sheltowee trace outfitters

This outfit is very well set-up. The staff is very friendly and has all of the knowledge to make your experience worth it! It is also a very close drive to Cumberland Falls. They have camping, a few camp lodge rooms....close enough to town, 15 minutes or less, to go out to eat if you want.

The staff were extremely friendly and fun. They made sure everyone was enjoying the trip. We took the Cumberland Under the Falls rafting trip with them and tried out the Zip-line. The rafting was superb for beginners (which my wife was) with class II and III rapids sprinkled throughout. Our guide (Derrick) had extensive knowledge of the area and a good grasp on coordinating the passengers and the other rafts around us (he was the leader of the group as well). It was a lot less exciting than the Colorado River, but I didn't want to scar my wife forever by starting her there. This was supposed to be a relaxing anniversary after all. The safety rules were very clear and reiterated by the grouchy, old owner named "Papa Smurf." That man was great. He was all about safety and took his business very seriously. For sensitive souls, I would suggest avoiding contact with him because he speaks from the heart and it is not always what you want to hear. Remember to dress appropriately. Even if it is supposed to be warm enough for a T-shirt, I would advise a water-resistant jacket, swimwear, and water shoes. I went in May in 40 degree weather and it was great. If you are expecting a grand meal at the end of a long day of rafting, think again. This is the great outdoors and will be treated as such with sandwiches and chips. That is how they do it and that is how I like it.

Sheltowee made our girls weekend rafting trip on Russell Fork a success! Most of us were first time rafters and now we are hooked. The reservation and payment process was easy; the staff was helpful and friendly. Our guide James was awesome and guided us expertly out of REAL trouble. We even saved fellow rafters a time or two! We will be using Sheltowee again. Thank you so much!

We had a wonderful experience on our first ever rafting trip! All of the staff was so helpful and the entire reservation and payment process was as easy as could be. All of our guides (and guides in training) made us feel like long lost friends within minutes of the trip. Their love and knowledge for what they do is evident and infectious! Wonderful, wonderful trip!

We very much enjoyed our canoe trip on the Upper Cumberland. It was beautiful, calm and peaceful and the only problem was that we had to do the 3 mile trip because of the weather - and that was just too short! We also did the zip-line which was a lot of fun. Everyone was very nice and helpful, especially Bobbie! Thanks for a great experience - we'll be back!

Our entire family stayed the weekend. The large cabin had enough room for us all to eat together. We also rented three of the cozy cabins to accommodate us all. We enjoyed being so close to Cumberland Falls, Kayaking, really enjoyed the place!! A few things I didn't like. I had to do an inventory of everything in the large cabin when we checked in! It was several pages listing kitchen items to bath towels. I found this a bit annoying. I understand it may have been for my own protection but I have never had to do anything like that before. But I especially did not like that I had to fill out papers listing ALL my credit card information on it. I told the young girl that was a concern for me and will they be shredding that paper once we checked out? She told me yes, they would, I sure HOPE so!

The owner and main manager of this facility is a mean-spirited old man who someone must have thought was cute at one time, nicknamed 'Papa Smurf" Edegi. While some people may think Papa Smurf is cute, on our trip recently all he did was to talk down to his customers, bark unnecessarily rude orders to people, and treat his guests more like stupid cattle than as paying customers. From the moment we walked onto his property, Edegi made it clear that this was a "one man show" and he was the king. While he has (commendably) built a successful business and provides a desirable service, Edegi seems to have forgotten that his customers are his bread and butter. He clearly knows the rafting business and has gotten equipping and moving lots of people down to an art form, but he doesn't get that this success doesn't allow him to patronize people and abandon basic courtesy. Edegi's daughter, the manager, is aware of his behavior, and has replied in the past that she has tried to talk to him about it. She has acknowledged that she can't continue to brush it off by saying Papa is just a cute, crotchety old man, because more and more people will simply not tolerate it. Nevertheless, it is clear that Papa Egedi intends to run this business "his way or the highway", and treat people any way he sees fit once he has their money. What he doesn't seem to understand is that by doing that he is hurting his own business, and is hurting his family and other nice people who work for him, every time he puts his right to be unnecessarily nasty above being nice to the customers who built and maintain his business. Unfortunately, however, Smurfs attitude is "if I built this business, I can unbuild it."Look carefully at the reviews of this site and you will see that while most of the reviews appropriately rate the trip, the guides, and the rest of the staff very high, you will also see repeated complaints about this rude, condescending man in charge. I advise families, couples, and individuals to avoid this place like the plague as long as Papa Egedi is still in charge.

