canoe outpost - little manatee river

We came by today to check the place out ahead of a group outing we were planning. The experience was great. Campsites are well maintained and the bathrooms are better than many restaurants I have been to. The canoe experience was great. Canoes and equipment were ready right away and in good shape. As we went down the river, you could see where they maintain the canoe trail. Whole experience was fantastic. I can't wait to return!

The person that helped us was extremely nice. However, his directions to get to the pick up point were not clear which caused us and two other groups to go to the wrong pick up point -- three separate groups that weren't following each other went to the wrong place, thus supporting the fact that the directions need to be updated. Please ensure you don't go left, left, left. I suggest kayaks because the canoe is too large and hard to control in on the tight turns that are not clear of brush, trees and thorns. The pick up point itself was the most disappointing, it is narrow with pin point turns and the sides are not clear enough for safe passage. My daughter was impaled by thorns all over her arms, back and side as she tried to protect her sister and I from the same fate. All of us have scratches and scrapes from the many overgrown bushes and trees and we didn't take the more primitive paths - we were on the main trip. Honestly, I would have rated this much higher if it weren't for the misdirections and the hazardous path to get to the pick up point. Regardless, make sure that you are somewhat experienced before taking this path down the river.

Thank you for taking the time to post such a nice, frank and helpful review. I am glad you enjoyed your experience and stay with us. Moonlight Paddles are a relatively new offering for us. We have done them with friends and family for years but only recently opened them up to the public. They have been very well received, so much so that we sell out every time. I am guilty of not wanting to disappoint folks who call in the last few days but I agree that we had too many folks on your trip in September 2014. These trips have evolved this year from a paddle with a few snacks to the full offering of meals, live music, campfire & Smores and more folks wanting to go that you experienced. Thanks to input from customers such as you, our policies for these moonlight paddle trips will also evolve and we will be limiting the participation and making it clear that nighttime may not be the best time for your first paddle on the Little manatee.Thanks again for your comments and we hope to see you on the river again soon.

You chose to title your review "Exceeded Expectations" and that is what my staff and I try to do for every visitor that stays in our cabins or paddles with us on a day trip. I am glad you discovered the Canoe Outpost and enjoyed your time here. I hope you will visit again soon. Thank you for your nice review.

Right you are. We could all do with a little less screen time. Paddling the river and getting out in nature has a way of "rebooting" us. Thanks for sharing your comments.

I am so glad you enjoyed your cabin stay with us. You are right that weekdays are much quieter at the outpost since on some weekends we do rent out every boat we have. The nice thing about the Little Manatee River is it offers a since of solitude even on busy days due to the many twists and turns of the river. Thanks for your visit and your nice comments.

Thanks for your nice comments and for posting your pictures. I agree that the big screened in picnic pavilion in the park does make for a great lunch stop. We also use it for our moonlight paddle trips meal stop. Thanks for paddling with us.

It sounds like you had a great day on the river. Thanks for letting us know about your experience at the Canoe Outpost. Since you posted this review, I can assume that you did follow instructions and did not get lost. Yay for you. Hope to see you on the river again soon.

Thanks for your very descriptive comments. You made me want to go paddle and relax... in fact I think I will! See you on the river next time.

It sounds like you had a great day on the river. Thanks for your nice comments and we hope to see you again soon.

It saddens us anytime there is a misunderstanding with a customer as we want every visit to the Canoe Outpost to be an enjoyable one. For those rare times when one does occur, we make every effort to correct it. In this case, we allow for the possibility that there may have been a miscommunication about a reservation date. This is one reason that we always send out confirmation e-mails for the customer to review and verify. In this case, our confirmation e-mail clearly listed dates for the weekend prior. At check in, the customer verbally acknowledged that he was the person that we were expecting. He was allowed to check in and then go out on a paddle trip. When the other customer with a correct reservation for that lodging and date called to confirm, we realized our error in letting the first customer check in for the wrong date. Since we are a small property and were fully booked for that weekend, I felt it was moral and right to ask the first customer to vacate and give the lodging to the customer with a confirmed reservation for the correct date. Although no measure could fully correct this unfortunate situation, I feel we made every effort to accommodate this customer. We fully refunded his lodging fees even though he had been a no show for his reservation the previous week, we refunded his paddle trip, we gave him a certificate for a free 2 night stay on a future date and we offered to allow them to stay in our guest room or to put them up in a local hotel at our cost. This situation is unfortunate for all as I expect that I have lost a customer who had stayed with us several times and the customer has lost a favorite river get a way spot even though we would welcome them back at any time.

We are so glad you came and paddled the river we love. Each time you paddle can provide a different and wonderful experience and we hope you will visit again. Thanks for the nice comments.

I am so glad you came and enjoyed your day on the river. Thanks for taking the time to post your review. We hope to see you out on the river again soon.

I am so glad you took the opportunity to get reacquainted with the river. We hope to see you again soon. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

We are so glad your family enjoyed your birthday celebration and your stay at the outpost. Thanks for taking the time to post your nice comments.