White's Canoe Livery, Michigan, United States

2slowleak_jones 5:00 PM May 31, 2010

Owner Lied to my Face to Try and Make a Buck
I made a promise to never return. The whole trip started with just two people and one canoe rental. After talking the adventure up to all of my friends we ended up with five canoe rentals and 12 people. I brought my own two kayaks for me and a friend to use. We were sort of the guides for the trip. I asked how much it would be for White's to haul my kayaks up river so I could start and finnish with the group and the wanted 60 dollars. You'd think that after a guy brings 10 customers at 50 dollars a piece they might give him a slight break. I asked the owner if could follow the bus and put the kayaks in at the same location as my friends and he wanted 40 dollars to use their launch sites. I asked if there was a public launch close to where he was launching my friends and he assured me there wasn't. He said my only option was to pay the 60 dollars and have him haul my kayaks, or to pay the 40 and launch at his launch site. The 40 dollar option included me leaving my car on the side of the road. Needles to say there was in fact a public launch within sight of his private launch and it didn't cost me anything but a little gas to join my friends on an adventure that I had planned to begin with. Instead of showing his appreciation for bringing new customers to his establishment he lied about the public launch to try to make another buck off me. Way to treat a Good Customer White's. The camp sites were filled with roots and very uneaven for poor sleeping conditions. The roadways were all sand and people kept getting stuck in front of our sites 19 and 20. This was the last time my family and i wil evar stay here again. Sorry for bashing your place but a small family business should be more willing to help special circumstances. I'll be trying Rivers View next time.

2Center Street P 5:00 PM Jul 30, 2017

Need to be more clear about where the end point is
This would have been a great experience for us except that it wasn't made clear on where to pull out. First trip, and we were the first rafters in the water so we didn't have anyone to follow. I made the mistake of leaving our cell phones in the car, so we couldn't track the time or call anyone. I should have asked more questions but assumed we'd be looking for a sign marked "White's Canoe". We saw the campground, but looked like it was owned by another company so we kept going. We spent the next 5 or 6 hours lost on the river - by the time we realized we had gone too far, it was empty park land instead of populated campgrounds and cabins, and we couldn't find anyone. We got stuck in a thunderstorm for a while, which was pretty intense. Glad we made it out finally, thanks to a kayaker who could tell us where we were and helped us out with a phone call. Burned to a crisp, ran out of water, and didn't bring food so everyone was feeling rough after. Lots of things I'd do differently if we ever try this again somewhere. I would suggest to White's that they have a clear and careful orientation process, maybe a photo of the landing you can look at before leaving, and at the landing put up a sign making it clear that it's White's landing.