guide. I went in early March and it had just snowed about a foot and half about 3 days earlier. The trails were all different and I had a great time. We went on these small trails, about 1 1/2 snowmobiles wide, and then went on the major "highway" within the snowmobile system. Tons of people were out there. Then we went on a "goat" trail that lead to a wide opening and then onto the lake. Full throttle. In all, a full hour or more. it was great and there was a mix of different terrain. Well worth it. read more

Great Experience. The boats were immaculate and well maintained. Staff was wonderful. The lake is incredible to see.

I dont know about other people's experience but we had a very bad experience. We first spoke to one person and they said to call back and then they denied that they denied having spoken to us. They were not friendly at all and actually quite hostile...They showed alot of impatience and contempt to our group. We had booked a boat and a skijet and while they told us that the boat was a Tiki it was ony later when we boarded that we were told it's very slow and it's not built out (only plastic chairs to sit on). Worse, when we went to use the skijet it was broken (never mind that the body was in poor condition). It was very suspicious that he didn't know about it a minute earlier. The fellow then said he would bring into the shop and call us back. He never even took it into the shop (by his own admission) and never called us back. More disturbing is that he explained to us very briefly that there are a considerable amount of dangerous passages and that we needed to memorize it all in his one minute explanation. Nothing written. No map. No Buoys. The lake is shallow in many places and it's not so easy to manuever. He claimed we hit something and charged us a considerable sum for damages. So unless youre either quite an expert or knowledgable about this lake or you have a fantastic memory and could memorize each point, my recommendation is to stay away. read more

This was our first time jet skiing but we rented snow machines from this business in January and had a good experience. Reservation was made March 1st and final price for two Waverunners was $256.80. We arrived today and while the girl was going over the paperwork, she casually mentions we would have to pay an additional $20 "fuel surcharge" for each machine due to high gas prices. We received a confirmation email the day prior to our reservation and there was no mention of a surcharge. Since we had been planning this for months and other customers were waiting behind us, I reluctantly paid it. Also, the girl seemed surprised when I asked for a receipt and a copy of the legal disclaimers we had to sign. A couple other reviews note this bait and switch technique and although we had fun on the water, we would not rent from his business again. They seem to have a monopoly in the area so they can get away with taking advantage of customers. read more

Rented a Bayliner at High Country Marine to go boating and tubing with family. Great experience from start to finish. Jeff and the rest of the staff at High Country were extremely friendly and hospitable. Lake was also very clean for swimming and tubing. read more

What an amazing place. We showed up on a Sunday afternoon to rent a boat for a few hours. The reception we got from the folks there was beyond our expectations. Mark, the owner (we later found out) was incredibly generous, and just all around welcoming. The other employees were as over-the-top friendly and helpful as he was. We had an amazing afternoon on a beautiful lake and High Country Marina made it happen! read more

I don't know anything about their snowmobile business, but based on our experience with their marine business, they are incompetent and deceitful and I would recommend you stay away. (Apparently you cannot award zero stars.) We stored our boat at their lot for a couple of years and and paid them to launch it for us on occasion during the summer and winterize it in the winter. They failed to winterize it the last winter, though they accepted our payment for doing so. The engine block cracked as we discovered the next spring when we went to have it launched for the first time. They BS-ed us about the problem for the rest of that season. When we finally had the engine examined by a competent person and learned that we had a cracked engine block due to freezing which resulted from the failure to winterize the engine, they denied any responsibility. We finally had to sue them in small claims court to recover the cost of replacing the engine. Thankfully, the judge quickly saw through their lies. Needless to say, we have never had our boat back there again and we would NEVER recommend these incompetent, deceiful people for anyone else's boat. read more