We stayed at the Sheltowee campgrounds which were wonderful! It was surprising to even have wifi while camping. The rafting trip itself was also incredible. The guide we had was very knowledgable and fun and I highly recommend this for ANYONE.

The rafting itself was terrific - the guides worked hard to make the experience fun and unique. Loved that we paddled so close to the falls, stopped to jump off a tall rock into the water and stopped again to swim/slide through a shoot in the river. But, we were not allowed to bring water with us and lunch is not served until well after 2:30. Plus, the quality of the food was poor. I suggest each guide pack a bottle of water and a granola bar for each guest in their dry bag and serve higher quality cold cuts and cheese along with a wheat bread option. There should also be more options for vegetarians - hummus, maybe? My group would have happily paid $5.00 more per person for a snack and better food. I agree with a previous review: Although I appreciate the focus on safety, Papa Smurf need not be so rude.

I wanted a non-standard shuttle and the owner, manager, and staff worked with me to make it happen. The folks at Sheltowee Trace Outfitters really do want you to have a great time.

Recently, my buddies and I went down to Corbin, KY for two days of water adventures. We are happy to say that the trip was not only a success but soon to be suggested to everyone who could ever want what they could expect. There were 9 of us who went down for individual kayaks. The water was perfect and absolutely everything we wanted. Even though it one of us fell out of the kayak and most of us were novice, we were able to travel the water without a guide. We went at our own pace. Having conquered the water day one, we stayed over night in their bunk houses so that we would not miss the next day adventure white water rafting. We set a fire and enjoyed the night that was catered by walmart. The next day, we were in the water bright and early so that we could take on the next adventure. They split up the group so that we could enjoy fit. We split into a 3-5 (one guy slept in - his choice) and we took on a single. The tour was fun, humorous and informative. We (all 8 of us) were amazed by the beauty and scenery. Although we had two tour guides, I can only remember ours as it was a personal and incredible tour. If we plan to do it again, we would not only book with them, we know where we would go and who we would ask for.

My family did a last minute overnight trip to Cumberland Fall on Labor Day. We decided to do the Rainbow Mist trip. It was amazing. The guide was great. He literally got us into the falls. We were drenched and we couldn't have been happier. Our kids loved it (4, 6, 8). Our two boys even got to "carry" the oars back for the guide. I can not say enough positive things in this review about our experience.

Campsite was nice and showers with toilets were excellent. The trip down the river was good fun. The one disappointment I had was that no worker prepared us for getting rained on and freezing on the river. After I made two calls about what to do if it rains someone could have said we could bring a dry bag and have dry clothes to get into at some piont....it seemed to me there was a pattern with this poor communication about our time with each worker there. It was upsetting that no workers seemed to want or know how to give good customer service.

We had a blast and the guide was great. I would definitely come back again and stay at the campground and do the trip. We all tried to flip the boat but it just didn't happen. Water was not where it needed to be. Lunch was nice at the end of the trip and your staff is so nice and helpful.

This is the perfect trip for 1st timers or people that aren't looking for intense rapids. We had Cleda as our guide and we couldn't have asked for more in a guide. She really knows the river and surrounding area and loved her stories and jokes. We flipped our boat a couple of times (something that I personally didn't really want to do but was out voted) and I have to say I'm so glad we did - it was a blast!!! I loved swimming in the river and jumping off the rock. I could've stayed in the river all day. I also really enjoyed the Cumberland Star - very nice way to enjoy the river some more.