Word to the wise: DESPITE WHAT THEY SAY, CURRENTLY IT IS TOO SHALLOW AND SLOW TO ENJOY KAYAKING OR CANOEING DOWN THIS RIVER. Cancel your trip and get a refund.
First let me say, their booking process is not ideal. They won't give you a refund for your trip if you try to cancel if it's within 7 days of visiting. I'd be ok with this, if the issue wasn't MINE. I received an email the day before my visit telling me the River was very low and that it might impede our visit. The options were to change or reschedule our trip. When I called and told them that my parents had back issues and we had rented a CANOE and KAYAKS, and thought it might be an issue, the girl said that we'd be fine because no one REALLY reported any issues. But we also can't cancel and get a refund but get credit for the rest of the year.....it was my birthday and I dropped over $200. So even though they knew about low river water probably weeks before (as a river does not just dry up in 1 day) they decided to tell us the day before. Before we could get a refund. Great.
So we decided to go because there was no way we would come back up NH this year to re-do this and hope that the river would magically replenish.
Bad idea.
The girl checking us in, was rude, and talked to me like I was an idiot. I was trying to understand where we started, and where we would end. She just talked over me and seemed to rush me. She told me that there were only 2 pick up times, 3:45pm and 5pm. Nothing else and if I missed one, I'd have to call and be sure to wait the time.
So we get in the water after dragging our kayaks out, and noticed we were probably the only people kayaking/canoeing. Everyone else was tubing. Bad sign right there. We constantly ran into ground. There were some parts that the water was barely over my ankle, and yet the girl on the phone assured me the day before there would be "no issue". Laughable.
The real issue I found was the ending spot. The place for kayaks to stop on trip 2 to swan falls is RIDICULOUS. It's filled with hazardous slippery rocks, with no path out, and barely any signage other than a crappy piece of plywood with spray paint. Granted we have 4 kayaks and 1 large heavy canoe. So I decide to drag my kayak up and start walking to the "pick up" spot they told us about. Again, almost little to no signage that we are even in the right spot. There was an abandoned building, and a small dirt path but that was it. So I get there at 3:45pm on the dot, and there was no one there.
I started panicking because the girl said if we missed our pick up time we'd have to wait even longer to be picked up. And I couldn't picture my poor parents having to carry that canoe alone up that small shitty dirt path. So I try calling the office on EVERYONES phones (AT&T and T-Mobile/Sprint) and there was no signal. Every time I tried to call I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me at all. So by 3:55 I am REALLY panicking. But luckily I see a white van come down, and these 2 guys from Saco Bound came to pick us up. By that time everyone/everything made it out of the water except the canoe. The guys grabbed that canoe with my dad and brought it to the van and started hooking everything up.
The girl at the front desk made it clear they'd only take the drivers back to the original drop off spot, and then the drivers would have to drive BACK to the end spot to grab the rest of us. Luckily the guys were smart enough to realize that was dumb and just took us all back to the cars since we were the ONLY people that clearly kayaked at that time.
The Saco River is beautiful, but my god this company is a joke. You'd think they'd have staff around the end spot to assist people, or if they know that the end spot is so poor, there would be more signage or an option to change where to end/trip types. I would never recommend this place, and would love a refund for this visit. I'll be singing the disappointments of this place to anyone who will listen.
Also, their website doesn't say it (which feel is fradulant) but please read this and know that the RIVER CURRENTLY IS TOO LOW TO KAYAK OR CANOE EASI read more